I was thinking today about the “price war” marketing campaigns that TimeWarner Cable and Fox are running. Time Warner Cable says that “some networks” (like FOX) want a 300% raise. I didn’t research the exact amounts but lets just assume they want more money for their channels as a given.
Fox retorts with the fact that TWC charges up to $36 for six channels. I’m not sure what market that is in, but here in Charlotte the minimum cable package was $12: “Broadcast Cable – Your popular local, network, community and public affairs channels.” For $30 you received 180 channels.
With all the discussion about Net Neutrality going on the past few months I am wondering if we would be seeing these kinds of debates in the future with Internet networks. Fox Internet makes TWC and Comcast pay more to distribute their websites and videos. Google/YouTube makes DirectTV pay a premium for HD YouTube Videos, etc.
You can find out more on the debate on each site:
Personally I don’t know why Fox has to charge more than what they would charge to broadcast over the airwaves (i.e. $0). Don’t they make money off commercials? I’ll have to ask some folks I know at Time Warner to clarify that for me. I’m guessing TWC has the right to input their own commercials at sometimes or something. I’d really like ala carte pricing because even though I have 300+ channels and duplicated HD versions, there’s just a few that I watch.
If TimeWarner REALLY wanted to get tough, they would just let FOX drop, lower our cable bills accordingly, then give their subscribers FREE digital antennas.
