 LinklistPremium
join:2002-03-03
Longport, NJ
kudos:5
1 edit | And when were programming costs NOT going up? whether programming costs increase or not.
It is a strawman argument that cable companies raised prices when programming costs haven't gone up. Programming costs have been going up since 1996 when the FCC forced must carry or negotiate on price contract rules(aka re-transmission agreements).
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»www.mittromney.com/s/repeal-and-···bamacare
»www.mittromney.com/issues/health-care |
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| I don't care! All I care about is getting my upstream channel bonding! Dag nabbit! Where is it? |
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 pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Shrug... Cancel it. Problem solved. |
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 banditws6Shrinking Time and DistancePremium
join:2001-08-18
Frisco, TX | And done! Don't miss it either. |
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 odogCable Centric Vendor BiasedPremium,VIP
join:2001-08-05
Atlanta, GA
kudos:9 | reply to Linklist
Re: And when were programming costs NOT going up? Well Aereo might shake this up a bit. I think at some point the whole retrans/must carry rules will have to be overhauled. |
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Rekrul
join:2007-04-21
Milford, CT | ... Get rid of the exclusive franchise laws, allowing real competition and watch prices nose-dive. |
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pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | said by Rekrul:Get rid of the exclusive franchise laws, allowing real competition and watch prices nose-dive. Doubtful. We've seen more competition in video services with the emergence of TV services provided by Verizon and AT&T, as well as the emergence of satellite-provided TV (Dish and DirecTV).
The problem is that each content company has an effective "monopoly" over its own content. Even if you had 100 cable TV companies, they would still have to pay the price dictated by the content provider.
Only consumers' putting their feet down and starving the beast will have any impact.
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Romney 2012 - Put an adult in charge. |
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| Cut the cord people The only way these guys are going to listen is if people start cutting the cord en masse. That and the ridiculously low caps need to be done away with on wired lines so that competing services have a chance to grow. |
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| Cable and Satellite TV is a dying form of media The Cable and Satellite TV business model is dying, and is being kept afloat by parent/subsidiaries companies - read about it here:
»www.sleepyshark.com/the-death-of···plained/
Please follow me on twitter @seansleepyshark
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Thanks,
Sean Brown
»www.sleepyshark.com |
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 Rojo_P
join:2001-10-03
Lancaster, OH
 ·Earthlink Cable ..
·RoadRunner Cable
| Both sides of the mouth Rekrul makes a good point, but who is going to get rid of franchise laws when local governments are generally getting a percentage of cable tv income, so these franchise laws and also higher cable fees mean more money for them.
pnh102 makes a good point, but in the present economic climate consumers are spending their entertainment dollars for a cheaper "in home" solution, and are reluctant to cut back on entertainment any further (each party recognizes the fact and wants to take advantage).
More to Karl's point about Time Warner, why is it when things get ugly and independent arbitration is suggested, history has shown that the bottleneck has been that TW doesn't want any arbitrator to have access to records of their contract negotiations.
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There's nothing big I want to prove,
No mountains that I need to move,
Or even claim what's right or true for you.
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Re: And when were programming costs NOT going up? It is a strawman argument that cable companies raised prices when programming costs haven't gone up.
In this case, it is true that cable operators have raised rates for every and all service, whether tied to programming costs or not. When a DVR rental fee jumps six bucks months after a rate hike tied to programming costs for example. Or say when a cable company charges you six bucks just to pay your bill over the phone with a live human, eight months after they already socked you with a hike that was actually tied to programming.
Do you come here just to play the corporatist contrarian? |
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| reply to pnh102
Re: Shrug... You can't cancel it if you never ordered it to begin with 
/M |
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 IowaCowboyWant to go back to IowaPremium
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA
·Comcast
 ·Verizon Broadban..
| Some of Grandma's channels are blacked out TWC in Maine is currently in a carriage dispute with Hearst TV, which owns a handful of stations in the Northeast. I was troubleshooting one of Grandma's TVs and I noticed a few stations that were blacked out.
On the other hand, Comcast seems to just give into price hikes as we never have blackouts in Western Mass. No wonder my cable bill is rising like hot air. I do try to keep the cost down by having my own TiVo boxes and my own modem. I have had the TiVo boxes since 2010 and they've nearly paid for themselves as I have lifetime subs on them. |
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 voipguy
join:2006-05-31
Forest Hills, NY | Out of Market Signals I read that TWC actually imported some out-of-market network affiliates to areas that were blacked out. (I would send a link, but the story moved behind a pay-wall)
That, to me, indicates that they are willing to play "hardball" more than we have seen in the past. I also read that they just settled with Hearst TV. |
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Reviews:
·Time Warner Cable
 ·Verizon FiOS
 ·voip.ms
| The problem All TV providers have a problem because TV is an "anchor" product in which they make the least margin. HSI is like hitting gold, maybe $4/month. VOIP is next, I read it costs them about $8 inc taxes. OK there is $12 in cost. The rest is opex which includes PPE, maint, and cost to broadcasters -- the biggest nut.
So phone and HSI costs go down, TV costs go up 2% and they jack your rate 4-7% (hey times are tough). Record profits, record revenue. They are suffering dearly 
People say enough is enough, and they cut phone (remember juicy margins). So now their bottom line suffers, and they have to implement caps to make up for the margin cost lost to the person pinching pennies. And they don't want to lose their anchor product, because now revenue will go down (but profits up). It's a tricky balancing act.
Now that the juicy suburbs are pretty much covered, the only way to keep growing bigger is to find new revenue sources. And since TV hasn't changed in 40 years, that means simply raising your rates--a la Bell. |
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| reply to mackey
Re: Shrug... I stopped playing that game 2 years ago. |
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Reviews:
·Time Warner Cable
| reply to IowaCowboy
Re: Some of Grandma's channels are blacked out said by IowaCowboy:TWC in Maine is currently in a carriage dispute with Hearst TV, which owns a handful of stations in the Northeast. I was troubleshooting one of Grandma's TVs and I noticed a few stations that were blacked out.
On the other hand, Comcast seems to just give into price hikes as we never have blackouts in Western Mass. No wonder my cable bill is rising like hot air. I do try to keep the cost down by having my own TiVo boxes and my own modem. I have had the TiVo boxes since 2010 and they've nearly paid for themselves as I have lifetime subs on them.
this dispute was resolved thursday night. The channels are back. |
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| reply to pnh102
Re: ... Unfortunately I'm in a spot where there is only one TV provider (excluding sat services), Time Warner, but, in my same city, south of me, there are three different providers, and Time Warner services are significantly cheaper, about half for TV services, and about 20 to 30% cheaper for faster internet, this is all literally a few blocks from me, with the exact same packages, channel listings, it is the same Time Warner. The two competitors also seem to have better channel selection for what otherwise appears to be competing levels of service.
Competition DOES work.
I've seriously considered moving just because of this, but there's always hope that at least one of these two companies will eventually build out to me.
When the 2nd cable company came along, TW immediately sent a letter to only people in the competitive area announcing cheaper rates. I got a copy of the letter and called them, they wouldn't even talk to me because I wasn't in a competitive area. |
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pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | said by ShowMeISP:Competition DOES work.
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When the 2nd cable company came along, TW immediately sent a letter to only people in the competitive area announcing cheaper rates. I got a copy of the letter and called them, they wouldn't even talk to me because I wasn't in a competitive area. I'm certainly not suggesting that competition in general doesn't work. However, ponder this, even with multiple TV providers, how do your rates compare with what they were 10 years ago, adjusting for inflation?
IMO, Cable TV rates are simply becoming more reflective of what it really is, a luxury product.
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Romney 2012 - Put an adult in charge. |
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