Audio Video News

Viewers Want Few Channels

Mark Fleischmann  |  Jul 5, 2017

A study of à la carte pay-TV pricing called “Let’s Get Ready to Bundle” shows that consumers don’t want many channels, especially when they find out the real cost. Hub Entertainment Research asked 1,500 broadband subscribers to choose from 77 channels and streamers.

They picked an average of 19 items, including at least one streaming service, with the big broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC) and Netflix being most popular. But when told per-channel pricing, more than half cut their lists to nine items, building a $66/month bundle. “This research,” says Hub’s Jon Giegengack, “underscores what we’ve seen in other studies: It’s not the price of pay-TV consumers object to, so much as how much of that price is going to content that they don’t use.”

COMMENTS
Billy's picture
Submitted by Billy on July 5, 2017 - 2:01pm

The real cost of sat/cable TV (besides overly greedy profit margins) is sport packaging. Ever wonder how some 7 foot 18 year old kid that is too dumb to spell his own name correctly can make tens of millions of dollars per year? It sure a'int what the team owner makes in ticket sales, its the TV revenues. Sports have gone through a dramatic shift since I was a kid in the 60s. Back then my Pa took me to see big leagues all the time, we sat in the bleachers, at hot dogs, now it is a rare privilege for most working folks to see a pro game. The wealthy do it all the time, but the only for us to see a game is on TV, and then we all end up paying the lions share of the costs that way. (starting to sound like America in general, huh?) Cable bills have rose to an average way above a hundred bucks a month without even commercial free channels like HBO. That I feel is all because of greedy sport team owners, and the ridiculous prices paid to those athletes. Do not get me wrong, I myself can not slam dunk a basketball, but it it worth thousands of times my salary to be able to do so? I mean really, I am a health care professional, I help save lives, can they? We need to get serious about the value of sports in this country. I might re hook my satellite up again, if the cost were more reasonable, but I do not expect that to happen any time soon.

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