Fox News wants a massive increase in its cable fees -- which will be paid for by all cable subscriber

[Nevilledog]

https://www.mediamatters.org/murdoch-family/fox-news-wants-massive-increase-its-cable-fees-which-will-be-paid-all-cable

Following Fox News’ massive defamation settlement paid out to Dominion Election Systems, the network is now pursuing an even more aggressive strategy to raise revenue by increasing the fee paid by cable and satellite providers to $3 per subscriber, according to a new report from Vanity Fair.

Fox News executives insist that sponsors have not been spooked by the Big Lie scandal, nor have the cable and satellite providers that carry the network. In the negotiations that are taking place this spring between Fox and the likes of Comcast, Fox wants to break past the three-buck mark—meaning three dollars per cable household per month, according to sources familiar with the matter. Even though the American cable universe is shrinking, Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch are still extracting billions of dollars.

These fees are the majority of revenue for Fox, more even than advertising, and they are significantly higher than those charged by the network’s competitors. Fox has been able to raise prices and charge disproportionately high rates due to its history of deceptive and aggressive negotiating tactics during contract renewal talks with providers.

During a February 2022 earnings call, Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch announced that 70% of the network’s cable and satellite contracts will be up for renewal during fiscal years 2023 and 2024. Murdoch has signaled to investors that Fox aims to continue to increase affiliate revenue even as the cord-cutting trend continues to accelerate, shrinking the consumer base.

Dominion sued Fox News and Fox Corp. for defamation over the network’s 2020 election coverage that falsely claimed the company’s election machines had been used to alter votes, among other debunked conspiracy theories. The two parties settled the case immediately before the trial was set to begin this week, with Fox paying out $787.5 million to Dominion. Still, as Media Matters President Angelo Carusone wrote in an MSNBC op-ed, “Fox News is about to burn brighter and hotter” to shore up the loyalty of its audience, which the network will then leverage during upcoming negotiations.

*snip*

[mopinko]

1. good. let them price themselves out of the market.

[Orrex]

18. Never happen

Comcast will happily triple my monthly bill in order to keep providing Fux Noise to the ignorant fuckheads who suck it down 24/7.

And, since Comcast is for all intents & purposes the only game in my town for cable or internet, I’m fucked.

But it’s not a monopoly. No sir. Definitely not a monopoly.

[mopinko]

24. they're reaching for a shrinking audience. they could make fux premium.

but that’s what got oann dropped.

[Celerity]

29. what about

or

[Faux pas]

2. Kickin' with disgust!

[SheilaAnn]

3. Well, that huge fine they have to pay won't pay for itself now will it? n/t

[Freethinker65]

4. Never had cable TV.

I was amazed on a recent road trip staying at places with cable there would be over 200 channels of mostly crap, some episodes of which I swear were the same ones as when I went on my last road trip six months ago.
I can understand having cable if you are a live sports fan, desire 24/7 news, or need it because you live in an area with poor over the air reception (yep, those places still exist), but you really can enjoy life quite well without it.

FYI, I do pay for residential internet service.

[Orrex]

19. I brought that up to Comcast years ago

I told them that I don’t need 12 golf channels, 9 baseball channels, 10 god channels and 60 channels of music that I’ll never listen to.

“Just give me the basic package with the same internet I have now.”

“Ok, but that’ll cost you $75 more per month.”

[Pantagruel]

5. Cable should offer Fox

as an elective ($) choice to customers, take it off the package.

[Deuxcents]

7. I agree. My HOA has a contract with the cable company

And we have basic cable included in our fees. Fox is included and I’d be fine with them not offering it.

[moonscape]

9. Absolutely!

[world wide wally]

12. They should at least offer us a choice

Either Fox or the shaving commercial channel or something!

[Johonny]

13. Yes treat it like ESPN

and other higher priced premium channels. Put them on the higher Cable tier, not basic cable. I'm sick of paying for it. It's shit.

[FakeNoose]

14. Yes indeed - I've been harping about this for the last several years

As it is, I'm paying Verizon Fios just over $150 per month, and that's for cable, internet and landline phone. Each month about $4 or $5 of my money goes to Faux Noize without my consent. And I have never watched ANY of their channels. Every cable TV subscriber is doing the same, whether we like it or not.

This is how Rupert Murdoch gets his stupid-money. And he uses our money to do stupid things. What an outrage!

[Fullduplexxx]

6. glad i cut the cord

[SWBTATTReg]

8. Let me guess, they are raising the rates by $787.5 million dollars?

[Nevilledog]

11. I think it's more like 1.5 billion

[louis-t]

15. My father used to call that

"Take a minus and turn it into a plus."

[jimfields33]

16. No. It's 787 million.

They settled out of court.

[Nevilledog]

20. No.... I'm talking about the raise in carrier fees they want... 1.5 billion

[inthewind21]

10. Does this surprise anyone?

Really?

[hunter]

17. Fox News is one reason we quit cable, about a dozen years ago.

We didn't like paying for stuff we despised and never watched, Fox News especially.

At least with streaming if I watch something that's my vote in favor of it, and if I don't watch something, that's my vote against.

When my wife and I quit cable the "standard" cable package was approaching forty dollars a month. That's more than we pay for streaming now. We're not loyal to any streaming service, when we lose interest in one we switch to another.

Quitting Comcast was a trip. Comcast really didn't want me to go. The rep was so concerned about his retention numbers he put us down as "moved away." Sure enough the Comcast sales people showed up a few weeks later with a "special offer" for new residents.

Since we quit traditional television we simply don't see television commercials in our daily lives. After all these years I find traditional advertising supported television intolerable. Our television isn't even set up to receive it.

[edhopper]

21. The owners of the cable systems

don't hate Fox. It supports their political agenda. This must be remembered.

[NotVeryImportant]

23. Facts!

I need to look into how to remove FOXNEWS from my Comcast.

[Kaleva]

22. Cable and satellite subscriptions are plummenting.

As more and more switch to streaming

[renate]

25. I would love to know more about services like Hulu, Sling, etc while still getting the Internet

I'm just at an age where it's a prohibitive PITA to try to figure out how to get the two channels I want--PBS and MSNBC, and I guess whatever channels have sports--without getting the cable/Internet bundle from the cable company.

It's enraging that normal people are subsidizing FOX, an actively harmful entity. It's as if I was being forced to buy a membership in the Ku Klux Klan. But I don't know enough about the alternatives.

[Nevilledog]

28. Here's some info: 7 Best Streaming Services Without Fox News

https://agoodmovietowatch.com/cord-cutting/best-streaming-services-without-fox-news/

[BlueIdaho]

26. If you see Fox on in a business you frequent

Ask them to change to a different channel - any channel.

[Sky Jewels]

27. Those who still have cable should let their companies know that they'll cancel the whole enchilada

if Fox gets its way.