braniac wrote:
niner81 wrote:
braniac wrote:
I read this same statement in a couple of different reports:
"They did not want to accept terms and commitments that have become customary in a Fox News renewal," said Tim Carry, the Fox News executive in charge of distribution.
Hey Carry, ever hear of that free market your network so loudly promotes?

You know, the one where buyers and sellers negotiate instead of one them farting out words like customary. Is that the best justification you can give for putting the squeeze on Dish?

No, that's not actually how the free market works. In the real free market, Fox News is in the firm driver's seat because there is high demand for its product and it is available in a number of venues. If other available options like DirecTV and cable agreed to carry Fox News through the "customary" terms and commitments, there is basically no reason for Fox News to diminish those terms for Dish's sake. Fox News is highly unlikely to lose any ad revenue over this, and Dish is likely to lose at least some customers or be forced to give fairly exorbitant discounts to a number of consumers.
You pay what the market demands. If other companies are paying Fox News' price, it's difficult for Dish to argue it should pay any less. Fox News would be making a very dumb business decision to deviate below its customary terms and conditions for Dish. This is not a Weather Channel situation here.
Apparently Dish has a different view of the market or they would have met Fox's demands. Dish seems to think that its value minus Fox meets what the market will pay, and that those who think it doesn't and drop Dish aren't significant enough for it to change its value by dropping its prices, paying what Fox wants, or something else. That's how a free market works: each entity in the market determines its sense of value. Other carriers think that Fox's "customary" terms are OK, but that doesn't establish it as the one and only model for everyone or the market wouldn't be free.
I don't disagree with what you said, but that doesn't mean Fox is in the wrong or violating free market principles by standing firm, as you're indicating. Fox has set a price for its services that the great majority of providers has accepted. They are absolutely in a valid position to hold its position and say, "Why should we lower our price just because you don't like it?" Yes, Dish can make its own assessment and say, "We don't think Fox News is worth that much." But by your opinion of how the free market works, Fox absolutely has the right, and the position, to respond "We think it's definitely worth that much, and others agree with us."
dhines1671 wrote:
Sure FNC is number one in cable news ratings. Daytime soaps are a dying genre. The number one soap opera beats all of the cable news channels combined. The prime time numbers are a little better for cable news, but they are still under 2% overall vs US population. DISH is in 20 million homes. FNC only has 3-6 million viewers on average. Out of those how many are the loyal enough to pay the fees to break their 2 year contract and switch providers? How many of this those people have DISH?
Last I saw during DISH's CNN dispute, DISH had 13-14 million subscribers. Also, it's not quite as simple as saying a primetime show averages 3 million viewers, so that's how many viewers Fox News gets. They have different viewers at different times, so the overall number of viewers who watch Fox News in a given week is likely much higher. Not all of them are loyal Fox viewers, true, and most of them probably would not bother to do anything other than complain to family if they lose Fox News. But cable/satellite providers are a very possessive bunch, and with more cable companies starting to offer very cheap basic packages, DISH will get very concerned if the number of Foxjumpers start to number in the thousands over time.