At 05:20 PM 3/10/01 +0100 J. van Baardwijk wrote:
>>Its called the television program or radio program that you're watching.
>
>But then we're paying twice for watching a program: through commercials and
>through our electricity bill (electricity isn't free).
Please tell me that you're not serious.
Yes, Jeroen, the electricity pays for the cost of running your television.
You still, however, have to pay for the costs of:
-the actors
-the director
-the producers
-the camera operators
-the script-writers
-the sound editors, writers, recorders, and producers
-the film editors
-the set location, structure, and props
Plus, you also have to pay for the costof developing all of those
television shows that never make any money.
>Here's a thought: if we have to pay *them* to watch something *we* want to
>watch (a show), *they* should pay *us* for watching something they want us
>to watch (commercials).
Good grief Jeroen, the show's producers don't really care if you watch the
show - they want you to watch the commercials! In exchange for watching
the commercials (which you may not particularly care to watch), to entice
you by broadcasting something you *do* want to watch, alongside the
commercials!
Another way of thinking about it is this: the show's producers are
basically letting you watch their show for free (provided that you can
afford the TV, and the electricity costs of running the TV). In exchange,
they take a gamble that a great many of their viewers will also watch the
commercials - and sell commercial space to advertisers to underwrite the
cost of the show......
JDG
__________________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
"The point of living in a Republic after all, is that we do not live by
majority rule. We live by laws and a variety of isntitutions designed
to check each other." -Andrew Sullivan 01/29/01
