what the hell is this stuff?

[Ichinisan]

gotta pay the bills somehow

By misapplying existing laws, broadcast stations realized they could charge TV service providers for HELPING them distribute the same signal they already broadcast over-the-air for free (even though it helps the station reach more subscribers and earn more ad revenue). Per-subscriber "retransmission consent" fees have been steadily increasing. A year ago it was around 30x the rate of inflation.

 

[Ichinisan]

To be fair, in that instance the commercials are probably better written and more humorous than the show...

This.

 

[rh71]

Disgusting, but this is what DVRs are for.

yup torrents. Hey I'm paying for cable service anyway, so I don't feel bad.

To be fair, in that instance the commercials are probably better written and more humorous than the show...

Ever since they took Penny away from revealing clothes (which was quite a while back), people had to focus on the storylines. She dresses like a grandma now.

 

[Ichinisan]

Yea, TV shows have been hijacked by commercials big-time. The worst part is that they also do it on their online versions now. Definitely part of the reason I watch almost everything on Netflix / Prime now

History repeats itself. Subscription TV was commercial-free when it started. Now that's "Premium" TV. More and more people have moved to premium content like HBO. Mark my words: When HBO and Netflix figures they have as many subscribers as they can get, they'll figure out how many ads those subscribers will tolerate until it reaches optimal revenue generation. It might take a few more years. I don't know.

 

[destrekor]

By misapplying existing laws, broadcast stations realized they could charge TV service providers for HELPING them distribute the same signal they already broadcast over-the-air for free (even though it helps the station reach more subscribers and earn more ad revenue). Per-subscriber "retransmission consent" fees have been steadily increasing. A year ago it was around 30x the rate of inflation.

I can understand why this is allowed, though. While the network benefits because they are reaching more customers, it is by far more helpful to the service provider because it's yet another channel that they offer. If they were to not offer the broadcast networks, they'd potentially lose a ton of customers who look elsewhere for that complete package.

However, while networks do charge for retransmission, I do think that locally broadcast channels should absolutely not be charged as a public service. As you pointed out, they are available for free already OTA, and it is helping to reach more viewers to swell ad viewership.

Hell, the entire origin of cable came from packaging the broadcast networks onto a line to reach those who were too far away from the towers. It was until much later than cable-specific programming became a thing. But, we'll never get that fee dropped from service providers.

And in the end, the fees for broadcast pale in comparison to the fees that other networks are collectively charging

 

[Phoenix86]

To be fair, in that instance the commercials are probably better written and more humorous than the show...

*laugh track*

 

[CZroe]

I can understand why this is allowed, though. While the network benefits because they are reaching more customers, it is by far more helpful to the service provider because it's yet another channel that they offer. If they were to not offer the broadcast networks, they'd potentially lose a ton of customers who look elsewhere for that complete package.

However, while networks do charge for retransmission, I do think that locally broadcast channels should absolutely not be charged as a public service. As you pointed out, they are available for free already OTA, and it is helping to reach more viewers to swell ad viewership.

Hell, the entire origin of cable came from packaging the broadcast networks onto a line to reach those who were too far away from the towers. It was until much later than cable-specific programming became a thing. But, we'll never get that fee dropped from service providers.

And in the end, the fees for broadcast pale in comparison to the fees that other networks are collectively charging

...except that the FCC actually requires them to carry local content. The networks are abusing this to force the cable operators to pay up.

 

[vi edit]

Three of the stars went from like $300k an episode to almost 1 million an episode. Gotta pay those bills somehow.