LOCAST Receives Unfavorable Court Rulling

wa8yxm wrote:
Here is what I do not understand about Loacast, also cable and satellite.

You operate a tv station... The rate you charge for your PRODUCT (Advertising) is based on how many people watch your shows. Now someone comes along and offers to, let's say, double your viewership. Now you have more viewers and logically you now charge more for advertising and profits go up all with NO additional expense on your part.

So you SUE the folks who did you this favor.
Or you charge them a fee

Should you not be sharing your additional wealth with them (Paying)

But no. that's not how it works.

Agreed, that's not how it works.

A big part of the profits come from cable companies paying the station to air their programing. This company completely undercuts that relationship.

Local stations pick up very few local viewers. When they do, it's often people who moved out of the area but still like the familiarity...but for the local heating/cooling shop, it's no justification to pay more for advertisements.

More commonly, people will pick up a big city station outside their area, so the local station doesn't get any credit and actually can lose customers.

Then you have the type of viewer that uses this system...they are not your typical heavy consumer, so even if you get more eyes, it doesn't translate to sales for the advertisers.

Also, because it's outside of normal ratings system, it's a challenge to convince advertisers of how many people are using the system.

Reminds me of the old saying about if these are friends, who needs enemies.