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nunya
LXI 483
MVM
join:2000-12-23
O Fallon, MO
·Charter

nunya

MVM

Dirty Pool

I'm a "cord cutter". I haven't had cable in years. I don't miss it much these days (not as much as I used to). I really don't miss paying for a bunch of crap channels (MTV, VH1, BET, Bravo, E!, HSN, etc...).

I think the only reason cable TV subscription rates remain so high is that they are in collusion with content providers to keep prices artificially high.
If a content provider were to say "hey, we're going to do an IP offering as well..." , the cable (and satellite) companies would make things very difficult for that content provider - to say the least.
The cable companies also arbitrarily enforce usage caps as well as use intentional bottlenecks to stifle competition from services like Netflix and Amazon.

Collusion and anti-trust violations are "the norm" in the cable industry. 2X worse than anything AT&T ever did. Yet AT&T was demolished by divestiture (1984) while Comcast just keeps getting whatever it wants.

maartena
Elmo
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

maartena

Premium Member

said by nunya:

I think the only reason cable TV subscription rates remain so high is that they are in collusion with content providers to keep prices artificially high.

Here in the Los Angeles area, its sports. We have 2 MLB teams, 2 NHL teams, 2 NBA teams, and 2 MLS teams, and with the exeption of the latter (MLS isn't that big money yet), that means there are 6 teams with big media contracts. TWC bought an exclusive deal with the Lakers last year and are charging other TV operators $4 per subscriber, which most have paid. (this region has U-Verse, FIOS, Cox, Charter as well, and of course DirecTV and Dish) - They did the same thing with the Dodgers when their contract was up, and are again charging $4 per subscriber. No one has signed them yet, but at some point they will have to because they have a deal for 20 years.

And what does that leave us subscribers? Even if you are a hardcore sports fan.... if you are a hardcore Angels or Ducks fan, you might not even care about the Dodgers and Lakers, yet you are still required to pay that $8 a month, as you cannot buy a package without sports (besides the basic broadcasts), let alone a package that allows you to pick you sports teams.

ESPN charges $5 per subscriber, and in recent years there have been various new sports channels from CBS (college), NBC, Fox, and newcomers like BeIN, PAC12, etc.... all wanting big money from carriers. I am estimating that Sports alone...... is more then a THIRD of your monthly cable/satellite/whatever bill.

And if you are not a big sports fan at all, you are basically paying your carrier a lot of money for channels you will never watch.