richard1980 wrote:Case in point: In Q2 2012, AMC Networks reported a net income (aka profit) of $41.5 million on $328 million in revenue (and that's despite losing all the revenue from Dish Network). In other words, AMC Networks had $41.5 million more income than expenses. Clearly they could have cut out $41.5 million worth of advertising without risking the content. The same can be said for any other company in this business. How many commercials are being aired to satisfy the investor demand for higher and higher profits? I would be willing to bet that across the entire TV system, the majority of commercials are not actually necessary, but are aired simply to increase profits.
I'd also like to point out what AMC Networks President and CEO Josh Sapan had to say about the Q2 2012 earnings: "The results were driven by continued advertiser demand and renewals with distributors".
Of course, this isn't the only business that does this. The entire business world does this. Make no mistake about it: Pretty much everything is overpriced because everybody involved wants a profit. Nobody wants to settle for breaking even.
Exactly.
And the only vote you as a viewer has is with your feet and your wallet.
Even despite DVR with commercial advance, I stopped watching USA Network a long time ago. Something about them creeps me out.
Now, keep in mind that our job as viewers is to maximize *our* profit. Our "profit" in this case is the value of our time and how we spend it. Time can't be replaced, so we need to maximize the value of OUR time on this earth. That means not watching commercials, for me. If THEIR profit motive gets to the point where it's nothing but commercials, then MY personal profit with regard to watching TV goes to zero. I will then seek personal profit elsewhere.
The reason I stopped watching TV in the mid 90s is that I realized how much commercial time had invaded my life. In the 80s it was pretty straightforward, but by the 90s we were down to 40 minutes of show per hour. It really hit home when I'd sit down to watch TV, start flipping through the channels, and 90% of what I flipped to was commercial content. I realized that this happened to me no matter what time of day it was, and no matter what part of the hour I was in.
So I stopped. And like I said, the only reason I went back was because technology gave me the power to profit personally from television.
When/if they get around that technology, regardless of mechanism, and the commercial content comes back and overwhelms the non-commercial content I will go back to not playing their game. Their profit from me will be zero, and I will find personal entertainment profit elsewhere.
Right now, Netflix is a great service for me.
