 neowulf
join:2000-10-20
Port Orange, FL | reply to fAcEtIOUs
Re: Its back off the shelf So pretty much metered billing, exactly how is that any different then what they were offering?
The problem is who defines who the hog is? The cable company? They already made it quite clear they think anything over 40gigs a month would be considered insane amount of data for the average user.
If the cable company wants metered billing so bad, then they are going to have to be heavily regulated like any metered service, something they don't want, and spend millions a year lobbying against.
I think the real problem is that they are a cable company before they are a internet service provider. They are trying to protect the outdated business model, when à la carte is what people want, and you can find online now. You don't have to subscribe to some over inflated package of 50 channels you will never watch just for the one or two they stick in the package you watch all the time.
That is really what this is all about, I don't even think they care if they make more from the metered billing aspect, and if they do that is just the gravy on top, as long as it keeps people from being able to watch online video. Being Time Warner prohibits operators to sell channels which stand alone it sort of points to the fact they think à la carte is not a profitable business model and are doing everything in their power to make sure consumers don't have that choice online either. |
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 baineschile2600 ways to livePremium
join:2008-05-10
Sterling Heights, MI
 ·Comcast
 ·magicjack.com
| said by neowulf:I think the real problem is that they are a cable company before they are a internet service provider. They are trying to protect the outdated business model, when à la carte is what people want, and you can find online now. You don't have to subscribe to some over inflated package of 50 channels you will never watch just for the one or two they stick in the package you watch all the time. Cable cannot choose to do a-la-carte. There are comm companies that own multiple networks (the recent Viacom/TWC fight comes to mind) that dont let cable buy single networks. So, if one of these companies owns a populat channel (Nickelodeon) and ALSO another not-so-popular-channel they want to sell the cable companies (Water Poloing Horses), cable has to buy ALL channels the other companies want to sell them.
That cost, of course, is passed onto the consumer. There are a lot of niche channels out there that people would pay for, but the price per channel would be expodential as opposed to what is now). |
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| reply to neowulf
While vacationing in the Philippines, I watched a commercial from Sky Cable which offered a la carte service - pay for the channels you only want to watch. That is so cool! To think the cable companies here says we Americans do not need a la carte in our cable TV service. Screw them! Now these same American cable companies are offering Internet services capped and metered. While the world moves forward, we are moving backwards. Bleh! :-P |
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neowulf
join:2000-10-20
Port Orange, FL | The whole argument that we can't do a la carte in America is based on that different cable companies are the content holders and also the provides and will only give premium channels in package deals with channels no one watches simply to make more channels to sell more advertising time. It is so stupid and backwards as you say the rest of the world is moving ahead seeing that you need to change with the times, instead of trying to force things to remain statues quo.
In the end the fear that TWC has of being just another "dumb pipe" will be a reality because they did not change with the times. They are so busy looking backwards not seeing the forest through the trees, thinking that old business model is going to last forever as long as they squash innovation.
And just a side note about the whole you will pay a lot for one channel if they took it out of a package. Well I rather pay 5 bucks for 1 channel I will watch, then 35 bucks for 1 or 2 channels I watch and 50 added I have not intention to ever watch. But I gave up cable tv service 3 years ago, there is plenty of good OTA free programing. And what little I did watch over cable, now has migrated to also being online, such as The Daily Show. |
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