SCN: Seattle services (was AT&T Broadband)

[Scot Harkins on SCN]

Actually, they price it that way because they don't want folks to use that
level of service.  They want everyone to be on digital and on the next
level, because the model actually gets them more revenue, plus they can sell
local commercials on more channels at a higher rate if they have more
subscribers.  At the basic level you're paying more for the service.  At the
higher levels your subscription gives them another potential viewer on more
channels so they can say "we have 100,000 subscribers to our higher-level
service" to advertisers, allowing them to charge more money, so they get
your fees and the advertising fees for more channels.

(Cable companies run local commercials on the national cable channels by
simply interrupting the signal and running their own signal (commercial).)

Digital cable is also cheaper for them to offer at this point; lower power
for signals for one thing.  Add the ability of digital to report how long
you view what channels and they have yet another handle with advertisers so
they can charge higher advertising rates.  Eventually, thanks to digital
cable tech, they'll even run custom commercials just to your TV based on
your viewing habits and demographics.  That'll mean the 55 year old in one
house watching the Discovery Channel will see one commercial while the 21
year old in another house watching the same channel will see another
commercial in the same given slot (at the same time).  That'll be the real
payoff in advertising since AT&T (and other cable companies so equipped)
will be able to tightly target ad dollars and thus charge premium rates.

The basic idea is that they make more money off of you _and_ advertisers
when you upgrade to higher levels of service.


sh

--
Scot Harkins (KA5KDU)
Greenbank, WA, US
Phone: 360-678-5880
Email: scoth at bigfoot.com
URL <http://www.bigfoot.com/~scoth>
--

----- Original Message -----
From: "patrick fisher" <clariun at yahoo.com>
To: "scn" <scn at scn.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 07, 2002 10:57 AM
Subject: Re: SCN: Seattle services (was AT&T Broadband)


> Hmmm, I had a feeling that was the case. That is why I wanted to run it by
the SCN
> crowd to see if they knew. I didn't want to call.
>
> So "Basic Basic" cable is about 12 bucks. But on their site they just have
"Basic"
> cable which is $33. Add tax to that and you are paying a minimum of $38
for cable to
> just one TV.
>
> They must price it like that because people are willing to pay it. Not me!
>
> Patrick


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