Re: ABC, CBS consider offering monthly subscription online service

Rob Jensen <ShutUpRob@xxxxxxx> wrote:
"Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Ian J. Ball <iball@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

There's no question that people will not put up with commercials if
they're paying for a subscription service. They can do ads in free-
over-the-net streaming, *or* they can do they subscription services
free of ads. But if they try and do both, it'll fail...

Uh, basic cable?

Basic cable is a flat monthly fee for a tier of zillions of channels,
it's not a fee for any particular channel.

Generally, basic cable channels get a fee per subscriber. They aren't ad
free. The model is in place, just not for the main content of the broadcast
networks.

So it's more that we've been paying fees to the cable/sat channels
to access their . . . umm, cables and satellites . . . than that
we're paying for the basic cable itself over the past 37-ish years of
cable/sat's existence.

I don't agree. If cable were a la carte, or entirely pay per view, I have
no idea what the fee would be to pay the cable company's expenses plus
profits, but it would be a hell of a lot less if it didn't include all the
channels that get forced down our throats. Isn't ESPN $4 a subscriber? I
don't watch it.

Now, if we were paying the additional premium for basic cable that we
pay for HBO, Showtime, etc., that'd be a different story, IMO.

Just because the model isn't a la carte as it is with tiers of service for
premium channels doesn't mean that Americans don't understand that
1) They are paying to receive specific channels and 2) It's not ad free.
.

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