HIGHER PRICES COMING PEOPLE

[damjr]

Everyone needs to read this article and start writing their legislators.

This article puts everything into light as to why our TV prices keep going up and will continue to go up!!!

http://www.satelliteguys.us/network-news/203333-programmers-ops-higher-fees-coming.html

 

[jsq]

Wow, by 2015, the average monthly bill will be $150 for a basic package. This is getting pretty bad.
The one plus was at the end where they spoke of smaller packages. It wolud be great if you could pick form several smaller packages, and then add like 5 extra channels or so of your choice. I know all of the packages now have one or two channels that make you want to buy up to the next tier.
It is getting pretty expensive, so hopefully someone will do something about it.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Think of it this way, everytime you see your favorite sports star sign a huge new contract for a gazillian dollars, just think your satellite bill is going to go up.

Sucks huh?

 

[Voyager6]

It is getting pretty expensive, so hopefully someone will do something about it.

The consumer is the only one that can put a stop to this nonsense. Stop buying the product at inflated prices and then the price will come down.

 

[aquaman67]

The consumer is the only one that can put a stop to this nonsense. Stop buying the product at inflated prices and then the price will come down.

+1

Something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

If they raise the price and don't lose subs, what does that tell them?

 

[damjr]

The consumer is the only one that can put a stop to this nonsense. Stop buying the product at inflated prices and then the price will come down.

This statement is true except the customer is D*,E*, cable, etc. When they stop buying the channel goes bye bye and consumers cry like stuck pigs and blame the providers instead of the programmers. Then they cry that they're going to switch providers. Like this really helps things.

This is why people need to start writing their legislatures to voice their opinions.

Senator Al Fraken is 100% correct regarding the Comcast/NBC merger.

 

[RedWings]

:rant:

Like I said in another thread, this just leads more people to share accounts.

It also strengthens the sale of things like the WDTV media player. People will abandon anything above the basic package and just start downloading everything.

They are pricing themselves out of business.

 

[nmfiredawg]

maybe we need to go back to the old ways and just have three channels again. Than maybe they will see the error in their ways. But the higher production fees, higher salaries, higher greed will always make things go higher for the consumer

 

[Derwin0]

People will abandon anything above the basic package and just start downloading everything.

They are pricing themselves out of business.

Hell yeah, that's why I don't have any movie packages (except for the penny cinemax) and use Netflix streaming instead.

 

[jsq]

The consumer is the only one that can put a stop to this nonsense. Stop buying the product at inflated prices and then the price will come down.

I totally agree. The problem is that we keep paying for it. We watch high priced athletes get paid millions to play a game. How many people watched the superbowl this year? I think it set a record, so I guess people are still willing to pay.
It is really amazing how we all seem to be brainwashed. (Me included)

 

[damjr]

:rant:

Like I said in another thread, this just leads more people to share accounts.

It also strengthens the sale of things like the WDTV media player. People will abandon anything above the basic package and just start downloading everything.

They are pricing themselves out of business.

You are correct for the short term, but the days of "free download tv" are numbered.

They are all ready getting things put into place to start charging for online content.

The only way to control this is by showing legislators that VOTERS are not going to stand for this. Right now is the best time for voicing our opinions. Capitol Hill is all ready looking at this and if VOTERS let them know how we feel we might gain some ground.

 

[--sexy-warlock--]

:rant:

Like I said in another thread, this just leads more people to share accounts.

It also strengthens the sale of things like the WDTV media player. People will abandon anything above the basic package and just start downloading everything.

They are pricing themselves out of business.

Exactly. It's good to actually be above content providers.

 

[Claude Greiner]

This statement is true except the customer is D*,E*, cable, etc. When they stop buying the channel goes bye bye and consumers cry like stuck pigs and blame the providers instead of the programmers. Then they cry that they're going to switch providers. Like this really helps things.

This is why people need to start writing their legislatures to voice their opinions.

Senator Al Fraken is 100% correct regarding the Comcast/NBC merger.

EXACTLY!

This is where the whole dam problem starts. Everytime a provider has balls to go head on with the programmers and actually take down a channel, the customers bitch and moan about it and threaten to cancel and switch providers.

So the providers give in, pay the higher rates and then go ahead and raise the customers rates to pass along costs.

If we can ever get alacarte, that will end the problem right there, and then the rate increases can be associated with a paticular channel. If people don't like the increase, then they can drop the channel in question.

Sports contracts can be another issue, but ESPN is pretty much screwed if we ever get alacarte, since there is alot of people out there that will drop sports programming to save $5 or $10 per month.

 

[Jonhern]

Let it happen, as the article says this will most likely lead to a la carte pricing which is what we need. We all know Washington does not get involved preemptively unless its a war. And the funny thing is the most greedy cable channels will be the ones most hurt by this, like espn, i know many people who never watch sports and will be happy not to pay $4.5 a month to leave that channel out of their line up. I think the best way to do things is to group similar channels into packages which you add to your basic package of locals and some other channels that provide general programing, then you just add the packages you want, instead of having to pick every channel.

 

[IronManCC]

Everyone needs to read this article and start writing their legislators.

This article puts everything into light as to why our TV prices keep going up and will continue to go up!!!

http://www.satelliteguys.us/network-news/203333-programmers-ops-higher-fees-coming.html

The bottom line? We're all spoiled, and we're more than willing to pay for it.

Back when I was a kid, you got whatever VHF channels you could for free (...off the top of my head, maybe 5 or 6 channels way back when), and any profits the studios made were through advertising or, in the case of the PBS channels, through donations & government grants. Then along came UHF, giving us a few more channels. Boy, were we ever happy, even if there was a little (...or, sometimes, a LOT) of snow on the screen from time to time.

So, even with the new digital TV signals giving us much better picture & sound via an OTA antenna, does anyone out there want to REALLY drop Dish, D*, cable, etc. and go back to only getting a few channels, and losing all of those GREAT cable/satellite channels we're grown oh-so-used-to? I doubt it....

 

[ekilgus]

The strategy of the programmers is to attack the retransmission providers (cable, satellite, etc.) one at a time threatening to cut off all programming if their increasingly onerous demands are not met. However, even though many times they’re competitors, the providers need to put up a united front.
For example, if a programmer cuts off a particular provider, all providers will black out that particular programming. Yes, people will scream and gripe but how long do you think a programmer can survive without an audience?

The providers can survive because they offer hundreds of other channels but with zero revenue, I think the programmers will quickly adopt a more reasonable posture with respect to their retransmission fees.

Up until now, the retransmission providers were seemingly content to pay whatever the programmers demanded and simply pass along the increased cost to their customers. That needs to change.

 

[Jonhern]

The strategy of the programmers is to attack the retransmission providers (cable, satellite, etc.) one at a time threatening to cut off all programming if their increasingly onerous demands are not met. However, even though many times they’re competitors, the providers need to put up a united front.
For example, if a programmer cuts off a particular provider, all providers will black out that particular programming. Yes, people will scream and gripe but how long do you think a programmer can survive without an audience?

The providers can survive because they offer hundreds of other channels but with zero revenue, I think the programmers will quickly adopt a more reasonable posture with respect to their retransmission fees.

Up until now, the retransmission providers were seemingly content to pay whatever the programmers demanded and simply pass along the increased cost to their customers. That needs to change.

Good idea but highly illegal, anti trust and price fixing laws would prevail.

 

[paulinespens]

Hell yeah, that's why I don't have any movie packages (except for the penny cinemax) and use Netflix streaming instead.

I do the same as you. I find Netflix to be better value then a movie channel,

 

[Stargazer]

People just ain't going to pay $150 for basic cable. Ain't going to happen. This is what will make such services such as Free DBS successful. At a $150 pricepoint, ala carte makes sense all of a sudden.

This could also lead to multiple program providers in addition to Directv, Dish Network to get around things. For example, Dish Network may no longer want to pay high prices for certain channels so they will not pay those companies that want that much for them. If another company says that they will pay the price for them then they could offer that service on other transponders on the satellite therefore offering customers that want to pay the price for such programming on the same satellite receiver (like All American Satellite). Once those companies got word of what was going on they would probably stop it all together or have certain requirements.

 

[Arse69]

What we need is alacarte options. If you don't like sports, you shouldn't be subsidizing someone who does. They only way to bring tv cost is allow consumers to purchase just what they actually watch.