[opendtv] Re: 'Cable A La Carte' TV Picks Up Steam
- From: "Cliff Benham" <cliff.benham@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 13:55:15 -0400
I hardly watch ANY TV at all.=20
Too much violence, too many stupid quiz programs,=20
too much reality crap and SOAPs that foist other=20
people's personal crapola on you.
I hope 3 of the 'a la carte' tiers that are made available are =20
news/information
history/technology
arts/music
That would cover just about all I care to watch.=20
-----Original Message-----
From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of tjharvey@xxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2004 11:25 AM
To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [opendtv] Re: 'Cable A La Carte' TV Picks Up Steam
I am amazed that you have time to write this discussion with all the TV =
you must watch...
>=20
> From: <menright1@xxxxxxx>
> Date: 2004/08/12 Thu AM 03:01:08 EDT
> To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [opendtv] Re: 'Cable A La Carte' TV Picks Up Steam
>=20
> >>>
> With studies saying most U.S. households watch less than 20 of the =
sometimes hundreds of available channels,=20
> <<<
>=20
> I believe this figure would prove wrong [low] in a world with high PVR =
usage. Also, Cable can today implement a la carte on the digital tier =
easily, and should do so to avoid having it forced on them in the analog =
tier. People are not really that upset about bundling, they just want to =
be able to can CBS when JJ's dress can't stay attached.
>=20
> I have over 50 regular repeating recordings ("season passes") =
scheduled on my TiVo. There are several of those that are the only thing =
I watch on the respective channel. I can't inspect my list of scheduled =
recordings at the moment but I think overall it skews towards channels =
that have one or two programs that I record.
>=20
> A mature-design PVR with multiple recordable tuners and sufficient =
disk space (mine only holds 40 hours as built and as configured by me) =
on the one side and multiple family members to serve on the other side =
would seem to indicate that the useful channel selection could easily be =
more than 20 per household in a not-too-distant future.
>=20
> Is it really so hard to do a la carte? The digital "tier" on Cox in =
San Diego consists of 5 or 6 separately orderable tiers of 5 to 10 =
channels, and the pricing and organization of the digital tier is a =
better indication of what cable systems will end up delivering after =
they go digital with their entire line-ups. The pricing and organization =
of the analog "tier" reflects real delivery issues today, but the =
digital side shows what the systems are capable of.
>=20
> When all is said and done, I think a la carte would be good, and I =
think that at the approximate time that a regulatory/legislative deal =
could be made, most cable subs will be looking at all-digital cable =
anyway (meaning I think it will take a long time to legislate it). So =
the problem solves itself.=20
>=20
> The *driving* problem however, is not one of being able pay for =
channels one by one. The driving problem is that when the CBS eye =
offends me, I cannot pluck it out. Being able to cancel an individual =
station when it suits would allow consumers to exercise an =
after-the-fact censorship power. I believe then the cable systems would =
push back against the program providers with contract terms that insist =
on standards that the program providers have to follow, unless the cable =
systems' costs for unbundling are really low. These costs would be for =
billing and keeping boxes in sync with requests and for all the =
phone-call handling that would go with those things. I imagine that the =
terms of carriage would envision certain balances of cancelations and of =
orders of bundled tiers and of people requesting an individual channel =
instead of its tier.
>=20
>=20
> =20
> =20
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>=20
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>=20
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>=20
>=20
=20
=20
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