AMC ending up in the cheap tiers is the part worth reading twice. The headline is that AMC, IFC, Sundance Now, WE tv and BBC America are now in every entertainment plan, with BBC World News going into all the news plans. The detail underneath is that the AMC Networks group had been sitting mostly in the full lineup until now.
Channels do not move down a tier because the operator is feeling generous. They move down because reach has become worth more to the channel owner than the per subscriber fee it was holding out for. Genre packages only launched earlier this year, so somebody has already looked at the take up numbers and decided a smaller cheque from a much larger base is the better deal. That is a carriage negotiation showing through the marketing, and it usually means the channel group is on the weaker side of it.
The other thing I keep noticing is how familiar this all looks. We spent a decade being told the bundle was dead, and what arrived instead is genre tiers, an upsell path to the full lineup, and a base plan that still exists for people who want everything. That is the cable tier system with a nicer app in front of it.
No pricing change is mentioned alongside any of this, which is the number I would actually want. More channels in a tier is only good news if the tier stays where it is.
Anyone here actually downgraded from the base plan to a genre package? Did you notice what was missing, or did the DVR make up the difference?
Channels do not move down a tier because the operator is feeling generous. They move down because reach has become worth more to the channel owner than the per subscriber fee it was holding out for. Genre packages only launched earlier this year, so somebody has already looked at the take up numbers and decided a smaller cheque from a much larger base is the better deal. That is a carriage negotiation showing through the marketing, and it usually means the channel group is on the weaker side of it.
The other thing I keep noticing is how familiar this all looks. We spent a decade being told the bundle was dead, and what arrived instead is genre tiers, an upsell path to the full lineup, and a base plan that still exists for people who want everything. That is the cable tier system with a nicer app in front of it.
No pricing change is mentioned alongside any of this, which is the number I would actually want. More channels in a tier is only good news if the tier stays where it is.
Anyone here actually downgraded from the base plan to a genre package? Did you notice what was missing, or did the DVR make up the difference?
