October 1999
"Priming The Pump": The Role of Retransmission Consent in the Transition To Digital Television
By Stuart N. Brotman

V. DIGITAL TELEVISION'S PROGRAM OFFERINGS

The digital retransmission consent agreements in hand and in progress have a direct impact for millions of cable subscribers that is evident today and destined to increase over time. For example, under the agreements discussed above, cable subscribers will have available to them in high-definition format 80 percent of the CBS prime time schedule (including the hits Touched by an Angel and Everybody Loves Raymond), NFL Football and such special events as the recent U.S. Open Tennis Championship; blockbuster movies on Fox such as Independence Day and Men in Black and the popular series The X-Files; and the leading late-night entertainment program, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (See Appendix: Chart 6).

These attractive digital offerings will be available with leading pay and basic cable services that are moving aggressively to offer digital programming. For example, HBO is the sole broadcast or cable network to date with a full high-definition channel. Its original series, such as Sex in the City, The Sopranos and Oz, are all offered in high-definition format, as are its original movies, specials and many theatrical movies. ¹⁷ On the basic side, The Discovery Channel has purchased over $14 million worth of Sony Electronic high-definition TV equipment for original digital productions such as the "Eco Challenge" endurance race. ¹⁸ And for regional sports, the MSG Network has been offering games of the New York Rangers, the New York Mets and the world-champion New York Yankees in high-definition format, along with select Madison Square Garden special events. ¹⁹

These developments are taking place as cable operators are assessing marketplace demand for new digital services. Tiers carrying these services are primarily for additional analog -displayed networks that are digitally compressed. The tiers also will provide, as consumer demand justifies it and dependent on other uses of channel capacity, some capacity to allow operators to add digital broadcast stations under retransmission consent agreements and other high-definition services such as HBO for reception by digital television sets. In short, if digital program services from broadcast and cable programmers meet a consumer need, cable subscribers will have ample inducement to consider switching to a digital set in order to have access to this growing menu of digital programming.

¹⁸ Jim McConville, Discovery Sets HDTV Telecast, Electronic Media, October 11, 1999, at 27.

¹⁹ Peter H. Lewis, Coming Soon to HDTV: New York Sports Teams, The New York Times, December 3, 1998, at G3.