None of the statements that ESPN made about their loss of satellite time
rings true. For one thing, there are an amazing amount of slots of satellite
feeds, and ESPN has two slots they use *just* for downlinks, besides the
time they "rent" elsewhere. And these things are *not* stacked up in queue
to get time--there has to be upwards of 200 transponders in the ESPN
downlink footprint that ESPN could easily grab time off of.
 
Also, anything in the BoWash corridor goes down standard phone lines instead or
in addition to the satellite downlink. A lot of the stadiums also have
closed-circuit fiber-optic capabilities, and ESPN uses that, too. I've seen
them use phone and fiber from Detroit and St Louis, as well as from areas on
the east coast.
 
They haven't come up with a reason yet that makes any technical sense.
 
Laurie