Posted by mike marshall on October 25, 2009, 4:17 am, in reply to "Re: Variety Article On Canada "Local TV" Vs. Cable Battle"
207.96.151.85 | Message modified by user jazzman October 25, 2009, 4:24 am
I agree with nevermind, too, and his "free enterprise solution...give folks the choice whether they want to pay for local...just like they have with the movie networks...so those who want to watch Ken and Christine run through the streets of Shwa with the Oylmpic flame can pony up the dough..the rest of us can buy a couple of lattes with it..."
It's not the first time somebody's suggested giving the cable/satco customers a choice, which is only fair, but it occurred to me that I've never really thought about how that would be physically accomplished. In other words, where the "Local TV" stations who insist on fee for carriage would be slotted in the tier hierarchy, to enable opting out.
So far, the "Local TV" stations expect to be able to draw from the LPIF millions, keep simultaneous substitution, get MANDATORY coverage on all basic cable tiers AND be given fee for carriage. These are people living in their own little cockamanie cocoons. That's preposterous.
The real question is what are they prepared to give up for fee for carriage; so far, we haven't heard any suggestions from their camp.
How 'bout the OTAs who pass on FFC get to keep simsub and their mandatory slots on the basic tiers and those who don't get kicked upstairs, above what are now the full analog package channels.
Put them all in the same theme pack, let THEM choose a price for that package, which makes it 'opt in,' rather than 'opt out,' for the people who choose to pay for it.
They can keep their simsub (never thought I'd say that) but take the chance on losing some eyes and ears for their local and national news packages that are really the only Cancon the CTV and Global are offering right now.
Then, we'll see if all this posturing is about "Local TV" or money.
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