[NU Sports] TV and sports

[Jeff Beamsley]

As long as we are tolerating extended discussions about cable let me toss my
two cents in.

I think that this is much ado about nothing.

The only advantage that the cable companies have is an almost monopoly on
transport since there is only one set of fiber/cable coming into your house.
They have leveraged that position into one of providing additional services
like phone and internet and eating some of the phone company's lunch.  They
understand that the Internet is going to quickly displace them as a the
source of content so they are doing their best to control as much of the
content spectrum as they can.  But they are going to fail for all the reasons
that everyone put out here and more.  

As soon as streaming video over the internet becomes simple and inexpensive
and the divide between TV and computer disappears, every content provider
will have the opportunity to stream HD quality content and cut their own
deals directly with consumers.  The choices will multiply quickly and prices
will come back down to levels that more closely reflect cost and value.

The dish networks to some extend demonstrate the premise, but their
deployment costs are such that they are not going to be able to compete once
the Internet becomes the dominant distribution medium.  They will remain a
niche player for that segment of the marketplace that is "unwireable".

This is all dependent, BTW on the Internet remaining a level playing field
for all participants.  There is a strong lobby effort by the current set of
large players to allow those that provide Internet bandwidth to offer
variable access to that bandwidth.  In the context of this discussion, that
would mean that Commcast, my Internet provider, could levy an extra tax on
all those content providers who wanted to compete with Commcast to deliver HD
quality streaming video.  Those who didn't want to pay that tax would be
throughput "throttled" at least on the Commcast network.  Whether that tax
was paid by the provider or the consumer (or both) those fees would
ultimately result in higher costs essentially preserving some form of the
current system.  Make sure your elected representatives are not in the pocket
of some cable or phone company lobbyist the next time this comes up for a
vote.

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On
Behalf Of Mike Nolan
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 11:03 AM
To: Clark Zahn
Cc: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] TV and sports

> There are lots of channels in the basic package that far less than 39% 
> of the subscribers view.  You'd have to be a TV addict to watch even a 
> majority of the channels.  In Big Ten country I would expect the BTN 
> to be one of the higher rated channels.

The Wall Street Journal site had an article recently talking about how the
NFL may finally have bitten off more than it can chew with their new NFL
Network channel, which many cable operators are not carrying because of the
high cost and low perceived demand.  

This article also mentioned ESPN's (mostly) successful strategy of paying
top-dollar (and in the process redefining what 'top dollar' means) for events
then jacking up the per-subscriber fee to cable operators to carry the ESPN
family of channels.  (I think it's ironic that now that my cable operator has
finally added ESPNU to the mix, there may not be any games on it I'm
interested in this season.)

It also cited problems that the Big 10 Network is having with cable operators
balking at carrying it.  If that's true, it isn't likely to be one of the
higher rated channels even in Big 10 country.

I'm not convinced ala carte pricing will save me anything on my cable bill,
which currently adds up to several hundred dollars a month.  I've already
decided I will NOT purchase ESPN Game Plan this season, last year I think I
got TWO games I was really interested in on Game Plan all season, and fewer
games overall than in 2005.

Personally, I think the cable operators should have to pay ME for including
the shopping channels.  
--
Mike Nolan

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