Social Feed

The hidden cost of ala carte would be the increased calls to the call centers. Can you imagine the confusion people would have? Using the internet would be only one small (very small) method of activation. People will call. That means a HUGE increase in call center cost. You guys may not realize the cost of call center operation, but it is very costly.

Todd Humphrey said:

The hidden cost of ala carte would be the increased calls to the call centers. Can you imagine the confusion people would have? Using the internet would be only one small (very small) method of activation. People will call. That means a HUGE increase in call center cost. You guys may not realize the cost of call center operation, but it is very costly.

Click to expand...

In every one of your posts on this topic, your logic is flawed. In this case, there would be no more calls than usual, or a very minimal increase. It can be done online. (Unless you have Dish, where you can only add, and they make you call to downgrade AND charge you $5. So, it's their fault you have to call.)

Mini-packs are the best thing that could happen to cable and dbs for the consumer. Yes, the per-channel cost would be higher than now. But, the total subscription cost would go down for many, stay the same for many, and go up for only a few.

Will it be a little more difficult for the providers? Possibly. I don't care. That's their job, to provide what the consumers want, not what they want the consumers to have.

News Pack (CNN, HNN, FNC, MSNBC, CNBC, etc)
Knowledge Pack (TLC, Disc, NGC, Sci, Military, Animal, etc)
Lifestyle Pack (Food, DIY, HGTV, Lime, etc)
Entertainment Pack (probably have multiple tiers due to number of channels in this category)
Movie Pack (non-premium)
Kids Pack (Nick, Diz, Cartoon, Sprout, etc)
Sports Pack (Maybe have multiple tiers)
Locals Pack (local OTA plus RSNs)
HD Pack (as they do now)
Porn Pack (as they do now)
Various Int'l Packs (as they have now)
Various Premium Packs (as they do now)

Piece of cake, technically. Consumers would love it. Providers would hate it.

GaryPen said:

In every one of your posts on this topic, your logic is flawed. In this case, there would be no more calls than usual, or a very minimal increase. It can be done online. (Unless you have Dish, where you can only add, and they make you call to downgrade AND charge you $5. So, it's their fault you have to call.)

Mini-packs are the best thing that could happen to cable and dbs for the consumer. Yes, the per-channel cost would be higher than now. But, the total subscription cost would go down for many, stay the same for many, and go up for only a few.

Will it be a little more difficult for the providers? Possibly. I don't care. That's their job, to provide what the consumers want, not what they want the consumers to have.

News Pack (CNN, HNN, FNC, MSNBC, CNBC, etc)
Knowledge Pack (TLC, Disc, NGC, Sci, Military, Animal, etc)
Lifestyle Pack (Food, DIY, HGTV, Lime, etc)
Entertainment Pack (probably have multiple tiers due to number of channels in this category)
Movie Pack (non-premium)
Kids Pack (Nick, Diz, Cartoon, Sprout, etc)
Sports Pack (Maybe have multiple tiers)
Locals Pack (local OTA plus RSNs)
HD Pack (as they do now)
Porn Pack (as they do now)
Various Int'l Packs (as they have now)
Various Premium Packs (as they do now)

Piece of cake, technically. Consumers would love it. Providers would hate it.

Click to expand...

Its their job to provide what people will buy.. Not what people want.. If you dont want to buy it then theyll change to something you do want to buy.. Its not their job to make EVERY person happy... Theyve done a good job at making the majority happy.. Even with "mini paks" Their will be unhappy people.. This is like replaceing one evil with another.

The costs to consumers would also be higher, as right now the cost to operate the network is included in the packages.. So lets say you only want the family pak, ok you pay the cost of those channels, but it still costs the cable company the same plant costs to provide you 1 channel as it does to provide 100 channels to your house.. Plus the only way to provide ala carte would be for EACH consumer to have a digital box/cable card. So that means more costs to the consumer... A consumer now can get analog channels on EVERY tv in the house for the same price. (44.95 orlando about 75 channels) so you do the math a box costs 6.99 a month, you want 4 tvs up 4x 6.99 (theres 27bucks right there) ok so then you want channels? Ok to get 80channels ALA carte your gonna spend well go small and say 30bucks.. so your already at near 60$ (way more then the normal rate) PLUS we need to include the cost to operate the plant... (well say charge a 10$ fee minimum for that) so your at what 60-70bucks for the SAME service? Sure you can choose not to have the 80 channels, but it doesnt make sense.. Dallor for dallor you get the best rate possible without ala carte.... Sure you only want to watch maybe 10-15 channels, but even if yo uget the paks.. Some paks may only have 1-2 channels youll watch.. Buy the news pak your not gonna watch cnn,msnbc,fox,bbc your gonna watch maybe 1 or two so youve wasted the others...

Ala carte sounds nice on paper, but the reality of it would be a nightmere for everyone..

In 5 years Ala carte via the internet will be the new reality. Internet tv will bypass both satellite and cable providers and offer all content by video on demand. So all this discussion won't matter. Ala carte will happen no matter what everyone thinks. THe market will set the price and progress will continue. The question is will satellite and cable be a part of it like the Dish vip series of dvrs or will they not. If they resist to long they will become obsolete.

MikeD-C05 said:

In 5 years Ala carte via the internet will be the new reality. Internet tv will bypass both satellite and cable providers and offer all content by video on demand. So all this discussion won't matter. Ala carte will happen no matter what everyone thinks. THe market will set the price and progress will continue. The question is will satellite and cable be a part of it like the Dish vip series of dvrs or will they not. If they resist to long they will become obsolete.

Click to expand...

A lot of you simply do not understand that there are two forces here. The programming producers and the programming providers to consumers.
Too many of you also seem to think that the Internet will solve all out technical problems. I am still waiting for my damn flying car !!!!

There will not be any major changes in how programming is packaged for a long time. You will have new players, but they will not offer anything much different from what is currently available.

stevenl said:

The costs to consumers would also be higher, as right now the cost to operate the network is included in the packages.. So lets say you only want the family pak, ok you pay the cost of those channels, but it still costs the cable company the same plant costs to provide you 1 channel as it does to provide 100 channels to your house.. Plus the only way to provide ala carte would be for EACH consumer to have a digital box/cable card. So that means more costs to the consumer... A consumer now can get analog channels on EVERY tv in the house for the same price. (44.95 orlando about 75 channels) so you do the math a box costs 6.99 a month, you want 4 tvs up 4x 6.99 (theres 27bucks right there) ok so then you want channels? Ok to get 80channels ALA carte your gonna spend well go small and say 30bucks.. so your already at near 60$ (way more then the normal rate) PLUS we need to include the cost to operate the plant... (well say charge a 10$ fee minimum for that) so your at what 60-70bucks for the SAME service? Sure you can choose not to have the 80 channels, but it doesnt make sense.. Dallor for dallor you get the best rate possible without ala carte.... Sure you only want to watch maybe 10-15 channels, but even if yo uget the paks.. Some paks may only have 1-2 channels youll watch.. Buy the news pak your not gonna watch cnn,msnbc,fox,bbc your gonna watch maybe 1 or two so youve wasted the others...

Ala carte sounds nice on paper, but the reality of it would be a nightmere for everyone..

Click to expand...

A. Analog will be going bye-bye someday in the not-to-distant future. Everybody subbing to cable will need either a digital box or cable-capable TV.
B. DBS subs already need a digital converter box.
C. You're right. I won't be watching Fox News, except for an occasional laugh. But, I would prefer paying for a handful of those mini-packs, with a few wasted channels, than subbing to the top tier because of one or two desired channels, and have 100's of wasted channels.
D. While the providers system costs remain constant whether I sub to the top package, or just a single channel, their programming costs do not. The amount they pay the providers is contingent upon how many customers are subbed to to that provider's channels. This is why the providers will fight ALC pricing. They will be the biggest losers. But, like Mike D says, ALC pricing is inevitable, as other transport mechanisms are put into place.

Todd Humphrey said:

Too many of you also seem to think that the Internet will solve all out technical problems. I am still waiting for my damn flying car !!!!
.

Click to expand...

Are you still driving on the ground? Jeez.

Television over the internet (IPTV) is a way of getting rid of the middle man (cable, satellite) therefore the price should be the same or less for those channels. Those companies could end up charging us more for the programming but we would still end up paying less. This would ultimately lead to smaller packages (all the channels that that company has to offer) for a certain price. A program would allow us access to the different packages combining them together at one place. This is as close as we will probably get to ala carte. The only way satellite or cable would be in the marketplace is if they could offer On Demand or broadband or a competitive package of channels that they create themselves exclusive to their service. If satellite does not get into broadband soon they will be gone. Internet will be the delivery method and since cable is also in the business to do broadband then they will at least have that going for them. Maybe they will concentrate on offering broadband service where DSL will not go to make up for loss of money on television service.

And FM will kill AM, and DVD's will kill movie theaters, and the Internet will kill cable, satellite, and OTA.
Study history. New technology has NEVER replaced the existing distribution methods of radio or television, it has only added to the choices.

No. But, it usually causes a major shift in the existing technology. Even new marketing methods within the same technology can change the paradigm. Look at what Netflix did to Blockbuster and Hollywood Video. They are finally changing their business models, after years of resistance, to stave off the damage from Netfix' superior (for most customers) business model.

As fiber becomes more readily available, and tv choices more plentiful, the law of supply and demand will take hold, causing cable and dbs to rethink their business models in response. It may also take as long as it took Blockbuster, maybe longer, but these lumbering dinosaurs will have to adapt or go the way of the actual dinosaurs.