There might be no actual "conspiracy," but the effect is the same. It is these "exclusive contracts" that hurt FOTA TV in the US most, I think. Not just because certain cable channels are exclusive to cable, but also because of the deals the OTA broadcasters make with cable. Not to mention deals with retailers and others in the food chain. Somewhat related to this, I read recently that a large percentage of satellite radio users would PREFER to have ads, or make that more ads, aired over satellite radio, if that would mean ending the monthly fee. So there is a market for both models, it seems. Here's a thought. Take something like HBO. Make it available with ads and without ads, over free and over subscription media. Then let's see what equilibrium position emerges. Bert ------------------------------------------------ http://www.digitaltvdesignline.com/news/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=P2V 1VYCHGEDDYQSNDLPCKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=206105081 February 01, 2008 Time-Warner taking first steps towards ending TV content exclusivity By Cliff Roth HBO's announcement that it will start offering its full line-up of TV programs to online viewers may not sound like such a big deal, since it's limited to only Internet users who get their broadband from Time-Warner, HBO's parent company, and is further limited to only those customers who subscribe to HBO. But it represents a milestone in chipping away at TV distribution exclusivity. (See HBO to let subscribers download TV shows, movies.) Exclusivity is at the core of all TV programming business relationships in the U.S. In the beginning, it was simply between a network and local TV station affiliates having the exclusive right to carry the networks' programs for that geographic area. As cable-TV came into the picture, the concept was extended by cable networks to distribute their programs exclusively through cable operators, and then later, through direct broadcast satellites. Lest anyone doubt how seriously these exclusive contracts are taken, consider this: On any given day, at any given moment during prime time (as well as many other parts of the day), each U.S. satellite broadcaster -- Echostar/Dish and DirecTV -- devotes close to a thousand channels of their precious satellite spectrum to just five programs, which are repeated hundreds of times each. These five programs are from CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX and PBS. Why does it require hundreds of satellite channels to carry just five signals? Because rather than take feeds from the networks, the satellite operators are legally required to honor the exclusivity these networks have with their local affiliates, the TV stations -- so they must carry the same signals, repeated hundreds of times, each representing a different local TV station. (Imagine how crazy, and impossible the situation would be if that concept had been extended to carrying cable networks, like CNN and Comedy Central, through feeds from their local affiliates, the local cable systems!) Time-Warner is indeed taking a baby step with their HBO-via-Internet announcement. It was designed to offend no one, and ruffle no exclusive deals -- yet. But as a first step towards the end of exclusivity, it may prove much more significant. Ultimately, if they start offering these programs for a separate fee over broadband, they'll be ending exclusive distribution with local cable systems, something you wouldn't quite expect from such a vertically integrated media conglomerate. All material on this site Copyright 2006 CMP Media LLC. All rights reserved ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.