Free TV In Trouble

NEW YORK — For more than 60 years, TV stations have broadcast news, sports and entertainment for free and made their money by showing commercials. That might not work much longer.

The business model is unraveling at ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox and the local stations that carry the networks' programming. Cable TV and the Web have fractured the audience for free TV and siphoned its ad dollars. The recession has squeezed advertising further, forcing broadcasters to accelerate their push for new revenue to pay for programming.

That will play out in living rooms across the country. The changes could mean higher cable or satellite TV bills, as the networks and local stations squeeze more fees from pay-TV providers such as Comcast and DirecTV for the right to show broadcast TV channels in their lineups. The networks might even ditch free broadcast signals in the next few years. Instead, they could operate as cable channels – a move that could spell the end of free TV as Americans have known it since the 1940s.

"Good programing is expensive," Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. owns Fox, told a shareholder meeting this fall. "It can no longer be supported solely by advertising revenues."

Fox is pursuing its strategy in public, warning that its broadcasts – including college football bowl games – could go dark Friday for subscribers of Time Warner Cable, unless the pay-TV operator gives Fox higher fees.

Of course, maybe that's why Fox is saying TV "can no longer be supported solely by advertising revenues" - they're just trying to get more money from Cable companies.

"Good programing is expensive," Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. owns Fox, told a shareholder meeting this fall.

How the fuck would he know good programming?

I'm sorry to hear that so many of you had such a rotten morning.

My kids are still in pjs. I'm a bit jealous. The big challenge of the day has been keeping the kids occupied enough that DH and I can clean up the house a bit before we head up to HMB for New Years (because yes we are crazy enough to travel this week to visit the family who came down south to visit us last week). We spent the late morning silk screening tee-shirts. It was fun, and surprisingly easy to clean up! Totally recommending it for kid crafts.

What is this "free TV?" I live in a town of 110,000 and can't get TV over the air by any means. I pay $25 a month for a dish tv package I don't especially want because that allows me to pay $5 a month for the "free" channels.

So, couldn't we just say, FU to the networks then and go to a system like BBC's?

Okay, b.org is currently one of the only sites on the internet that's loading for me.

t clings

I can't believe I agreed to go out tonight. It is so windy and cold out there! I will have to haul out the Enormous Coat. God forbid I have a puffer, no, I have a big heavy wool coat with a big fur collar.

To the partnered 'fistas: when you're talking about your spouse/SO/whomever to your co-workers, especially co-workers whom you're fairly friendly with, do you refer to said partner by name or as "my wife/husband" or whatever title you may use? I've noticed in my world that people generally say "my wife" (I work mostly with guys) instead of their names. I myself refer to Hubby as Hubby, but I've always thought myself weird in terms of using people's names.

Am I noticing something weird, or am I interpreting something average in a weird way?

My bosses are married to sisters. Once I said "your wife" to one boss (telling him she stopped by and what she said), because sometimes I get the wives mixed up (they look a lot alike to me).

eta: Of course I wasn't talking about my wife, so not exactly what you're talking about.

Sweet baby Jesus, I'm bored.