[opendtv] Re: News: FCC's Martin Floats Leased Multicast Must-Carry Proposal

The problem is it is not the sub-channel capacity they really are marketing. It's the potential to lease must carry rights for cable, 85%+ of their viewers. I'd be willing to bet the lease amount wouldn't change that much if the lessees did not even have their material broadcast if they still got the cable. But in my mind that means it should be leased directly from the cable companies.
And I don't really think having the CW as a sub-channel on ABC really does me that much of a service. If the cable company was allowed direct access to the CW signal I'd be able to watch Smallville and Veronica Mars in HD. Do I really care if the local ABC station can sell ads on CW, or provide local news on it? I want to see the network material. 

- Tom

Manfredi, Albert E wrote:

Tom Barry wrote:



I look at this as just another run at MMC, under different
clothing.



I view it as the FCC telling the broadcasters the obvious. Which is, if
you guys don't need your subchannel capacity, think about making it
available to other would-be broadcasters. How else should the FCC try to
promote the effective use of the TV OTA spectrum?

The unfortunate thing in all of this is only that the completely
peripheral (to me) question of must-carry rights becomes involved, which
has a way of making everything difficult when it should be simple. Why
wouldn't a station try to get as many eyeballs as possible, by offering
more streams? Make these new programs good and the cable companies will
come asking for retrans consent.

Anyway, in Gainesville, I think you guys already have something like
this going on, right? Where ABC and someone else carry CW and MNT as
their multicasts? Maybe that shows some glimmer of hope that this sort
of thing can happen.

Bert
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--
Tom Barry                       trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx     
Find my resume and video filters at www.trbarry.com


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