The man who once predicted a television universe with 500 channels isn’t too thrilled with the internet version. Liberty Media (NSDQ: LINTA) Chairman John Malone, also now the chairman of DirecTV (NYSE: DTV), told the FT: “I think the idea that they’re going to put television shows and movies on the internet, bypass their traditional distribution and have no way of collecting [revenues] is absurd.”

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He predicts failure for NBC’s plans for hundreds of broadband hours of live Olympic coverage from Beijing: “Very expensive events – expensive to buy and expensive to produce – are not going to have adequate underwriting through advertising.”

And, once it’s been provided , Malone doubts the ability to get people to pay: “You’ve got to be very careful what you promise to the public on the internet. They’re going to have a very hard time getting anyone to pay them for their content.”