When Rupert Murdoch cobbled together the FOX network back in... 1990?... those stations weren't much at the time either, save for the major market affiliates. KTTV in Los Angeles, for example, was mostly showing old network reruns and movies. There was a little bit of content produced in-house by MetroMedia, which also owned a station in NYC, Chicago, and some other cities I forget now. KTTV's biggest ratings, as I recall, at the time came from Dodger baseball. Today FOX is a ratings powerhouse, driven primarily by American Idol and House. If Charlie can put that together with a content deal, say from Universal, then perhaps lightning could strike twice.
IMHO, even if Charlie could make such a deal the chances of it succeeding are minimal these days. The old broadcast model is slowly dying, with cable/satellite penetration exceeding 80%. Just look at what happened with the UPN network or The WB. The TV universe is far more diverse than it was back in 1990, in spite of the fact that many of the major players today were around in some form back then. Charlie would be better off with a small selection of channels on Dish Network that carried exclusive programming, in addition to the general interest channels they already carry. I think that is how SkyTV in the UK started out, and the direction that DirecTV seems to be headed.
IMHO, even if Charlie could make such a deal the chances of it succeeding are minimal these days. The old broadcast model is slowly dying, with cable/satellite penetration exceeding 80%. Just look at what happened with the UPN network or The WB. The TV universe is far more diverse than it was back in 1990, in spite of the fact that many of the major players today were around in some form back then. Charlie would be better off with a small selection of channels on Dish Network that carried exclusive programming, in addition to the general interest channels they already carry. I think that is how SkyTV in the UK started out, and the direction that DirecTV seems to be headed.
