Ala Carte? No Thanks!
Many folks are opening their Dish Network or DirecTV bills this month and are noticing that their rates have gone up once again. A number of folks are upset that their bills keep going up, but maybe they haven’t looked around or filled up their gas tanks lately, but everything is going up in price.
But even with satellite prices going up, if you bill is $100 a month you are still getting a great value of around $3.33 a day, I know folks that spend more on coffee a day then that. Sure the number might look big on the bill, but look around what other forms of entertainment cost you. I just to my family of 4 to the movies, and the cost to see one film with the popcorn, candy and soda was over $60. At under $3.50 a day that Satellite Bill with Movie Channels does not seem that bad now does it?
But even with that rationale, some people still think that under $3.50 a day is too much. These are the people who want Ala Carte service.
From where I sit Ala Carte is not the great idea many think it is, with Ala Carte I would expect that it would cost you more then what your paying now. With Ala Carte a lot of the unique channels would no longer exist. Sure some would build in the costs of these niche channels into the cost of some of the main Ala Carte channels, but then that sort of defeats the entire Ala Carte thing doesn’t it?
If I count the number of channels I watch regularly I could only count about 10 – 15 channels, and in this world of 200 plus channel that does not spell a bright future for the channels I don’t watch. For many ESPN would be a must have, but not for me I would rather have The Science Channel. The idea of managing customers Ala Carte choices would be a major headache as well, imagine sitting on the phone with a customer as they are trying to choose 20 channels they want out of 500 channel choices? Then again imagine being a customer on the phone having some CSR explain to you all your 500 channels. I am sure you can see the headaches there.
So if your satellite (or cable) bill seems to high, take a good look around at what other entertainment choices cost. You just might already have one of the best entertainment values already.
As far as Ala Carte goes… no thanks, I’ll pass!
FreedomOfChoice commented:
In response to riffjim4069: Quote: "It seems to me people who complain the loudest are the people who are stealing satellite TV". End quote.
In response to your comment. There is an old saying, "The guilty dog always barks first".
Billy Bob commented:
I wonder what this guy's Dishnetwork Employee number is!!!!
shop commented:
FYI, the majority of the shopping channels do NOT charge for carraige, in fact they actually PAY the providers commision from purchases made by the provider\’s customers. Which is why on cable they\’re usually in the basic locals only package, and on satellite they\’re in the basic package that is mostly public interest channels (which are also free to providers) that is usually only offered to international package customers.
ilber commented:
why not give me a choice? Granted I was with Dish and had \”Everything Package\”, now with direct tv \”premium\”. I am forced to buy giant package when all i need is couple of channels on the higher tier. Surely the price will go up/stay the same for smaller number of channels. but at least i would not be paying for 10 shopping channels 250+ channels with commercials 40% of the viewing time.
The way I look, if I am FORCED to watch the commercial-roll back the price, if i am paying $160/mo to watch what i want LET ME.
Mike commented:
This guy could stand to take a couple high school english classes. I couldn't even focus on the content because the grammar was so bad.
Consumer... but not a blind sheep commented:
Ala-carte will not raise prices because the packages are not going to go anywhere. The people that want certain individual channels will be adding them to their existing packages, not build their own custom package of 10 -20 channels.
Gene Hinterschied commented:
I think that ala-carte it the cure for a lot of ills in the industry. In the first place it gives the viewer a vote “a way to tell the broadcaster that they are not providing the kind of programming that is desired by the viewer. That vote will be heard because it impacts the broadcasters bottom line. I also believe that would greatly reduce the redundancy we are seeing across the board now that the few media giants own most of the channels; you can watch a program on NBC one night and keep running into it on the national cable channels that they have partnerships in for the rest of the month. You would not have to worry any longer about widespread censorship because the viewer would only be chousing what kind of content via the channels that they chouse that means less government control. Finally complicated pick and chouse could be done for the most part on the internet where the customer could select the channels that they would like to have at there leisure, and for those who don’t want to chouse online, the CSR can provide the service, as well as being able to offer packages that are better broken down and prorated. I really don’t understand why the process has to be painted as being so complicated. We are a country of freedom of choice and the rite vote and be heard. Let us finally have a say that impacts the broadcaster. And for me for saying this but “the V-chip is a halfhearted attempt that will never work”.
John, commented:
Moose, No one said it has to be one way or another. Why can't there be "a la carte" AND packages at the same time? This is the way it works with phone companies for phone service, restaurants for meals and almost anything else. No one is taking anything away. That is the mentality of misinformation. A la carte doesn't take ANYONE's choice away. It gives choice to those that don't want "everything".
Chuck commented:
The whole thing is a sham. IF ESPN raises the rate too high the number of cancellations will negate both the revenue stream from the customers and what they can charge from the advertisers (remember advertisers pay according to how many people are watching their ads). If the sports want to charge the channel outrageous fees to cover their events then ESPN can feel free to drop them. (Imagine baseball players might have to take a pay cut! Boo-hoo (sound of a very small violin playing in the background)! The consumer has been soaked by these oligopolies for long enough. Why do you think satellite pirating was so popular a few years ago? If they offered a reasonable price and choice for their "packages" they could have nipped it in the butt. I spend far more time on the net now than watching TV, but am biding my time until I can pay for the "meal" I want without having a 7 course dinner thrown in my face at an outrageous price when I only wanted the soup and salad!
Moose commented:
I'm an old-timer, and do you know how satisfying it is to FINALLY be able to turn on the TV and ALWAYS find something good on? I've been waiting for this all my life. The HD transition is going to kill off some channels. I'm guessing 20%. If another 20% fail because of forced a la carte, that leaves me with a whole lot fewer choices. If you don't want a lot of (convenient) choices for a flat price, then go on the Internet and find them one at a time. Have fun. That's your choice. Don't take away mine.
John commented:
It's not about the quantity of channels. It's about getting what you want and ONLY what you want!
ESPN could charge $4 a customer and get away with it because there are enough sports fans who, without thinking, will shell out dollars to get that programming. However the rest of the channels out there will actually have to survive the old fashoined way! Remember when cable channels freely GAVE themselves away to carriers? It wasn't that long ago that cable channels survived solely on ad revenue! Those that actually charged the cable companies per subscriber for carriage were COMMERCIAL FREE!!!!! Remember when Nickelodeon was commercial free? I do!
A la carte is the ONLY way that subscribers can get what they want and control prices. If a channel wants to charge $4 or $5 a month and is not offering unique programming, like ESPN or commercial free programs like a movie channel, it will FAIL! The business model HAS to change!
Steve commented:
Take ESPN for example. ESPAN charges about 2.50 per sub. They require to be on the lowest tier so they get the most subs. When they are no longer getting 50million subs, when people have Ala Carte how do you think they will maintain their revenue? By chargeing 4$ for the channel..
Ala Carte is bad for consumers. Instead of getting 200 chanenls for 100 bucks, with Ala carter for that same 100 bucks you will not even get half the channels.
Not to mention the hardware. sat and cable providers are able to keep prices of hardware so low becasue they lock consumers into big packages that bring large revenue. If you are only buying say 10 channels, at i dunno 15 bucks a month, you will then be paying a nice fee for the hardware, and a fee for the service itself. Cable and Sat providers will have to charge you a "Minimum" fee, to cover operating the network, anywhere from 10 to 20$ a month just for operation, then you may spend another 5-10$ a month or more on hardware. So your at what 15 - 30$ a month already with 0 channels. Add 10 channels your already up to 40-50 bucks for just 10 channels.. As it is for 29 bucks you can get 100 channels... Do the math.
John commented:
I cannot understand the rationalle of those who are AGAINST choice for the consumer! Really it boggles my mind that some are saying that packaging is a good thing! What a load of idiotic rubbish!
The predictions of the average single channel costing $20 a month to stay afloat are a sham!
Will some channels fail under a different "pay your own way" scheme. Sure. But channels are failing even now with all sorts of subsidies from the behemouth mega-corps that buy the little guy and suck the guts from the channel.
Let's put it this way to go back to Scott's $3 coffee analogy: When I go to buy a Mocha Frapuccino Vente for $4.50, I get just that. I am not forced to pay $10 to get that Mocha Frapuccino vente packaged with a danish, a sports mug, and a magazine! I want to buy ONLY the drink!
Sure restaurants can have combo meals, but you know what? You can still order items a la carte. THAT is what I want! That is what anyone who wants fair choices and real price control should want!
riffjim4069 commented:
I usually agree with the author, but I am in complete disagreement on this issue. First, I fully support subscribers having many more ala carte and, hopefully, dozens of programming "group" options. (check out starchoice.com in Canada) Personally, a great many of us are willing to pay the same amount in order to view the 15-20 channels of worthwhile programming...while not paying one red cent toward sustaining horrible channels like BET, Spike, Speed, MTV, Sci-Fi (my opinion), and hundreds of other el stinko channels/programming. After all, why should someone who doesn't even watch sports pay $3 ore more each month to ESPN? Likewise, why should the boys at the frat house pay for Lifetime and the Lifetime Movie Network? I'm sure they have better things to do than get in tough with their feminie side.
Lastly, while I a big ala carte support, I also feel the satellite providers, DirecTV and Dish Network, do a pretty job at keeping the prices under control, and provide a good value for the dollar. It seems to me people who complain the loudest are the people who are stealing satellite TV.
Adam, Milw. WI commented:
The better idea is to set up tiers of channels. Instead of each individual channel being offered ala carte, set up packages. For instance, one tier is all sports channels, one is learning channels, one is kids channels and so on.... I dont watch more than 10-15 channels as you said scott, but why should I pay for all these BS channels that I dont. This would be a great middle ground and wouldnt be near the headache of an individual ala carte program.
And I know they kind of already do this like Dish does by having top 100, top 200 and so on... but the problem with having those packages is I would like to be in a lower tier than the top 200 but if I dont get that package, there are like two channels I wouldnt get that I want. So i have to subscribe to a much higher tier for one or two channels and thats just BS.