Craig Birkmaier wrote: > What if content owners are able to bypass all of > their existing distribution "partners" and simply > deliver products to consumers via IP networks. In > other words, the consumer just pays for bandwidth, > and they buy content in an open marketplace, not > unlike the Internet? This is not so different from cable or DBS today. The Internet is a network consisting of links provided in large measure by the telcos, and paid for by individuals and corporations. The content on the Internet is often free, but sometimes paid for separately. But you have to pay the phone company or the cable company, and perhaps a separate ISP, for access, and you pay according to the bandwidth you want. Carriage isn't free. If a separate right-of-way, such as DBS or cable, chooses to do so, it could also charge separately for carriage and for content. Even OTA did this, with the "marquee" service that came before cable HBO. They didn't charge for the use of public spectrum, but they did charge for content instead of using commercials. Cable companies charge separately for premium services too, added on top of carriage. So what's the big difference? If a service installs an independent right-of-way and chooses to charge bulk fees, instead of more a la carte, who's to say you get less for more? If SBC or other telcos decided to distribute TV content as cable and DBS do, they can choose to charge separately for that content, a la carte, or just add a bulk fee to your phone bill. I don't see why this is so important. Phone companies have offered by-the-call or any number of bulk rates for decades. Surely, they can do the same with TV distribution, if they would take the leap. No one was suggesting that telcos own TV content, as far as I could tell. Bert ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.