“The business model is unraveling at ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox and the local stations that carry the networks’ programming. Cable TV and the Web have fractured the audience for free TV and siphoned its ad dollars. The recession has squeezed advertising further, forcing broadcasters to accelerate their push for new revenue to pay for programming,” Vanacore reports.
“That will play out in living rooms across the country. The changes could mean higher cable or satellite TV bills, as the networks and local stations squeeze more fees from pay-TV providers such as Comcast and DirecTV for the right to show broadcast TV channels in their lineups,” Vanacore reports. “The networks might even ditch free broadcast signals in the next few years. Instead, they could operate as cable channels – a move that could spell the end of free TV as Americans have known it since the 1940s.”
“‘Good programing is expensive,’ Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. owns Fox, told a shareholder meeting this fall. ‘It can no longer be supported solely by advertising revenues.'” Fox is pursuing its strategy in public, warning that its broadcasts – including college football bowl games – could go dark Friday for subscribers of Time Warner Cable, unless the pay-TV operator gives Fox higher fees,” Vanacore reports.
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: You know, there’s one company in particular that likes to take broken, antiquated industries and fix them…