From: aa634@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bill White)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.drwho
Subject: Re: WTVS
Date: 27 Jan 1993 23:50:24 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: aa634@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bill White)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc12.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, ph9991_manfr@rivers.acc.uwrf.edu () says:


[previous posts about the loss of Doctor Who deleted to save bandwidth]

>
>All PBS stations are by law, non-profit. 
>You don't think it has anything to do with the actual amount of money 
>phoned in?  Just because Who is still popular in your region doesn't mean
>it is in others.  It also makes a big difference about what Doctor the
>stations are showing.  Tom Baker stories come a lot more cheaply than
>do the McCoy stories, and if McCoy is the only thing you haven't had
>rerun in your area seven times over, then your station is going to have to
>shell out some hard cash.
>

Please dont take this as a flame because it certainly isn't intended
to be one. It is true that by law all PBS stations are supposed to
be non-profit organizations, but in practice I feel that PBS stations
have developed many creative ways to retain their non-profit status
while eeking out a very comfortable existance. In effect all they have
to do is put all of the monies they take in in a years time back into
the purchase of programming or other necessary equiptment (i.e. cameras,
tape machines, studio equiptment) to retain the "N-P" status. I work
for a network affilated TV station & have been to the local PBS station
in my area on several occasions & can honestly say that their "setup"
(from an equiptment standpoint) is second to none in the city where I
live. 

As for the Tom Baker stories coming more cheaply than the McCoy stories,
I'm not sure how this could be possible. First, in sheer volume, the
Baker stories outnumber the McCoy stories almost 3:1 giving a station
almost a years worth of programming (shown in movie format) as opposed
to 3 months worth of programming for running the McCoy stories. Second,
of all of the "Doctor's", Tom Baker is undoubtedly the most recognizable
not only in the US, but also around the world. I'm not sure, but I
would think that this would tend to make his package the most expensive
of the seven available. 

Finally, for Neal who posted the message that began this string.
Speaking from experience (in our city we lost DW about 5 months ago),
losing Doctor Who sucks, but it could be worse. At least your PBS
station is going to continue running some form of British Science
Fiction. When they pulled the plug on DW here, they abandoned the
area fans of British Science Fiction completely. They have NEVER
run any of Blakes 7, Tripods, Red Dwarf, Star Cops, etc. on the
local PBS station which leaves me scrambling for tapes of programs
like you wouldn't believe. For what it's worth, I WAS a loyal
supporter of the local PBS station for over 5 years, but have since
had to re-evaluate my support for a station that turned it's back
on my interests.
-- 
Bill White, aa634@Cleveland.freenet.edu OR aa037@Medina.Freenet.edu
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       Assistant Sysop, Cleveland & Medina County Free-net's
                  Science Fiction and Fantasy Sig