RayW
Premium
join:2001-09-01
Layton, UT
clubs:
 ·XMission
| A-la-carte not feasable they use to say?
Champion said media companies were currently a barrier to such an pricing plan, but the option was technically possible under AT&T’s service. The last couple of times it was the provider saying that they could not do it, now it is the media companies that are at fault? (which I tend to believe was the issue all along, just like the "pirate" issue, it is more a matter of control than real loss)
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I am not lost, I find myself every time. |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
 ·Comcast
|  Cable satellite still dominate video market
While there has been a lot of press about IPTV and Fios and telco involvement in video, they still have a long way to go. Cable and satellite combine for 96% of the TV market that isn't over the air. And that OTA segment is only 14% of US households, which means about 85% of homes are cable or satellite TV homes.
Only in the data broadband market are the telcos major players, sharing the stage with the cable companies. BPL and fixed wireless are still minor players. And dial-up, while still huge, is seeing it's share shrink year by year.
In the short term, I don't see the FCC changing anything. We're all waiting for the Congress to set new guidelines this year for the next 10 years.
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rachelsfx
join:2004-09-27
Pensacola, FL
| reply to RayW
Re: A-la-carte not feasable they use to say?
Unfortunately, opposition will come from elsewhere--free access programming. I'll bet strange bedfellows, like the ACLU, will come forward and sue to stop a-la-carte in the name of "diverse" programming. Then, less profitable channels, will sue on the grounds that a defacto monopoly is being created and nix the entire deal.
Perhaps the cable and IPTVs will "charge" some channels with small, loyal followings for "Quality of Service" inclusion in the basic plans?
Not to be paranoid, but it appears to me Cable and Satellite would love to jettison a few channels with small viewership so they can have the bandwidth for HD programming, and a few dozen more PPV channels, or the "new" channels the giants could deploy to get even more money out of everyone's pocket. Why not ESPN4, 5, 6 or Disney East, Central, and West?
In the end, cable's assertion isn't right about the money it'll cost them; but, it'll be right about the price to the consumer who covets their channels that have "disappeared" in the name of choice. I know a ton of people that dropped Dish when they kicked off Lifetime for DirecTV.
What will be the determining factor? Personally, I would like to see a basic tier, with the high-priced channels like ESPN ($2 per cable customer) put in packages, with the least expensive in a basic digital package that customers can block for content reasons. This keeps diverse programming in the mix without making us pay eventually the same price for less channels, and less choice. It would also make ESPN-types think about doling out billions for programming that loses money until you pay the ticket. (MNF lost a $1 million a night or more that is why ABC was glad to say Goodbye NFL!) |
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macken 657
join:2006-01-29
Ballwin, MO | reply to TKJunkMail
Re: Cable satellite still dominate video market
cable companies big in the data broadband market, not if you mean business communications over SONET. |
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RayW
Premium
join:2001-09-01
Layton, UT
clubs: | reply to rachelsfx
Re: A-la-carte not feasable they use to say?
You are probably right Rachel, but it is nice to dream of being able to have what I want and not have to pull a lot of deadwood around. But then I guess that is being 'insensitive'.
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Woof Woof
I Miss Brother Iz
join:2004-09-01
Keller, TX
| Tee hee... FCC gave cable the heat.
I went to the meeting and heard the panel speak. I should have taken notes, but overall I left feeling that the FCC was not all that impressed with the current state of franchising.
The cable companies tried to sell the "Everything works fine just the way it is". The panel was looking for examples of how it wasn't working and I was hoping for an oportunity to point out how traditionall franchising would have made it difficult for some of Keller's residents to get FIOS TV if it were not for the state wide agreement. |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
| said by Woof Woof  :The cable companies tried to sell the "Everything works fine just the way it is". The panel was looking for examples of how it wasn't working and I was hoping for an oportunity to point out how traditionall franchising would have made it difficult for some of Keller's residents to get FIOS TV if it were not for the state wide agreement. Well they certainly got the telcos take on franchising from the 2 Verizon presentations and a presentation from a happy Fios customer from Keller. If they were looking for an excuse to back state wide franchising they couldn't have picked a better location for the meeting.
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cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
| 2m homes?
The companies recently struck a ten-year, $150 million deal deal to pass 2 million homes with the technology in the Fort Worth area staring in the middle of this year. Is that number right? 2 million homes? That's approximately 1/4 the state of Texas or 2% of the country. That's awfully ambitious for a technology that really doesn't have a track record of successful, lasting implementations.
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"What gives them the right to come in and do this?" she said. - Lady complaining that she was getting FIOS in her backyard. |
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qdemn7
Smurf in My Loop
Premium
join:2003-09-16
Fort Worth, TX
| said by cdru :The companies recently struck a ten-year, $150 million deal deal to pass 2 million homes with the technology in the Fort Worth area staring in the middle of this year. Is that number right? 2 million homes? That's approximately 1/4 the state of Texas or 2% of the country. That's awfully ambitious for a technology that really doesn't have a track record of successful, lasting implementations. Hell no, that's not right! Ft Worth population is 600K.
D/FW Metroplex population is about 3.5-5.5 million depending on which numbers you use and which counties you include. That would have to just about every home in the entire D/FW 12 county area.
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Roe v. Wade is not "settled law". It is not engraved in stone. Any law, USSC Ruling, or any part of the US Constitution can be changed at any time by the People acting through their Elected Representatives in the form of a Constitutional Amendment. |
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ArgMeMatey
join:2001-08-09
Milwaukee, WI
·AT&T Midwest
| Read the report
I am interested in the "official" industry response to the a la carte report »hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/a···40A1.pdf
Every cable subscriber should read this report and talk to their local franchising authority about it. Of course most won't do that but please do your part to make sure democracy isn't just a rubber stamp on cable's money-printing license. Not to stick it to the man, although that should be a by-product, but to increase the efficiency of the marketplace.
They address the issues of diversity and directly challenge industry assertions from the Booz Allen Hamilton report. I'll leave distillations to the pros.
It's TV for crying out loud, not food. |
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rachelsfx
join:2004-09-27
Pensacola, FL
| reply to RayW
Re: A-la-carte not feasable they use to say?
Hello,
I think that a-la-carte programming would eventually cost everyone more money. I think the "expensive" channels need to stop paying ridiculous prices for some programming. NFL comes easily to mind. ESPN would lose hundreds of millions without forcing it on everyone. Sports and Disney so far have become the most ridiculously high-priced channels. And, think about it, do you really want news and information censored by pricing schemes? Over-paying for programming is the biggest problem I see. The NFL and NBA don't make money until Cable and Satellite chips in the dough. Just about everyone else does. I would like to see PBS axed since we have enough news without taxes paying for it.
Rachel |
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RayW
Premium
join:2001-09-01
Layton, UT
clubs:
·XMission
| Rachel,
I do not see why you are assuming that the news channels would be priced out of range (censored) and only the rich can afford a decent one. Most of them usually have advertisement to help pay the way. If people can not justify the cost, then the media will not carry them due to lack of interest, which means they would fold. A-la-carte would also mean that the sports channels would have to lower rates or not be seen, not just rake in captive customers since they can.
I must admit, I do not have cable or satellite, I do not watch TV (except sometimes on travel when I am in a hotel, IF there is anything decent on, and that usually means a book), I listen to a public supported (not tax) radio station in my area, and I look at the net and skim for news there. Quite frankly I do not care for the FORCED paying for diversity, I prefer the option of getting diversity if I CHOOSE to pay for it.
And on PBS, while it has had some good shows like "Nova" and "Nature", in the past it tended to be too one sided in what some people call a 'liberal' direction. A good idea gone sour due to attempts to be a one sided political platform paid for by taxes.
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I am not lost, I find myself every time. |
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insideoutwards
@comcast.net
| reply to RayW
Just make all video a-la-carte - PayPerView - PayPerShow - PayPerMinute - all on-demand all the time. It seems that we will be there eventually, so let the first - best provider win. The sponsors/advertisers will pay if the consumers won't. The consumers won't feel like they are paying for something they do not want. All you need is hardware-level security in the set-top box and that big pipe to the home. |
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