[opendtv] Re: Will Digital Passthru Effect Digital Tier Subscription?

At 2:15 PM -0700 7/29/07, johnwillkie wrote:

So, somehow the Communications Act amendments of 1996 will be overturned?
If it's not just your imagination at work, this would be big news.  I
haven't heard even a hint of that, but I guess your ear must be closer to
the ground.  Question: what planet and which dimension?  Somehow, it doesn't
sound much like the one most of us occupy.
Who is living on another planet? Ooooops, I guess Mexico is nearly the same thing. 

What has the 1996 act got to do with this discussion?



No, Tom you will pay for the variety and deph of program services delivered
by cable.  Call it paying for variety and delivery.  Some of those channesl
will be broadcast channels, but what the cable company "pays" for those will
amount to a rounding error on the cost the cable companies pay for ESPN.
And you will pay for broadcast stations, as the cable companies (and DBS systems) will pass through the fees that they are now starting to pay to stations. I agree that no station is going to receive >$2.70 per month, which is the estimated average that subs pay for ESPN. But the fees that stations are getting in their new retrans consent agreements are HARDLY noise level or rounding errors. The average seems to be above $0.50 per subscriber per month or about $6 per year. Although the numbers are not published, there have been reports of some stations getting $0.70 per sub per month.
The reason I said that YOU VILL PAY for broadcast stations s that there is no way to opt out of these channels. The are required even for the most basic lifeline tier, the price for which is now going to increase as the cable companies start to make those monthly payments to the stations. 



On the other hand, broadcast only viewers only pay with their attention.  Bt
then, cable viewers pay with that TOO.
Everyone pays for the content delivered by broadcasters. The cost of all those ads is included in the price of every advertised product we buy. This is much akin to the fact that corporations do not pay taxes - they just collect them for the government as part of the price of the stuff they sell. 

The difference is that subscribers to multichannel services now pay twice.



If cable did what you suggest -- most of what you suggest for them -- it
would be suicide.  Not unlike the outcome if broadcasters follow what you
sugest for the.


Suicide?
I - and every multichannel subscriber - SHOULD have the choice of which channels I choose to pay for. The cable guys don't want to sell their channels ala carte, but they are more than happy for me to pay to watch content on demand, including broadcast content. Even as they play these games, they are enabling competition via the sale of broadband.
Consumer choice is going to happen anyway, whether it is supported via legal services or consumers just work around all of their content management attempts. The real competition will happen when I can choose to spend my $75 per month to download content that is not filled with commercials, and the niche channels fully exploit their Internet portals with relevant video clips and programming.
The only thing that is holding all of this together today - i.e. all telecommunications including wireless telephony, cable, DBS, IPTV and Broadcast - is the protection of government regulations, that are propping up their oligopolies.
Cable is well positioned to survive no matter what happens in terms of regulation versus open markets. DBS is in a less favorable position, however they can migrate to a "push" download model supplemented with live national programming ( primarily sports). And broadcasters, and I'm talking about the TV guys now, not radio, can adapt as well, covering their markets with a cloud of relevant bits for fixed, mobile and portable receivers. 

We are looking at a classic house of cards, that is ready to topple...

Regards
Craig





Me, I think that cable and tv should exist.  And, after throwing daily ink
on flattened and bleached dead trees turns into a few national newspapers,
to NOT have broadcast TV and cable would throw us back to he days before the
Reformation.  "The Dark Ages."

John Willkie

-----Mensaje original-----
De: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] En
nombre de Craig Birkmaier
Enviado el: Sunday, July 29, 2007 5:12 AM
Para: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Asunto: [opendtv] Re: Will Digital Passthru Effect Digital Tier
Subscription?

At 8:32 PM -0400 7/27/07, Tom Barry wrote:

How do you mean the digital tier?  Usually that costs extra money
and may include a lot of encrypted channels. OTOH the broadcast
stations could also be sent digitally but unencrypted so at least
digital QAM ready TV's and equipment could get them without either
extra fees or cable cards. (once you get the TV)



Sorry Tom, but those days are over.

YOU Vill PAY for broadcast stations, just like you pay for everything else!

It might be interesting if the cable industry said it would pull the
plug on the analog broadcast channels unless the broadcasters rescind
their Retrans Consent demands. Then they could justify only paying
for the subscribers who pay for the digital tier with the networks...

Regards
Craig




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