I've seen a number of articles about Google Fiber in Kansas City commenting on the channels their TV package seems to be missing. What I have not seen is a good explanation of why those specific channels seem to be excluded from the line-up.
I think I can explain. The noticeable missing content seems to be from ABC/Disney (including the ESPN channels), Turner (TBS, TNT, CNN, etc) and HBO. What these three companies have in common is they traditionally do not allow their content to be transported via fiber. If Google wanted to add the channels by pulling them down via satellite then those channels would probably already be secured. But the name of the company is Google Fiber not Google Satellite.
In my opinion this has little to do with the cost of the content - consider that HBO is premium content that only the subscribers who want it would be paying for it. This has to do with business models - both Google's and the content providers. How subscribers access over the top portals like HBO Go or ESPN3 is probably one of the key sticking points. I'm also guessing that none of the three content providers are very excited about re-doing any existing most-favored agreements to satisfy Google.
It will be interesting to see how this is resolved.
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