A little data on foreign lands

Back in January 1999, I asked some folks I corresponded with from many far-flung lands to answer some basic questions about their home.
I'm bringing it up here for the same reason I brought it up then: I'd like to know the answers, and I imagine others feel the same.
So, read and learn, and please share. :)

The Questions:
I know this list has some members who are not in the USA and these questions are mainly for them.
What kind of cars are sold where you live and who makes them?
Do you know who owns that company?
How about trucks, heavy equipment, motorcycles, ocean-going ships, trains, airplanes, or helicotpers?
What TV channels/networks can you watch?
Do you know who owns them or which other channels are owned by the same company?
What are the major corporations in your country? What do they do?

See, I write stories and play Role Playing games that are set in the near future. It is sometimes fun to set these stories or adventures in foreign countries. Brand recognition helps to reinforce a sense of realism.

Also, when plotting out what the major corporations are doing in the future, it helps to know a bit about the world. Like, if I decide that 20 years from now General Motors is making 65% of the cars sold in the world, well, they'd have to take over some foreign markets to do that, either by driving a rival out of business or by buying other car makers.


Below, I'll be posting some of the 1999 replies.
Do you have any notions of likely changes in the near future? Like, I heard that Fiat might be for sale.

Australia:

Two main car companies, Ford and Holden. Owned by the US, but fairly independent. The cars are popular as they are medium-large cars built for Aussie conditions. Asian cars like Daewoo and Honda etc are making inroads as they are cheaper. The government subsidises Holden and Ford, otherwise they would fold. We have the local dealers and service departments for other brands (Land Rover, etc). Actually just remembered that Land Rover make 4WD's locally.

I can not think of a single Australian company that builds trucks (other than light trucks and vans), motorcycles, trains, airplanes or helicopters. A local company Elphinstone builds heavy front end loaders for mining. I'm not sure how big they are but they are making two a month (and ramping up to 4). They are 49% owned by CAT (as in Caterpillar, ?US). We have some shipyards but its hard to compete with Asian labour costs.


The nation wide TV networks are 7, 9, 10, ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission) and SBS (?State Broadcasting Service, I'll check). 7, 9 and 10 are all commercial networks that have a lot of US content. Not sure on ownership, but I'm fairly sure some foreign ownership is involved.

Major Corporations:

BHP: Broken Hill ?P. Mining. Steelworks. Struggling to compete with overseas prices.
ADI: Australian Defence Industries. Make ammunition, weapons, own shipyards, basically anything military.
Transfield: Now called Tennix. Heavy industry, also shipyards.
Telstra: Phone/Communications company. Was government owned and had monopoly. Has competition with Optus. Shares are now in public hands and have gone through the roof.

Cars we have here are Fiat, Volkswagen, Ford and Chevrolet (a GM sub company). Recently Honda, Asia, Hyundai and Peugot started build a new automobile plant. These are international corporations. Some years ago we had 1 automobile factory called Gurgel. Owned by Joao Gurgel, but he bankrupted in an economic crisis.

Volkswagen, Volvo, and Mercedes make trucks. Yamaha and Honda do the motorcycles. Air Planes are build by Embraer, but they do only a training plane Tucano, used by US Navy, among other Air Forces and armies over the world, and Brasilia, a small passager plane. Ocean going ships are build at Verolme and Maua companies. Both are local companies.


There are 6 TV network companies here. Rede Globo is the Larger, followed by SBT (Sistema Brasileiro de Televisao),Rede Record, Rede Bandeirante, CNT and Televisao Educativa.

Rede Globo owner is: Roberto Marinho, a 80+ Media Tycoon. He owns a large radio network, the Globo Network and one of biggest newspaper.

SBT is owned by Silvio Santos. He is an entertainer who commands one of the more
popular tv shows here. His show at the past started at 10:00am and just ended at 10:00pm. Once day per week, at Sundays, now he command just a part of the show.

Rede Record is owned by one evangelic church, commanded by Bishop Edir Macedo. He also owns a cd record company just about Gospel music and some newspapers.

Televisao Educativa is owned by the government

I don't know who owns CNT and Rede bandeirantes.

5 cable tv operator companies, but 2 are for mini Satelite dish. Sky and Direct
TV. The others are Net, TVA, and Multicanal ( a net sub company)

And we got the basic channels know in US (WBtv, Sony, CNN, Cartoon, HBO, Cinemax, Fox, Fox Kids, etc etc etc...) and some locals.

Major Corporations:

Let me see... IBM, Gillete, Nestle, Petrobras (petrol Exploring, Refinning, selling) owned by the govern, Esso (a Exxon sub company), Shell, Volkswagen, Sony, Philips (a dutch electronic company)... and a lot of others which I don't remember.

“I live in Toronto so a lot of the marketplace breakdowns are similar to those in the U.S. but there are some important differences. I'll try to touch on as many as I can without spending my entire Monday on this.”

The cars people drive are the same as in the U.S. In terms of plants, here's the ones I know in Ontario.
Oshawa: [east of Toronto] GM is the major employer in this town. This is the biggest auto manufacturer in Ontario
Oakville: [west of Toronto] Reasonably big Ford plant. I think they make minivans.
Cambridge: [south of Kitchener] Honda plant I think
Napanee: [1/2 way between Toronto and Montreal, west of Kingston] Hyundai plant

In terms of television, there's more Canadian offerings. We do get the big U.S. networks [CNN, ABC, NBC, Fox, TBS...] but most of the good stuff comes from our own companies. The CBC is a state owned broadcaster and tends to have all things Canadian which means news, hockey and low budget one-hour dramas set somewhere rural. There's also CityTV which over the last 20 years has grown from a little pisant cable concern in Toronto to owning a slew of specialty stations including MuchMusic [way better than MTV], MuchMoreMusic, [like VH1], Space [an all sci-fi station which kicks ass], Bravo! [an artsy station that shows lots of foreign films] and some content for overseas markets like a spin off of Much in Buenos Aires . We've got TSN [The Sports Network], CBC Newsworld. The Comedy Network, TeleToon, Showcase and so on. Toronto stations include CityTV, Global, CFMT, TVOntario and some other little ones nobody watches.

Major corporations in Canada include:
Northern Telecom: The worlds largest telecommunications company
Bombardier: A Montreal company that makes everything from snow mobiles to cargo airplanes to trains
Corel: Canada's biggest software company
Petro Canada: I think the 5th or so biggest petroleum company in the world.

As well, our natural resource companies are typcially amongst the biggest but since they don't operate at the consumer level, I don't know any names.
Oh, Defasco is a huge steel company in Hamilton.

Every multinational corporation worth mentioning has offices at least in Toronto and many have offices in Ottawa, Montreal or Vancouver as well.

In the Dominican Republic Toyota, Honda, Daewoo, Hyundai, are major car imports- Daewoo and Hyundai are seen EVERYWHERE. Sub Compact cars are very common...
Japanese interests in the Dominican Republic are high.

Major car manufacturers:
Peugot --- Privately held mega corp also producing small trucks & domestic appliances & electronics under a different brand name that escapes me at
the moment. very healthy profits around 12%.

Renault --- Previously 100% state owner car/truck manufacturer. now mostly privately owned & making huge profits. Renault produces excellent cars & very good trucks. They are also involved in leasing vehicles, finance of capital improvement...etc.

There are several other car manufacturers, but they only put out less than 1000 cars/trucks each.

Oh! almost forgot. Y'all call trucks lorries, I think.

Motobecane produces small engines for many uses, they also build all manner of small maintenance vehicles, such as lawn mowers & asphalt compactors. Their most notable line is the Motobecane 49.9cc air-cooled moped. Think of first generation VW Bugs if they were motorbikes. Very low technology & moderate performance, but very easy to maintain & repair.

Aerospatiale Excelent manufacturer of aircraft, space vehicles, & all other manner of high tech.

Dassault As above, also produce the Rafale probably the best new aircraft in existence. Would make an excellent replacement to Australia's f-18 Hornets.

There are hundreds of other huge mega corps in France.

The information I have is from 1995, if that doesn't matter...
I hope it will help you.

Ann
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Information from:
Rüdiger Liedtke:
"Wem gehört die Republik"
ISBN 3-8218-1342-3

ABB ASEA BROWN BOVERI AG 1900
(sales 1993: 28.315,0 Mio US-$, employees: 206.000)
-complete rail traffic systems and rail traffic equipment
-locomotives, electric and diesel
-high speed trains (ICE)
-subway trains/streetcars
-railway waggons of all kinds
-double-decker busses
-industrial plants/electricity/electrical systems for houses and cars

BMW
(sales 1993: 29.016,0 Mio US-$, employees: 71.034)
(owner: 50% family Quandt, 10% GfA Gesellschaft für Automobilindustrie, ?)
-cars
DAIMLER-BENZ 1883
(sales 1993: 97.737 Mio. US-$, employees: 366.736)
(owner: 24.4% Deutsche Bank AG, 14% Emirat Kuwait, 12.5% Stella
Automobil-Beteiligungsgesellschaft GmbH, 50% stockholders)
-cars
-electronic technology
-aero- and space technology
-defense (military)

FORD 1925
(sales 1993: 21.188,8 Mio. US-$, employees: 43.804)
(owner: 99.8% Ford Motor Company, Michigan, ?)
-cars

LUFTHANSA
(owner: 51,42 % Germany, 2.21% State Nordrhein-Westfalen, 40,84% by
stockholders)
-airline
-railway traffic
MAN
(sales 1993: 18.927,1 Mio US-$, employees: 62.720)
(owner: 25% Regina verwaltungsgesellschaft, 20% investments, 60.000
stockholders)
-holding
-utility vehicle construction
-plants and mechanical engineering
-trade

OPEL
-cars (((I am pretty sure Opel is part of GM -- Geoff)))

PREUSSAG
-electricity
-ship construction
-railway wagon construction
-iron and steel
-energy and resource substances
-trade and traffic
-house technology
-information technology and technology equipment parts

VOLKSWAGEN
-cars

>What TV channels/networks can you watch?

RTL, RTL2, VOX, KABEL1, PRO7, CNN, BBC, EURONEWS, DF1, EUROSPORT, SAT1,
programs of the state... (see below)

>What are the major corporations in your country? What do they do?

...
BASF IG 1865
(sales 1993:43.122,7 Mio US-$, employees: 112.020)
(owner: 14.4% Allianz AG holding (München/Berlin), other: 375.000
stockholders)
-chemical industry
-chemical fibres and plastics
BAYER AG 1863
(sales 1993: 41.007,0 Mio US-$, employees: 151.900)
(owner: 28,9% by 295.000 stockholders, 42,9% by banks and insurance
companies, 18,6% by 1.600 investment companies, 3,3% 4.500 private and
industrial companies, 28,9% by private persons, 6.3% ?)
-chemical industry
-chemical fibres and plastics
-pharmaceutical industry and cosmetics
-oil and gas
-refinery
-rubber and asbest industry
-trading and foreign trade
BERTELSMANN
(sales 1993: 662.3 Mio US-$, employees: 50.347)
(owner: 68,8% Bertelsmann Stiftung Gütersloh(*), 17,9% family Mohn, Gütersloh, 2,6% Reinhard Mohn, Gütersloh, 10,7% Dr. Gerd Bucerius, Hamburg; (*) indirect through 3 holdings: 42.65% Reinhard Mohn Verwaltungsgesellschaft GmbH,46.61% Johannes Mohn GmbH, 10,74% Dr. Gerd Bucerius)
-media holding (books, electronic data, print medias, radio,video, TV: RTLplus,VOX)

BOSCH 1886
(sales 1993: 32.469 Mio. US-$, employees: 156.615)
(owner: 92% Robert Bosch Stiftung, 8% Bosch family)
-mechanical engineering and plants
-electronic technology incl. electronic data processing
-fine mechanic and optics incl. office equipment
-household appliances
-car equipments

DEGUSSA
(sales 1993: 14.901,2 Mio. US-$, employees: 32.904)
(owner: 37% GfC Gesellschaft für Chemiewerte mbH, 40.000 stockholders)
-chemical industry
-pharmaceutical industry
-precious metals

GRUNDIG 1945
(sales 1993: 3.379,1 Mio US-$, employees: 14.483)
(owner: Grundig Stiftung, Philips)
-electronic technology
-entertainment technology (radios, TV-sets, etc.)
OETKER
(sales 1993: 4.885.6 Mio US-$, employees: 12.031)
(owner: Kommanditgesellschaft Dr. August Oetker)
-food and foodstuffs
-beer and non-alcoholic drinks
-sparkling wine (Sekt)
-shipping
-banking


PHILIPS
-electronic technology

SIEMENS
-electronic technology
-computer and software
-electronic data processing
SPRINGER
-publishing
-printing
THYSSEN
-holding
-mechanical engineering
-trade
-iron and steel
VEBA
-electricity, gas, nuclear plants
-chemical industry
-plastics
-oil and gas
-trade
-shipping
ZEISS
-precision mechanics
-optics
-electronic technology
-glass

Italy is a strange country. We don't have a true capitalist/free market economy, because all the major corporations here are either state-owned or state-subsidized either now or in the past.
Also, up to a few years ago, corruption was the rule for conducting business in Italy (if you are really interested I can elaborate further on Italian history after the second world war).

As for cars etc, in Italy we have a lot of brands, mainly

FIAT (similar to GM),
Ferrari (High end sport cars),
Maserati (High end sport cars),
Lamborghini (High end sport cars),
Alfa Romeo (High end vehicles),
Lancia (High end vehicles)
Iveco (Trucks, etc)

but all of them are owned by FIAT (which btw wanted to buy Volvo a few days ago).

FIAT is a powerful company in Italy (they even generate their own electrical power and water, in a country where Utility companies are a strict state owned monopoly).

They have been allowed a position of monopoly (100% of italian cars are built by them) thanks to a long standing policy of government support. In exchange the government even allowed the company to sell 12% of its shares to the Lybian government (Gheddafi, as we call him in Italian) in the middle seventies.BTW, FIAT is owned by a single family (Agnelli), which includes two life senators (a strange political position which means you occupy a seat in the senate, the high chamber of italian parlament, until you die...).


As for TV, we have three state owned channels (RAI1, RAI2 and RAI3) for which we are obliged to pay (a sort of tv tax, more or less 100 US$ per year). We also have other private owned tv channels, but they are owned either by Mediaset (Mr. Silvio Berlusconi, former Italian premier, owner of TVs, radios and newspapers, soccer teams, a political party totalling 23% of the votes and right wing extremist) or by Cecchi Gori Entertainment (Mr Cecchi Gori, italian senator, owner of TVs, radios and newspapers).


Basically, we have a strange mixture of state run monopolies (which are being dismantled thanks to the European Union) and family run huge corporations (FIAT yearly gross income is about 150 billion US$).

Massimiliano Bussi

In Spain they have Seat, the nationalised car/truck manufacturer. (((Another person reported it was owned by Volkswagen, which I believ is more recent information. – Geoff))) Moderate quality, has same or similar designs as Fiat the Italian car/truck manufacturer. Seat began as a subsidiary of Fiat, was nationalised by Franco but still retains close ties.

French makes like Renault, Citroen, etc, German makes like Volkswagen, USA makes like Ford, some (few) Japanese models (few but for 4WD cars, there the Nissan rules, and the Spanish make Land Rover-Santana, owned by Suzuki)

Mainly the Spanish make Pegaso for heavy trucks (most other are Mercedes-Benz vans small trucks and van versions of small cars) and Caterpillar for construction equipment

Motorcycles are Japanese models, BMW, other European makes, Vespa,

There are real good Spanish makes of ocean-going ships, I just happen not
to know their names.

Airplanes or helicotpers from all the world. CASA (military transports and jets) is Spanish make.

Spanish National TV (TVE 1 and TVE 2); three private channles, Tele 5 (formerly of Silvio berluscony, changed hands recently), Antena 3 TV (from A3 Comunicacion), Canal + (the French society of the same name); several autonomic (your USA "state") channels, several (pretty bad) local ones on each city.



The ONCE (Organización Nacional de Ciegos de España, Spanish Blindmen Society) They have LOTSA power (for example, they *forced* the EU to change the format of the Euro coins and bills) and sponsor several sport teams (most notably, ciclism)

Futbol (Soccer for you Yanks) ;) clubs. Real Madrid, Atletico de Madrid, F.C. Barcelona, etc... They move zillions (your American Football would pale by comparison. Believe me) and have incredible political power (!!)

Banks. They steal you, as on your country :) Banesto, BCH, BBV, etc...

Some editorial groups (who own radios, newspapers, etc...) are "secretly" (they try but are rather lame) the facades of political groups and economic interests. For example, the "El Mundo" newspaper, radio "COPE", etc... are the puppets of the actual government (political right, militant catholicism, etc...), the "PRISA" editorial group is the "voice" (not quite the puppet but it shows!) :) of the former government, political left, the "ABC" and others are the voice of the pre-constitutional dictatorship, extreme right, etc...

In the UK and in most of Europe most of cars are what in the US are called 'subcompact'.

Ford, Vauxhall, VW, Rover, Fiat, Renault, Toyota, Daywoo ...

Who owns that company:
Vauxhall - GM
Rover - BMW
Fiat - Italy
Renault - France Gov.

(((Ford also owns Jaguar, Lotus, and Aston-Martin I'm told. VW just bought Bently, but BMW bought the Rolls Royce name and plans to build a new car with that name in a few years. –Geoff)))


Other vehicles is a bit harder. Most of Europe has national 'champions' which are a large industrial giants in there own country which is not well know outside that country. In the UK we have GEC (big things + weapon systems), BAe (British Aerospace - military systems), Harland and Wolf (ships).
There are lots of small military suppliers after all the UK is the 3rd largest arms exporter.


BBC provides 80% of all air time in the UK:

TV BBC1{main}
BBC2{alternative}
BBC news 24
BBC choice
Radio 1{pop},
2{light},
3{classic},
4{news},
5{sport}
local{local pop and news}

ITV provides the rest which is made up of a syndicate of 30 or so stations:

TV ITV1{main},
ITV2{light},
Channel 4 {alternative}
Radio local{local pop and news}

There is three main transmission systems, which contain most of the above (normal, cable and satellite).
The cable and satellite also have

News - CNN, Sky News,
Main - SkyOne
Alt - UK-Gold{best of repeats}
Movies - Film4, SkyMovies1, SkyMovies2, ClassicMovies,
TNT, Bravo
and about 40 other channels.

Who owns them?

BBC - the UK Gov.
ITV - don't know
Sky - Maxwell
CNN - Turner

Major corporations:

ICI - Chemicals (top 5 world wide)
GEC - Build boats, planes, power stations
Shell - Oil (50% Dutch) (top 3)
BAe - aeroplanes
Rover - Cars (owned by BWM)

The City - 3rd largest Stock market, largest money exchange, 2nd largest metal exchange (or was), the 2nd or 3rd largest futures exchange. Basicly this can be thought of as the UK largest business. (It is much larger than Bonn, that is why the Euro stock markets are talking about joining into a Euro wide stock market, this will most likely have it HQ in London. If this happens then London will most likely return to 1st or 2nd in the world).

Lloyds - Insurance (they underwrite insurance companies) has been over taken by Chigaro(?) I think and is now the worlds second largest.

British Gas - supply and pump gas.
British Nuclear Fuels - supply and source nuclear fuel and waste.

Virgin - Entertainment group - record,vhs shops, radio stations, life insurance, bank (a proto-mega corp)

Hanson Group - owns stuff world wide (I think it is the largest non-US holding company of US companies, ie a lot of US companies are owned by the UK Hanson group, because they pertend to be a US company).

British Telecom (BT) - The world third or four largest telecoms company.

British Pertrolam (BP) - I think this is in merger with Mobile (top 3)

There are lots more ....

In the UK 80% working of the population, work for companies employing less than 50 people.

Quote:

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Originally posted by spyone
In the UK and in most of Europe most of cars are what in the US are called 'subcompact'.

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The Car information is really still just as valid. No real change there. Although Chrysler's are being spotted more often with the Voyager and Tourer. As well as those Ugly Japanese half-length 'Smart Cars' (even the Fiat on looks like it should be Japanese).

Quote:

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Other vehicles is a bit harder. Most of Europe has national 'champions' which are a large industrial giants in there own country which is not well know outside that country. In the UK we have GEC (big things + weapon systems), BAe (British Aerospace - military systems), Harland and Wolf (ships).
There are lots of small military suppliers after all the UK is the 3rd largest arms exporter.

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OK, all well and good. Remember that the UK also now owns H&K. I believe under the cover company of Royal Ordanance.

Quote:

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BBC provides 80% of all air time in the UK:

TV BBC1{main}
BBC2{alternative}
BBC news 24
BBC choice
Radio 1{pop},
2{light},
3{classic},
4{news},
5{sport}
local{local pop and news}

ITV provides the rest which is made up of a syndicate of 30 or so stations:

TV ITV1{main},
ITV2{light},
Channel 4 {alternative}
Radio local{local pop and news}

There is three main transmission systems, which contain most of the above (normal, cable and satellite).
The cable and satellite also have

News - CNN, Sky News,
Main - SkyOne
Alt - UK-Gold{best of repeats}
Movies - Film4, SkyMovies1, SkyMovies2, ClassicMovies,
TNT, Bravo
and about 40 other channels.

Who owns them?

BBC - the UK Gov.
ITV - don't know
Sky - Maxwell
CNN - Turner

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as of yesterday the BBC gained the rights (for the next 12 years for the Digital TV network, for 24 channels, all free to view. This puts them against Sky who run the alternative Satelite TV network, and various smaller networks headed by Cable and Wireless who run the cableTV network (both of which are run on a monthly subscription). Currently 80% of UK has access to Digital, Satelite or Cable TV.

Robert Maxwell doesn't own sky, he's been dead too long. Its owned by the other Aussie media Egotist, Murdoch, who also owns most of the UK tabloid newspapers.

Quote:

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Virgin - Entertainment group - record,vhs shops, radio stations, life insurance, bank (a proto-mega corp)

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All the company information is about right. Virgin is bigger than listed. They no longer own the record shops (the lynch-pin of the whole empire, started by Richard Branson) which I think were sold to Time Warner, nor do they own the radio station or Airline, although all three still carry the name)...

Now Virgin have gotten into mass transport, running railways (with a bad reputation), mobile phone networks, cinemas, and various 'good causes'. Its still owned and run by Branson, who still pulls dangerous stunts (like balloning around the world) every now and again (less so recently)...

Turn around in another 6 months and they'll have put their finger into another pie... If you want a quintessentially British brand name. This is the one.

Another statistic, to combine with the numbers of employees working for small companies.

Where there are big employers, normally 1 or 2 companies tend to dominate a towns employment, leading to problems if and when layoffs occur. At the moment the three biggest employers in my town are the AA, Credit Suisse group, running Winterthur (in insurance and finances), and the Prudential who run the town centre. Our other big employer is Smiths Industries who make missile guidance systems.

In the past, the top employer has been Sainsburys (supermarket warehouse and distribution centre), IBM, Sun Life of Canada (Insurance and financial services). Its woth noting that the AA and Smiths have ALWAYS been 2 of the top 3. And that similar situations tend to dominate the towns of the UK... Or worse such as the whole sheffield steel or Dockyard layoffs of the 1980's...

Quote:

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Originally posted by spyone

Who owns that company:
Vauxhall - GM
Rover - BMW
Fiat - Italy
Renault - France Gov.

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BMW no longer owns Rover. BMW failed to turn it around and was all for closing it down, but a consortium of companies rescued it.

Quote:

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BBC provides 80% of all air time in the UK:

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That's not true at all. BBC provides 2 out of five terrestrial channels (free & available to all). And a few sattelite/digital channels.

Quote:

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There is three main transmission systems, which contain most of the above (normal, cable and satellite).

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Terrestrial TV is the five free channels: BBC1,BBC2,ITV,Channel 4 and Channel 5.

Cable, sattelite and digital terrestrial channels are payed for.

Quote:

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The cable and satellite also have

News - CNN, Sky News,
Main - SkyOne
Alt - UK-Gold{best of repeats}
Movies - Film4, SkyMovies1, SkyMovies2, ClassicMovies,
TNT, Bravo
and about 40 other channels.

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I think there are over two hundred channels on my Sky Digibox.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Greg Smith
I think there are over two hundred channels on my Sky Digibox.

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Yeah, but how many are worth watching? I mean, Manchester United TV? Gimme a break!

Quote:

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Originally posted by Dan Gurden
as of yesterday the BBC gained the rights (for the next 12 years for the Digital TV network, for 24 channels, all free to view.

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I leave the country for a week, and look what happens! I take it this is the old Itv Digital network?

Quote:

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Originally posted by Dan Gurden
This puts them against Sky who run the alternative Satelite TV network, and various smaller networks headed by Cable and Wireless who run the cableTV network (both of which are run on a monthly subscription). Currently 80% of UK has access to Digital, Satelite or Cable TV.

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I'd dispute that, unless you means has access if they pay out the subscription, i.e. there's a cable nearby, decent reception for a digital broadcast signal or a clear LOS for a satellite dish. Less than a third of UK homes actually pay out for any of the services, so they don't get them.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Dan Gurden
Robert Maxwell doesn't own sky, he's been dead too long. Its owned by the other Aussie media Egotist, Murdoch, who also owns most of the UK tabloid newspapers.

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I spotted that one :) Of course, the Americans know Murdoch quite well - as the owner of Fox tv as well as a heckuva a lot of newspapers (News Corporation).

I thought Maxwell was Israeli?

Quote:

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Originally posted by Dan Gurden


as of yesterday the BBC gained the rights (for the next 12 years for the Digital TV network, for 24 channels, all free to view. This puts them against Sky who run the alternative Satelite TV network, and various smaller networks headed by Cable and Wireless who run the cableTV network (both of which are run on a monthly subscription). Currently 80% of UK has access to Digital, Satelite or Cable TV.

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The BBC won that license? Oh be afraid, be very afraid :eek:

The BBC are a pain in the ass. It's about time they got off their laurels and stopped charging us a license fee for a substandard service. I'd happily never have access to the Beeb again if I didn't have the pay the damn license fee. I don't mind paying my cable subscription, since it gives me the shows I want to watch. Whereas I have no option but to pay the BBC for a service I very rarely use.

Sorry, OT rant :o

Quote:

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Originally posted by Capt Daniel Hunter


The BBC are a pain in the ass. It's about time they got off their laurels and stopped charging us a license fee for a substandard service. I'd happily never have access to the Beeb again if I didn't have the pay the damn license fee. I don't mind paying my cable subscription, since it gives me the shows I want to watch. Whereas I have no option but to pay the BBC for a service I very rarely use.

Sorry, OT rant :o

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Amen!