On Tue, 18 Nov 2003 21:17:48 -0500, "George" wrote:
Isn't it a bit ironic that cable tv works very hard to prosecute people who
get their programming without paying while THEY get and RESELL broadcast tv
without compensating THOSE CONTENT PROVIDERS? Makes you wonder who the true
pirates are...

Actually, they do have to pay the content providers, unless they're operating
merely as a community antenna system. The FCC changed the cable rules a
few years back. A station can now elect to either be "must carry" or an "enhanced
content provider".

Under "must carry", the cable system is treated as a community antenna
system, and does not have to compensate the broadcaster, but must carry
its signal as part of the "basic" cable package.

Under "enchanced content", the cable company must negotiate for, and
pay for, the right to carry the broadcaster's signal, same as they've always
done for content providers like HBO or Showtime. In return, the cable
company gets to price the local broadcast content the same way it does
other cable channels. In other words, it doesn't have to include local
channels as part of the "basic" cable package unless it wants to.

Gary