Reformatted without all of those crappy control characters... At 9:55 PM -0700 7/11/06, Dale Kelly wrote: > USDTV LANDS IN CHAPTER 7 BANKRUPTCY > TVNEWSDAY, JUL. 11, 2006, 4:03 PM ET > http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2006/07/11/daily.4/ No surprises here. What is interesting is that they are blaming several issues that I have been talking about for years... The need for broadcasters to develop a competitive infrastructure for customer service and billing: >Lindsley conceded that USDTV had problems typical of all >startups. USDTV has trouble with a new billing system and with third parties >who had been hired to install the USDTV system in subscriber homes. Who can blame broadcasters for taking advantage of the infrastructure that cable brings to the table. >"The overarching reason USDTV filed for bankruptcy is that the >industry did not support the initiative," Lindsley said. "I would say the >industry is paralyzed by fear of stepping out and competing with cable. I >don't think the industry right now is prepared to do it." Why should broadcasters compete when they can get cable and DBS to do what they cannot? Better yet, with re-trans consent broadcasters can take full advantage of the infrastructure that cable and DBS (and now Fios) provide, and make millions in additional profits. Lindsley hit the nail on the head - the broadcast industry is not interested in competing with the goose that laid the golden egg. What could change this? 1. A decline in ratings to the point that cable/DBS can afford NOT to pay for broadcast content. 2. Cable and DBS offer the content conglomerates a better deal than local broadcasters. 3. The Internet becomes the next big thing in content distribution, killing the Golden Goose AND the broadcasters who feast upon those Faberge' eggs. 4. Broadcasters get together and use "their" spectrum to compete. 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.