Shortly after we published last week's OTT Monitor story on Comcast's warnings that cable prices are likely to go up because of retransmission costs, Cablevision's CEO James Dolan told an investor conference in California "if network programmers push for higher retransmission fees, the cable industry could be forced into a la carte pricing." You may recall that, though a proponent of a la carte, TDG had little faith U.S. PayTV operators would budge on the issue, even if retrans fees continued to increase. Is Dolan informing use otherwise? Not at all. In fact, this is really a veiled threat, a warning to the video industry of the catastrophes that would follow if rentrans fees continue to escalate. In his words, "The impact of a la carte on the programming industry would be devastating." Okay, not so veiled....
Here's the predicament in which many operators find themselves: either embrace some version of a la carte (a la Canada), or end up fueling demand for less-expensive OTT TV services. Avoiding one or the other requires walking a tenuous tightrope - the heights are dizzying, and the slightest misstep could require altering the entire PayTV business model.
Related Reading:
The Wall Street Journal (from Dow Jones Newswire)
ShareThis