Which are the 10 largest Free-TV channels in United States? How
profitable are they? (Over a 10 year period preferably,
revenues/profits/margins)
extra: Competition against Pay-channels (briefly)

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Clarification of Question by casherad-ga on 25 Oct 2006 02:53 PDT

No answer so far, what about the 8 largest free-tv channels

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 26 Oct 2006 05:30 PDT

casherad-ga,

The difficulty with your question is that there are many media
conglomerates out there, so that revenue figures are lumped together
for many stations, and don't necessarily reflect an individual TV
station.

Here's a good starting list, though:


http://www.publicintegrity.org/telecom/rank.aspx?act=broadcast#broadcast


Clicking on individual companies will bring up lots of additional
information on their holdings, including TV stations.

Fox, CBS, NBC, and ABC are clearly the largest national network TV
broadcasters.  PBS probably should be on the list as well.

What else do you need to make for a complete answer to your question?


pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by casherad-ga on 26 Oct 2006 08:12 PDT

To clarify, there must be some data on the Free-TV channels, they cant
just bundle up all of it. Must be some point of reference for
comparision. What I'm really after is profit figures for Free-TV
channels.

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Clarification of Question by casherad-ga on 30 Oct 2006 01:57 PST

Still havent received an adequate answer on this. The link provided is
for subscribers etc which clearly isnt what Im looking for considering
I stated Free-TV channels. I also have to complain on the English
written:

"Ads to the contrary, these are not free as viewers are
required to pay for a package of channels. HBO, Cinemax, and Starz are
clearly pay channels, B\but you generally have to subscribe to about a
dozen Starz channels, compared to TBS, WGN, Bravo and Science fiction
channel which are a single channel, so the comparison with free
chanels is difficult."

Could someone explain the quote above? 

Thanks and regards

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 30 Oct 2006 04:21 PST

casherad-ga,

Sorry you haven't yet gotten the information you're after, but your
question is a tough one.

Just to be clear, anyone can post a remark in the Comments section,
below, but only a Google Answers Researcher -- who's name appear in
blue hyperlink -- can post here in the Clarifications section.

You can help the process along by clarifying what you'ld like, at this
point.  There are five big, free networks (FOX, ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS).

Would financial information on any or all of these be of interest? 
Again, it's not always possible to tease out TV from other operations,
but it may be possible for at least some of the networks.

Give us some clear guidance as to what would make for an acceptable
answer, and we'll give it a go.

Thanks,

paf

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Clarification of Question by casherad-ga on 02 Nov 2006 05:27 PST

FOX, ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS
where can I find financial data for these channels? A link to their
financials would be very helpful because then I can try to trace items
in Profit and Loss and Balancesheets which refers to Free-TV.

Thanks

Largest could have several meanings. largest average number of viewers
2 Largest average number of viewers during prime time 3 highest gross
receipts. They are likely in the largest population centers such as
New York City and Los Angeles. Even though more than a third of the
viewers live close enough to the transmitter to get a mediocre picture
with a modest antenna, many are watching the station on cable or dish
or direct. Ads to the contrary, these are not free as viewers are
required to pay for a package of channels.
HBO, Cinemax, and Starz are clearly pay channels, B\but you generally
have to subscribe to about a dozen Starz channels, compared to TBS,
WGN, Bravo and Science fiction channel which are a single channel, so
the comparison with free chanels is difficult.
The free channels are feeling a financial pinch as the government has
required them to offer programs in high definition, which is likely
less than 10% of the viewers, but can be half of the station's
operating costs. In my local, none of the free chanels have filed
bankruptsey nor sold their channel, so I assume, they are making a
profit or expect to make a profit after the transition to high
definition is commplete.  Neil

Thanks, thats interesting but what I'm really looking for is data of
profits/revenues for at least 3-4 free-TV broadcasters.

Cheers.

you wrote: "HBO, Cinemax, and Starz are clearly pay channels, but you
generally have to subscribe to about a dozen Starz channels, compared
to TBS,
WGN, Bravo and Science fiction channel which are a single channel, so
the comparison with free chanels is difficult."

So which channels are considered generally as free? Could you list them?