On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 12:23 PM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > > I am against a total a la carte system for cable, and it is true that in a > package system all users will pay for some services that they never use. So > labeling the entire amount that sports programing charges cable providers as > a "tax" is misleading. But a substantial amount of that charge is in excess > of the actual demand for the service in the package. If Bravo charged more > than $5/month (as ESPN is about to) instead of what must be much less than > 50 cents (since the NYT article says the next highest charge is TNT at > $1.16), I would be pretty pissed, and I don't blame non-sports fans for > being pissed. ESPN can get that fee not because of the amount of demand for > its product, but because of the perceived passion of those that demand their > product. If Bravo threatened to not sign up with a cable provider unless it > got $2/month, the cable providers would tell them to go screw themselves, > and hardly anyone would cancel their cable service because they were not > getting the horny housewives show (I may be gotten the title of the cable > channel or show wrong here). But if cableers tell ESPN to screw themselves, > the perception is that large fractions of viewers would cancel their cable > service. I am not sure if the empirical data actually bears out this fear - > how many of the thousands who write or call to complain and threaten would > actually cancel? But the threat apparently is serious enough to force the > cable companies to knuckle under. This gives ESPN clout out of proportion to > the number of people who actually watch their shows.
I just want to point out that sports channels have a higher value in that people want to watch events live. There are some exceptions where an individual records a game while doing something of a higher priority, but Bravo would never charge what ESPN can because their programming is prerecorded and could be made available on any number of platforms on demand. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
