Feed The Pig?
A few years ago the folks at Dish Network had an ad campaign, which they called the “Don’t feed the cable pig.” This campaign made fun of the fact that cable companies always raise their rates every year.
What I found funny with that campaign is after they started to air, Dish Network became like one of those “cable pigs” and started raising its rates every year.
It is rumored that Dish Network will soon be announcing a price increase effective February 1st, and I am also hearing that we will see a DirecTV price increase soon after that. And in hearing that we could soon have another price increase surprisingly does not have me upset, in fact I have grown numb and now expect it.
The main reason for the increases is because the price of programming keeps going up. Just take a look around sports figures are making more and more money each year, which in turn means that companies like ESPN must pay more to cover those events, which also means that a channel like ESPN must charge more to the cable and satellite companies. So the satellite companies must in turn pass these costs on to the consumer. In addition such costs as launching new satellites and launching better technology (such as MPEG 4) costs money, again guess who pays for it… you got it, the customer.
For me if I counted the number of channels I actually watch from the hundreds available to me, that count would be under 20. I would love to see channels made available Ala Carte, but I know that I will never live to see the day where cable and satellite providers offer their programming Ala Carte. If the system moved to an Ala Carte setup then most of the channels we receive today would go off the air, as they would not have enough subscribers to survive.
So ultimately if I want to see a channel like The Science Channel survive then that means I keep paying for all the channels I don’t watch including ESPN. And if you think about it that way then its ok to keep feeding the pig, as if we do we all feast in the end.
Davage commented:
DirecTV and DishNetwork should take a look at the theme-pack model that both Canadian Satellite providers Bell ExpressVu and Starchoice are using, where you can order different themes. ie: you can order the Sports pack if you want sports, you can order the Kids channels if you have kids. You can order the Music channels if you want music videos etc. I am not a big sports fan, so I have the option of not taking the sports package. Each of these smaller packages is $5 to $7/month. We pay for a basic package, and then can add on whatever themes we like. I do not like the way that DishNetwork has marketed their packages in the Small/Big/Bigger/Biggest style. One of my favourite channels is VH1 Classic, but in order to subscribe to that channel on Dish Network requires me to take the America's Top 250 package for $54/month. I wouldn't mind paying $25/month for a set of basics which includes C-Span, USA Network, Nick etc, and then pay $6 per theme afterwards. If I want MTV/VH1/VH1 Classic, it could possibly be bundled in a $5/month Music package.
Yeah, right... commented:
Ummm ... if you read the GAO Reports on A La Carte and the Powell FCC Report on A La Carte (forget the Martin one as it was an intellectually dishonest effort that Martin foisted upon the commission and was later fully refuted by the last GAO report) you'll understand why A La Carte won't work.
Or maybe you want 15 channels for the same price as 54 -- 'cause that's what you'll get in an a la carte world
TNGTony commented:
I keep hearing "If we get a la carte, only a few channels will survive".
I don't beleive that. I've always considered it FUD. Some may go by the wayside, but more will survive than people believe.
Two reasons I have for this:
1) The pay TV market in the US is huge and diverse.
2) Before all the cable channels ended up being owned by 4 or 5 conglomerates like Turner/Viacom/AOL/Timewarner and Discovery Networks there were dozens of independent channels out there making the channel available to the cable carrier AT NO COST. Religious channels still do this. The commercial channels sell adds targeted to the specific demo and that is how they survived. That would happen again with mandated a la carte.
Competition at the supplier's end. What a concept!
Will all 78 versions of Discovery survive in an a la carte world? Probably not. But more would survive than just the original. In the mean time, paying $130 a month for 15 channels just to subsidize the 250 other channels we never watch would be a thing of the past!
Pepper commented:
a la carte may never materialize, but we should at least push for some measure of unbundling. For example, ESPN charges what, several dollars per subscriber? How about giving the subscriber the option of NOT having the ESPN bundle as a forced part of their basic package.
Kyle Luna commented:
Exactly, there are so many niche channels out there that I may like and others may not and vice versa. If it were shifted to an ala carte model, so many niche channels will either shut down due to lack of distribution or shift programming to a more general focus just to get more distribution, which defeats the purpose of being niche.
And I have a feeling the people with cable who are screaming for ala carte will probably cry fowl, if it ever happens, the instant they find out that in order to implement it, they will need to require a STB on every TV that wants more than just the locals, public access, and the shopping channels.