Cable Rules of the Game

[Ron Bello <rbello@BelloAssoc.com>]

>                              ESPN is the best example of how cable has 
> changed. When it first started Getty Oil (
>                              the orginal owner ) had to PAY a cable 
> company a certain amount a month per subscriber
>                              NOW the cable company pays a huge fee to ESPN.

Getty was the second owner of ESPN.  It was privately owned to that point 
in time.


>( and Disney/Hearst bundle a good chunk
>                              of stations together ) Here in Boston they 
> played hardball by saying you don't want to
>                              pay for ESPN? Fine you can't carry WCVB 
> either. The threat was never carried out here
>                              but it was done in New York City when WABC 
> vanished for a couple of days 2 years ago
>                              from Time Warner systems.

ABC network & WABC is owned by Disney and used that leverage with cable 
systems in NYC area to
force the carriage of the second and third tier cable networks.  These 
networks also compete with those
of AOL Time Warner who owns the cable systems.

Hearst-Argyle, owner of WCVB has no similar leverage with ATT / Comcast