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Cable companies fear more than the Internet
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JEREMY HOBSON: The Cable TV industry is in Chicago today for its annual get-together. And this year the Internet isn't the only threat to cable.
In this economy it's getting too expensive for a lot of people, as Sally Herships reports.
SALLY HERSHIPS: This statistic is getting a lot of play this week at the Cable Show.
MARK ROBICHAUX: The bottom 40 percent of U.S. households have already exhausted their disposable income.
Mark Robichaux is Editor in Chief of Multichannel News.
ROBICHAUS: So there's not a whole lot left for clothing, or for cable. You can't have a business if people can't afford your product.
That hasn't stopped the big cable operators from raising prices. Robichaux says the average subscription costs 30 percent more than it did five years ago.
Kartik Hosanager teaches Internet media at Wharton. He says some cable industry execs have talked about offering lower cost options but so far there's been little action.
KARTIK HOSANAGER: It might change in the distant future but it's not going to happen in the immediate future.
Hosanager says first cable companies will need to accept that the old model is in danger. This week's downbeat meeting may have signaled a first step.
I'm Sally Herships for Marketplace.
IT DOES NOT TAKE A DEGREE TO KNOW IT IS RIDICULOUS TO PAY FOR WHAT THEY SAY IS BETTER PROGRAMMING. I HAVE NOT PAID FOR IT SINCE 1993 AND I REFUSE TO. FREE TV IS FINE FOR ME. I ALSO HAVE TO MANY ALTERNATIVES AT HAND THAT ARE FREE AND DO NEED TO DEAL WITH ANY MORE RISING COSTS ON TOP OF MY OTHER OBLIGATIONS.
I dropped cable two years ago after a rate increase. No one should have to pay anything, much less $80.00 a month for informercials, commercials, reruns, reality programs, political blow-hards, and the like. It's not just the cost, it's the lousy programing as well.
@JMiller-Oddly, I majored in radio/tv too(although, the school I attended called it Mass Comm.),even though I've never really been one to watch much TV.
I canceled my cable subscription years ago. I still own a TV (a hand me down from a friend), but only because my kids needed something to play the X-box and watch DVDs on.
Yessir!! Gouge the customer in the name of deregulation, then wonder why the golden goose is leaving the nest. My income is 0ver $90K. I haven't had a need for the expensive mind-numbers that pass for television programming in years. I rely on PBS over the air. Better programming, better service, better information. I have an MA in telecom from Michigan State.
