If I was direct if u want u pay 4.99 a month or something like that
I think that is what D* is wanting to do... either standalone, or at least as your RSN in the areas they cover (probably with the $3 RSN fee) or Sports Pack... the issue is that Pac 12 doesn't want to play along... they want the same coverage as the Big 10 network -- as in everyone gets it regardless of what area you are in. I'm also sure they want a bunch more money than Big 10--and since it would be available in the basic package, it means D* would have to pay a fee for every sub in the basic package.
As much as I'd like Pac 10, I'm hoping D* will stick to their guns... there will become a point in the not too distant future when the revenue lost on advertising will be greater than the revenue gained from the additional carriage (since they cover multiple regions, this would only be the people who are outside of their RSN range who don't subscribe to Sports Pack) -- and then they will be a little more flexible in either lowering the price for national carriage, or giving in and offering it in the Sports Pack / local RSN at their current rates... At least this is how it SHOULD work. The issue with ALL the sports networks is that they use the teams as leverage, and jack their carriage fees higher and higher... Eventually there will be a breaking point, and I feel we are getting close to it.
I'd love to see something like this... Imagine if the basic packages went down by $6-8 per month, and the only sports channels in the basic package were ESPN and your local RSN... all other current sports channels except those 2 would be added to a new larger Sports Pack... but you were required to pick at least one premium option (so it would probably look like "Choice + One premium theme") -- you could add the (larger) Sports Pack which would get you all the current sports channels currently in basic packages, plus the current Sports Pack... OR, you could pick one of the movie channel packages, giving you just ESPN and your RSN plus HBO... the bill would go up by $4, but you'd have a movie channel and less sports ($12 for the first premium, discounted as you added more as usual)
If you wanted all the sports, the price would go up a few bucks to keep what you'd currently have, but you'd also get all the other channels in the Sports Pack... but if you could care less about the additional sports besides ESPN and your RSN and would rather have HBO, you'd end up saving a few. I'd take that option in a second... It's not that I hate sports -- it's just that I watch my local teams on Root and catch SportsCenter once in a while--I don't feel the urge to watch every third tier sport from leagues I've never heard of, college women's volleyball, nor do I sit down to watch endless player documentaries, nor want to watch 3 sports nuts replaying every second and "what could have been" from a "classic game" that happened 2 years back... I can watch my local teams and get sports news from the main ESPN feed and my local RSN; I'd rather leave the in-depth stuff to those people who live for sports a bit more than I do, and put my money towards another movie channel.
I'm sure the movie channels would get a bump out of this too. The sports networks would hate this -- they would only get paid for people who actually decide they want their programming! ESPN couldn't complain too much since I think the main feed has enough mass appeal that it should still be included in basic packages... they would lose a few cents for ESPN2, News, Classic, College etc.... IIRC the Sports channels used to be packaged like the movie channels... I find it funny about how they were able to get away from this -- I wonder how many people would pick movies over sports if given the option (and they had to pick at least one)
