--- In iddiots@yahoogroups.com, "Don"  wrote:
>
> Interesting, Professor. As you know, I've been out of the biz for 12
> years or so and times sure have changed. .......

>Does CV pay carriage fees to Disney as they
> claim, or not as Disney claims. Gimme some truth. All I want is the
> truth.
> If CV doesn't get a slice of local avails, do they get a piece of the
> national spots from Disney?
>

Don,
The Disney ABC group has a large number of channels. As far as fees go, the=
 big daddy of all affiliate fees would be the ESPN slice. It is known in th=
e industry to cost north of $4.  I don't know if that includes the secondar=
y ESPN channels, like ESPN2...and perhaps a handful of others.
Cablevision claims to have 3.1 million subscribers =3D $12.4M per month X 1=
2 months =3D $148.8 million dollars per year just for ESPN. That doesn't in=
clude The Disney Channel, Disney XD cartoons, ABC Family, SOAPnet....
But, those are just the nationally delivered cable networks.
WABC is a broadcaster, not a satellite delivered service, so it is all on n=
ew ground here, plus WABC took their two digital feeds Eyewitness News Now =
and Live Well off too,  is there value to those two additional channels? Ne=
gotiations must get complex when the additional digital feeds are part of t=
he contract.=20=20
Regarding ad revenue, both the national cable network and the local operato=
r sell their own inventory of ads. Cablevision can not touch a broadcast fe=
ed, so they can't sell nor insert local ads on a broadcast station.=20

I wish both sides the best in hammering out their commitment to the public.

Too bad the government didn't foresee the need for digital antennas last ye=
ar when they gave out coupons for digital to analogy conversion boxes. If w=
e all had A/B switches to shuttle back to an antenna to receive the broadca=
st signal over the air, there would be a nothing for a broadcaster to negot=
iate, it would keep the perceived cable fee lower. But, why would a municip=
ality intercede? Higher cable fees could translate to higher franchise fees=
 for the municipality. Why would a politician be motivated to speak out...t=
he media outlet might not support their re-election bid.
The tentacles are in many pots on this issue called Retransmission Consent.

I hope that answered your query.

COUSIN STEVE 

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