TV’s Dead Zone: How the Cable Sector Is Killing Off Struggling Networks

[osu1991]

http://variety.com/2017/tv/features/overcrowded-cable-sector-esquire-spike-fyi-1202012647/

“It’s pretty clear that there are way too many channels,” says Rich Greenfield, media analyst at BTIG Research. “The TV bundle has gotten too bloated with channels that have too little programming. There’s a tremendous amount of inefficiency.”

BY THE NUMBERS: NET WORTH Nine companies own the overwhelming majority of cable networks available to U.S. consumers. This chart exhibits not only who owns what, but includes several key indicators as to the relative financial health of each channel: the affiliate fee each channel collects from pay TV distributors, the total number of viewers each channel averages on a 24-hour basis, and the total subscribers each channel reaches.


Interesting info on the chart. Viceland has dropped over 80% of its viewers, yet more people are forced to pay for it now. Lots of big name channels A&E, History, Comedy Central, MTV etc have lost over 25% plus of their viewers the last 2 years.

 

[Juan]

The problem is that niche channels such as the weather channel lost focus and just play the same reality crap everyone else showd

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[ncted]

Good. A ton of channels just need to go away.

 

[mdram]

people are tired of the same old crap on every channel, and the ever increasing rates

 

[Radioguy41]

I don't see a single one worth saving from Viacom. They could go belly up tomorrow and I wouldn't notice.

 

[harshness]

More channels means more advertising. Where one channel can only play 20 minutes of ads per hour, three can play a full hour's worth of ads per hour. Add an infomercial and you double your ad time.

 

[ncted]

More channels means more advertising. Where one channel can only play 20 minutes of ads per hour, three can play a full hour's worth of ads per hour. Add an infomercial and you double your ad time.

Only if people actually watch it. Kind of hard to sell ads on content that no one watches.

 

[harshness]

Only if people actually watch it. Kind of hard to sell ads on content that no one watches.

If the Viacom channels are any indication, it isn't hard enough. Other suites are also proving my point and I could see someone making a case for going after even the once-mighty ESPN.

 

[ncted]

If the Viacom channels are any indication, it isn't hard enough. Other suites are also proving my point and I could see someone making a case for going after even the once-mighty ESPN.

Well, the problem is remnant can be a business model. If advertisers don't care about where their content runs, they can get away with paying very little, and channel owners can make enough to still be profitable. (or could)

 

[harshness]

Well, the problem is remnant can be a business model. If advertisers don't care about where their content runs, they can get away with paying very little, and channel owners can make enough to still be profitable. (or could)

... and the system fails to keep the weeds at bay.

 

[Nascarken 91xg]

Yes and yes but you don't say¡!!!!!!!!!!
get amazon say it stick,you don't need
to
do the jail brake,say espn! and it's on!
or hbo $40!!!..and the rest is free,
don't forget about the internet!!!!
have a good day everyone

 

[dishfan82]

http://variety.com/2017/tv/features/overcrowded-cable-sector-esquire-spike-fyi-1202012647/

“It’s pretty clear that there are way too many channels,” says Rich Greenfield, media analyst at BTIG Research. “The TV bundle has gotten too bloated with channels that have too little programming. There’s a tremendous amount of inefficiency.”

BY THE NUMBERS: NET WORTH Nine companies own the overwhelming majority of cable networks available to U.S. consumers. This chart exhibits not only who owns what, but includes several key indicators as to the relative financial health of each channel: the affiliate fee each channel collects from pay TV distributors, the total number of viewers each channel averages on a 24-hour basis, and the total subscribers each channel reaches.


Interesting info on the chart. Viceland has dropped over 80% of its viewers, yet more people are forced to pay for it now. Lots of big name channels A&E, History, Comedy Central, MTV etc have lost over 25% plus of their viewers the last 2 years.

Comedy Central used to have a lot of good shows. They used to have a lot of comedy stand up on there. Back in the 90's MTV had music videos, TRL... then they slowly got away from that. Now it's mostly reality shows on there. I agree though they can condense channels down and have less and put content that would be on those lost channels onto other ones .


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[Claude Greiner]

A whole bunch of channels just need to go away.

The problem is with a la carte, the content providers bundle a whole bunch of crap channels with the channels people want to watch which leads to higher rates for everyone.

The whole pay Television model is about to change.

There are too many people out there Turing to online services as a primary way to get television and the numbers are hurting everyone in the industry.

The very first victim is going to be ESPN.

The fact of the matter is that ESPN serves a purpose in sports bars as that's the most popular channel, followed by hotel rooms.

Other than that, when you really break the costs down and give people a choice, most will opt to remove ESPN from their homes and take the savings towards channels they really watch.

ESPN is only turned on in my house if they happen to steal a home team game from our regional sports network. Otherwise it's never turned on.

Now once you get ESPN out of people's homes as a basic channel, the next thing to go is the regional sports networks. You either watch it or you don't. There is no middle road here.

Once the sports networks become less popular, then it trickles down to the sports teams who have caused the problem to begin with. First thing you start seeing to go is the crazy high sports salaries.

The whole concept of a 200 million dollar pay roll for a Major League Baseball team is insane.

Cut the salaries to a few hundred thousand dollars per player (they don't even deserve that), lower ticket prices, lower concession prices, and lower the fee charged to ESPN and the sports networks and everyone would quit complaining about their cable bill.

 

[camo]

Along with all the red, actual viewers vs those paying for subscription is an indication why so many are exploring other alternatives like streaming or cutting the cord. Subscription rates may continue to rise along with mass exit of conventional ways of watching TV. Eventually a breaking point will be reached where to survive some form of Ale-cart will become the future ending struggling channels existence.

 

[harshness]

There are too many people out there Turing to online services as a primary way to get television and the numbers are hurting everyone in the industry.

The problem here is that the online services are becoming super-bundles themselves where none of them typically offers everything you might want. The issues with the broadcast networks can be a bigger problem than many are willing to admit.

The "turning" that you speak to will likely snap back somewhat as people become frustrated with limitations that they didn't understand or think about or they thought they could deal with but can't.

 

[Bruce]

The problem here is that the online services are becoming super-bundles themselves where none of them typically offers everything you might want.

Speak for yourself, the Core Slim Package on Vue has everything we want at a great price.




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[EarDemon]

And another one bits the dust.

As of 7/15 Universal HD is gone. This was one of the very first HD channels to launch way back when it was called Bravo+ HD and has been useless for years. Kinda predicted this in the Cloo TV thread a few months ago.

https://www.xfinity.com/support/cable-tv/xfinity-programming-contract-renewals-channel-list/

 

[Juan]

And another one bits the dust.

As of 7/15 Universal HD is gone. This was one of the very first HD channels to launch way back when it was called Bravo+ HD and has been useless for years. Kinda predicted this in the Cloo TV thread a few months ago.

https://www.xfinity.com/support/cable-tv/xfinity-programming-contract-renewals-channel-list/

Comcast owns both Channels

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[harshness]

Speak for yourself, the Core Slim Package on Vue has everything we want at a great price.

Thus far, you're the only one I've heard say that and even you had a couple of "it would be nice" channels that they don't carry.

 

[SamCdbs]

Well, there are several discussion going on depending on the type of channel.

Are athletes grossly overpaid? Yes. A loophole in America labor laws. Athletes should not be allowed to join unions unless, like real unions, they are willing to have a fixed salary with everyone making the same. And, mostly, this is funded by the gross fees for ESPN and its immitators and for the RSNs. In the early 70s the Cowboys quarterback made about the same as a mid-career government lawyer, today he makes 700 times as much. But nothing is going to ever change. We (the owners as our represenatives), especially in baseball, have taken on the players unions and we lost.

As to the rest of it, really most of the rest of these channels have pretty similar formats.

The news channels. Not wanting to set off a political debate, but CNN is the third player in a two player niche.

The "general rerun" channels. Be it old TV shows or old movies, this type of channel is dying. 20 years ago, they had 50 years of material to gleen from, with generations who had never seen the material. Now everyone has. The amount of "new" material being added is miniscule, as are the number of new (i.e. young people, the people least likely to have cable) potential viewers.

The faux realitiy channels. Watch other people fish, drive trucks over ice, pick out wedding dresses, lose weight, whatever. All with a vastly exagerated sense of the danger or drama involved. It never was much.

The documentary channels. As with the general rerun channels, the existing material has been used up, and little new is being added.

The minority sterotype channels. Channels aimed at blacks, or hispanics, or gays, or young people, or whatever. Except, at the end of the day, people are people and the most watched channel lists do not break down much along any such division.

The niche sports channels. Golf, tennis, NFL, all the single sport channels. Sounds good, until you realize that the more general sports channels have all the actual games, or at least enough for 99% of people.