I am tired of all these disputes. Why do I have to rely on Dish to negotiate for me? Why cannot I subscribe to the channels I want via the internet (or even on Dish) and decide if what the company wants is worth it to me? I have a feeling more and more will come around to this line of thinking as the monthly bills spiral higher and higher.
I really hate to say any kind words that might give solas to the bottom feeders on the top floor at Dish but...
Broadcast media is in the middle of a major paradigm change. And this is actually a case where the much over used phrases "new paradigm" or "paradigm change" actually apply.
Video content is becoming available from dozens and dozens of different sources. So you would think the providers would be in the catbird seat because if someone like Dish doesn't want to pony up for AMC several other outlets will. Right?
But the outlets are also awash in a multitude of content providers so if AMC won't negotiate on price, ABCnet, XYZnet sportnet, gardening net, etc, etc, etc... certainly will and Dish will still be able to claim 250 plus channels without "over priced" AMC.
Now at the moment there isn't any clearly defined group of power players (with the possible exception of Time Warner, Comcast, CNN, MTV and ESPN). And even whatever muscle they have in the market can evaporate no time at all.
Then there are the "niche" channels like Lifetime, Spike, BBCA, NetGeo, etc. Great channels to a few but not the great unwashed masses. So to survive these folk get bought up by major players like Disney and NBC Universal who can guarantee that, for a while anyway, they will get enough money to continue making content.
Now Disney, NBC Uni, etc, in order to make their investments in all these niche channels payoff declare they will only negotiate "all or nothing" deals with second tier players like Dish and Cox Cable. And to have survived this long the Disneys and such have at least a couple of "must have" channels so they are not easy to refuse.
Can you see where this is going?
NOBODY is going to allow a massive ala carte market to exist. The niche channels would cost a comparative "arm and a leg" since their audience is so small. And when a customer made a list of the channels they wanted, especially in a household with Nickolodeon kids, MTV teens, an OWN and Lifetime network mom and a Spike and ESPN dad they would be enraged at the price and so go to a provider that had a bargain priced package with "almost" everything they wanted and 50 more but at a lower price.
Now a single guy or childless single woman might well expect a great deal for the mere 5 or 6 channels they watch. But the provider would go broke with these customers because their bill wouldn't be enough to cover the 5 channels, overhead and still make a profit. So "5 channel he-she" would get hit with a minimum fee and then they too would be POed and go with somebody who offered the 5 channels and 115 more "for only a few dollars more."
What to do? No answers in sight and government moving to stay out of the way of free enterprise, as it should.
Ancient Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times."
