SCN: Seattle services (was AT&T Broadband)

[patrick fisher]

I think it was the state or Seattle city government that required the cable
companies to offer a service that would not be considered gouging. If this is the
case, it's too bad that the cable companies were not required to list this lower,
affordable rate on a place on their website.

I've looked and looked on their site and I could not find the $11.75 rate, only the
$33 rate.

Sound like a case of the cable companies following the letter of the law, but
breaking the spirit of the law. Sure, they have the affordable $11.75 rate, but good
luck in finding out about it!

Patrick

--- Scot Harkins on SCN <scoth at scn.org> wrote:
> 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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