Thread: New Satellite TV and Radio Stations

Hey Gordy,
I’m in, I waste 22 bucks a month on HBO. I can drop them and it can go for the project as you outlined. I will be willing to help if I can, I did 40 years in the telecommunications (Phone company tech and manager).

My first suggestion is to start a punch list of items that would be needed to see if the project would fly and then see if any of the sat-guys can help out with a particular item.
Mike Lib

Gordy, I agree with your idea in concept. And I would really like to see it succeed. I work for the I.T. department at a university campus, and have been here for the last 12 years. So I have established relationships with many of the department chairs and college deans, including the college of Arts & Communications. I would be willing to float the idea past them to see if there is any interest. I know one thing that would probably interest them is national broadcast of their sports programs. We have had a number of NCAA division III championships the last several years. We are a fairly large campus and there are alumni all over the country who like to follow the programs.
Just a few of my initial thoughts on the subject.

Excellent! Everyone so far has been most positive and this is very good - meaning that I would believe the support would be out there across the public masses as well.

I was doing some browsing via Google today just to gather some information. I wasn't very successful. I thought that there would be at least some information out there to help guide the foundation of such an endeavor. Maybe I am using the wrong key words, I don't know. But, there just didn't seem to be a lot of information readily available on Google.

I did find some ancient information regarding TP lease prices. This was from 1990, so quite outdated. It listed an annual lease for an entire transponder via the Intelsat fleet at $2.8M.

That would probably be unreasonable. We wouldn't require an entire TP all to ourselves. However, maybe there could be some benefit to sharing an entire TP with several other entities. Possibly like DougBrown mentioned - a college or University with a sports program that would benefit from it and possibly their science, journalism and broadcasting programs as well.

Lot's of things to consider, so this is going to be a lengthy project if it ever really does launch at all. I sure would like to see it happen, though. Man, this would be great! Really great!

I like the GratiStar name, that has a good ring to it.

Gordy

Originally Posted by dougbrown

Gordy, I agree with your idea in concept. And I would really like to see it succeed. I work for the I.T. department at a university campus, and have been here for the last 12 years. So I have established relationships with many of the department chairs and college deans, including the college of Arts & Communications. I would be willing to float the idea past them to see if there is any interest. I know one thing that would probably interest them is national broadcast of their sports programs. We have had a number of NCAA division III championships the last several years. We are a fairly large campus and there are alumni all over the country who like to follow the programs.
Just a few of my initial thoughts on the subject.

Doug,

If you have a few moments to query some of the people you know in the broadcasting department, please inquire of them as to any information and guidance sources that we can access for research on how to do this from the technical side as well as the legal side and monetary side.

I expect that there must be some government or FCC guides and literature that will assist in this matter. Finding them through Google is probably not going to prove to be successful as I doubt there are that many people using Google to research this avenue, hence very few hits or topics will be displayed.

If you or anyone here who also has contacts regarding this, please don't hesitate to pick their brains for any ideas that will help.

Victor Ives from WSTV might be willing to assist in this project. If not as a consultant and advisor, but maybe just to provide some initial guidance.

Gordy

Now let's see... We have to dream about this a bit, too.

Hmmm? What TV channels would we offer and what content on each?

How about:

"The Detective Network"

Dragnet
FBI
Diagnosis MURDER
Hawaii 5-0
Quincy M. E.
The Rockford Files
Columbo
Hart to Hart
Simon and Simon
Baretta
Perry Mason
Hunter
Magnum P.I.
Mannix
Ironsides
Mission Impossible
The Avengers
Charlies Angels
CHIPs
The Untouchables
McCloud
McMillan and Wife
Ellery Queen
Adam 12
Moonlighting
Hawk
The Saint
The Adventures of Fu Manchu
Sherlock Holmes
Banacek
Police Story
Remington Steele
Barnaby Jones
Cannon
The Mod Squad
Cagney and Lacey
Crime Story
The Fugitive
Hardcastle and McCormick
Have Gun Will Travel
Kojak
Kolchack: The Night Stalker
The Magician
Matlock
nightly or at least weekly specialty movies related to the channel content

"Nostalgia Comedy Network"

Father Knows Best
My Three Son's
I Love Lucy
The Honeymooners
Leave it to Beaver
The Addams Family
The Andy Griffith Show
The Beverly Hillbillies
B. J. and the Bear
Bewitched
The Dick Van Dyke Show
Gomer Pyle USMC
Green Acres
Hogan's Heroes
I Dream of Jeanie
The Munsters
All In the Family
Bob Newhart
Brady Bunch
Happy Days
The Jeffersons
Mary Tyler Moore
TAXI
WKRP in Cincinnatti
The Odd Couple
Sanford and Son
Three's Company
Welcome Back Kotter
MASH
Mr. Ed
Petticoat Junction
Carole Burnette Show
The Real McCoys
Dennis the Menace
Get Smart
Gilligan's Island
McHales Navy
The Monkees
Three Stooges
Ma and Pa Kettle
Sgt. Bilko
F-Troop
Laurel and Hardy
Hee Haw
Laugh-In
occasional special shows, or clasic comedy movies and Dean Martin Roasts


"WILD WEST"

The Rifleman
Gunsmoke
Bonanza
Maverick
Rawhide
Wagon Train
Daniel Boone
Lone Ranger
The Cisco Kid
Hoppalong Cassidy
Cheyenne
The High Chaparral
Kung Fu
Alias Smith and Jones
The Wild Wild West
The Big Valley
The Virginian
Texas Rangers
Have Gun Will Travel
F-Troop
Branded
Little House on the Prairie
Sky King
Wagon Train
Laramie
Wanted Dead or Alive
Shanendoa
Bat Masterson
Nightly or at least weekely movies of western content and genre

"SCIENCE FICTION THEATER"

Star Trek (the original of course)
The Twilight Zone
Night Gallery
Lost in Space
X-Files
Sliders
Land of the Lost
The Lost World
The Outer Limits
ALF
Star Hustler with Dr. Jack Horkheimer (filler)
The Jetsons
Alfred Hitchcock
Andromeda
Night Rider
Dr. Who
Sanctuary
The Prisoner
Quantum Leap
Kolchack the Night Stalker
Buck Rogers
Superman
The Avengers
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
My Favorite Martian
The Incredible Hulk
Logan's Run
Star Trek spinoffs
Nightly or weekly sci-fi movies.

"Kid's Saturday Morning Corner"

Bugs Bunny and Road Runner
Yogi Bear
Flinstones
Woody Woodpecker
Popeye
Mighty Mouse
Tom an Jerry
Pixie, Dixie and Jinks
Huckleberry Hound
Rocky and Bullwinkle
Mr. McGoo
Speed Buggy
Scooby Doo
Fat Albert
Snagle Puss
Quick-Draw McGraw
SchoolHouse Rock
Etc.

Then a continuous movie channel and an educational DIY channel, too. The movie channel would air commercial free movies, uncut and unedited.
Movies would be mostly classics, not too old, but very good quality. New stuff might prove to be too expensive for the budget, but wahtever can be managed will be aired.

How about this for starting show lineups?

Gordy

DN will consider this and all FTA as a threat to revenue. Do you really want to draw attention to FTA?

Originally Posted by 1ADAM12

DN will consider this and all FTA as a threat to revenue. Do you really want to draw attention to FTA?

Good point.

Originally Posted by 1ADAM12

DN will consider this and all FTA as a threat to revenue. Do you really want to draw attention to FTA?

Originally Posted by sleeper

Good point.

Well, the only thing that an entity such as DN could possibly do in response to such a "threat" would be to lower their prices, add al-a-cart programming and widdle the info-mercials off of their premium channels. Oh, and get rid of the crappy reality shows! LOL

So.... I guess it could be a win-win situation regardless. As, they cannot squelch FTA in any other way.



Also, note that the majority of the shows that I listed as suggested content are what DN is wanting to steer away from since their programmers want to sell the new stuff. Their notion that most people like their programming is going to hurt them in the long run. At least I perceive this to be mostly true.

Awesome list of shows and expensive!

The largest cost of operation will be the purchase of programming. Strip programming (typically daily shows with multiple weeks of programming) is usually sold in syndication packages. Packages call be purchased for cash, barter or a combination. Barter involves the inclusion of advertising by the syndication company and can result in reduced or no cost programming.

It will be difficult to determine and negotiate licensing fees for FTA as there are limited methods to measure your audience. Much of the negotiating for the cost of a program involves potential number of viewers. Without a measurement of the audience by an accepted method such as Nielson, the purchase of the programming becomes complicated. If no barter is involved, the cash purchase could include the potential number of viewers, but is less important.

Free or inexpensive web based distribution of classic programming ala carte is becoming a challenge to the television's linear delivery format. You will want to consider the impact of services such as Hulu on this business proposal.

To financially support a free FTA service or as a twist on the linear delivery proposal might be to build an advertising or small fee based, one way satellite delivery of on demand media files in conjunction with a Hulu type provider. Orders could be placed by standard RJ-45 landline connection, internet or touch tone telephone. Download of your programming to a STB or computer solution would occur over a time frame dependent on your acceptance of advertising, membership or donation. This could overcome the usage caps on satellite Internet providers and allow access to media by folks who are outside broadband / DSL service areas.