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Originally posted by Cynthetiq
Sorry, the TV industry was deregulated in the 60's, reregulated in the 70's, deregulated in the 80's, and again deregulated in the 90's.
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I doubt that this regulation or lack thereof had anything to do with investors who were willing to invest because they saw a profitable market. If a market exists there will be people willing to try to make money from it. That is where the expansion of the industry came from, not from government regulation.
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Originally posted by Cynthetiq
As far as equal access, no we don't have equal access in the manner that the British do. If my memory serves me correctly, it works as such : If the democrats buy 60 minutes of airtime, then the republicans automatically get 60 minutes of airtime, as does the indepenandt. So when Jon Corsine (US Senator NJ spent personal millions of $$$ to BUY airtime, then the opposing incumbent would have received the same air time for free.
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In the USA, our equal access means people still have to pay for it, they just can't be turned down if they do. There is still no such thing as a free lunch.
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Originally posted by Cynthetiq
Viacom is a HUGE company, as is NewsCorp, like Microsoft, when something comes up on their radar screen, they have very deep pockets to exploit the smaller competition. BET orignal founder didn't ever want to sell his baby to a larger media outlet, until the offer was too sweet to refuse.
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I seem to remember that all those companies were very small once. As far as the owner of BET is concerned, too bad his dream had a price. Neither government deregulation nor big business can be blamed for his lack of conviction.
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Originally posted by Cynthetiq
MTV products are in almost 3/4's of the nations TV's. Not all markets or cable companies carry FUSE. So, I don't see how there's a choice at all. You can't just call up a different cable company and ask them to host your cable for you. Yes, you can get a dish, but I live in a highrise and don't face Southwest so not an option for me. I still don't see how I have these vast choices.
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But you can petition your local cable company to carry a channel. You can also cancel your subscription. No one is forcing you to have cable T.V. I'm sure if you raised enough of a stink about it (activism), FUSE would be catapulted from obscurity.