For Broadcast Nets, Cable Path Is Twisty

Converting Fox, or any of the other broadcasters, to a cable net would not be easy.

"The challenge is not whether it can be done. It's how long would it take to happen. It's not easy or quick," warns Wall Street analyst Richard Greenfield, who believes that as long as Aereo is legal, "it significantly changes the leverage imbalance that has dominated retrans negotiations" that now favor broadcast. Long before News Corp’s Chase Carey threatened to play the cable card in Vegas, Fox studied the model in 2008- 09. (Little-known fact: before News Corp got control of DirecTV, DirecTV boxes contained TV antennas. But outfitting boxes with antennas is an expensive proposition.) A decade ago, NBC's Bob Wright and Disney's Bob Iger flirted with the cable conversion idea in public when they needed a way to get pesky affiliates back in line. Fox's plan, as developed about four years ago, would have moved the network to cable "with" its affiliates, making the change even more complicated. The idea was to run locally originated programming, including news, network and syndicated fare, over cable. The WB set up similar "virtual stations" in markets where it couldn't get broadcast affiliates. A drastic change from broadcast to cable has several pros and cons.