At 12:03 PM -0500 1/26/06, Manfredi, Albert E wrote: >Craig Birkmaier wrote: > >> So Bert... >> >> If two huge media companies cannot launch successful >> broadcast television networks, what make you think >> that local broadcasters can attract viewers with local >> content and/or re-runs in the DTV multiplex? > >Gee, Craig. And if it's hard to keep merely five OTA >channels running, imagine the insanity of trying to >sell people 150 channels -- for a monthly fee, to boot. > >Must be impossible. Can't be done. It's being done but for the most part broadcasters have nothing to do with it. Scripps Howard is one of the only "broadcast station groups" that has managed to develop successful TV networks for the multichannel services. Most of the content developed for cable is not available to local broadcasters for syndication. These networks compete with the content from from broadcasters, and they also like the revenues they get from cable and DBS subscriber fees. We agree that it would be possible to fill the DTV multiplexes with networks that consumers actually watch - in aggregate they are watching the non-broadcast networks more than they watch the broadcast networks. The problem for broadcasters is how to convince these networks to make their content available for carriage in DTV multiplexes, and how to pay for them. If a network is carried in the extended basic tier of cable or DBS services, the network will receive subscriber fees for every home that subscribes to the extended basic tier in that market. This represents about 75-80% of the homes in most markets. Are broadcasters willing to pay for content based on the total number of homes in their market? Can they generate enough advertising revenue to pay these fees and still make a profit? 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.