BBC hike for cable viewers in IE

Nero

Well cable viewers, what do you make of this ....

http://new.businessandfinance.ie/livenews.htm?a=492892

sceptre

Interesting.

I assume that "18 euro per customer hike" would be per year.

Fun times ahead if Chorus and NTL go cap in hand to the ODTR again looking for a price increase (now that their respective monopolies are gone, albeit just on paper and in the mind of Etain Doyle they've nothing to offer as a quid pro quo)

dahamsta

Particularly for Chorus, who are getting /worse/ instead of better!

adam

icdg

The story has not appeared elsewhere, but given Independent's connections with Chorus, I would be surprised if it is not genuine. Independent have been very strong in defending Chorus these past few weeks, even though the company is allegedly a non-core business up for sale...

Now...BBC Worldwide (the commercial arm of the BBC) basically can demand any sum it likes out of NTL and Chorus. Because when push comes to shove, it is the UK terrestrial channels that are NTL and Chorus' bread-and-butter, and what they need to survive. Take a look at the original Independent article at unison.ie - the BBC is perfectly right in saying customers will defect to Sky if its channels disappear. Its' not an empty threat, its a good analysis of the market. (And I dare say, UTV may want to put pressure on both sides to reach a deal, it has a lot to lose if the BBC channels were withdrawn).

As for the ODTR...I don't think it would be want to be seen as the ones preventing NTL and Chorus from carrying the BBC. So if push came to shove and they needed an increase to cover their costs in this, an increase would more than likely be granted.

Stay tuned to http://icdg.boards.ie for more...

SkepticOne

Originally posted by icdg
As for the ODTR...I don't think it would be want to be seen as the ones preventing NTL and Chorus from carrying the BBC. So if push came to shove and they needed an increase to cover their costs in this, an increase would more than likely be granted.

Yes, especially with the removal of the exclusive licences, the cable companies argument that they should be allowed to set their own prices is strengthened.

spongebob

Thank gawd that Eircom are shutting down those awful eircom shops....who have been among the largest vendors of sky digital in the country in recent times.

It will give chorus an ickle bitty chance to maybe provide a 'service' to their 'customers' and thereby keep murdoch from total domination.

M

SkepticOne

Originally posted by Muck
Thank gawd that Eircom are shutting down those awful eircom shops....who have been among the largest vendors of sky digital in the country in recent times.

It will give chorus an ickle bitty chance to maybe provide a 'service' to their 'customers' and thereby keep murdoch from total domination.
M

Hmmm. Would you not think that the reason service levels are so low is because of the total lack of competition until recently. I'm not in favour of domination by any one company, but that is what we've had until Sky came along. I think there will always be a role for cable companies, but they will need to provide a range of services to survive. In the era of satelite TV, pure one-way cable is obsolete, but two-way cable providing telephony and cable Internet along with digital TV has a future.