| reply to SKYWARP
Re: Broadcasters share a good amount of the blame The mere fact that ESPN puts a must carry provision in their contract futher errodes public confidence and trust that it is a channel worth carrying and MUST be dropped! Let the WEAK channels DIE a MEANINGFUL DEATH! Only channels people want should be carried. Once you kill off the weak stuff, the popular stuff will survive. Even turner networks knows when to kill of channels (CNN-FN). You need to stop using the baseball team strategy to think about revenue sharing when buying TV SERVICE.. companies like ESPN for example getting the lion's share (like the Yankees ) and others getting .10 cents per month per subscriber (Not that I would put ESPN in the same class as the Yankees, but the revenue disparty is the same)
Yes, there should be bundles... but ONLY consumer driven, not INDUSTRY driven. The industry must not be driven by SPORTS, or polticical based power.. power needs to be in the consumers' hands. Everyone has this concept of cable-tv as this universe that everyone must come from planet earth, otherwise you dont' exist--watching the same tv, being manipulated by media, etc.
At some time in the future, tv will be increasingly broadcast over the internet and people will need to face the fact that cable tv will die an eventual death as we know it because consumers are already tuning out things they don't want, and soon they won't have to pay for it either! In my opinion, companies like ESPN should be investigated for ANTI-TRUST, strong arm tactics and go the way of ENRON.
Our economy works on supply and demand, with few exceptions and cable tv is one that for the most part flies in the face of free-market, supply-demand, more like take it or leave it. I personally coudn't see a block of 100 channels going for $20 cheaper just because ESPN was included!
I don't know about your fast foot restaurants, but in mine.. the a-la-carte menu has cheaper items as well as expensive ones and once you have choice, you ain't going back. Die ESPN, DIE! |
