AT&T U-verse dropped Food Network

[pioneer89]

It seems like it's about time for the entire pay-TV industry to get their heads out their you-know-whats.

Cable/fiber/satellite TV providers have worked themselves into a corner by making 'packages' of channels a key marketing strategy.

I pay $35 for a 'package', and somehow Dish needs to divide that money up, with all channels thinking their slice of the pie should be larger.

If we went to a strict ala carte system, with fees that actually reflect what the channel gets, I'd bet most of us would see much lower bills.

I'd love a system where I pay Dish $15 for service, and then pay $.50 or $1.00 per channel after that. Dish would take a small cut, say 20% and the rest goes to the channel. A channel can set it's own cost, so MTV or Weather might get so much from advertisers they go free, while some less popular channels would still charge a fee.

Think about what would happen. Suddenly, HGTV for example would get a much smaller subscriber base, as perhaps 50% of current subscribers drop them. Thier advertising revenue would be lower because some of those people who dropped did watch at least once in a while. HGTV would have to compete for my ala carte dollars against other channels, so they might lower their subscriber fee in order to boost their ad revenue.

 

[bicker]

Cable/fiber/satellite TV providers have worked themselves into a corner by making 'packages' of channels a key marketing strategy.

What makes you feel that that isn't the most profitable approach?

I pay $35 for a 'package', and somehow Dish needs to divide that money up, with all channels thinking their slice of the pie should be larger.

It doesn't actually work that way. Dish is contracted to pay each channel a certain amount, for each subscriber, without regard to what they charge you.

If we went to a strict ala carte system, with fees that actually reflect what the channel gets, I'd bet most of us would see much lower bills.

Actually, break-even is probably going to be 6 channels. If you want more the 6 channels you'll be better-off taking the package. (Packages wouldn't be going away, of course.) For a good comparison, check out C-Band service. You'll see what some measure of a la carte does to pricing.

I'd love a system where I pay Dish $15 for service, and then pay $.50 or $1.00 per channel after that.

Try $20 for basic service, and $5-$6 per channel. Actually, if a la carte was more pervasive, perhaps that would go down to $4-$5 per channel.

The only reason why channels charge service providers as little as they do now is because those providers guarantee them a certain amount of subscribers. If that guaranteed gets cut to 1% of what it is now, the price per subscriber will skyrocket, as outlined above.

A la carte is only going to be a win for people who really don't watch much television.