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Why Folks in Your Area Might Soon Be Crying Out: ‘I Want My Fox News Channel!’

Sep 20, 2012  •  Post A Comment

Are we soon to be hearing cries of "I want my Fox New Channel!" ringing out from coast to coast?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Chase Carey, president and COO of News Corp., has signaled that there might be a fight on the horizon over retrans fees for Fox News.

Carey "is bullish on the company’s TV channels, emphasizing that the company soon expects bigger fees for the right to carry Fox News," the story says, adding, "Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference in New York, Carey said that talks with distributors over new carriage fees for Fox News will soon begin the next round of negotiations."

The acticle continues: "’By the beginning of next calender year, we will have renegotiated half of that universe,’ he said. ‘We aim to take that business closer to what we think reflects the value of that channel.’ Carey, who was formerly CEO of DirecTV, later pulled back on making any antagonistic posture towards cable and satellite companies."

9 Comments

  1. Another great reason to demand a la carte pricing from our cable companies. Or to hope someone comes up with a better model so we can stop paying for channels we don’t watch (including the most outrageous example, ESPN)

  2. Good to hear the news. Fox News sucks the big one and the sooner it looses its dissemination of hate the better!
    I agree with laundry list pricing–choose what you want to watch, ditch all those evangelical shows and reality junk and keep the good stuff, starting with TCM, HBO and a few others…

  3. I watch 10 channels. Why do I need to pay for 100?

  4. The problem here is both technical and contractual.
    To make channels available à la carte, you would need a separate authorization bit for each and every channel. There simply aren’t that many available in the channel encryption data scheme.
    Also most contracts with programmers mandate channels’ placement within a specific tier. For example, many channels require that they be made available in the “lowest-priced programming tier.” Others, like ESPN’s, specifically state that the channel cannot cost extra to receive.

  5. The reason for all the channels provided by the cable companies stems from demands by the broadcasters. In setting up these agreements they demand that these channels must be carried in some basic tier: ESPN and their entire set of channels, Discovery and their set of channels, Lifetime and their set, etc. Being on the basic tier prempts them from being optional such as HBO, Showtime, etc. It is a lose lose scenario for the end customer all around. I wish the broadcasters could hear your complaints, but it seems all the hear is the jingle from advertising and re-broadcast fees.

  6. Cable companies can not deliver a la carte pricing until #1 the cable system is all digital, which many of the large cable companies may be now a days. Many analog/digital cable companies simply can not do it technically. And #2, and more importantly, the programmers, in probably 95% + of cases, simply won’t let them. Many cable programmers require cable companies to supplement their lineup with other channels that the programmer wants to have on the air.
    Also, many contracts between programmers and cable companies require the cable company to pass 80% of their subscriber base with that particular channel. A la carte simply would not allow a cable company or dish provider to meet that contractual requirement.
    A la carte requires all digital systems and the programmers to create contracts that allow it. In most cases, the programmers simply don’t allow it or in the few cases where they might, the programmers jacks the rate of that channel to the moon because they know that less people will be subscribing to it.

  7. Yeah, I just hate the way Fox gangs up on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC. Jeez one against five is so unfair.

  8. If you have to go without… THERE IS A SOLUTION:
    Simply go to JustinTV, in the upper right search for “Newschat_refugees” or “indiscriminate” to see the 2 channels that carry Fox News. If you have Roku, you can watch it on your Roku Device (on your TV) free too, through the JustinTV Roku Private channel/App. Granted the quality is less, but you can still watch on PC or your TV this way. I didn’t let Cable companies run my life, why should you?

  9. It IS unfair when you lie all the time.

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