[opendtv] Re: Analysis: Broadcast's $1 Billion Pot of Gold
- From: "John Shutt" <shuttj@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:18:31 -0400
Craig,
I have worked in cable. In fact, my first "television" job was engineer at
a Public Access studio, but that was many moons ago. However, you being an
industry insider, I'm sure you know or can find out the answers to the
following three questions:
1) How much does a :30 spot go for on "Deal Or No Deal?"
2) How much does a :30 spot go for on Ice Road Truckers?
3) How much in subscriber fees alone does Discovery Networks pull down each
year for The Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Discovery Health, The
Science Channel, Discovery Kids, Discovery en Espanol, Planet Green,
Military Channel, Investigation Discovery, Turbo, HD Theater, and FitTV?
You think that maybe some of those channels generate more revenue via
subscriber fees than it cost in rebranded and remixed programming, thus
subsidizing some of the other ones?
If ad revenue alone were enough to sustain all those spinoff channels, then
don't you think that they would have made additional channels that had NO
subscriber fee? Competition is fierce to get onto cable/DBS, just as it is
fierce for products to get shelf space in your grocery store.
Without having to perform a complete audit of the books, we can already get
an idea of how much a subscription fee would be if there were no ads. As I
said before, look to HBO, Cinemax, and Showtime.
As for Freeview, I still contend that it is partially subsidized by the UK
television license, which is currently 139.50 GBP (because of the plunging
dollar, that is now $276.32) per year per household. At a bare minimum, the
Beeb paid for most of the engineering and implementation of the DTV
multicast network.
Individual Freeview channels may also be partially subsidized by BskyB and
however many cable systems exist in the UK, to the extent that they receive
subscriber fees from those sources. If so and how much I do not know.
John
----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig Birkmaier" <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
Your response sounds like it was written by the PR department for the
NCTA. This has been the "company line" ever since the FCC and others
started talking about ala carte. It is a worst case scenario based on the
FALSE premise that subscriber fees are a critical component of economic
viability of all cable and broadcast channels.
Yet somehow, broadcasters have managed to thrive for decades without the
"found money" from retransmission consent fees.
And most cable networks have become financially profitable now that they
have become a standard component of what 85% of the homes in the U.S.
watch.
Freeview is living proof that subscriber fees are not an economic
imperative for the survival of a TV channel. Somehow, these channels are
making money ONLY from ads, and many channels that are operated by
companies that are not among the original Freeview partners, are paying
millions of dollars to get their content onto the service.
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