OK, while so many people keep waiving those cheap Charlie poms poms & getting all emotional that "he IS the great saviour of low prog prices"

(sarcasm OFF now) the simple FACTS in the matter are actually VERY simple, all of which has been reported about in several trade mags:
-OLN let ALL their providers know in advance that when they started offering the NHL, they would be putting them on a separate feed that ONLY those providers that offer OLN to at least 40% of their customer base could take. Unfortunately, AT180 does NOT meet this requirement, just as TC+ on D* would most likely not meet this requirement, nor would some of the "sports tier" that cable co. offer on digital cable. Most cable co, with some exceptions, would most likely have to offer OLN on expanded basic cable to meet this requirement. Since D* has OLN on TC, I'm quite sure they well exceed the 40% mark. If by some miracle, E* COULD get 40% of their subs to cough up to AT180, this would all be a moot point, but it isn't like that.
-OLN is NOT singling out E* for this - they are being this way with ALL providers that offer their service. This is NOT a "big bad OLN is picking on poor, poor Charlie" thing.
-If a provider chooses NOT to comply with this mandate, they are free to continue offering OLN as is, BUT they would stay on the OLN feed that offers alternate programming in place of the NHL games - simple as that. E* could have kept things EXACTLY as is now, but his customers would NOT have got the NHL - again, simple to understand.
-Because Charlie couldn't get OLN to acquiesce to getting OLN on HIS terms, he acts like a spoiled child, takes his toys away (removes the channel ENTIRELY) & storms off in a huff. Again, in case you don't understand - E* PULLED the channel off because they could NOT get the NHL on THEIR terms; OLN did NOT take the channel entirely away from E* - regardless of the propaganda coming out of the E* PR mill.
-OLN is NOT asking for more money for this channel - all they are asking for is for it to be distributed in a package to a wider audience. Yes, in the long run, E* will have to pay a little more to OLN, since now more people will be seeing it, but in reality, E*'s costs would not go up that high proportionately, since typically the more subs you offer a channel to, the LOWER the provider's cost is to offer the service to begin with.
-Did anyone notice that E* just added Soapnet to AT120 - I can guarantee you, E*'s cost to offer this channel now probably just went up, since it is now in a larger distributed package, but nobody bitched when they got an extra channel for free. Why would it be SO hard for E* to do the same with OLN? (other than because Charlie didn't get his way)
Some of you guys need to quite treat cheap Charlie like some God you worship & get into reality here...
