US TV
Cable operator Cox and sports giant ESPN have both launched websites in an effort to pressure the other to back down over carriage fees.
Cox is threatening to pull ESPN out of the basic cable programming tier and put it into an optional sports tier - much like the arrangement in the UK where channels such as Sky Sports are offered in a standalone tier - unless the Disney-owned network agrees to lower carriage fees.
Jim Robbins, president and CEO of the cableco, said:
"You may know that Cox Communications is fighting to protect the value of cable TV for American consumers. We're asking ESPN and Fox Sports - already two of the most expensive channels on basic cable - to moderate their excessive price increases.
"You should know that Cox plans to continue delivering Fox Sports and ESPN to its customers and is negotiating with both networks to ensure that they stay on our standard basic lineup. But those sports networks are demanding exorbitant price increases - up to 35% a year! We don't think that's fair to our customers.
"This is our pledge: we will do everything in our power to keep ESPN and Fox Sports available to you at reasonable prices."
Cox has launched a website, makethemplayfair.com, which says that ESPN has raised the price it charges Cox for distributing the network by twenty percent annually. Currently Cox must pay ESPN $2.61 per subscriber. The website carries an FAQ section in which the cableco says:
"It's unfair for all Cox customers — sports fans and non-sports fans alike — to bear the burden of these expensive sports networks as their prices get so out of line compared to other channels. It's too soon to tell what this optional service tier might cost, as the price would be determined by a number of currently unknown factors. Charging for sports networks as part of a separate tier shouldn't be necessary if the networks agree to moderate their price increases."
For its part, ESPN has launched a campaign on radio stations in markets served by Cox, along with ads in newspapers, carrying slogans such as "Don't Let Cox Take Away Your SportsCenter." On its website, keepespn.com, the president of ESPN and ABC Sports, George Bodenheimer, says:
"I commit to the millions of loyal ESPN fans out there, who pay good money for Cox Cable each month, that ESPN will continue to negotiate with Cox Cable with the goal of maintaining ESPN as part of the basic service, which after 25 years, they have come to deservedly expect."
The site carries links to digital satellite operators, the main rival to cable operators across America. The argument of the sports network is a direct rebuttal of Cox's claim that programming fees are becoming exorbitant. The network says that ESPN represents "less than four percent" of an average Cox bill, and that having the network available to the widest possible number of people, in the basic tier, brings valuable advertising money to Cox. The network also argues that placing ESPN in a separate tier would result in those Cox subscribers who do choose to pick up the tier paying over the odds for the channel, by requiring a conditional-access enabled set-top-box, charged at a monthly rent of around $4 in addition to the fee for the additional tier.
More on this story as it develops.
Cox is threatening to pull ESPN out of the basic cable programming tier and put it into an optional sports tier - much like the arrangement in the UK where channels such as Sky Sports are offered in a standalone tier - unless the Disney-owned network agrees to lower carriage fees.
Jim Robbins, president and CEO of the cableco, said:
"You may know that Cox Communications is fighting to protect the value of cable TV for American consumers. We're asking ESPN and Fox Sports - already two of the most expensive channels on basic cable - to moderate their excessive price increases.
"You should know that Cox plans to continue delivering Fox Sports and ESPN to its customers and is negotiating with both networks to ensure that they stay on our standard basic lineup. But those sports networks are demanding exorbitant price increases - up to 35% a year! We don't think that's fair to our customers.
"This is our pledge: we will do everything in our power to keep ESPN and Fox Sports available to you at reasonable prices."
Cox has launched a website, makethemplayfair.com, which says that ESPN has raised the price it charges Cox for distributing the network by twenty percent annually. Currently Cox must pay ESPN $2.61 per subscriber. The website carries an FAQ section in which the cableco says:
"It's unfair for all Cox customers — sports fans and non-sports fans alike — to bear the burden of these expensive sports networks as their prices get so out of line compared to other channels. It's too soon to tell what this optional service tier might cost, as the price would be determined by a number of currently unknown factors. Charging for sports networks as part of a separate tier shouldn't be necessary if the networks agree to moderate their price increases."
For its part, ESPN has launched a campaign on radio stations in markets served by Cox, along with ads in newspapers, carrying slogans such as "Don't Let Cox Take Away Your SportsCenter." On its website, keepespn.com, the president of ESPN and ABC Sports, George Bodenheimer, says:
"I commit to the millions of loyal ESPN fans out there, who pay good money for Cox Cable each month, that ESPN will continue to negotiate with Cox Cable with the goal of maintaining ESPN as part of the basic service, which after 25 years, they have come to deservedly expect."
The site carries links to digital satellite operators, the main rival to cable operators across America. The argument of the sports network is a direct rebuttal of Cox's claim that programming fees are becoming exorbitant. The network says that ESPN represents "less than four percent" of an average Cox bill, and that having the network available to the widest possible number of people, in the basic tier, brings valuable advertising money to Cox. The network also argues that placing ESPN in a separate tier would result in those Cox subscribers who do choose to pick up the tier paying over the odds for the channel, by requiring a conditional-access enabled set-top-box, charged at a monthly rent of around $4 in addition to the fee for the additional tier.
More on this story as it develops.
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