They may be close to cost at the basic rate, but the people who buy only this are a small percentage of their total.
What's that? New math? If I add the costs of the channels we know, USA, ESPN, CNN, and Fox we're up to five dollars. If the other 56 basic channels average, say, fifteen cents, which is what TOON charges, we're up over Derek's twelve dollars. That allows no profit, no line maintenance, no service, etc. They just can't sell it for that. His must be subsidized somehow.
There's another problem with a la carte--you'll likely have to use a cable box. I have a box right now for my two month trial of digital cable. One reason I got the trial was to see if I could make the box work with a DVR and a couple of VCRs. The Comcast folks said it couldn't be done. The only way I could make it work is to put the box only on the TV, not the other devices, which means that I can get the extended channels only on the TV. I can't record them. I'll be glad to get rid of the box. I wouldn't want a la carte service at the cost of having to deal with a box. If they offer a la carte as an option, that would be great, but if they offer it instead of the current packages, I would consider that a problem. |
