Questions about Pax's future and "i"

[PaulKTF]

I have a couple of questions I'm hoping someone can answer for me please:

1. How do I tell if my local Pax station (WPXE) is an afiliate or O&O? I assume by the call letters that it's O&O?

2. Our local cable system doesn't carry the national Pax feed for whatever reason. Will the national/digital cable feed of Pax eventualy die out once "i" is established or is the plan to keep Pax alive as a digital-cable-only station (that doesn't seem very feasable to me)?

3. If it does stay alive, will it just go all-infomercial with Pax's current first run/syndicated entertainment programing moving to "i" since there's no real reason for the entertainment programing to stay on Pax if so few people can watch it? I assume the national Pax Network would change it's name (back to INtv?).

I've read all the press releases and I couldn't find any answers to these questions. I can't wait to see what ends up on "i" just because the concept has peaked my curiosity. Thank you!
<P ID="signature">______________
-Paul</P>

 

[RockManAC]

> 1. How do I tell if my local Pax station (WPXE) is an
> afiliate or O&O? I assume by the call letters that it's O&O?

O&O

> 2. Our local cable system doesn't carry the national Pax
> feed for whatever reason. Will the national/digital cable
> feed of Pax eventualy die out once "i" is established or is
> the plan to keep Pax alive as a digital-cable-only station
> (that doesn't seem very feasable to me)?

They probably carry WPXE under must carry. No need to carry the national feed then since most Pax stations are just network repeaters.

-A<P ID="signature">______________

</P>

 

[PaulKTF]

> They probably carry WPXE under must carry. No need to carry
> the national feed then since most Pax stations are just
> network repeaters.

Okay but my point being that once "i" starts, WPXE won't be carrying the national feed of Pax anymore- they'll be carrying the national feed of "i" leaving us without the national feed of Pax.<P ID="signature">______________
-Paul</P>

 

[KMRichards]

> > They probably carry WPXE under must carry. No need to
> carry
> > the national feed then since most Pax stations are just
> > network repeaters.
>
> Okay but my point being that once "i" starts, WPXE won't be
> carrying the national feed of Pax anymore- they'll be
> carrying the national feed of "i" leaving us without the
> national feed of Pax.

You missed the point. Pax will cease to exist when "i" starts.
<P ID="signature">______________


</P>

 

[PaulKTF]

> > > They probably carry WPXE under must carry. No need to
> > carry
> > > the national feed then since most Pax stations are just
> > > network repeaters.
> >
> > Okay but my point being that once "i" starts, WPXE won't
> be
> > carrying the national feed of Pax anymore- they'll be
> > carrying the national feed of "i" leaving us without the
> > national feed of Pax.
>
> You missed the point. Pax will cease to exist when "i"
> starts.

Well no, that's not correct- at least as far as the plans are right now (if I understand them right) it will continue albeit with a very limited market. See:

http://orlando.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2005/06/27/daily19.html

which says in part "After the transition is complete, Paxson, which is currently digital multicasting on 45 of its 60 stations, will continue to air programming under its Pax TV brand on one of its digital channels over the air and in select cable homes."

That's why I asked the questions I did- Right now it looks like we'll get "i" since Time Warner must carry WPXE, but not the Pax national feed since our digital cable doesn't carry it(it didn't have a reason to until now since it wouldn't make senxe to carry both the local and national Pax feeds).<P ID="signature">______________
-Paul</P>

 

[KMRichards]

Color me skeptical

> which says in part "After the transition is complete,
> Paxson, which is currently digital multicasting on 45 of its
> 60 stations, will continue to air programming under its Pax
> TV brand on one of its digital channels over the air and in
> select cable homes."

Somehow that all sounds like wishful thinking on Paxson's part.

Pax isn't working as a basic network, so it's replaced by a new producer-driven concept while the faltering original network gets relegated to a ".2" channel?

<P ID="signature">______________


</P>

 

[PaulKTF]

Re: Color me skeptical

> > which says in part "After the transition is complete,
> > Paxson, which is currently digital multicasting on 45 of
> its
> > 60 stations, will continue to air programming under its
> Pax
> > TV brand on one of its digital channels over the air and
> in
> > select cable homes."
>
> Somehow that all sounds like wishful thinking on Paxson's
> part.
>
> Pax isn't working as a basic network, so it's replaced by a
> new producer-driven concept while the faltering original
> network gets relegated to a ".2" channel?

Yeah; that doesn't make any sense to me either... Maybe there's some legal or contractual obligation where they have to keep Pax alive for a period of time?
<P ID="signature">______________
-Paul</P>

 

[stevebaxley]

Re: Color me skeptical

Color me skeptical as well...
Is it just me, or does something not add up here?

Has in fact PAX found a way to not only fool NBC-Universal...BUT the very govt. that said "NEYT" to his digital must carry request???

 

[jegrant]

Re: Color me skeptical

> Color me skeptical as well...
> Is it just me, or does something not add up here?
>
> Has in fact PAX found a way to not only fool
> NBC-Universal...BUT the very govt. that said "NEYT" to his
> digital must carry request???
>

Well, they certainly are making an attempt to force cable carriage of 3 distinct streams so far (i/PAX via must-carry, Worship.Net, (post-transition) PAX National). But without the force of law, it is highly dependent on viewer requests, and I doubt that PAX attracts enough viewers to have much influence on cable/satellite (MVPD) operators.

I wonder if SBC or Verizon would have any interest in signing up to carry any of these networks on new IPTV services? Verizon certainly didn't hesitate to cut a deal with NBC/U but I doubt that will help PAX much.