So I understand that business-wise it works and there is money to be made by charging people to watch TV, but I’m wondering what dish/direcTV/etc actually do in terms of innovating and getting entertainment on the air? My understanding is that the money from commercials goes straight to the networks, what incentive is there for the networks to not just allow free streaming on their websites so that more people see the show and the commercials in it?
In: 24
Commericals are not from the cable company they are from the networks
Cable takes your money and uses that money to keep the infrastructure running and pay networks like nbc and Disney to show their channels.
The networks run ads to make more money.
The networks also buy content to run. That’s why sometimes the same show can be on multiple channels and movies and stuff.
The cable company makes money by delivering the channels to customers. They have to maintain the connections to every customer’s home.
The networks (channels) make money by selling ad space on those channels in between the shows they make. If the network has good shows, more people watch, if more people watch, their ad space becomes more valuable.
Cable companies, and satellite carriers like Dish and DirecTV are infrastructure. They carry content and charge a user fee for it. It’s up to the individual channels to innovate and keep viewers glued. No different than an ISP, they just bring you web content, it’s up to the websites to provide that content.
The channels carried by cable companies are paid a carriage fee, they basically get a cut of the subscriber revenue in exchange for licensing the right to rebroadcast or carry their content. This means the individual channels actually earn more when viewed over cable, rather than online from their own website.
It’s also worth considering that media licensing can be complex, and just because a channel can license content for broadcast, that license doesn’t necessarily include streaming rights. In most cases nowadays it does, but the channels have to include some form of geolimiting to ensure their streaming broadcast is only within the geographical area they’ve licensed the content for.
Cable is dying, but it’s a slow death. Cable infrastructure is solid and reliable, and pervasive in most populated areas. It still has a large user base and still provides lucrative revenue for channels. Advertising revenue is based on eyeballs, and cable generally delivers more viewers than an individual website alone would attract.
The cable company makes money by delivering the channels to customers. They have to maintain the connections to every customer’s home.
The networks (channels) make money by selling ad space on those channels in between the shows they make. If the network has good shows, more people watch, if more people watch, their ad space becomes more valuable.
Cable companies provide a service to their customers – providing lots of content on one cable. Without that cable, you would need to have multiple Ota antennas on your roof and try to find other content with additional antennas-probably large satellite dishes in your back yard. In a similar way that a municipal water utility provides clean drinking water to their customers eliminating the need for each house to drill a well in their backyard and filter, test and clean the water of contaminants.
That wire underground or up on poles requires maintenance, the tuner box requires a subscription to decode the encrypted channels, and more importantly, the providers (HBO, BBC, showtime, etc) charge the cable co to carry their content. Because they gotta pay to license the shows as well.
You don’t have to have cable, but if you want 100 channels of nothing to watch, you need to subscribe.
Cable companies provide a service to their customers – providing lots of content on one cable. Without that cable, you would need to have multiple Ota antennas on your roof and try to find other content with additional antennas-probably large satellite dishes in your back yard. In a similar way that a municipal water utility provides clean drinking water to their customers eliminating the need for each house to drill a well in their backyard and filter, test and clean the water of contaminants.
That wire underground or up on poles requires maintenance, the tuner box requires a subscription to decode the encrypted channels, and more importantly, the providers (HBO, BBC, showtime, etc) charge the cable co to carry their content. Because they gotta pay to license the shows as well.
You don’t have to have cable, but if you want 100 channels of nothing to watch, you need to subscribe.
Cable companies provide a service to their customers – providing lots of content on one cable. Without that cable, you would need to have multiple Ota antennas on your roof and try to find other content with additional antennas-probably large satellite dishes in your back yard. In a similar way that a municipal water utility provides clean drinking water to their customers eliminating the need for each house to drill a well in their backyard and filter, test and clean the water of contaminants.
That wire underground or up on poles requires maintenance, the tuner box requires a subscription to decode the encrypted channels, and more importantly, the providers (HBO, BBC, showtime, etc) charge the cable co to carry their content. Because they gotta pay to license the shows as well.
You don’t have to have cable, but if you want 100 channels of nothing to watch, you need to subscribe.
>what incentive is there for the networks to not just allow free streaming
Money. People paying to watch bring more money than the increase advertizing dollars.
>what incentive is there for the networks to not just allow free streaming
Money. People paying to watch bring more money than the increase advertizing dollars.
>what incentive is there for the networks to not just allow free streaming
Money. People paying to watch bring more money than the increase advertizing dollars.
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