Once upon a time, there were three television networks, and all you had to do to watch them was buy a TV set, plug it in and turn it on.

See, even then you were spending money — on the set, on electricity and, need I say it, on snacks.

Then along came cable and more networks, and the cable companies started paying "retransmission" rights, but not always to the local stations that had been broadcasting for "free." Satellite entered the picture, and rights fees went up.

To keep up with the competition, local stations began offering more programming and now they want — and deserve — compensation from the cable companies, which is why we're seeing the conflict between LIN TV, Corp. (which owns WDTN, Ch. 2) and Time Warner. I'm not sure what each side is asking, but WDTN (the local NBC affiliate) is asking more than Time Warner is willing to pay.

I'm guessing Time Warner is offering nothing, or maybe I'm reading this line incorrectly from a Time Warner spokesperson: "As you know, all broadcast stations are free over the air. We believe in fair and reasonable compensation to carry programming sources on cable."

Whatever agreement the two sides had came to an end Oct. 2, when WDTN was whisked off Time Warner in Dayton at midnight. That meant no Saturday afternoon Notre Dame football and no Sunday night NFL game and whatever else WDTN airs, assuming there is other programming between football games.

A friend of mine at WDTN put it this way: "If you go to a library and take out a DVD, you can watch it for free, but you can't make a copy of it and sell it to somebody else."

At some level, that's what LIN thinks Time Warner wants to do: take WDTN's broadcast and sell it to somebody else.

Time Warner says it offered an extension of the previous contract to LIN while negotiations continued that would allow WDTN viewers to continue watching shows on that station, but LIN refused. This reminds me of the offer Time Warner made to the Big Ten Network last year. Time Warner offered to put the BTN on for free.

A year went by, but the BTN eventually struck a deal with Time Warner, and TW had to pay to get it, reportedly 70 cents per subscriber per month.

Until that happens in the current confrontation, buy yourself some rabbit ears, plug 'em into the back of your television set and watch all the WDTN you want. If you have a digital HD TV, you'll even get it in HD.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157 or mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.