John Tesh is not "free", nor are any of the syndicated shows, and why could they be? When your local spot rate is $15.00 for 30 seconds, and the network takes 2 minutes per hour, do the math. A four-hour show equates to giving up $240 per program. That's around $5,000 per month. One can argue that it's unsold air time that's being sacrificed, but that is not always the case.