A-la-carte cable - was Radio Disney

[Kevin Vahey]

I think al-la-carte will happen sooner or later as the cost of basic
cable has gotten way out of hand. Consumers blame the cable company as
they are unaware of how much the companies have to pay for channels.

Irony is ESPN almost went belly up in 1981 as they were PAYING systems
a nickle per subscriber just to be carried. When the mouse got NFL
games in 1987 it all changed. Today Disney gets almost $7 a month from
all basic cable homes. NESN is getting a little more than $2.

The system seems to work well in Canada. Disney will fight this tooth
and nail but given the economic climate right now I can not see it
being stopped.

CBC and the CRTC are at war however over WGN Chicago showing NHL games
on Saturday. WGN can not show NHL games on the superstation in the US
but in Canada only the Chicago feed is allowed by the CRTC. Same
applies to channel 17 out of Atlanta which is now local Peachtree TV
but it is carried in Canada as TBS is not allowed.


On 3/3/09, Doug Drown <revdoug1@myfairpoint.net> wrote:
> This may in part explain why we're still getting WMTW while WVII in Bangor
> was added to our cable system about two years ago.  It will be interesting
> to see how this all plays out within the next year.  WLBZ in Bangor was also
> added in 2007, while WCSH, curiously, was retained (at about the same time
> NBC WeatherPlus was put on the air.  I'm not sure that was a coincidence).
> What's more, we have been receiving both WABI-TV and WGME for years.  The
> owner of the cable company says that FCC regulations required it to begin
> carrying the Bangor stations, as we live a good deal nearer Bangor than
> Portland.  The company plans to drop the Portland stations later in 2009.
> Given the ESPN deal, though, I wonder if that'll include WMTW?
>
> Personally, I'd LOVE to see a la carte cable.
>
>   -Doug
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kevin Vahey" <kvahey@comcast.net>
> To: "Doug Drown" <revdoug1@myfairpoint.net>
> Cc: "(newsgroup) Boston-Radio-Interest"
> <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 6:04 PM
> Subject: Re: Radio Disney
>
>
>> More than likely your system carries WMTW or WMUR (owned by Hearst)
>> which owns 20 percent of ESPN. Hearst years back told the former Media
>> One they could not carry WCVB unless they picked up the then new ESPN2
>>
>> The reason Comcast desperately tried to buy Disney is the enormous
>> fees they pay the mouse for programming fees.
>>
>> A-la-carte is a cat Mickey Mouse is very scared of.
>>
>> On 3/3/09, Doug Drown <revdoug1@myfairpoint.net> wrote:
>>>> On the cable side an operator has no choice but to carry The Disney
>>>> Channel at a hefty fee because otherwise they can't carry ESPN
>>> unless they pick up Mickey.
>>>
>>> If that's the case, either we're gettin' cheated up here or somebody has
>>> found a loophole.  Our local cable system carries both ESPN and ESPN 2,
>>> but
>>> we don't get Disney.  I've often wondered why.
>>> -Doug
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Kevin Vahey" <kvahey@comcast.net>
>>> To: "Doug Drown" <revdoug1@myfairpoint.net>; "(newsgroup)
>>> Boston-Radio-Interest" <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
>>> Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 11:27 AM
>>> Subject: Re: Radio Disney
>>>
>>>
>>>>I saw in the Chicago Tribune yesterday that Paul Harvey was
>>>> responsible for ninety percent of the income of ABC Radio Network.
>>>>
>>>> Also the story noted that Citadel was officially dislisted by the NYSE
>>>> the day before Harvey died.
>>>>
>>>> Disney thinks enough of the Radio Disney franchise that they bought
>>>> 1260. On the cable side an operator has no choice but to carry The
>>>> Disney Channel at a hefty fee because otherwise they can't carry ESPN
>>>> unless they pick up Mickey.
>>>>
>>>> On 3/3/09, Doug Drown <revdoug1@myfairpoint.net> wrote:
>>>>> Interesting how Disney/ABC can continue to run Radio Disney and ESPN
>>>>> but
>>>>> felt financially compelled to spin off the other radio networks and the
>>>>> radio O&Os.  I guess it tells us something about demographics and the
>>>>> state
>>>>> of things.   -Doug
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>