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Broadcasters' woes could spell trouble for free TV
AP via SFGate ^ | 12/28/9 | ANDREW VANACORE, AP Business Writer

Posted on 12/28/2009 9:32:21 PM PST by SmithL

For more than 60 years, TV stations have broadcast news, sports and entertainment for free and made their money by showing commercials. That might not work much longer.

The business model is unraveling at ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox and the local stations that carry the networks' programming. Cable TV and the Web have fractured the audience for free TV and siphoned its ad dollars. The recession has squeezed advertising further, forcing broadcasters to accelerate their push for new revenue to pay for programming.

That will play out in living rooms across the country. The changes could mean higher cable or satellite TV bills, as the networks and local stations squeeze more fees from pay-TV providers such as Comcast and DirecTV for the right to show broadcast TV channels in their lineups. The networks might even ditch free broadcast signals in the next few years. Instead, they could operate as cable channels — a move that could spell the end of free TV as Americans have known it since the 1940s.

"Good programing is expensive," Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. owns Fox, told a shareholder meeting this fall. "It can no longer be supported solely by advertising revenues."

Fox is pursuing its strategy in public, warning that its broadcasts — including college football bowl games — could go dark Friday for subscribers of Time Warner Cable, unless the pay-TV operator gives Fox higher fees. For its part, Time Warner Cable is asking customers whether it should "roll over" or "get tough" in negotiations.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: legacymedia; networktv
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To: SmithL
"Good programing is expensive," Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. owns Fox, told a shareholder meeting this fall.

That's a real knee-slapper. Just show me where I can find some of that "good programming" he's talking about!

I totally gave up on the drek Hollywood produces after Leave It to Beaver, My Three Sons, Sugarfoot, The Rifleman, Maverick, Father Knows Best, What's My Line, and Home Improvement went off the air. Now I buy the occasional British series like "Foyle's War" or, most recently, "Danger: UXB," which I can watch when I want with no interruptions. Superb acting, great plot lines, and none of the so-called "reality" crap.

41 posted on 12/28/2009 11:37:37 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: SmithL

If cable gets more expensive, they’ll be in trouble too.


42 posted on 12/28/2009 11:38:49 PM PST by moehoward
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To: SmithL

I wrote a paper in an ethics class in college, arguing that free broadcasting was immoral, or at least suspect, because the purchaser is the sponsor, the seller is the broadcaster, and the commodity is the audience. And this arrangement gives the advertiser and the broadcaster an incentive to encourage the audience to become less and less critical and disciplined.

Think of all the problems that would never have existed if Saturday Morning TV had been something that parents BOUGHT, rather than sometime pumped into the ether by toy manufacturers and sugary cereal makers.


43 posted on 12/29/2009 12:22:00 AM PST by Arthur McGowan (In Edward Kennedy's America, federal funding of brothels is a right, not a privilege.)
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To: excopconservative

There is some history of OTA pay services. Back in the 80’s SelecTV provided movies through a scrambled analogue transmission.


44 posted on 12/29/2009 12:46:39 AM PST by MediaMole
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To: Myrddin

Shot my TV in 1996. Haven’t missed it but for a very few major sporting events. (Hook ‘em!) I had two middle schoolers in the house then. They soon adapted. Today they are both college graduates and (hold on, here) BOTH are employed full-time!

Oldplayer


45 posted on 12/29/2009 12:48:51 AM PST by oldplayer
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To: maine-iac7
Get all the shows I used to pay satellite for FREE online. Had my satellite put on hold last Jan - liking that money in MY pocket

More mandatory free viewing for your list:

Jericho (season 1): http://www.cbs.com/primetime/jericho/

Have to admit, I watched it online, then bought both seasons on DVD. Brilliant series. And I never once had to put up with any CBS.


Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

46 posted on 12/29/2009 12:58:01 AM PST by The Comedian (Evil can only succeed if good men don't point at it and laugh.)
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To: The Comedian

Let’s see.

Mythbusters, Mythbusters, Mythbusters, Mythbusters, NFL, NFL, NFL.

Uh, “The Christmas Choir”

That was my weekly viewing. Used maybe 5 channels?

For what I would pay in cable, I could afford to go out to a bar and watch my NFL games on the weeks that my team is nationally broadcasted (about once a month), and get a nice meal to boot. And that’s with the cheapo plan.


47 posted on 12/29/2009 3:20:29 AM PST by BenKenobi
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To: SmithL

More expensive programming isn’t the cure for crappy TV. I’d think OTA on a lower budget with fewer, shorter commercials would maintain a niche.

I have Dish and use an antenna for the local channels because the picture quality of Dish’s local channels is inferior. Satellite companies have a problem here. There are more local channels than national ones, and the numerous locals eat up the satellite’s bandwidth, so they squash those signals. Cable doesn’t have that problem.

The things keeping me from going to TV over the internet are (a) picture quality and (b) a television-set-like user interface which my wife would insist upon.


48 posted on 12/29/2009 5:51:51 AM PST by frposty (I'm a simpleton)
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To: BP2
"...OMG — how will the inner city masses get Democrat propaganda for voting if the "free" TV media goes kaput?..."

Because we swore off cable as a cost- cutting move, We get only OTA. It consists of 50% mexican stations, and the big 3 networks. My wife was watching their (very poor) news broadcast the other night, and she commented that it's obviously geared towards the ignorant, poor, and elderly. It's so biased we actually laugh sometimes, as every story follows the same repeating liberal memes (or is it tropes?).

49 posted on 12/29/2009 6:14:59 AM PST by I Buried My Guns ( Now is the time to draw up plans to defend your neighborhood from looters.)
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To: erman

Agreed. In the long run they’re going to have to un-bundle. I’m not going to continue to pay higher fees for crap that I don’t watch and actually hate.


50 posted on 12/29/2009 6:33:09 AM PST by Malesherbes (Sauve qui peut)
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To: SmithL

hulu.com


51 posted on 12/29/2009 7:09:03 AM PST by bikerman (Buck Farack)
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To: bikerman

Hulu is planning on charging for their services.


52 posted on 12/29/2009 7:31:19 AM PST by SmithL (SARCHASM: The gulf between the maker of sarcastic wit and the person who just doesn't get it.)
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To: UCFRoadWarrior
If the networks think that they are going to survive by going all-Pay TV....they are dead. They cant compete with pay cable now....they will not be able to compete if they challenge pay cable directly

I had worked at a local TV affiliate for many years and the idea of affiliates paying the network (much like cable companies pay their "networks") had been floating around since the early '90's. No one thought it was a viable model, so it was dropped. In other words, this is not a new idea - I just don't think it would work for OTA stations/affiliates.

53 posted on 12/29/2009 7:45:44 AM PST by peteram
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To: SmithL

One other thing that many OTA Network operators and local stations have to recoup are the millions upon millions they had to spend over the last ten years converting to digital transmission as mandated by the Feds. Cable Networks did not have this mandate but did it anyway since the technology was already there in the form of satellite and fiber optic delivery.

OTA stations had to install new transmitters new transmission lines and antenna (in some cases new towers as well), run digital and analog transmitters in tandem (running up all sorts of power fees) then upgrade the studio with A/D converters, upconverters and full digital equipment. No cheap proposition there.


54 posted on 12/29/2009 7:55:11 AM PST by peteram
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To: Frantzie

The only show that I really miss is Holmes on Homes. lol


55 posted on 12/29/2009 8:57:14 AM PST by DJ MacWoW (Make yourselves sheep and the wolves will eat you. Ben Franklin)
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To: SmithL
The business model is unraveling at ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox and the local stations that carry the networks' programming.

When your green pastures become full of bull$hit don't expect to find any cash cows.

56 posted on 12/29/2009 9:05:20 AM PST by N. Theknow (Kennedys: Can't fly, can't ski, can't drive, can't skipper a boat, but they know what's best.)
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To: chris37

I am disappointed with Rush for still shilling for the NFL after they treated him like a fool. The NFL is a pro Obama commercial.


57 posted on 12/29/2009 9:19:30 AM PST by Frantzie (TV - sending Americans towards islamic serfdom - Cancel TV service NOW)
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To: erman

The problem is your say $50 cable bill divides up $1 per month for each channel. If you have cable or sat tv - you are keeping the liberal facists media alive. They have enslaved us and destroy conservative politicians.


58 posted on 12/29/2009 9:22:14 AM PST by Frantzie (TV - sending Americans towards islamic serfdom - Cancel TV service NOW)
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To: SmithL
when they do I will be more selective, I enjoy the movies with very short breaks for ad's most 30 seconds,then back to the movie, lots of old movies and tv shows to chose from their may be others doing the same thing just haven't found them yet.
59 posted on 12/29/2009 10:48:09 AM PST by bikerman (Buck Farack)
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To: pepperhead
I do the same on Directv. Sure makes flipping through the channels quicker when you don’t have so many bad channels to go through doesn’t it?

Sure does...I'm surprised they allow such a feature, because it lets the consumer realize how much unwanted crap is present. It makes the case for a la carte.

By the way, love your tag line. lol
60 posted on 12/29/2009 4:11:08 PM PST by LostInBayport (When the riders in the cart outnumber those pulling the cart, the cart stops moving. My back hurts.)
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