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Cable TV: Information Highway Robbery
Their licenses to steal are paying off better each year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which reports Cable TV fees rising 77 percent since 1996, roughly double the rate of inflation.
For most American TV viewers, unless they buy iffy satellite dishes, hooking up to the local Cable provider is the only game in town. No matter where they live, their community gets paid to give one seller an exclusive franchise to pump information and entertainment into homes and pump out more money each year.
Imagine the US postal system not only being paid by citizens to deliver their mail but by magazines, newspapers and catalogue publishers to decide which of them to allow into the mailboxes.
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7 Responses to “Cable TV: Information Highway Robbery”
[...] Dvorak Uncensored: General interest observations and true web-log. wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt [...]
I'm probably amongst a minority of people, but I rely on cable only for Internet access. I haven't owned a television for over a decade, now, and don't really miss it that much.
My news and entertainment comes via the Internet, and anything else comes from me going outside rather than sitting on the couch each evening. I may not know what the latest scandal is with the leading pop stars… but I've found that “drug” to have less of an effect on me as time passed by.
” … their community gets paid to give one seller an exclusive franchise.”
By and large, that's simply not true. I work for a cable company and I know of no community where we have an exclusive franchise. Plus, in a growing number of communities, there is now more than one option for local landline multichannel video service.
Furthermore, the rising cost of cable TV is primarily driven by the rising cost of the channels offered. Unfortunately, when cable operators attempt to put new, high-cost channels (like NFL Network) on optional service packages or sell those channels “a la carte” (like HBO is sold) the channel owners refuse.
In short, most of the problems you are experiencing are a result of the bully-tactics employed by the conglomerates who own TV channels/networks. The pure-play cable operator is as much a battered ping-pong ball in this equation as the end-consumer is.
The business model for ala carte is unsustainable. If Bravo channel comes out with a new program to gain new viewers, it would have to convince people to contact their cable company and purchase the right to view the program. That is a huge transactional costs for casually checking out a new program. In an ala carte world, there would be few channels with program but plenty of free religious, shopping etc.
I have always thought one of the problems with cable is that local government force the cable company to provide public access channels. In my area, the county, school district, local university, and a couple of cities all have dedicated channels. That is an overhead costs not borne by the satellite companies.
Also, as the phone companies get into cable teleivision, the market will be split three ways. That is probably an unsustainable market. Also, exlcusive deals such as NFL ticket on satellite only ends up limiting consumer choice. If you want NFL ticket, you have to get a dish.
Actually most areas are serviced by more than one cable provider, but you are locked in to the one that serves your particular area.
One of the great scams is when apartment owners sign up to allow a (usually third rate) cable company to provide services in the complex (in exchange for a generous kickback to the owner).
If you have two providers in your service area you can fight back as long as you don't mind a service tech at your door every six months or so.
After years with Comcast I changed to Astound because Comcast wouldn't match Astounds special offer… Now, six months later, I'm back to Comcast for exactly the same reason.
If this sounds like more trouble than it's worth consider what you're paying compared to: $24.99 / mo for Extended Digital Cable with HBO; and, $19.95 / mo for high speed cable Internet.
There are some of us out there who rarely, almost never, watch television and haven't for decades. That's a choice everyone has, too, and it's the cheapest.