Menu
Don’t just take our word for it – read what others are saying about high programming fees and blackouts
Like other broadcasters, TEGNA has taken an aggressive position in the amount charged to cable and satellite companies for its channels — something cable and satellite companies say are directly responsible for rising customer bills. Read more
For years, we have seen the cost of TV going up, and two of the main causes of that are broadcast TV channels like ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC, along with RSNs. Now these companies want more money that will likely drive up the cost of cable TV. Read more
The latest FCC report has found that the average subscriber pays more than $200 per year for so-called ‘free’ broadcast television, representing an increase of more than 20% over the previous year. Read more
Looking back at the price changes over the last five years, you can see increases of up to 82% from the likes of YouTube TV, but also 60% from Sling and 41% from Netflix. And all but three of the below services have avoided raising rates faster than the 21.5% rate of inflation from 2018 to 2023. Read more
For the last decade or so, U.S. cable TV customers have been plagued by a steady parade of content blackouts as cable providers and broadcasters bicker over new programming contracts. This being Sinclair’s particular brand of highly partisan, homogenized disinfotainment, many won’t care that they lose access to these networks. Sinclair obviously cares, given that fuboTV, YouTube TV, and SlingTV (Dish Network) removed the company’s costly regional sports channels last year from their own streaming lineups, contributing to a $4.18 billion loss for Sinclair in the third quarter. Read more
The NFL announced new TV rights agreements with CBS, NBC, Fox, and Disney’s ABC and ESPN. According to published reports, these deals are worth an estimated $95 billion combined — more than double their current annual payments to the NFL. In order to make up for their massive NFL obligations, broadcasters will hike their prices even higher — and, ironically, use blackouts of NFL games themselves in order to do so. Read more
The reason so many channels are forced on consumers is simple—most cable networks are owned by the major media conglomerates who force cable and satellite operators to take their whole bundle of channels or get none at all. Anyone who wants to carry ESPN, for instance, must carry a broad swath of channels such as ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU and more obscure channels like Disney Junior, FreeForm and Nat Geo WILD. Read more
Among media companies, “going dark” was once a matter of last resort. Now it’s an option that is seeing more light. If getting top dollar from Madison Avenue has grown more difficult, then media companies are forced to rely more heavily on the retransmission fees they get from cable and satellite operators. Read more
Here’s a timeline of price hikes – pieced together using data collected by UBS – that vMVPDs have instituted over the past year and a half. For many of the vMVPDs that began life as bargain alternatives to traditional cable or satellite, the pressure of programming costs and growing channel lineups have led to necessary price increases. Read more
Individual networks continue to increase the monthly carriage fees they charge MVPDs for access to their content, which is in turn passed along to consumers. The most expensive basic cable channels are rarely viewed by a majority of subscribers. Read more
In early fall, both YouTube TV and Hulu dropped the Sinclair-owned regional sports networks — including Fox Sports North — from the list of channels it offers. It was the latest blow for cord-cutting sports fans who had subscribed to those services or previously had Sling TV and/or Fubo, which dropped the RSNs more than a year ago. Read more
Earlier this week, an RSN owner finally admitted publicly what we already knew: the ONLY viable RSN economic model is to force everyone who takes multichannel television to pay an exorbitant price/sub/month to subsidize the TINY minority of fans that want to watch the channel; essentially forcing subscribers to subsidize how much the RSNs have overpaid the teams for media rights.
The proper business model is clearly an a la carte offering similar to the UK where you pay extra for Sky Sports if you are a passionate European football fan or how consumers pay a la carte for HBO today. Read more
Kagan’s research suggests that the fees pay-TV providers charge customers for sports networks are less than programming costs for those networks. According to the researchers, the average cost per subscriber for sports networks was $13.30 in 2018 – which is less than the average sports programming cost of $18.55 per subscriber. Read more
The broadcast channels will likely increase the fees they charge cable companies to carry them over the life of the deal, meaning fans will ultimately pay for some of the higher rights fees. Fox, CBS and NBC are paying around $2 billion annually, basically doubling the amounts they are paying in their current deals. ESPN, which currently pays around $2 billion for its Monday Night package, will pay around $2.7 annually in the new pact. Read more