How do we find out the term of the Current contract? Should we wait to cancel if they renew? Will we be able to tell if they renew?
“In most of these cases, the Current TV contracts are still in force so for a couple more years, at least, companies like Comcast and Direct TV will continue to carry it when it becomes Al-Jazeera.”
Single station cable network carriage contracts typically last 3-5 years. Longer if it is tied to a major network/group. I would not be surprised if Viacom/CBS contracts were in the 7-10 year range, same with the NBC/Universal networks. The more properties that can be tied to a single negotiation the longer the terms are likely to be.
Simple reason? They’re terribly complex and do take years to negotiate.
Current was in such a bind for 2 main reasons. One, they had no corporate parentage like MSNCBC, FOX and CNN. They could not be “bundled” with 5-10 sister networks. They had no leverage to negotiate terms favorable to them in dollars or duration. Two, going to the left of MSNBC and their numbers being what they were? Well, you don’t need to be much of business person to know no audience = no dollars.
How will we know when their contracts are up? Publicly I don’t know if they’ll disclose expiration dates. Current launched in 2002 and are likely in their 2nd or possibly 3rd carriage deals with satellite and cable operators. If they’re getting 10 cents per subscriber I’d be shocked.
I guarantee you if you threaten to drop if they renew providers will listen. This network is not one any cable MSO or satellite company is going to go to bat for. When they’re finally starting to take cable cord cutters seriously no way anyone is going to risk losing thousands of subscribers over this dreck.
My opinions are in no way insider, just an educated guess based on the fact that I worked in the business end of one of the regional FOX Sports channels and learned how this stuff worked.
It varies from provider to provider.
Should we wait to cancel if they renew?
Do what you have to
Will we be able to tell if they renew?
It'll be in the business section.