[mythtv-users] The Death of MythTV in the US?

[Brian Wood]

On Mar 31, 2008, at 11:39 AM, Joe Votour wrote:
>
> It's partly the fault of the cable operators, but more the fault of
> the content providers which is why we don't have a-la-carte, and
> likely won't unless some government agency with a spine enforces it.
> But it will have a cost unless you can force the content providers to
> stop bundling.
>
> If you as a cable operator want to carry ESPN, then ABC will make you
> carry ABC Family as well (as an example)., and pay for it.  When
> a-la-carte comes, and you want ESPN, but not ABC Family, then the
> cable company will charge you the price for both, since they have to
> make up those fees somehow.  (I'm figuring that many, many more people
> want ESPN than ABC Family).
>
> So, a-la-carte might bring an even larger cable bill, depending on
> which channels you want to watch.

It can work the other way too. For example the NFL folks really want  
their channel carried as part of the basic tier, so they can charge  
advertisers for people who receive the channel but never watch it.

Cable operators don't want to put it on the basic tier, as they then  
have to pay the fee for all those subscribers, instead of just those  
who subscribe to it as a premium channel (ie: those who want to watch  
it).

Then the NFL made a game available to every operator for free, then  
filled it with "call your cable company" promos implying that you  
would not receive the channel at all if it wasn't on the basic tier.

The result is that we all pay for NFL whether we watch it or not.

Lies, extortion and strong-arm tactics, in other words business as  
usual.

beww