Uplink Activity 12/11/08 7:00 PM ET 19 changes Young GONE

[rockymtnhigh]

So, is that what, about $130k per day, give or take?

I'd like to make that kind of dough per day...

Yeah, they should make money off of Dish subs, but they make nothing off of cable or OTA viewers. Ridiculous.

 

[long_time_DNC]

Yeah, but ~$130k per day? That's a bit extreme...borderline ridiculous also...

 

[kstuart]

Well if this means Dish will be saving money on one less contract with a company, does that mean that we can expect a price drop in February?? HAAAAA. Sarcasm of course. I don't care how many contracts Dish decides not to re-sign I'm betting on at least a $10 bump this year. Probably $15-20 for HD.

HD has come down in price steadily, and has to remain equal or below what DirecTV and cable charge.

The Young contract for locals only affects the price of locals. If all of the local channels successfully forced Dish to pay more to them, then Dish Locals customers would have to pay more for locals. That is why Locals are a separate monthly fee. Those who get their locals by OTA or don't watch networks at all, don't have to pay either way.

 

[guapoharry]

This could be true, but maybe not. Running fiber optic cable to all major cities will happen soon, but expanding to all locations will take several years, and during that time the satellite and cable providers will be improving their product also. Ultimately, it will probably be possible to have a small, self contained antenna (dish) built into all new homes that will be able to pick up all satellites in the sky and differentiate the signals automatically by subscription status.

The satellite will probably look like a small, multi-faceted 12 inch diameter globe with 2 to 3 inch concentrator panels for pickup. If the satellite companies are smart, they will standardize their signals so that "one globe fits all" will lead to easy multi-sat, multi-provider subscription with some of it a la carte. The connections from such a globe/antenna could be contained in a 1000 line fiber optic cable from the globe to the receiver(s) used by the customer or even to the electrical system of the house. By simply plugging your receiver into your wall socket, you could have immediate access to essentially all channels available in your sky.

The business model would be the major constraint to operationalizing this concept, with companies like Young wanting 30c per subscriber per month for retransmission of their government subsidized monopoly.

Regards,
Fitzie

Wow.

Can I send money to invest in this idea?

 

[Fitzie]

Wow.

Can I send money to invest in this idea?

Probably. The company name will be Cooperative Automated Satellite Home Solutions. For convenience, checks may be made out to C.A.S.H. and sent to me at my home address.

Alternatively, checks may be made out to Robert A. Heinlein Registered American Holdings, and abbreviated as R.A.H. R.A.H.

Regards,
Fitzie

 

[kstuart]

Alternatively, checks may be made out to Robert A. Heinlein Registered American Holdings, and abbreviated as R.A.H. R.A.H.

As much as I like Heinlein (my sixth grade teacher was his neighbor), checks should be made out to Arthur C. Clarke Estate, because he invented the communications satellite.

 

[Fitzie]

As much as I like Heinlein (my sixth grade teacher was his neighbor), checks should be made out to Arthur C. Clarke Estate, because he invented the communications satellite.

You are very likely correct; in addition to being a very good science fiction writer Mr. Clarke was also a fine scientist. The abbreviation for the Arthur Clarke Estate would be, naturally, ACE. If I recall my own history correctly, it was in the writings of Mr. Clarke that I first became aware of the term "geostationary." (This was naturally some eons ago, when both Mr. Clarke and I were a good deal younger.)

By contrast, Mr. Heinlein was an engineer who graduated from the United States Naval Academy, served in the U.S. Navy from 1929-1934 with experience in radio communications, and also worked for the Navy during WWII doing aeronautical engineering. While having some knowledge of physics and mathematics, Mr. Heinlein became most famous because of his writing which showed strong libertarian leanings and beliefs in individualism and personal responsibility. His engineering expertise was demonstrated by the fact he created many of the special effects for the 1950 movie Destination Moon (the script for which he also co-wrote and which was based on one of his stories). The movie received an Academy award for special effects. An early socialist, Mr. Heinlein became an active anti-communist because of communism's rigidly collectivistic structure and insistance on ant-like conformism by members of a communistic society. He is also credited with foretelling the creation of the interstate road system, the race to the moon, and the cold war in his stories. Perhaps it goes without saying that I have read many, if fact most, of his works, and am aware of his highly entertaining personal life which included a foray into nudism and an open marriage with the second of his three wives. (I think he ultimately divorced her because he tired of her going off with other men on sexual forays.)

(As a side note, I have a copy of Destination Moon, now out on DVD, which I bought a year or so ago. It's dated, but still interesting.)

While Mr. Clarke was the better scientist, I believe Mr. Heinlein's philosophy of the social contract may have the longer lasting impact on our society. Accordingly, I still say "hurrah, hurrah" for RAH.

Best regards, and many happy holidays.

Fitzie

 

[NMR_Man]

Dish doesn't give me their HD channel, couldn't care less. I get the HD channel OTA.

I thought I won't care less because, even though I got WLNS from E* in HD, I get it strong OTA. What I didn't think about was that the guide for the station is gone and recording any content from the OTA is more trouble than it's worth because you have to set up manual timers using the web for finding the times for shows. What a pain.

 

[sbsi]

Big deal! They better not take away my "KBS". I am keeping Dish Network because of my "KBS".

 

[GaryPen]

Screw Young Broadcasting. They pulled this same crap when KRON was in its final year as an NBC affiliate in SF.

Without any network affiliation, KRON bites. And, most of Young's stations are non-affiliates that show a bunch of syndicated reruns and cornpone locally produced crap.

I hope their ad revenue drops considerably without the Dish customers added to their viewership, the greedy SOB's.

 

[belawrence]

Apparently

The stations are back.