IC-Chapter 2-Criminal World(Dave only)

[Mr. Handy]

"Take over a network?" said Luca. "We make a good living, but we're not as big as Westinghouse. There's only three networks worth a damn, and they're all too expensive for our wallets. Not that we couldn't get some influence. Anyway, a network that charged its viewers would lose its audience to the others that don't. They make their money from advertising."

[tatteredking]

Dave takes a sip of his beer, and sits back and relaxes. "bit that's the most annoying thing about television is all the damn ads! Think about it. Do you think people would pay for programming if there were no ads?"

[Mr. Handy]

"Yeah, they might," said Luca, "but I don't know that enough of them would. There's that CATV thing. That's been around about twenty years. It was popular when it first came out, but that's because it was the only game in town for a while. There was a licensing freeze back then. Afterwards, though, most people just went to the free stuff, because they didn't want to pay if they don't have to. Still, there may be something to it. There's been a lot of it springing up in Pennsylvania, reaching communities that wouldn't get a signal otherwise. It's too bad the FCC took control over it. Otherwise, you could show things on CATV that the FCC would never let you broadcast. What man wouldn't want to be able to watch a peep show in his living room, huh?"

The waiter returned with a tray containing plates with the main course. After removing the empty soup bowls, he placed the plates in front of Dave and Luca, then took the tray with the empty bowls back out again, heading for the kitchen.