FOX News Channel/DISH dispute

[Yespage]

This is not the case. Capitalism t its fullest would be every channel available a la carte and consumers able to buy only the ones they want.This forced channel bundling and tiering is pretty much the opposite of that. But that's what happens when you have a few content providers each with some exclusive and desirable content that gives them immense bargaining power.

Capitalism for some is a utopian ideal, where choice would reign. The reality is that capitalism always leads to conglomeration and reduction in consumer choice. If laws and regulations weren't created (and enforced?) there would be one epic company controlling everything.

 

[Deadlocked]

Capitalism for some is a utopian ideal, where choice would reign. The reality is that capitalism always leads to conglomeration and reduction in consumer choice. If laws and regulations weren't created (and enforced?) there would be one epic company controlling everything.

Oh so Walmart.....wait a minute...


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[eblkheart]

Wow... so much hate for one channel. Wow.

 

[dare2be]

...about as much as when CNN went down.

 

[osu1991]

if they actually showed some news and not the latest hollywood inspired dramatized headline grabbing theory, they might be watchable, but alas like the weather channel that rarely shows weather, they are blocked out in my guide

 

[Rwwatson]

Actually CNN ratings have been inching up recently, for whatever reason. Maybe they have a new kitten and puppy YouTube video program on during Primetime. I don't know whether Fox News can keep the momentum. The ratings popped because of the blood in the water for the upcoming mid-terms. Now with control of Congress coming soon, the ratings may sag a little because there is less fire in the belly.

As far "pay whatever", Fox News delivers 105% of what their market viewer wants, but there is very little mainstream support for the channel. It will never break into the broader market. A particular person watches Fox News, and it isn't Joe Q. Public who doesn't watch the news much. He'll watch CNN, when he needs to. Fox News isn't a general news channel, so while they may beat CNN and MSNBC soundly, their growth is limited to their very specific, but extremely loyal, viewer demographic.

Politics aside, all news channels got a bump over the Ferguson/NY issues recently. Fox News has been beating CNN in the ratings for years, so "momentum" would not be the correct term. All the "news" channels are no longer "general news channels", so trying to say Fox News is not and CNN or MSNBC is, would be overstating a bit. And last, as for CNN recent ratings, in November 2014, "CNN's Monday's 9pm ET timeslot on CNN drew 181,000 total viewers, the lowest for the time period since at least Oct. 1, 1991". So, you can let your politics bend your views, but numbers are numbers. Here are the links:

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/cnn-hits-new-ratings-low-monday-night_b245708

Ratings for 12/11/2014
http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/12/12/cable-news-ratings-for-thursday-december-11-2014/338628/

Live + Same Day Cable News Daily Ratings for Thursday, December 11, 2014

Total Day P2+ (000s) 25-54 (000s) 35-64 (000s)
FOXN 1,287 229 492
CNN 398 106 191
MSNBC 359 80 145
CNBC 167 53 68
FBN 52 13 22
HLN 319 147 192

Just to be clear, I do not watch any of these "news" channels, and I support Dish trying to get the best deal possible, even if it means some down time. I do not subscribe to the "pay whatever they are asking" policy. I am not rich, so I need to save wherever I can.

 

[B_Kranski]

Who cares about fox news. Not this guy. Msnbc or cnn any day.

 

[king3pj]

Again, Congress and the government should have very very little to do with the TV experience. This is capitalism at its fullest. The consumer is still given the opportunity to walk, and force prices up on themselves later. We all know they aren't disappearing for good, so every customer that switches over it, raises the price for the next competitor whose contract expires.

Many of us aren't switching back and forth anymore. I cut off Dish last December when they announced the package and hopper fee increases and I haven't missed it at all. I don't watch a ton of TV and I realized that a good chunk of what I actually watched was programming I could get OTA for free. I supplement that with Netflix, Amazon Prime, the occasional iTunes Season Pass and MLB.tv and I'm perfectly happy with that setup. I'm saving a lot of money and I'm paying for exactly what I want instead of a bunch of stuff I don't actually watch.

I realize that at 27 I'm in a different age bracket than many people here. TV habits are changing though. Out of my group of friends I would say about half of us don't subscribe to cable/satellite. Some of these people have never had traditional pay TV since they first got a place of their own after college. For people my age, cable/satellite isn't the required utility it was for people in my parents' generation. We get more of our content from the internet than anywhere else.

Basically, my point is that this isn't some never ending cycle of people switching between Dish, Directv, and Cable. Prices continue to go up and people paying those high prices continue to be negatively affected when these disputes happen. Every time this happens you see more and more of us decide that these high prices aren't worth it when we still aren't guaranteed to have the channels we signed up for.

 

[dare2be]

A lot of deaf ears in this thread.

 

[Yespage]

Politics aside, all news channels got a bump over the Ferguson/NY issues recently. Fox News has been beating CNN in the ratings for years, so "momentum" would not be the correct term.

I was talking about Fox's ratings increase momentum. Fox's increase was more about the blood in the water to me. Fox certainly is killing the competition, but I think their growth potential is limited because they lack a crossover appeal.

I certainly wouldn't say MSNBC or CNN are quality news channels... or even news channels. And while MSNBC has tried to become a "liberal" version of Fox News, it isn't working... and it isn't because they haven't tried. It is the same reason Air America didn't pan out. That demographic doesn't buy into that sort of media model.

Wow... so much hate for one channel. Wow.

And after they tried to be so inclusive too.

 

[rwjga]

I expect about 50% of Dish customers would not miss FNC being off for a while and many would even be pleased. The other 50% or so would miss it badly. Fox needs Dish for the ratings, and Dish needs Fox to keep a large amount of their customers. Surely they can work it out without FNC going dark. I sure hope the new agreement includes Dish customers to stream FNC live without having to do it thru Dishanywhere.

 

[Yespage]

I expect about 50% of Dish customers would not miss FNC being off for a while and many would even be pleased. The other 50% or so would miss it badly. Fox needs Dish for the ratings, and Dish needs Fox to keep a large amount of their customers. Surely they can work it out without FNC going dark. I sure hope the new agreement includes Dish customers to stream FNC live without having to do it thru Dishanywhere.

Dish hasn't dropped many channels, so the idea that FNC would go away would be very unlikely.

 

[Tampa8]

Who cares about fox news. Not this guy. Msnbc or cnn any day.

Same can be said about what you watch.

 

[empiretc]

Please let the Faux News Network go

Wanna no how little I care about Fox News? I won't even start a chat to try to get a credit if it goes black. Let it go!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=moSFlvxnbgk

if they actually showed some news and not the latest hollywood inspired dramatized headline grabbing theory, they might be watchable, but alas like the weather channel that rarely shows weather, they are blocked out in my guide

 

[whitty]

I expect about 50% of Dish customers would not miss FNC being off for a while and many would even be pleased. The other 50% or so would miss it badly. Fox needs Dish for the ratings, and Dish needs Fox to keep a large amount of their customers. Surely they can work it out without FNC going dark. I sure hope the new agreement includes Dish customers to stream FNC live without having to do it thru Dishanywhere.

 

[ALACARTE]

Just make all of the cable "news" channels alacate.

Our bills are already going up at least 5 dollars without this fox news deal being done and at least 50% of subscribers probably either don't care about or flat out don't want this channel (as is also the case with the other so-called cable "news" channels).

Dish won't continue to stay in business if prices don't get under control.

 

[mikej0530]

I would be upset if I lost Fox News. I watch it daily. I was upset though when we lost cnn. Choice is very important.

 

[AZ.]

if they actually showed some news and not the latest hollywood inspired dramatized headline grabbing theory, they might be watchable, but alas like the weather channel that rarely shows weather, they are blocked out in my guide

I think this post is spot on... I have watched both in question....One Channel preaches pure hate and political opinion....The other preaches political opinion....Im sorry hating some one for what ever reason, then running "news" related segments to push there opinion and more hate is pure sick....any one who has watched the two understand the difference from hate speech and opinion!

 

[lparsons21]

I expect about 50% of Dish customers would not miss FNC being off for a while and many would even be pleased. The other 50% or so would miss it badly. Fox needs Dish for the ratings, and Dish needs Fox to keep a large amount of their customers. Surely they can work it out without FNC going dark. I sure hope the new agreement includes Dish customers to stream FNC live without having to do it thru Dishanywhere.

I wanna live where you do!

There's no way in hell that 50% of the customers watch any one of the news channels. I watch all of them at different times and the total watch time is less than 1 hour a day.

The one that is actually on more than all the rest is HLN with Robin Meade and that doesn't have anything to do with news at all!!

 

[mitchflorida]

If Charlie thinks he's going to raise my rates next month and then stop carrying Fox News channel to save a few pennies, he's got another thing coming. Fox News gets big ratings, no matter what the no-nothings on this board say. If anything, Fox is underpaid for this channel, not overpaid. Dump one of the sports channels to pay for it.