religious TV shows all upset over 'la carte' cable

[donsu]

http://www.timesdaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060311/APN/603110838&cachetime=5


Religious broadcasters fear losing audience with a la carte cable

While cable television customers may applaud the notion of paying for only those channels they want, religious broadcasters say it will diminish their reach.

Pay-per-channel pricing "would have a devastating effect on the inspirational programming we currently provide" and "decimate both the audience and financial support for religious broadcasting," according to the Faith and Family Broadcasting Coalition.

The group includes Pat Robertson, founder of the Virginia Beach-based Christian Broadcasting Network, and Rev. Jerry Falwell, founder of Liberty University in Lynchburg and the defunct Moral Majority.

Last month, the Federal Communications Commission said customers could save as much as 13 percent on their cable bills with per-channel pricing because they no longer would have to buy packages that may include dozens of channels they do not want.
-snip-
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think about what you know about religious TV shows and then read this:

"A large segment of religious networks' audience comes from viewers who discover religious programs while flipping through the channel lineup in their cable package, said Jerry Rose, president of the evangelical Total Living Network."

??? day after day a large segment of audience comes from viewers while flipping channels ???

I thought they were so popular that viewers would scream if they couldn't get the shows?

[teenagebambam]

1. Don't they trust

that God will provide for them?

[ClassWarrior]

Yes, but isn't this God's free market at work?

:rofl:

NGU.

[Mythsaje]

2. ROFL...

Yeah, the "family friendly" programming they've been pushing for is actually BAD for them, since it eliminates a lot of channels they'd prefer to have included. Comcast, for one, is bowing to pressure to offer "Family packages" but they're not going to include religious channels in said packages. Disney toons will be included, but not the Disney Channel. No TNT, no TBS...it's basic cable with a few additional channels tacked on. NOTHING MORE.

I guess it's a matter of, "be careful what you ask for, you just might get it."

[BOSSHOG]

3. Ala carte selection sounds alot like choice

Of course religious zealots would oppose the concept.

Oh look Honey, I was channel checking and I found Jesus, we're saved.

[Cassandra]

12. Priceless

"Oh look Honey, I was channel checking and I found Jesus, we're saved."

I'm imagining a particularly blissed-out reading of that line.

[Richard Steele]

39. BWAHAHAHA!!!!! I think you nailed it!

"CHOICE? Choice is a Satanic Librul PLOT!"
:rofl:


There was a comedian a few decades ago who had a similar
comment on why RACISTS were generally so ignorant and uninformed:
because they refused to own television sets.

There were only 2 types of TVs.
Color:
"Hell NO, I ain't gonna watch no 'COLORED' programs!"
And B&W:
"Black _AND_ White? Mixing freely on the same screen?
Not in MY living room!"

I don't remember who said that, but it stuck with me all these years.

[harpo]

4. a la carte is my choice :)

[sui generis]

5. You would think they'd be ecstatic

that the viewers they do have would only buy the one channel and gaze at it, transfixed and drooling 24/7.

[Cassandra]

6. "inspirational programming"

Inspirational for their wallets, maybe.

[meegbear]

7. Ye reap what ye sow ...

these are the people who in part requested this option because either:

a) They believe they are "family programming" and would be included in core packages
b) People would select them as part of their personal cable package

Now that they learn it ain't so. Too bad mates, and trust me, after the Faux News Channel, you guys are next on my channel chopping block.

[Laelth]

8. Big fan of "a la carte" cable, here.

It's clear the religious broadcasters fear losing revenue. A lot of us have to pay for their crap but have no interest in watching it.

This proves they know most of us don't want it.

-Laelth

[Dr. Death]

9. The "defunct Moral Majority"

Well, they certainly got THAT right!

[Atman]

10. I would LOVE to get rid of the religious and sports channels on my cable

Half my dial is either golf, baseball, football, fishing or GOD. I pay for them, and NEVER watch them (except for FUEL tv in the winter, for snowboarding).

It isn't even a matter of whether God will provide for them...won't their viewers, if they're so important?

I say, 86 the cable proselytizers.

[MuseRider]

13. Same here with another

30% Spanish speaking. I have no problem with any of them being there but I would rather be able to scroll through the few I watch than have to pay for and scroll through the ones I do not.

[Fleshdancer]

23. Me too...and the home shopping channels....and faux news of course

I love the idea of cable a la carte! :bounce:

[Ezlivin]

11. Packages suck. Period.

For the one channel I want I have to get 20 others that suck.

If the average American was able to obtain programming on a per-channel basis, religious broadcasting would no longer prove profitable.

How much do you want to bet that someone in the Bush administration is going to lobby hard against any proposed 'a la carte' legislation?

[onenote]

28. yeah. damn newspapers make me get stories I don't want

I hate Robert No-facts, but I have to subsidize him when I buy my newspaper. And why can't I just get the comics I like. I shouldn't have to pay for Mary Worth just to read Doonesbury and Boondocks.

And how come when I go to an amusement park like Six Flags I have to buy a day pass. Why can't I just line up to buy individual tickets for each ride like th old days.

Yep, packages suck.

:sarcasm:


onenote

[Ezlivin]

47. Your comparison is invalid

Imagine having to get six newspapers you DID NOT want. Or paying to have 20 newspapers delivered when you only want to read one.

You'd be pretty pissed off if you went to Six Flags and had to get all-day passes to the other amusement parks in the area, even though you were not interested and would never go.

How do you like your newspaper and amusement packages now?

[onenote]

48. seems like a valid comparison to me..

While your comparison seems awfully forced.

Posters here have indicated that they don't like packages because it forces them to "buy" channels with certain content they don't want == Sports, Faux, whatever. But that's true of a newspaper as well -- I can't buy the Washington Post, or New York Times section by section. Nor can I pick which opinion columnists I "pay for" when I buy the paper. Same thing with Six Flags. When I buy a pass, I am buying access to all the rides. The fact that I don't have any interest in the kiddie rides is irrelevant. Same with cable/satellite packages. When you pay a package price, you get access to a wide variety of material, some of which may interest you, some of which may not.

onenote

[liveoaktx]

14. Only thing I wonder, will this hurt channels such as LinkTV and FSTV?

Although I definitely would subscribe ala carte to keep them.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

20. LinkTV and FSTV are not available on most cable systems anyway

They're mostly on DISH satellite TV.

I get my Amy Goodman fix on public access here in Minneapolis.

[EST]

21. Link and fstv get NO revenue from cable and satellite carriers.

It is a legal requirement that the carriers must provide a certain amount of space for such public interest programming but getting their signal to the carriers is their own responsibility. Thus-the fund raisers such as is going on on LINK this week.

[Norquist Nemesis]

15. Awww, poor widdle guys will lose their subsidy!

The religious channels and programs have been ever increasing, all while they attack almost everything that's either a) not on one of their networks or b) not "Heaven can wait", Seventh Heaven or Touched by an Angel.

So, while they try to shut down programs that I may (or may not) want to watch, my cable dollars are helping to air their programs and networks that I would not even consider watching! Bottom line is, as long as they continue their attacks as they have, I would just as soon not pay for their 'opportunity' to come into my living room.

[EST]

16. Ya' mean if those slimy, squirmy offerings weren't shoved up

peoples' attitudes, almost nobody would bother with them? Ha!
That telles me at least two things, one of which is that the average sheeple must be stupider 'n hell.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

17. I watch about ten channels, total

and to get them, I have to pay for about 190 that I don't want.

A la carte pricing works in other countries. You pay for basic, and then about $3-$5 for each extra channel. I'd save a bundle.

[rkc3]

25. I'd have a tough time finding ten channels to watch.

A connection fee of $25 plus $3-5 per channel would be the nicest thing the cable industry ever gave to me.

Getting rid of 19 channels of Jeebus would be nice too.

[onenote]

31. don't know much about a la carte in other countries except Canada

And its no bargain there. Have to get digital cable, which means you need a box fpr each set that costs probably 6-8 bucks per. And you have to take the basic tier of service before you an elect a la carte, which is antoher 20-30 bucks. And most of the more established channels aren't available a la carte. So basically you end up with really high a la carte prices for channels with very narrow audiences.

The problem I have with a la carte is that it will make it hard for creative types to get their programming viewed. A show like Queer Eye could never have made it under a la carte. Before Queer Eye, Bravo was a very low rated network. If it was sold a la carte a lot of people wouldn't have had it. But Queer Eye caught on because of word of mouth -- some folks saw it and told others who told others. Because Bravo was part of the package most subscribers already had, they could just check it out for no additional cost. But if folks had to pick up the phone, call the cable operator, order a channel that will cost them 3-5 bucks to check out a show they've never seen --- well, it just isn't going to happen.

onenote

[Richard Steele]

18. So they admit most of their "audience" are surfers who stay 5 seconds?

Well, they didn't COMPLETELY admit that, but they came pretty close!

And I have LONG believed that this is the case:
there is SIMPLY NO WAY that they actually have the ratings they claim.

They are FUDGING the numbers, and they are TERRIFIED that the truth
shall set them BANKRUPT.

This story is proof enough; they obviously know darn well
that their REAL viewership is not numerous enough to justify
keeping them on the air.

[LizMoonstar]

29. and most of the rest of the viewers are us, making fun of their

late-night lineup - TBN's got a christian comedy club, bible kids trivia game shows, extreme sports evangelism, and Team Impact Ministries, where they break stuff for Jesus!

[Richard Steele]

37. Really? They have a show where they 'break stuff for Jesus'?

You make a fine point; certainly, a regular percentage of their
viewship is US, watching just so we can run and tell others
how batshit-smoking INSANE they are.

Normally, I try to be 'above' that sort of thing...
but you may have just found them a new viewer!

I can resist a wide range of temptations,
but "Breaking Stuff For Jesus"?
THAT I gotta see!!!

If I am a totally brainwashed, ranting FUNDIE in a month or two,
please don't blame yourself.
I knew the risks going in!

[LizMoonstar]

42. check it out here:

http://www.team-impact.com/

I haven't seen it, but Jon and Tomzilla say it's awesome.

[EstimatedProphet]

19. Aww...the poor whiners

It's not fair that they wouldn't be able to force their views on other people anymore.

[Warpy]

22. "We can't reach the HEATHENS!"

That's the translation, anyway. Only by having their horse shit offered by cable companies along with the stuff people actually want to watch were they assured of an unwilling, inadvertent audience when a finger slipped on the remote. Only by having their rubbish subsidized by cable companies offering package plans were they able to stay in business, period.

One of the reasons I've resisted getting cable since the beginning was the packaging together of a lot of utter garbage I resent paying for while charging premium prices for the content that is actually worthwhile. In order to qualify for the premium channels, you are forced to accept the prepackaged garbage, and that includes all the babble stations. It amounted to an unwilling subsidy of babble stations, POX News, Certainly Not News, and MSGOP. I always consider what weasel is getting a part of any money I spend, and there were too many weasels in the cable lineup for me to bother.

Viewer choice is the best step they've ever made. We'll see if they're allowed to continue it. My guess is that political power will be brought to bear against it and that they'll be stuck subsidizing the GOP religion forever.

[DBoon]

24. if these baboons had their way

ALL channels would be religious, and it would be illegal to turn your TV off.

[BlooInBloo]

26. As with everything else, they're all for X as long as....

... X doesn't adversely affect them....

Which is conclusive evidence that they aren't actually FOR anything principled, they're for themselves, and nothing else - classic republicanism.

People who vote for them aren't values voters, they're values-LESS voters.

[moobu2]

27. OK, so why would so many right-wing religious Nazi’s

Be campaigning for cable choice then?

Concerned Women for America has a whole webpage dedicated to getting it. And I’ve heard many other nuts advocating it…I’m confused.

Personally, I think the nuts would benefit the most and it sounds good and all, but I’m very suspicious.


http://www.cwfa.org/channelchoice.asp

[Endangered Specie]

30. I guess Jesus really doesn't believe in free markets after all...

:sarcasm:

[Ufomammut]

32. Don't know about your cable provider, but...

Ours fucks customers into buying the broader, more expensive/expansive packages, and one way of ensuring that is they give all the TV zealots access to most of the programming that's available to customers only wanting to pay for the cheapest, limited package. In other words, "god" is only on many of the 2 through 20 channels, and is nowhere to be found on the higher numbered ones.

[warrens]

33. Too bad

Sounds like a drug dealer complaining that he can't sell dope on the school playground without a specific invitation to do so. "Sales would PLUMMET!"

They're probably right. They have a perfect place to get at people who are in crisis and suck money out of them.

[Blue Diadem]

34. Hmmm..bet they're crying about all those $1,000 pledges they won't get..

Yeah..I'm one of those who occasionally stops on religious channels to see what they are promoting(very seldom is it the word of God) The other night it was some guy telling people to send his ministry $1,000, payable in 90 days..even if you don't have it cause God will make sure to give you enough to pay it. Then he went on with promises that if you pledge, you will be blessed with God paying off your home, your bills etc. If you have a business you would do more business in the next 90 days than you have in the last nine months..BUT ONLY IF you send him your $1,000. He even sank lower and said if you have money you've put away for medical bills, to help a relative, to pay your bills, use that money instead to send to him.

Oh..by the way..did you know that you can't do anything with $1,000, it doesn't buy much at all..according to him. Yeah..except line his pockets..

I can't wait for ala-cart cable!

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

46. That's seed money, honey!

Prove to God that you trust him and he will reward you a thousandfold...or at least a hundredfold...but no less than tenfold, unless God has decided to test you, and that means - no soup for you!

They will shut down a three card monte game on the street, but they won't do anything about these holy rollers-in-others'-dough. I can't believe it. If they were selling cancer cures in a bottle they'd be run out of town on a rail. How is selling cures in pledge form any different?

Once I watched a CBN pledge drive to hear some testimonials of how suckers' seed money to Pat "The Assassinator" Robertson had paid off like a rigged slot machine. One couple was about to lose everything but then a miracle - they sent Pat the last of their cash and God blessed them with unexpected wealth!

How? Well, the lady of the house had some kind of home business where she designed cutesy stuff for, I dunno, scrapbooking or something. She and hubby found out that someone was using her copyrighted material - that must have been the miracle part, finding out - and sued the pants off the company. I'm all for protection of intellectual property, but the bible says Christians are not supposed to sue people.

So why did God send them the opportunity? It must have been the Devil tempting them, and they succumbed. Now it's to hell they'll be a-goin', all thanks to Must-Believe TV.

:rofl:

[leeroysphitz]

35. I can not WAIT until I can stop paying for the SIX religious

channels that I'm forced to subsidize thru my basic cable package (not to mention frigging PAX).

The only draw back I see with this "a la carte" scheme is if the sheeple are shamefully UNINFORMED now how bad will it get when none of the mouthbreathers choose to spring for a single news channel (even as bad as they are at present).

[myrna minx]

36. We have so many churchie stations on broadcast tv in the twin cities that

the total amount of religious channels rival the quantity our network and PBS affiliates. :grr: I have no idea what their ratings are, but you don't even need cable to be inflicted with their fundie broadcasts.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

38. They say this like it is a bad thing?

Although TBN and the guy with the big hair and the lady with the pink hair is better than Comedy Central.

[Taverner]

40. YES! YES! YES!

I've been trying to remove that religious filth from my cable for years now!!!!!

Fuck their reach.

[Atman]

41. I wonder how they'd feel if PLAYBOY CHANNEL was part of the same package?

Do you think they'd be singing the same psalm?

I WANT MY POON-TV!

[bridgit]

43. the religious right just doesn't get it, they are a group with tax...

exempt status, to just sit there spewing in many cases gibberish, while 'passing the plate'; and the bundling of channel services is what enables people to receive their programming as cheaply as they do, were cable providers to pull them apart and offer them piece-meal, their prices per channel would go through the roof.

and with many religio folks really only seeking but one or two channels tops...they'd be paying somewhere on the order of 10 to $12 per month, to receive a couple cherry picked programs...they just don't get it.

[Yollam]

44. Yet another reason to support a la carte.

Haha. It would be wonderful to see all the bible-thump stations go under. I'll be damned if I would pay to get that crap.

The bad part is that some people would pay for MTV, but wouldn't care about getting ANY news channels...

[lpbk2713]

45. They're no different from telemarketers

if they want to go into people's homes when they aren't wanted there in the first place.


And telemarketers are the scourge of the earth.