Cable TV: Programming that continues to diminish in value

August 02, 2004

I am writing a separate post about ala carte Cable TV pricing which was kicked off by this message from Time Warner Cable of New York City:

To our customers:

Cablevision has forced the removal of MSG, Fox Sports New York, and the Metro channels from your channel lineup.

Cablevision has refused to sign an extension allowing us to continue carrying these channels while we work on a new agreement.

Cablevision has threatened to sue if we continue to carry their networks.

Cablevision has demanded unprecedented fees for programming that continues to diminish in value.

Time Warner Cable will voluntarily rebate its customers $2.00 per month to minimize this inconvenience.

We continue to press Cablevision to return the channels to your lineup but, so far they have refused.

Earth to Time Warner: I DON'T WANT THESE CHANNELS TO RETURN!. And, if I had ala carte pricing, not only would I not subscribe to the channels, but Time Warner would in turn not have to pay whatever the unprecedented fees are for programming diminishing in value.

I wonder how any of these cable companies would respond to customer initiated ala carte subscriptions (mass cancellations).