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DirecTV Threatens to Keep Dropping Weaker Networks to Fight Price Increases

Dec 3, 2010  •  Post A Comment

DirecTV executives said Thursday that they are prepared to drop smaller, less popular channels–as the company recently did with Comcast’s G4 network–in order to combat continued program fee increases, reports The Hollywood Reporter

Executive VP of Content Strategy and Development Derek Chang said at the company’s investor day in New York that DirecTV and other distributors continue to face program fee increases, which in the case of sports often run in the double-digit percentage range, and have noticed a "clear shift of leverage" to content owners, which are often part of major conglomerates, THR said.

He added that distributors don’t have "a bottomless pool of money," the report said, and as a result, DirecTV in certain cases will not renew carriage deals with channels that are "not necessary or not worth" their cost.

 

7 Comments

  1. wow. talk about “cut nose/spite face”. This is the first time a tv distributor champions LESS diversity of programming. Go ahead Direc tv lets make sure all we are left with are the tbs’ tnt’s usa’s of the world. that will insure value and sustainability of tv programming packages. bravo.

  2. This is the type of action that will continue to push the next generation to the Internet for television. G4 viewers are very tech savy and I am sure they are finding G4 somewhere on the net and wondering why they pay DirecTV. Comcast and DirecTV continue their little battle, but they are hurting themselves as they view this short term and aren’t looking at how they are accelerating young viewers looking for their programming on the internet and hurting themselves in the long run.

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  4. Let’s start by letting customers know EXACTLY what they’re paying for each network, and let them TELL the cable/satellite services what they’re willing to pay for.
    To start saving money on my service, I’d start by eliminating all the expensive sports channels I never watch, and which probably cost as much as all the other non-premium channels combined.
    But ESPN and Fox Sports on a separate Sports Tier and see how many people are willing to pay to watch!

  5. As much as i dont like hearing about these things.. ITS THE NETWORKS FAULT 100%!
    THEY HAVE LOWERED THE QUALITY OF THIER PROGRAMMING MAJORLY AND THEY EXPECT DTV TO PAY THE SAME PRICE THEY AGREED TO WHEN THE PROGRAMMING WAS BETTER ON SAID NETWORK!
    IS THIS FAIR????? NO. THEY ARE BEING GREEDY BASTARDS AND THINK THEY CAN OFFER LESS AND GET THE SAME $$$ FOR IT!

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