Aereo Loses Copyright Fight

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Big guys win for now, but they knew they had a threat in the form of Aereo.

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So you're upset simply because "the big guys won?" Sounds like a shitty way to frame your point of view.

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Bring on a la carte cable for frick's sake.

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Ahh, so you actually have some semblance of an argument based on the merits.

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Bring on a la carte cable for frick's sake

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The only way that would work would be to cap what TV networks can charge per customer. Otherwise, ESPN's fee goes from $5/subscriber to $25/subscriber.

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Paying for over the air antennea channels is bullshite, glad they lost.

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Huh?


You didn't HAVE to use their service if you saw no value in it. Obviously others did.

So why are you glad they are losing an option?

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I don't know why people don't get this but a la carte cable would be far more expensive in the long run.

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Exactly. A la carte cable may eventually happen, but not for a whole IMO. And that depends on if different networks stop teaming up with each other. If a la carte cable happens, not only can you expect out the arse for things like ESPN, but you can kiss smaller channels goodbye since they won't generate enough revenue to stay on the air.

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If a la carte cable happens, not only can you expect out the arse for things like ESPN, but you can kiss smaller channels goodbye since they won't generate enough revenue to stay on the air.

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The market would weed out TV that people don't watch or want to pay for. Not really a problem, that is part of what bloats cable costs as it is.

What I would see happening is for something like the Big Ten to not renew contracts with ESPN/ABC and instead broadcast all the games on their own network (BTN) and charge a la carte for that.

This could create a huge issue where if each conference did this, it would be a huge cost. But you could see any game you wanted to pay for.

I think the market would figure itself out but as with any major change, there would be severe growing pains.

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If you think you are getting channels like ESPN for less than $100+ a month you are dreaming.

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Why does everyone automatically assume this will happen? In an alacarte model, wouldn't demand dictate the price?

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ESPN delivers advertising, PPV does not, so that's a terrible comparison.

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ESPN's revenue via advertising is peanuts compared to what they get from subscription fees.

They are not going to just let their revenues get massively slashed without making it back up.

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if a la carte happens, prices for sports programming will skyrocket for the individual customer b/c the cost will no longer be spread out.

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I do agree that this would happen if companies were simply forced to do a la carte; however, I do not see these Companies being forced to do a la carte without some sort of ceiling on pricing or other regulation, otherwise what would keep them from just charging out the arse?

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The entire reason the BTN is so successful is because its on basic cable deals all throughout their footprint.

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They get a very small fraction of money from each station, which adds up.

If they charged $5 a month of $50 a year, I'd buy that (if they had more games on there) and the ESPN family of networks and call it a day and stream everything else I wanted.

ESPN and others that offer live content are the only providers that have customers over a barrel right now. Every other show can be retrived via the internet whether legally or illegally.

I think ESPN realizes this and is working to get ESPN3 and WatchESPN together to where if they found it economically viable, they would break away from Cable companies all together.