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Broadcast TV fees.

C

centerfreqradio

Mods please merge this if other threads of this same topic..Thanks....

Hi all.I just got my Comcast bill and found that the broadcast TV fees went up to $14.99 in my area...

I'm not happy with that since I only get the local channels.$51.00 bucks is a joke for just a handful of local channels.

I understand that the TV stations has to get their cut for carriage but this is nuts.The cable Co's are doing them a favor in carrying the channels in their line up especially now where some viewers cant receive the channels OTA in the viewing area after the DTV changeover years ago.Like me......
 
The cable companies are doing no favors. The FCC has must carry rules. And those TV stations charge the cable company a fee per subscriber for the rights. Never mind the fact the cable company must carry them. The TV station needs the money and carriage and the cable company needs the dollars and the product. The result is the cost of operating any media is rising as the revenue gets split in to more slices. Somebody has to pay for it and that's us, the consumer.
 
I agree. The cost/reward ratio just isn't there for me. I kind of hate the fact that the cable company lists the "broadcast stations fee" separately. There's no way to avoid said fee, so it should simply be part of the package price.

If my cable company let customers opt out of the broadcast networks (such as a true ala carte scheme), I would drop them in a New York minute.
 
centerfreqradio said:
Hi all.I just got my Comcast bill and found that the broadcast TV fees went up to $14.99 in my area...
Click to expand...

could be worse. Here in Mankato, MN Consolidated (the incumbent Telco and they have IPTV) has a broadcast surcharge of.....wait for it......$25.30!!!!
$25.30/month Broadcast Retransmission Fee applicable to Digital TV service. This fee recovers charges by local channel providers and networks, such as, NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX and others, to carry their signal in order to provide local programming.
(I have Consolidated for cable/internet but only because its included in my rent)

(Spectrum charges like $15 last I checked...they're also in town)

When I had Mediacom in a year they raised it 4 times from 11.XX to 16.XX
 
Maybe now you understand why some people are buying TV antennas and cutting the cord. Watch local TV the way God intended with no wires.
 
b-turner said:
The cable companies are doing no favors. The FCC has must carry rules. And those TV stations charge the cable company a fee per subscriber for the rights. Never mind the fact the cable company must carry them. The TV station needs the money and carriage and the cable company needs the dollars and the product. The result is the cost of operating any media is rising as the revenue gets split in to more slices. Somebody has to pay for it and that's us, the consumer.
Click to expand...

I know that most TV stations go with the must carry option. So how do cable and satellite systems legally get away with dropping local stations in contract disputes?
 
anotherguy said:
I know that most TV stations go with the must carry option. So how do cable and satellite systems legally get away with dropping local stations in contract disputes?
Click to expand...

That's not correct. If a station elects to use its "must-carry" status, the fee for carriage is zero.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
I agree. The cost/reward ratio just isn't there for me. I kind of hate the fact that the cable company lists the "broadcast stations fee" separately. There's no way to avoid said fee, so it should simply be part of the package price.

If my cable company let customers opt out of the broadcast networks (such as a true ala carte scheme), I would drop them in a New York minute.
Click to expand...

I don't see see an opt out with local broadcast networks the TV Station groups would fight hard for that not to happen even with ala carte just isn't going to happen. I like broadcast TV for sports, news, primetime shows etc.
 
Hi all.Sorry about the delay..Please understand that I'm pretty busy for going online .

Wow .Thanks for all the details guys.....

Agree with TheBigA going OTA .I was looking at the antennas last week at Walmart and BJ's......

I forgot about the "Must Carry"rules....

As I read what all of you said .I still dont understand why the big 4 is looking for more help with cash and holding us viewers for kings ransom for their content.We all buy the products that the networks advertise to support their programming ..Maybe they should jack up their advert rates to cover the losses...The same with the locals....
 
Jacking up ad rates is not really so feasible. Most advertising sold on TV stations and large market radio is booked by an advertising agency hired by the actual advertiser. Advertising agencies have cost per thousand targets. You either meet their cost per thousand or generally you don't get the advertising buy. In smaller towns, you have greater liberty but sometimes the size of the typical local business dictates the rate because what a typical business can afford to spend each month while producing ample results for a renewal is what matters.
 
b-turner said:
Jacking up ad rates is not really so feasible. Most advertising sold on TV stations and large market radio is booked by an advertising agency hired by the actual advertiser. Advertising agencies have cost per thousand targets. You either meet their cost per thousand or generally you don't get the advertising buy. In smaller towns, you have greater liberty but sometimes the size of the typical local business dictates the rate because what a typical business can afford to spend each month while producing ample results for a renewal is what matters.
Click to expand...
With 2 or 3 big companies owning most local affiliates, how much of that money is pooled together. Or are each channels finances still kept separate?
 
TheBigA said:
More like 10 or 15 big companies...some of which also own cable companies.
Click to expand...

I have a hard time getting to 10 these days, after all the consolidation. The four O&Os (including the NBC/Comcast connection), of course, plus the biggest national players - Sinclair, Nexstar, TEGNA, Hearst and Scripps. Maybe Gray fits in here, but while they have a lot of stations, they're predominantly in small markets.

Everything below that is comparatively small potatoes. The new Apollo version of Cox (no longer connected to the Cox family cable interests), Graham (the remnants of Post-Newsweek), Hubbard, Quincy - they're all much smaller players these days compared to the shrinking number of big guys.

And then there are the players in more niche markets - Univision's big O&O group in the Hispanic marketplace (plus Comcast's Telemundo), the Entravision-owned Univision affiliates, and Ion's signals in almost every big market and most medium ones.

OK, maybe that's 15, but it's shrinking fast. So many players of recent years - Tribune, Journal, Raycom, Belo - have succumbed to mergers or buyouts in recent years.
 
Thanks guys with all the interesting facts..Maybe the station should bicker with the networks as telling them they are lucky that the stations carry them.Its the same with the stuff radio has to put up with the music industry in playing their content on the radio.They are doing them a favor playing the music on the air...
 
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