At 7:31 PM -0700 8/9/04, John Willkie wrote: >You've got it absolutely 180 degrees out of phase with reality again, Craig. > >It's the cable firms that are hitching a free ride (no payment for content) >on the output of broadcasters. Broadcasters provide a few channels of >locally flavored content that, in a 200 channel cable universe, still gets >more than half the total viewership. Isn't that called diminishing returns? NO PAYMENT? You've got to be kidding. Most of the major networks and their affiliates elect Retransmission Consent rather than must carry. There is compensation involved in ALL of these deals. In most cases it is "in-kind" rather than cash, although CBS typically has taken cash. NBC, ABC and Fox used Retransmission Consent to get preferred placement for new cable networks. This is how MSNBC, CNBC, ESPN2, and may other channels got established on the early '90s. Now that the nets have bought up most of the better cable networks, they are beginning to negotiate for cash for the local broadcast signals. The cable guys are not getting a free ride. They are the collection agent for subscription fees for the stuff that 90% of the audience watches. >The only local flavor in cable is local spots (mostly for new, expensive >cable services) and public access. Yeah, that's the way to establish a >completive service. And exclusive regional cable networks (mostly sports) And 24/7 local news channels And pay-per-view movies 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.