And Now, I Know

I think I may have complained in here before about the so-called “history” programs on stations like the National Geographic Channel being chock-full of Bible and Jesus “documentaries.” What couching these stories in those terms does is give them the aura of legitimacy that isn’t backed up anywhere by ACTUAL recorded history; articles of faith turned into documentaries are a not-so-subtle attempt to plant Christianity in the minds of those who might come away from seeing one of those “documentaries” on a “history” style channel.

And then today, I saw the light! Reuters has shown me the way. Or, more precisely, the WHY.

Negotiations between the two sides have been primarily held up by a disagreement over the value of Fox’s free-to-air broadcast network. Fox is asking Time Warner Cable for around $1 a subscriber in payment for the retransmission rights to carry its network, according to a person familiar with the talks.

Time Warner Cable executives have balked at paying that much and have claimed that negotiations with broadcast companies like Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc and Local TV which carry local affiliate stations are in the 25 cents to 50 cents a subscriber range.

CBS Corp CEO Les Moonves, who has been a very vocal supporter of getting pay-TV providers to pay cash for the right to carry his broadcast network, has publicly said he expects his company to be paid around 50 cents a subscriber.

Fox said it has for the past nine months attempted to “negotiate in good faith” with Time Warner Cable, the No. 2 U.S. cable operator, which serves some 14 million customers, and said those talks are ongoing.

But there is a “very likely possibility that Time Warner Cable may choose to no longer carry Fox Broadcasting, Fox Cable and Fox regional sports programing,” Fox said.

The negotiations do not include Fox’s news channels or National Geographic channel in which it has a 50 percent stake.

Well how ’bout that? Old Rupert’s gnarled hand is in NatGeo. All of a sudden, all those Bible and Jesus programs on that channel make perfect sense to me.

He hasn’t figured out a way to include attacks on liberals in NatGeo yet, but I’m sure that given time, he will. And another channel just got struck off the list of those I watch semi-regularly.

Crossposted at Reconstitution.

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