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- From: staggers@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Ken Staggers)
- Newsgroups: misc.consumers,rec.arts.tv
- Subject: PPV Olympics: Oh, so now it's free
- Message-ID: <1992Jul30.144313.7272@news.acns.nwu.edu>
- Date: 30 Jul 92 14:43:13 GMT
- Sender: usenet@news.acns.nwu.edu (Usenet on news.acns)
- Followup-To: misc.consumers
- Distribution: na
- Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois.
- Lines: 38
-
- I would be laughing hysterically if it wasnt for the insipid contract
- Cablevision signed which stated that it would be responsible for the
- first $50 million in loss caused by the PPV Olympics. As a Cablevision
- basic subscriber I certainly do expect them to pass on this loss directly
- to the customers. Expect a rate increase soon.
-
- Anyway, did you pay $125 for the Triplecast? If so, what do you think about
- the fact that, if I was really interested, I can watch it for free tonight
- and tomorrow? NBC, in order to lure more suckers, I mean viewers, to pay
- the $29.95 daily coverage, will be offering cable viewers 14 hours of
- PPV Olympics for free.
-
- Using a split screen with 4 quadrants, NBC will again invade another cable
- channel (at what point do I start getting a pro-rated refund...I am getting
- Olympic coverage on FOUR channels already, and now they want to add a FIFTH
- channel) to show PPV Olympics. From 6-10pm ET Thursday and Friday, and
- 1-4am ET Friday and Saturday, you can tune into CNBC and see all 3 channels.
- Obviously not intended for screens 14 inches and under.
-
- According to USA Today, about 125,000 people have bought some part of the
- Triplecast. Here's a great quote from Cablevision's Jim Dolan:
- "We've found [oh yeah, like you would really want to believe any research
- or statistics that they have discovered...2 million people would buy
- PPV according to their 'original' findings] that once a viewer has the chance
- to actually what the Triplecast is, [this is exactly how the sentence appears
- on pg 2E] they get excited about it and want to buy it."
-
- Yep, a man with a future...
-
- I hope cable executives are paying attention this month. First, the FCC
- grants the baby bells permission to deliver video to the home. Finally,
- competition. Then the House passes new cable re-regulation laws so that
- these monopolies will stop gouging us (but will it take effect before
- Cablevision can pass on their stupid loss to me?). And then finally
- America has spoken about the future of paying per every view...we don't
- really want it, and we really can't afford it.
-
- --Ken
-