This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 30th, 2005 at 14:06 by Ian and is filed under National.
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I think a lot of the niche-y channels would end up more like HBO and such. HBO is a $10/mo fee. I think Sci-Fi and such would end up like that, where you paid $10/mo for a small set of similar programs.
I think even a system where instead of paying for 500 channels only 40 of which I watch, I’d rather be able to select smaller packages…so you guys have to take ESPN2, Disney, & shopping in order to get ESPN…why not break the consumer-end sales down to those sorts of contracts? I might still have to buy 5 or 6 $10/mo packages to get all the channels I wanted, but I’m betting I could eliminate a lot of the crap I don’t watch. Really, the best thing for consumers would be ending the government-mandated local cable monopolies.
2. Cable companies have to agree to nightmarishly arcane and complex deals with channel providers. These deals usually require them to carry their multitude of channels as a bundle. For example: If Comcast wants to carry a super popular channel like ESPN, they have to agree to carry ESPN 2, the Disney Channel, two shopping networks and a channel that shows nothing but infomercials 23 hours out of the day.
3. They love, love, love all of your money. If customers were allowed to buy only what they wanted, most would subscribe to a mere 10 channels instead of 100 and pay $15 a month instead of $50 or more. It would break the industry (or at least the industry as we now know it).
Ala carte could also cripple and put less popular, more nitsch-y channels like Sci-Fi out of business all together. Another fear is that it could catapult a lot of channels back into the dark age of cable circa the early 80s, when programming mostly consisted of old reruns and 12 hours of test patterns instead of original content which costs serious $$$.
I like my TV, but I’ll kill yours if it needs it.
Kill your TV.
I think a lot of the niche-y channels would end up more like HBO and such. HBO is a $10/mo fee. I think Sci-Fi and such would end up like that, where you paid $10/mo for a small set of similar programs.
I think even a system where instead of paying for 500 channels only 40 of which I watch, I’d rather be able to select smaller packages…so you guys have to take ESPN2, Disney, & shopping in order to get ESPN…why not break the consumer-end sales down to those sorts of contracts? I might still have to buy 5 or 6 $10/mo packages to get all the channels I wanted, but I’m betting I could eliminate a lot of the crap I don’t watch. Really, the best thing for consumers would be ending the government-mandated local cable monopolies.
Sailor, there’s three reasons why cable companies don’t offer channels ala carte:
1. The technology supposedly doesn’t exist yet. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge.
2. Cable companies have to agree to nightmarishly arcane and complex deals with channel providers. These deals usually require them to carry their multitude of channels as a bundle. For example: If Comcast wants to carry a super popular channel like ESPN, they have to agree to carry ESPN 2, the Disney Channel, two shopping networks and a channel that shows nothing but infomercials 23 hours out of the day.
3. They love, love, love all of your money. If customers were allowed to buy only what they wanted, most would subscribe to a mere 10 channels instead of 100 and pay $15 a month instead of $50 or more. It would break the industry (or at least the industry as we now know it).
Ala carte could also cripple and put less popular, more nitsch-y channels like Sci-Fi out of business all together. Another fear is that it could catapult a lot of channels back into the dark age of cable circa the early 80s, when programming mostly consisted of old reruns and 12 hours of test patterns instead of original content which costs serious $$$.
And now you know.
You mustn’t pay much attention to your own sex life, then.
If there’s no penetration, I don’t want to see it.
He should just stick to telling cable operators to give us the channels we want, and none of this home shopping bullshi’ite.