WSJ: Fox News Channel Wants $1 Per Customer Anniversary Gift

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

Fox News Channel Wants $1 Per Customer Anniversary Gift

By JOE FLINT
April 25, 2006; Page B1

(snip)

On that score, the News Corp.-owned channel is now looking to overtake CNN and just about every other cable channel, aiming to triple the fees it charges them to carry the channel. It wants an increase to $1 dollar per month per subscriber, from the 25 cent to 35 cent subscriber fee the network currently earns. CNN gets an average of about 50 cents per subscriber; MSNBC takes in between 30 and 35 cents. "We're in the elite group," says Tim Carry, vice president of affiliate sales for Fox News. "We have a significant advantage over 90% of the industry, yet over the last 10 years we've been paid as if we're at the bottom."

Only a handful of cable networks are able to command such a high fee, most notably Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN, which takes in over $2.50 per subscriber. Like ESPN, these channels pay huge sports-rights expenses and get compensated for them. Other channels that command high distribution fees include Time Warner's TNT, which carries Nascar and the National Basketball Association and gets 90 cents, and the Disney Channel, which doesn't sell advertising and gets about $1.

(snip)

Fox News's situation is a far cry from a decade ago, when the channel took the then-remarkable step of paying cable operators $10 per subscriber to launch it. Once that distribution was secured, the channel's programming did the rest: Before long, the fees were flowing the other way. Fox News has more viewers than any other cable news channel with a prime-time audience of about 1.5 million viewers this year, according to Nielsen Media Research. CNN's prime-time audience this year is about 700,000 viewers while MSNBC has been averaging 350,000 viewers. Fox News's ratings are high enough to make it a top-10 cable network.

Fox News is banking that it is now one of the handful of channels which can play hardball with cable and satellite operators if negotiations stall. Like Viacom Inc.'s Nickelodeon and Disney's ESPN, Fox News has rabid fans who would howl if it wasn't part of their basic cable package. Its mix of news and talk has struck a chord with conservative viewers... The negotiations promise to be contentious. Cable and satellite operators are all seeking to lower their programming costs. Fox News is currently in negotiations with Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable operator with over 21 million subscribers. Many industry observers think that despite Fox News's strong performance and loyal audience, its demands are too aggressive. "I think it is completely unrealistic," says Derek Baine, an analyst at industry research firm Kagan Research.

(snip)



URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114592788791534833.html (subscription)

[Taverner]

1. God I can't wait for configurable cable

That way I can eliminate all the Jeebus and Fox from my box

[Mythsaje]

2. Comcast has already stopped promoting HBO

because its demands became too harsh. They carry it, but the salespeople no longer push it. If FOX tries to push around Comcast, they might find themselves trying to push a MUCH larger stone than they thought.

[question everything]

5. Can I get a discount from Comcast if I cannot get Fox?

Perhaps if many of us will write our cable providers they will have a proof that Fox numbers, like its news, are a matter of pure fiction.

[rfranklin]

I think we should be billed on viewing of channels not what

the cable carries. I would delete numerous stations that I find offensive or just plain stupid, with Fox topping them all.

[Kber]

3. Now might be a good time to write my cable company

and tell them that I block fox news anyway and wouldn't want to pay any more for cable than I already do just to pay for a channel I never would watch.

[Benhurst]

4. Tell your cable company you don't want Fox News. If they

won't offer you a package without it, cancel your cable and tell the company why.

Anyone who PAYS the fascists is part of the problem.

[Ganja Ninja]

6. Lets make them a pay per view channel and see how many ...

takers they get. Probably a lot less than the naked news on the playboy channel.

[ComerPerro]

14. Exactly. They want however much per subscriber, then make them PPV

That way, any jerk who wants Faux News in their house can feel free to pay for it.

[warrens]

7. Hubris

I doubt that most cable companies not idealogically driven (like those bozos in the Carolinas) will be willing to pay for a news network at that level. Fox viewers, admittedly, are rabid and will howl, but they're not going to pay extra for Fox.

[AX10]

8. Good luck Rupert. There are channels out there that get much...

higher audience than you do and they are not this greedy.

[Ksec]

9. I believe Fox will destroy itself like a

young upstart athlete who over-demands his wants and needs. They start thinking they are bigger than the game.

[madrchsod]

10. if they try this with charley the owner of dishnetwork

i won`t see fox news anymore. gee that would break my heart. maybe he could replace fox with link tv

[drbtg1]

15. Much respect for Charlie Ergan

It's too bad he wasn't able to pull off the Dish Network-DirecTV merger, as satellite really can use the bandwidth

[GeorgeGist]

11. Interesting racket the cable/satellite guys have...

forcing customers to 'subscribe' to crap they don't want. Wonder why the print media doesn't work that way?

[onenote]

16. doesn't it?

My paper carries columns by Robert No-Facts and Krauthammer, so in order read the columnists I want to read, I have to pay the paper for those columnists.

onenote

[SoCalDem]

19. It kind of does already..

I hate sports, but my newspaper has a big ole sports section which I promptly toss into the recycle bin on the way into the house:)

[question everything]

25. How un-American of you

everyone knows that the only sections read by your average reader are the comics and the sports sections.

And then we wonder that people have no idea of current events.

:evilgrin:

[Ganja Ninja]

12. My E-mail to Dish Network.

I have read recently that FOX news is planning on raising the rate it charges programmers for carrying their brand of "news" programming.
Let me make this perfectly clear. I consider FOX news to be the propaganda ministry of the Republican party. I do not support paying for their "service".
In fact the reason I chose Dish Network over Direct TV is Direct TV's and FOX News owner is one and the same, Rupert Murdoch.
I strongly urge you to remove them from your program packaging and carry them as a subscription service only. They provide nothing I wish to pay for or would miss.

Sincerely
A Loyal Dish Network Customer

[MsTryska]

13. Well i just sent Charter a nice email

saying i'd drop them in a heartbeat, if my bill increases to accomodate these assholes.

[qanda]

17. They can have mine

I NEVER watch it.

[Initech]

18. $10 a month for Fox News? Hell no!

I can think of about a million things I'd rather pay $10 / month for, but Fox News I wouldnt even pay $0.01 a month for!

[question everything]

20. They should pay me to have it in their cable lineup (nt)

[Initech]

21. Yeah, really!

[CatholicEdHead]

22. Faux News is only a News Corp revenue stream

They have to use the station as a debt servicing vehicle. They are paying off the DirectTV purchase and News Corp planned to use Faux News to do it.

[Rex]

23. 'paying cable operators $10 per subscriber to launch it.'

So that is what my tax money goes to - black ops projects. Fox should change their name to the Cronyism News Channel. :eyes:

[Ioo]

24. I SO WANT A LA CART CABLE... They want $1 watch it or not...

Not from me, bring A la cart cable, and I will DROP FOX like a hot rock.

I also bet MANY of those that watch FOX would not pay, cheap asses

[Ilsa]

26. I think even the red city I live in would balk at such an increase! eom

[lpbk2713]

27. My first request when we get a Dem Congress ....

a la carte cable. Then see if Faux doesn't make a lot of changes.

[Elidor]

28. People in Hell want ice water

Good luck with that, Rupert.