Enough with the fees! TV providers team up to fix rising TV prices
March 12th, 2010, 2:28 pm · 8 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress
Corrected, 3:50 p.m.: Apologies to Phillip Swann for mispelling his name. Also, I incorrectly said Comcast is buying CBS. Comcast is interested in NBC, as I’ve previously reported (sigh).
CATCHING UP: Time Warner Cable led a group on Tuesday asking the government to fix the rising price of TV service.
Well, sort of. The issue wasn’t about a customer’s rising bill but over “retransmission fees,” which TV channels charge to TV providers that want to retransmit the channel to customers. The TV services, of course, blame the fees for pushing up a customer’s monthly bill.
On Thursday, U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski appeared to have listened. During an Senate committee meeting, Genachowski talked about the retransmission issues and said that the ”framework that is in place … may have lost pace with changes in the marketplace,” reports the L.A. Times.
These retrans fees gets renegotiated every year or so and pretty much always go up. Here is one estimated list of how much a TV customer ends up paying for each channel.
But disputes over retrans fees have left some cable customers wondering if they’ll be staring at a blank TV screen. We here in Orange County felt this over the holidays when Fox threatened to take away channels from Time Warner customers. The fee fight was resolved with no disruption in TV service.
But last weekend, Cablevision customers on the East Coast missed the first 30 minutes of the Oscars because the cable company didn’t come to an agreement in time with Walt Disney-owned ABC.
Time Warner was joined by 13 non-profit groups and other cable, satellite and telecommunications companies. Specifically, the other companies included American Cable Association, Bright House Networks, Cablevision, Charter Communications, DIRECTV, DISH Network, Insight Communications, Mediacom Communications, New America Foundation, Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies, Public Knowledge, Suddenlink Communications, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon.
The group asked the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to intervene. Here is the statement filed with the FCC:
Consumers are increasingly being put in the middle of disputes between programmers and distributors, including recurring threats of going dark, high-stakes public negotiations, and, in the case of ABC’s recent withdrawal of programming from three million Cablevision subscribers, highly disruptive blackouts.
In today’s filing, the 14 petitioners asked the FCC to implement new dispute resolution mechanisms –such as compulsory arbitration or an expert tribunal — and require continued carriage of broadcast signals during negotiations or disputes, to help ensure uninterrupted programming for consumers. The petitioners implore the FCC to act expeditiously to help prevent further consumer harm.
Noticeably absent is O.C.’s other cable provider Cox Communications and Comcast Corp., the nation’s largest cable TV provider. The likely reason? Both own TV channels. Comcast not only owns a few cable networks but has a bid to buy a majority stake in CBS NBC. Phillip Swanson Swann, a TV analyst over at TVpredictions.com, blasts Comcast for failing to support its customers. Because Comcast owns several TV channels, it obviously benefits from trying to get more money from rivals.
Added 3:59 p.m.: Swann adds this about Comcast’s snub of the FCC petition: “And they want to make sure that the FCC stays out of the retransmission process because the agency has jurisdiction over broadcast networks, such as NBC. If the FCC stopped the broadcast networks from pulling signals in fee fights, it could cost NBC serious revenue down the road.”
While it sounds like a valiant effort by Time Warner, keep in mind that Time Warner is a business. Despite increasing retrans fees, Time Warner still made $1.1 billion last year. Read the earlier story, “How much money did Time Warner make last year? $1.1 billion.”
More online:
- Verizon’s perspective: “Antiquated Rules Foster Problems For Consumers“
- Time Warner’s statement: HERE
Recent TV service news:
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this is incorrect and you did even do your research – i hate copy and paste articles under a column such as yours.
time warner cable does not charge for hd
you order the channel in standard, you get it in high
-some channels do not fit this business model – they dont have a standard definition counterpart – the programmer still needs to be paid per subscriber!!!!!!
the excitement of HD is overblown – a way to get you to buy new tvs
i dont really see the difference other than the pic being bigger
i however have been running cable through an OCUR device on my pc for years, pcs have also been “HD”
you are all idiots fooled out of your money
PS when you call your service provider and you have a bundled package that is the price you are paying for 2 or more services not just cable – and also understand that you have to pay your bill in order for it to remain the sames month to month
Time Warner does too charge for HD. If you chose not to have their HD box your standard cable is reduced almost yearly by a channel or more that they remove to HD so it’s no longer available under standard cable. Yet there’s absolutely no reduction in cost. So, you have to order the HD boxes which you pay a fee on each and every box needed. In our case we had standard cable. This year they removed another 3 channels from the air. In the past few years we’ve lost at least 10 channels and our rates continued to rise. Now, we have the HD boxes and we pay for each and every one of them and our rates just went up again. Time Warner says it doesn’t charge but they do.PS If you want to tape a program with the new HD box you have to be watching that program or have the TV off unless of course you rent TW video recorder or order on demand! It’s not free!!!
PS If they are going to ask Congress for help how about asking Congress to help us order only the channels we want. Why do I have to pay for Spanish and Oriental crap! Let me pay for the channels I want….a la carte. We know they aren’t going to Congress for our benefit.
Oh, yes…that’s the solution. Let’s get the government more involved… that always works. (sarcasm intentional)
Hmm if you ordered channels a la carte then most channels wouldn’t last and that would be bad for TV
Makes me glad I don’t have cable. I haven’t had a TV in 2 or 3 years and the only reason I bought one recently is for the Olympics. Yes, it would be nice if there were some deregulation and we could pay for only the channels we wanted, but then the companies wouldn’t make as much money.
Justin says… “Hmm if you ordered channels a la carte then most channels wouldn’t last and that would be bad for TV”
I wonder out loud if that would be such a bad thing, less channels that is. I guarantee an argument could be made showing a direct correlation between the rise in American obesity and the rise in the number of channels on TV. Maybe TV should be declared a public health hazard.
What we need right now is A SUBSCRIBER REVOLT. The Cable and Satellite Providers CANNOT SURVIVE WITHOUT US. WHY in the name of Heaven do people shell out good money after bad to pay for TV, when the quality continues to head south with each and every year?
Are you tired of seeing the same, stale Programming on Multiple Channels? DON’T PAY FOR IT!
Are you tired of seeing up to 1/4 of your favorate TV Shows and Movies hacked and slashed away so they can cram in more Commercials? DON’T PAY FOR IT!
Are you tired of seeing age-inappropiate Commercials (Such as “ED Pill”s and “Male Enhancement Aids”), advertised at times when Children are most likely watching TV? DON’T PAY FOR IT!
Are you tired of seeing your Programs OBSTRUCTED, so they can show EVEN MORE ADS (In the form of “Pop-Ups”, Scrolls and Banners)? DON’T PAY FOR IT!
Its been nearly 3 1/2 years since I decided to stop watching Cable TV. I get my news over the Internet, and if there is a Major Event I can get it off the Over-The-Air Channels (Which are free). As for my entertainment needs, I have accumulated nearly 20,000 Hours of TV Shows, Movies and Other Programming on Home Video, using the money formerly used to pay the Subscription Fee. So what are you waiting for? CUT THE CORD and let the Programmers ROT IN THEIR CORPERATE GREED!