[Thanhuk]

Hi,
After all this about CBM Going, and a time-shared might be appearing, I e-mailed Stephen Arnold, oin Saturday, and he replyed today saying: -

Thanh

Thank you for your interest in Freeview and Crown Castle.

On August 6 Crown Castle announced that it had ended its commercial arrangements with CBM Media for use of Freeview channel 22.

To provide viewers with more programme choice Crown Castle is considering splitting the slot into a number of smaller 'time share' channels allowing several broadcasters to share the remaining capacity.

Information about Crown Castle's progress will be released as it becomes available.

Regards

Stephen Arnold
Communications Manager

I have just e-mailed then back asking if CBM will ever come back on to freeview after it launchs, so im asking that no-one else replys,as if he sees alod of e-mails about this issue, then hes bound to ignore them, like before!
Thanks
Thanh
Your Number 1 ( well sometimes ) for freeview news!

[Corin]

[quote]Originally posted by Thanhuk
I have just e-mailed then back asking if CBM will ever come back on to freeview after it launchs

How does anyone know if CBM will ever launch?

And how can you expect Stephen Arnold to answer that question when he has just informed you that CBM will not be carried by CCI?

[Tim195]

Because CBM could get carriage on the SDN mux!!

[Thanhuk]

Well, If they do launch and CC have not found antyone for the slows yet, they "Could" take them back on.
Thanh

[RTE]

I got exactly the same response from Stephen Arnold today :

David

Thank you for your interest in Freeview and Crown Castle.

On August 6 Crown Castle announced that it had ended its commercial arrangements with CBM Media for use of Freeviewc hannel 22.

To provide viewers with more programme choice Crown Castle is considering splitting the slot into a number of smaller 'time share' channels allowing several broadcasters to share the remaining capacity.

Information about Crown Castle's progress will be released as it becomes available.

Regards

Stephen Arnold
Communications Manager

David

[Corin]

Originally posted by Tim195
Because CBM could get carriage on the SDN mux!!

How can Stephen Arnold of CCI answer speculative questions about the SDN multiplex?

[Corin]

Originally posted by Thanhuk
Well, If they do launch and CC have not found antyone for the slows yet, they "Could" take them back on.
Thanh

But launch on which platform?

If CBM get carriage on SDN then CBM are not going to go back to CCI are they?

And if they are to launch on another platform, they are going to have to renegotiate broadcast rights for that platform instead of DVB-t, are they not?

If if they succeeded in doing that, where is the money going to come from for them to have those rights (satellite or cable) plus the carriage fees plus paying for DVB-t rights on the off chance that CCI would want to kiss and make up?

Starting up a brand new tv station is a every expensive business, and one which generally loses money for the first year or so.

Remember it is not a case of CCI saying please come on to our multiplex we have this free slot, it is a case of broadcasting companies with sufficient financial resources going to CCI and saying we are prepared to pay your asking price (or more) to be broadcast on your multiplex.

Now if a multiplex operator were to think that a broadcaster was not in a financially viable position to be able to pay their way, do you think that the multiplex operator might have second thoughts about the carriage of such a broadcaster?

Remember at the end of the day, it does not really matter that much to CCI what type of programs a broadcaster provides, all they care about is that they get their carriage fees paid, and at a high as rate as the market will sustain.

[James Harland]

Well said Corin

[Tim195]

Remember at the end of the day, it does not really matter that much to CCI what type of programs a broadcaster provides, all they care about is that they get their carriage fees paid, and at a high as rate as the market will sustain.

But CCI have some guidlines, and surely something broadcasting makes more money than nothing. Perhaps they realised how CBM were selling off little bits of airtime and making money and want to get in on the action. I just hope a decent service launches soon.

[Mark Smith]

Originally posted by Tim195
But CCI have some guidlines, and surely something broadcasting makes more money than nothing. Perhaps they realised how CBM were selling off little bits of airtime and making money and want to get in on the action. I just hope a decent service launches soon.

I've thought that it would be better for them to charge peanuts to show a channel than show nothing at all and receive no carriage fee in return.

But if they leave the slot blank, it can still be filled later. If they sell it at a reduced rate now, it would be more difficult to kick the cheaper channel off so the slot can be freed for use by someone that wants to pay serious money for it, wouldn't it?

[Corin]

What is actually interesting about this e-mail, which we do indeed thank ThanUK for providing, are two telling points.

Originally posted by Thanhuk Crown Castle is considering splitting the slot

Not that Stephen Arnold says "considering" which implies that it is not a foregone conclusion that this will actually happen.

Originally posted by Thanhuk
Information about Crown Castle's progress will be released as it becomes available.

What this could possibly imply, is that there is not in fact anybody waiting in the wings to rush in and take up the timeshare slots.

Furthermore, it could be argued from the above, that if interested parties do not come forward to snap up the timeshare slots, and somebody made an offer that could not be refused for the whole 24h, then CCI would not hold its-self to the timeshare format.

[Tim195]

Surely they wouldn't have been so hasty in axing CBM if this were the case though.

[Corin]

Originally posted by Tim195
Surely they wouldn't have been so hasty in axing CBM if this were the case though.

In what way has CCI been hasty in axing CBM?

All the indications from the released statements are that CCI has been very patient in dealing with CBM.

And would you like to answer my purely speculative question posted above?

Now if a multiplex operator were to think that a broadcaster was not in a financially viable position to be able to pay their way, do you think that the multiplex operator might have second thoughts about the carriage of such a broadcaster?

[pxd867]

I can't see CC not having alternatives in the wings and ready to broadcast, if it could dump CBM at such a late stage. I hope to see something def beofre Nov/Dec as other wise people on the outside wil start thinking Freeview is all talk

[Thanhuk]

Originally posted by Corin
[b]What is actually interesting about this e-mail, which we do indeed thank ThanUK for providing [b]

Its alright, at least youre giving a good argument on the thread!
Thanh

[Thanhuk]

Originally posted by pxd867
other wise people on the outside wil start thinking Freeview is all talk

And we dont want that!, do we know
Thanh

[Corin]

OK then, so here is a simple question that we should all put to the test.

If there is indeed somebody waiting in the wings, that a certain multiplex operator would much prefer to have in a certain vacant slot on its multiplex, what is the maximum length of time would one reasonably expect to elapse before a certain multiplex operator might be expected to make an announcement that an agreement had been reached with this broadcaster?

And considering that a certain multiplex operator has indicated a preference for timeshares to maximize its carriage fees, would there not have to be three or more broadcast stations (not necessarily three or more broadcast organisations) waiting in the wings?

Once posters can reach a consensus on the answer to the first question, all we have to do is wait and see if that time limit is exceeded.

[chrisy]

Originally posted by Corin
In what way has CCI been hasty in axing CBM?

IMHO, just the way they (according to CBM) terminated the contract with no warning.

Chris

[Rob_Online]

Originally posted by chrisy
IMHO, just the way they (according to CBM) terminated the contract with no warning.

Chris

I t was a bit hasty. I spose CCI got rid of CBM because they didnt launch within some sort of deadline?

[pxd867]

Originally posted by Rob 555
I t was a bit hasty. I spose CCI got rid of CBM because they didnt launch within some sort of deadline?

yeah, like in July I think!!!

[Tim195]

When I said they were hasty in the axing of CBM i meant how the chanel was scrapped with no prior warnimg to CBM, or any final ultimations about starting broadcastings. Though if CCI can find a suitable broadcaster/s quickly and who are willing to pay their fees then a replacement shouldn't be too far away. I just hope that we get a good genre and a channel that will appeal to the masses.

[Sven945]

didnt CBM and CCI had a special arrangement so that CBM didnt have to pay all the carriage costs in return for CCI getting a cut of the profits or something? if that was true then it wouldnt be as easy for CBM to get carriage on another multiplex.

jack

[jjk]

Originally posted by Tim195
When I said they were hasty in the axing of CBM i meant how the chanel was scrapped with no prior warnimg to CBM, or any final ultimations about starting broadcastings. Though if CCI can find a suitable broadcaster/s quickly and who are willing to pay their fees then a replacement shouldn't be too far away. I just hope that we get a good genre and a channel that will appeal to the masses.

But do we know for sure that they had no warnings or ultimatums? Even if there weren't, missing your deadlines should be a warning sign in themselves. Did CMB notify CCI that they were gonna launch later than expected? Or keep them notified of their progress?

For all we know, CCI might have had no more idea of what was going on than we did. Perhaps they announced it the way they did because it was the only way they could communicate with CBM.

Ok, it's not very likely, but despite all they're saying now, CBM never came across as knowing what they were doing.

[Tim195]

CBM said they had not been contacted prior to removal from LCN 22.

The CBM director announced in a press statement (Courtesy of Media Guardian)

They never even informed us before they announced it.

[mike.s]

If Crown Castles record with CBM is anything to go by we should have a new channel within 3 months (thats the time they gave CBM before pulling the plug).

Anyway, it gives us something to talk, winge and bitch about while we wait