Cable wars…
Variety’s John Dempsey writes about the cable news carriage wars that could play out in the near future as new fees are negotiated…(via TVNewser)
Channels such as CNN and Lifetime are ubiquitous in the cable world but are watched during an average night by relatively few of those subscribers. Nielsen may take a seat at the bargaining table as ratings begin to play a bigger role in operators’ willingness to drop nets if they make exorbitant demands — leaving subscribers caught in the middle.
For example, CNN, hammered in the Nielsens by Fox News over the past few years, will face some stiff resistance from operators when the current deal expires because the ops are resigning themselves to gigantic increases from Fox. Scenarios like CNN vs. Fox News will play out across the cable-TV landscape.
Cable operators and satcasters “are preparing for trench warfare to keep cable-network rate increases to the low single digits,” says Boston-based media consultant Rob Stengel.
Really sucks that my cable sub could go up just because Murdoch wants to be a *********. He better be glad his friends in DC let him buy Direct TV otherwise he wouldn’t have much leverage.
(comment edited for appropriateness)
Comment by Dude — February 28, 2006 @ 12:05 pm
Concerning the lower rates if operators carry the biz channel too…. Didn’t CNN do something similar with HLN?
Comment by Terance — February 28, 2006 @ 12:47 pm
I suspect Turner uses its more popular channels (TNT) to help its less popular channels (CNN) when it comes to these things. Sounds like everyday business.
Comment by Chris — February 28, 2006 @ 1:18 pm