Dish Integrating Slingbox Into Hopper DVR > This is what happens when you abuse customers

reply to skeechan

Re: This is what happens when you abuse customers

Yeah, those old 1960's shows ran 51 minutes (if they were a 1 hour program). Now it is 42 minutes for a standard 1 hour program. The problem is there are too many channels. These channels need to be consolidated. Even channels like TCM, with a few GREAT shows have only a few great shows; the rest of the channel is dog crap. So you have 30 hours of decent programming a year and the rest is zero ratings filler garbage.

Close down the channel space, toss everything with low ratings and put that bandwidth to HSI...problem solved, yay. Then shows like The Walking Dead just get sold to USA or another major network instead of every network each getting 1 or 2 decent shows and the rest poopy.

Problem is the 'filler' gets enough ratings to make it worthwhile to keep therm on the air as long as advertisers are willing to pay and enough people watch.

Shows are far more expensive than in the 60's - horrifically more expensive. More expensive = more commercials along with commercial time costing more.
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Brian

"It drops into your stomach like a Abrams's tank.... driven by Rosanne Barr..." A. Bourdain

That's the thing, they don't get ratings. Many of these channels rely on channel welfare (they're packaged by the channel owners like Disney) so MSOs are forced to take them in order to get the 1 channel that does get ratings.

The welfare money does not last forever - if they can't get a rating then they will fold. Most of those shows need very little advertising money to make money or at least break even.
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Brian

"It drops into your stomach like a Abrams's tank.... driven by Rosanne Barr..." A. Bourdain

Look at these channels, they don't get ratings yet they're in the basic tier like herpes. So long as Disney and the like continue to extort, they'll be in the line up.