I was talking to a D* manager last night about a slew of topics. I happened to bring up the current issue of their HD quality and then I started to mention things like compressed signal, not the best HD quality possible, TNT HD and PPVs being shut down during NFL ST to free up space, etc, etc, etc. This manager that was in HD/2nd level Support made a comment that networks pay for bandwidth. Does this mean that if Discovery HD pays more than say TNT HD that they would be allocated more bandwidth and therefore a better HD picture? If this is just common knowledge, I apologize. It was just phrased in a way by this D* representative that made me think, ok, maybe D* is only partially responsible for the current state of affairs with HD quality and the networks need to pony up more money if they want to truly showcase their product.

Well, food companies pay stores for prime shelf space. I wouldn't put it past D* to charge extra for better bit rates. I'm sure it's being done, though. Heck of business model, though.

I was under the impression that cable/sat providers had to pay the nets for carriage.
does this mean they get kickbacks from the nets for bandwidth ?

If the nets are paying the providers, why is my bill so high ?

Walt

while most nets are actually paid carriage deals by directv, your bill is high because directv knows you will pay that much, not to cover costs.

while most nets are actually paid carriage deals by directv, your bill is high because directv knows you will pay that much, not to cover costs.
Very true. Even with expensive networks like ESPN, programming costs to providers is less than 25% of the average customer bills.

while most nets are actually paid carriage deals by directv, your bill is high because directv knows you will pay that much, not to cover costs.

It's called Capitalism and it's the way every company operates.

It's called Capitalism and it's the way every company operates.
The profitable ones, anyway...

Very true. :D