[BrettR]

If the merger is approved,

Will PPV be still branded as Blockbuster Ticket? I know that Blockbuster gets a cut of DirecTV's PPV and monthly subscription revenue. In exchange, Blockbuster sells DirecTV equipment and offers 52 Free Rentals to the new existing subscriber. Good for the new subscriber. But really, it doesnt deter churn after the year is up.

Does Blockbuster determine which PPVs will be airing on DirecTV? I know BB prevented "American Beauty" from being carried on many shelves as BB was demanding DreamWorks share revenue with BB but more than what DreamWorks wanted:
http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,6496,00.html

Will BB get control of satellite PPV in entirety also? Could this be damaging on PPV selections down the road? Blockbuster estimated that about 6 million new DirecTV subscribers will come in a 5 year time frame. I know for sure DirecTV did not add 1 million this year just through BB. However, DirecTV does make a lot on PPV it seems. However with digital cable (cable before couldnt compete) and DVDs, DirecTV's one huge advantage doesnt seem to be that big, any more to be honest.

 

[BrettR]

Since Blockbuster gets a small cut of DirecTV's PPV revenue and commission on sales

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_brdcble/m0BCA/21_130/62448890/p1/article.jhtml

Why doesnt DirecTV and Viacom (owner of Blockbuster) team up to get Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia on satellite to increase DirecTV subscriber base?

Viacom owns TV Land, Nickelodeon, MTV, VH1, Showtime and locally KYW 3(CBS)-Philadelphia and WPSG 57(UPN)-Philadelphia. Also WJZ 13 (CBS) which covers Baltimore and Northern MD and WCBS 2 in North NJ where Comcast has presence. Comcast has stake in InDemand which competes with Blockbuster and Video Store Rentals.

So Viacom would prefer you order PPV through DirecTV not PPV through InDemand in theory. And boosting DirecTV penetration in Philadelphia will increase DirecTV subscriber base.

Viacom could bring to the table for Comcast: Offer DirecTV CCSN PHILLY or else MTV VH1 TV Land Nickelodeon and Showtime get yanked from your cable systems. It wouldnt be smart of Viacom to ask to pull KYW and WPSG since this would really hurt their local stations, but if MTV VH1 and the Viacom cable networks get pulled from Comcast it would hurt Comcast more than the cable networks.

I was originally thinking that DirecTV and DISH should pull the QVC channel when contract ended, but this would backfire as Comcast might be able to tie Comcast SportsNet MidAtlantic D.C/Baltimore to QVC but at the same time withhold Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia from the table. NewsCorp was able to tie Fox Sports West 2 with National Geographic Channel and FOX broadcast properties, meaning DISH had to carry FSW2. NBC ties ShopNBC, Disney ties SoapNet with ABC with ESPN, so these strange warped retransmission tying exists!

If Cablevision seriously gets into satellite TV, Cablevision should make Comcast put CCSN up on satellite. I figure Cablevision could drop QVC and CN8 from Northern NJ cable lineups hurting QVC and CN8. It could get ugly. Comcast might decide then dropping American Movie Classics and News12 NJ when the contract ends.