[opendtv] Re: Broadcasters, Cable Spar over Retrans

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 19 Jun 2011 08:20:30 -0400

At 7:27 PM -0400 6/18/11, Albert Manfredi wrote:
The stations can want whatever. Will the conglom or station complain to the FCC that the cable system wants to allow subscribers to pay a la carte, when they are using retrans consent? It's entirely the MVPD's right to do so. And at least the last FCC supported a la carte ideas. So congloms and broadcasters would have no grounds to complain. 

The answer is that IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!

Bundling is working for the MVPDs and the congloms. THEY BOTH LOVE IT.

Ala Carte would bring down this house of cards.


Or perhaps the cable systems don't mind that subscribers are cutting the cord?
They are preparing themselves for the day when they will be in the digital pipe business, rather than the video distribution business. They understand that the current system is going to be challenged by companies that will use their broadband pipes to deliver content WITHOUT the bundles that they require.
The politicians have allowed multiple cell phone carriers to compete, Craig. And wrt MVPDs, the politicians allow either "must carry" or "retrans consent." So I don't think they can be blamed for any of this.
I was not talking about the telcos; we are talking about retrans consent fees. They created the must carry and retrans consent in schemes in 1992 at the behest of broadcasters. For the record, the telcos are an oligopoly too and almost all discount equipment if you agree to a two year contract. Let's see if the regulators block the AT&T/T-mobile deal.
In principle, with 4G coming on line, we could get the kind of broadband provider competition we need. And for the MVPD fee hike issue, MVPDs are the ones who should be making the next move. Existing rules allow this. So the government doesn't have to do anything to make things right. It's the service providers who have the next move, and it's their customers who should be doing more cord cutting to motivate these service providers.
Dream on. They will ONLY act to protect and expand their current business model - they will not undermine it. 


 > The government could change everything with a simple piece of legislation.

 > Require all subscriber fees to be itemized on your cable or DBS bill.
Perhaps. That would help accelerate what I'm suggesting. It would get consumers off their complacent butts sooner, cut the cord sooner, and finally make the MVPDs let market forces work. 

Yup.
But even this simple step is unlikely. The best hope for real competition is a new business model supported by Apple, Google, Netflix, Amazon, etc. There's not much the congloms can do to prevent this as they are already cutting deals and will do almost anything to maximize profits as they ride the old business models down. 

Regards
Craig


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