However, I think what we're going to find is that there is an inherent conflict between the expectations for compensation from content owners, the expectations for profit from investors, and the expectations for programming from viewers. The big four networks are barely able to smooth out those conflicts; it surely remains to be seen whether sub-channels can. This TV and such are trying hard, now, but I suspect that their ability to secure programming on an on-going basis will be limited by their limited resources. I bet that we'll see an unmatched amount of repetition of programming for over-the-air broadcasting; vast amounts of the broadcast day devoted to home shopping or infomercials; etc.
Personally, what I would really like to see sub-channels used for is delayed broadcast of the main channel's programming. I would love to see every channel rebroadcast its main programming, in 480i widescreen, on a sub-channel, say three hours later. However, such an offering would mostly be aimed at DVRs, and so not a major money-maker. Maybe make it a 24 hour delay for most programming, except have the news slots just delayed from one slot to the next, i.e., show the morning news at noon, the noon news at 6PM, the 6PM news at 11PM, and so on. (Unfortunately, the slots aren't all the same size.)
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