WESH is in Orlando, about 120 miles away, far enough I wouldn't consider
it for either local news or weather. Though I don't really watch either
one much anyway. Weather is better from the Internet and I mostly
prefer wider take on news, like Lehrer.
But I like both the Heroes and Medium prime time shows, so its not
completely lost to me. I'd just rather have it locally in Gainesville.
- Tom
Craig Birkmaier wrote:
At 4:32 PM -0400 7/5/08, Albert Manfredi wrote:
Makes sense to me.
In the macro sense, there have to be advantages for the networks to
have a presence in the local OTA market, or there wouldn't be any OTA
left. Even if that advantage is purely for the retrans consent
agreements they can get from the MVPDs in the area (and I'm not saying
it is). I've never ever understood how NBC could be so dismissive of
the Gainesville market. Nor why the customers haven't raised a stink
about it.
The major advantage is that 85% of their audience subscribes to cable
and DBS (>93% in Gainesville). Carriage is essential for survival of the
OTA signal for the remaining 15%. But carriage ALSO means more revenue
via retrans consent.
Customers have not raised a stink about the lack of a local NBC
affiliate, as they are not missing a thing. We have a solid local news
presence with WCJB (ABC), which is VERY WELLL ENTRENCHED having had no
competition for more than 30 years. WJXT (Jacksonville) did manage to
capture a meaningful news audience in Gainesville, but WGFL (our local
CBS affiliate) is struggling to develop a local news audience. The
market has simply proven to be too small to support multiple local news
organizations (WOGX tried and failed). So all that matters is access to
the NBC network programming. I might add that WESH is a news and weather
leader in Orlando, so some folks in Gainesville/Ocala LIKE having access
to the superior news and weather coverage by WESH.
I *think* that Craig told us that more and more, local affiliates are
paying the networks to carry their content? Did I remember this right?
Not exactly. At one time the networks paid the local affiliates cash to
carry programs AND gave them commercial inventory within highly rated
programs. The payment of compensation to stations is all but
non-existent today, and the number of commercial minutes that the
networks give to local stations has been reduced. In many cases the
networks have asked for compensation for popular programs, but this
usually means that the stations are giving back local ad slots to the
networks. And now the stations are getting retrans consent money based
primarily on the perceived value of the network (not local) programming.
The next logical step in all of this is going to be when the networks
start asking for a chunk of the cash the stations get in retrans consent
payments. At that point local TV is going to become economically
inviable and the networks will bypass stations and go direct with cable
and DBS...
Or, if they can keep broadcast alive for another 5-10 years, the
networks may simply bypass everyone and deliver their content direct to
consumers via the Internet.
If true, then that would make this even more of a mystery. Because
this is more similar to the Euro OTA model, which seems to do quite well.
Because broadcasters were the preferred way to get content in most
European countries and State broadcasters held most of the power, things
evolved down different paths. Many state broadcasters do not rely upon
ad revenue, and most of the new content that is offered via
multi-channel OTA services like Freeview is purchased from global
suppliers, mostly U.S. based.
The micro argument might go something like, if an OTA NBC affilate is
created in Gainesville, then fewer people might be lured to the MVPDs,
and NBC loses out. The obvious counter argument is, it's more likely
that NBC will simply lose the OTA audience. It is not likely that just
one program would convince MVPD subscribers to drop their subscription.
Bad analogy. Having a local NBC affiliate in Gainesville would only grow
the audience a tiny amount because almost everyone already uses an MVPD.
I can't think of a single prime time show I watch on NBC - and with the
de-emphasis on sports (other than the Olympics), it is rare that i even
watch WESH. In the last month I have watched the NBC U.S. Open coverage
and one Tonight show.
Something doesn't add up.
Your math...
The networks are evolving away from local broadcast to deliver their
content. They have little interest in sharing revenues with new affiliates.
Regards
Craig
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at
FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.
--
Tom Barry trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.
