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ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, WB, UPN, ect.. aren't PUBLICALLY funded though; that's the difference; capitalism (more or less) ndetermines the "big 3's" revenue, but PBS is at least partly funded by Conservatives who disagree with their obvious liberal bias, through government funds.

I'm #202. Keep on Bumpin'!

Regards, Lenny

I agree that the Big 3's revenue is driven by capitalism, but this only illustrates a market breakdown. Even the most devout free market advocate recognizes there are market breakdowns in certain areas. The proper role of Government is to deal with the market breakdowns to ensure that everything functions smoothly.

The result of the Big 3 (and other networks, for that matter) being totally driven by capitalism is that the only desire when creating a show is to put butts in the seats for the commercials. The more people that watch a show, the more money the networks can charge for that commercial time. As a result, we get such high quality programming as "Joe Millionaire," "Survivor," "Malcom in the Middle," and my personal favorite, "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire."

PBS, on the other hand, isn't driven by the need to sell commercial time, and suddenly the scope, really the entire purpose of programming is changed--now you aren't interested in producing a show that will generate revenue, but rather interested in producing a high quality product. You can argue whether PBS is successful in doing that or not; it is my personal opinion that they have been successful, but regardless, PBS can create very insightful, important, intellectually stimulating, and educational shows that could NEVER be produced on network television because of the fiscal concerns of the networks.