Discovery (NSDQ: DISAB) CEO David Zaslav expanded a bit on what he said last month about the value of full shows online for the cable net, in an interview with B&C: “I’ve spent a lot of time looking at the economics. If you take out a pen and you add it up, there’s not a lot of economics there [of putting full shows online]. The business model is not that strong...we get substantial value by distributing our content on dual-revenue-stream platforms, domestically and around the world. We’ve been able to take the best of our content and use pieces of it through HowStuffWorks.com or on our other sites..there’s no reason for us to take a fire hose and take a fantastically valuable library and make it available on the Web for free.”

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Then, on being a newly public company: “Strategically, it’s a nice advantage for us because it does give us a currency. It also allows us more flexibility in terms of going to the capital markets. And it’s helpful as we look to get the best people working with Discovery Communications (NSDQ: DISCA)—that we have a clean stock where we can offer stock options like some of our competitors.” This comes as the company just announced its better than expected Q308 earnings last week.