From: nospam@ilikecheese.net
"Wog George" wrote in message
news:Dmi%g.52099$rP1.52018@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>
> "Nobody" wrote in message
> news:Xns98659606CC502nononononon@140.99.99.130...
>>I had no clue who the hell he was supposed to be...I don't watch that
>> stupid bounty hunter show on A&E.
>
> I had no idea either, but after getting a rough idea from some posts here
> and a quick search, I found out that it's on pay TV here in Australia. I
> was going to have a look at it, expecting the worst, but I forgot. If any
> Aussies want to have a peek, it's on Fox 8 on Friday at 8:30pm. I may or
> may not be joining you.
>
I don't watch it regularly, but from what I've seen of it there are far
worse reality tv shows on American television than Dog the Bounty Hunter.
> On the subject of pay TV, we have 3 pay TV companies here in Oz (excluding
> obscure resellers): Foxtel, Optus Vision and Austar. They all broadcast
> identical content at identical times, the only exception being that they
> each have their own weather channel. In fact, Austar only has a weather
> channel. They all broadcast Foxtel and Optus content, seemingly providing
> no competition in the programming department whatsoever. There's a pool
> of channels, and they all show all of them.
>
> Is Australia the only place where they pool everything into one big bucket
> and let everyone sell the same thing? It makes sense not having to
> duplicate everything but I'm used to different companies providing a
> different product. For instance, GM and Ford don't have a pool of cars
> and just stick a badge on them as they pass by on their way out of the
> showroom.
>
> On the flipside, I suppose it's good not missing out on something because
> I went with one and not the other.
>
> Anyway, does the US have different content from different providers? I
> can understand that there may be a pool of channels, but I'd also expect
> each provider to broadcast their own exclusive content as well (other than
> their own weather channel). Can anyone fill me in?
>
There is little exclusive content provided between different cable and
satellite providers, even if some cable providers (like Time Warner Cable)
have a sister company in the television industry. The DISH Network satellite
provider has a few obscure channels which seem to air on their service
almost exclusively, but I don't believe the DISH Network plays any role in
producing these channels. What you describe in Australia is pretty much the
norm here in the U.S. as well. Programming providers that don't provide all
the major cable channels just aren't going to be competitive. The
differences usually are in the less er channels, and there are a fuckton of
minor cable channels available in the U.S. Literally in the hundreds
(although a large portion would just be different regional sports networks
and assorted premium movie channels with thoroughly redundant programming;
there are like twelve different HBO channels, for instance).
What's more, while you can get service from either of the two major
satellite providers anywhere that you can point a satellite dish to the
south-southeast, in any given area, there is usually only one or _maybe_ two
cable providers. I'm not sure how that works but I believe it may be that
cable providers will get an exclusive contract within a county or city to
provide their service. They still have to compete with satellite providers
Direct TV and DISH Network, and if they also provide internet service they
usually have to compete with other ISPs, and also these companies would have
to compete with each other to get a contract with the county in the first
place, so they generally have to live up to a certain standard when it comes
to their programming, but usually the consumer will not have a choice when
it comes to what provider to use for terrestial cable.
I hope that made sense.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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