Analyst: End of Bundled Cable Will Kill Over 80 Channels (CNN, MSNBC, and MTV included in 80)

Brietbart ^ | August 12, 2013 | John Nolte

[upbeat5]

With streaming television becoming more and more popular, and providers like Aereo making an end-run around cable and satellite providers, a lot of attention is being paid to the future of bundled cable. In a world of growing choices and a weak, jobless economy, how long can something last that charges customers a ton of money for dozens of channels they never watch? Bundled cable is, in my opinion, one of the greatest hustles ever perpetuated against the American people. The worst part is how it works as a kind of affirmative-action program for left-wing programming that likely wouldn’t survive in a world where we weren't forced to pay for channels we never watch. Chief among them, CNN, and MSNBC. As this discussion heats up, analysts and experts are fessing up that in a world without bundled cable, only 20 television networks would survive (that means that around 80 would not). Presumably, the survivors would be the twenty most-watched channels throughout the cable world. This would be terrible news for CNN, MSNBC, and HLN -- networks that usually rank in the thirties and forties. Fox News is usually in the top 5.

[eyedigress]

Of Course she is.

[DAC21]

Amen, in So Cal with Verizon Im paying for 15 or more Spanish / Chinese channels. Best thing that could ever happen is A La Cart

[GeronL]

except there are not any conservative channels

That needs to be fixed

[GeronL]

It wouldn’t be so bad if the channel from Taiwan had subtitles in English, but the commie CCTV4 needs to go

[plain talk]

Liberals have dominated movies, music and all sorts of entertainment for years. I don’t let politics dictate what I watch or buy.

[Dead Corpse]

Um... Good. I don’t subscribe to cable now because most of the channels, like MTV and MSNBC, suck and i really don’t want to pay for them.

Discovery, History, ScyFy, Outdoor, FoxNews, Espn, a few for the kids...

If it were ala cart.... I could probably justify it. As it is, they apparently don’t need my money that badly...

[Rides_A_Red_Horse]

Bundles and packages are sold all the time and are generally less expensive than buying a la carte.

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How about “Build your own bundle?” The cable provider give you a list of channels categorized as 1, 2 or 3 “stars.” Top Movie channels might be 3 stars while history or discovery might be 2 each. You subscribe to a number of stars (i.e. 12, 15, 18, 20 etc). You “spend” stars to build your bundle. Once you set it up, it would be the same as the current system. You pay your monthly bill and there’s probably a fee you have to pay if you add, drop or change your choices.

I wonder which channels would be left hanging...

I wonder which would be

[WeatherGuy]

Fox Sports Channel debuts this Saturday...dump like the leftist, race-baiting scum at ESPN.

[Gator113]

Funny.... I seldom start any project without checking youtube and other internet sources. I sure could have used these tools when I was young.

[D Rider]

The less popular channels would simply have to raise their price :p

Yep. And that of course will spur growth. Just like goverment spending and raising the minimum wage.

[Rides_A_Red_Horse]

I wonder which would be

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I wonder which would be most popular.

[Utilizer]

I began looking at alacarte subscription cable services back in the late 80's, and working in the electronics industry I had contacts into several avenues that the majority of the public does not. Spoke to several other Techs and some Engineers with ties to OEMs and began working out a type of wireless Point Repeater Coverage and the necessary bandwidth and licensing requirements. Then when I actually began planning out offerings and channel layouts I found out some things I never suspected.

For instance, certain venues were willing to pay YOU, the provider, to carry their channel(s) which would allow you to defray operating costs and offer lower prices to your potential customers. Religious programming and home-shopping being the most recognizeable of the options. Then the problems began.

First, locales began demanding a certain percentage of your channels be dedicated for "community" programs in order to get your permits to operate. Community college, local government, and public access channels were demanded along with local taxes. Not to mention utility-pole space rental fees and local transmission licensing requirements had to be met, which could vary substantially from city to city.

Plus power wiring had to be professionally installed by the official power company at standard union rates, and access fees as necessary if you wanted to maintain your equipment, all at the normal professional equipment rates. This along with regular equipment maintenance costs, maintenance technician pay that had to be met along with repair and replacement of faulty or damaged equipment, which sometimes meant bullet-holed writeoffs from time to time and the costs just kept on rising.

Then you get contacted by other agencies that want to have their stations provided at a small cost, such as the local abc-cbs-nbc-pbs affiliates that people would of course want. Too, there are indeed some people who like to watch The Golf Channel, Professional Bowling, The All Racing Channel, and Home and Garden options.

Then the minority people demanded equal time with the mainstream channels for equal opportunity viewing -and you were OF COURSE employing an equal ratio of minorities across all levels of your company, weren't you? Hate to have to picket your offices or your service vans as they go about their business if you were not. Black Media, Caza Mexicana, Spanish Soap Programs, Filipino Nation... you get the idea.

Then the Religious Equality Knowitalls butted in. First, Roman Catholic USA (I am changeing the names, of course). That was not so bad. Then Protestants Today, Lutheran Nation, Presbyterian Ministries of America, The Portugese Dioces of the World, Manila Christians Speak, Jewish Free Synagogues... it kept on growing.

THEN the real Pains-In-The-Rumps started demanding access as well. I started getting mesages that BET (they claimed) was starting to ask why we were discriminating against them by not contacting them and offering some channel space. It might have just been the local Black Power faction instead that had been stirring up so much trouble locally in recent years, but since they already had representatives in the City Council and SJPD (not their real initials) and positions in all the local unions, this was turning into a real headache. Then the Somos Raza officials started demanding lots of space (again, not their real title) and the Irish Irregulars were looking to branch out into a local channel so their message could be heard.

Finally, the New Black Muslims wanted channels, a group that started in the local and state prisons by black Muslim Converts, and wanted to have access so they could let the world know how the racist white slaveholder nation was still putting down the impoverished black man and they had proof and Islam was the only true religion... you get the idea. Of course back then I had no idea what a problem the muslims would turn out to be, September 11 being roughly a decade away. All I (we) knew was that this was becoming a major headache, so even though we had some bleeding-edge equipment that companies like HBO and Showtime could ditch their microwave antennas for quite easily... the decision was made to just drop it.

Everybody lost.

[usconservative]

my neighbor cut cable and dish 3 years ago. If he wanted to watch sports, he can get it anywhere on the web for free. If he wanted a specific show, just download using torrent. No biggie and he’s happier saving $100 on a bundle per month.

I kicked DirecTV out of my house last August when they upped my bill from $75 to $99/mo. Haven't looked back. I have a small, over-the-air antenna on top of my gazebo behind the house and receive over 40 over-the-air channels (of which perhaps 6 are "watchable" meaning they're not some foreign language, lifestyle or "shopping" channel crap.)

For movies I have Netflix and Hulu, when I want to watch something newer that's not on either of those, I use Vudu.

I'm never going back to cable/satellite. They can KMA.

[reformedliberal]

Haven’t had any subscription TV for 5 years. We use Netflix (DVD and streaming), Hulu Free (on line) and YouTube(online). Internet is our main news source and Netflix provides clips from our local news channel (very boring).

There are 4 gay channels? Seriously?

[plain talk]

I like that myself but I suspect cable companies would use it as an excuse to jack up the prices. Long tail content over the internet seems to be the future. Find what you want and watch when you want via portals like netflix that offer huge assortments of content for a fixed price ... or pay per watch. Pricing is not a la carte per se but the experience is sort of like a la carte in that I watch what I want whenever I want.

[reformedliberal]

Roku already carries a ton of Christian channels. I don’t think they’d have any problem w/conservatives.

[GeronL]

good.

Now someone should start one.

[cookcounty]

Why can’t they do a la carte plus PPV for anything not on your favorites list?

I pay for 200 channels because it’s the only way to get the 15 or 20 I ever actually watch.

[citizen]

We pay extra on our phone bills for rural access and 0bamaphones. We pay a lot.

Who among us thinks they won’t come up with a TV/internet charge with a fancy name for paying for universal cable access for the “disadvantaged?” That keeps all those loser channels on?

I hope it happens but I’m betting CNN is not getting axed.

[Windflier]

the other’s watch

Death to all misplaced apostrophes!!