----- Original Message ----- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> > > I think they're worried that if broadcasters ask for too much they might = > get *all* must-carry thrown out. Specifically, the multicast must-carry = > is what they think unwise to request. Must Carry is most important to small unaffiliated independent stations. Subscriber demand will ensure that the major network affiliates are carried on cable no matter what. The proof is the number of Retransmission Consent agreements that are in force around the country. Most Retrans Consent agreements exchange some local cable ad insertion avails to the station in exchange for cable carriage. Then the affiliate can run ads on the cable channels during sweeps. Cable got it's start in life by delivering local network signals to subscribers, and in spite of 500 digital channels, the big four networks will still be the anchor of the first tier. The real thing that television stations fear is the loss of exclusivity of the network programming in their market. Then the major networks will deliver their programming directly to the cable and satellite providers, bypassing their gatekeeper function. Imagine if NBC came to their affiliates and said "for $2 million a year, you can be an exclusive NBC affiliate in your DMA, but if you agree to non-exclusivity, you can have the network feed for free." NBC owns most of the major market broadcasters already, and the medium and small market affiliates couldn't afford the cost of exclusivity. Suddenly there is the "NBC Channel" on cable. Scary. Regards, John Shutt ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.