justbits
More fiber than ATT can handle
Premium
join:2003-01-08
Chicago, IL
 ·AT&T Midwest
·AT&T Yahoo
| Price competition? More likely value competition
»www.govtech.net/digitalcommuniti···id=99464
I just want to remind everyone about some past things said by AT&T.
When AT&T executives briefed analysts about the project in November 2004, they emphasized how Lightspeed would be built to "high-value" customers -- households that spend $160 to $200 a month for telephone, Internet and entertainment services. Do you fall in that category? Maybe we need to take a poll here.
There likely will be little price competition between AT+T and cable TV. There likely will be a value competition between them. And in our materialistic society with everybody wanting the latest and greatest stuff, the price will not come down because the value will always be perceived as going up. What? AT+T has a new feature? What Cable now has the same feature? Ding! They both bump up their prices because the value of the product is now higher.
The only time I expect to see some price competition is in the initial offering of the product to customers. Hook them with a low price and feed them the drugsproduct that they are addicted to. Once they're addicted, they'll probably get used to paying those prices and never look back because the product is so much better now. |
|
soothsayer15
join:2002-03-01
Irving, TX
 ·Verizon FIOS
·Verizon Online DSL
| You guys and the politicians don't know how it works. Everyone is quick to blame the Cable, Satellite, and Telcos for raising rates.
Rate increases are really caused by content providers, especially Disney and Viacom. Because Disney has ESPN, they can charge a premium and force companies to carry their "family of networks". All competition really does is slow down the price increases. |
|
morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs: | please enlighten us, then.
it is the cable companies choice to NOT OFFER a la carte. that would get around that disney/viacom garbage, right oh wise one? |
|
marigolds
Gainfully employed, finally
Premium,MVM
join:2002-05-13
Saint Louis, MO
| said by morbo  :it is the cable companies choice to NOT OFFER a la carte. Well, that, and the disney/viacom or abc/espn retransmission consent contracts that specify that the channels cannot be offered a la carte. |
|
morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs: |
fine with me. i'll just get the channels that DO offer it. |
|
soothsayer15
join:2002-03-01
Irving, TX
·Verizon FIOS
·Verizon Online DSL
| said by morbo :fine with me. i'll just get the channels that DO offer it. You're missing the point, which is no company offers a la carte. You're in Lindale, so you probably have Suddenlink. Since Suddenlink carries ESPN, Disney will require they carry ESPN2, ESPN News, probably ESPN-U, and the Ocho (j/k). Viacom carries MTV and requires that VH1, VH1 Classics, BET, BET Jazz (maybe),Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Spike, and TV Land be carried as well.
Any company that carries those networks will not be allowed to give a choice of which ones you want to keep.
The cable companies didn't carry the NFL Network for a while because the NFL wanted an arm and a leg for it. Football is king. The cable companies argument was that the amount they were asking would force them to pass the price on to customers, even if they don't watch football. Cable won't have a choice because the NFL Network carries Thursday and Saturday games now. Cable has to offer it, or lose football fans (the all important 18-49 year old males advertisers love) to Verizon and the Satellite companies.
BTW, DirecTV's basic service just increased from $44.99 to $49.99. |
|
karlmarx
join:2006-09-18
Nashua, NH
·Fairpoint Communic..
| You stated the point perfectly. The problem is that the megacorps are illegally bundling their channels. Congress need s to pass a law forbidding that.
I would get cable, if I could buy the channels I wanted. I.e. The networks, then Sci-fi, Discovery, TLC. But I'm not willing to pay more that 20.00 a month for it. Instead, I get all my shows OTA (I'm close to a city, so I get great reception). For my other shows, hell, I get torrents.
To the cable company, I will never be more than a $20.00 a month person, so it's not profitable to serve me. Just like sprint found out, I was tired of paying 60.00 a month, so now I use prepaid cell phones, and my bill is about 15.00 a month. Just like Verizon, I stopped paying 50.00 a month, and don't even use a land line anymore. I'm PROUD to say, that my total entertainment/communincation budget is now just 45.00 a month (just over $500.00 a YEAR).
I see every movie I want (torrents), watch every tv show I want (torrents), get 10/10 internet access (30.00 a month), and still get a good 150 minutes a month on my cell phone. Granted, I have a work cell phone for most of my calls.
To the megacorps, I'm just evil. In Comcast's mind, I should be paying $250.00 a month for their overpriced, crappy service. Hell, $3000.00 a year vs. the $500.00 a year I spend? I don't know about you, but I can use that $2500.00 a year for better things than giving to the megacorps.
--
Stick it to the MAN. Support your local torrent sites. Proudly providing 100mb of upstream for all your TV, Movie, and MP3 needs. |
|
