Cablevision Asks What Would You Pay for Fox/ABC?

Cablevision isn’t taking the retransmission wars lying down. According to our sources, the cable systems operator has been conducting customer phone polls to see precisely what channels they want to keep and how much they’re worth.Among the most surprising set of questions to consumers: “Do you watch broadcast TV?” If customers responded yes, then they were asked how much they would pay for Fox, or ABC, in particular. The multiple choice offered was: pay nothing, 50 cents, or one dollar? Customers were also asked if they’d be upset to lose either of those channels entirely.

Owners of those networks are looking to pay-TV distributors for fresh income for their top rated services. News Corp. which owns Fox has already been victorious in its negotiations with Time Warner Cable which ultimately agreed to pay between 60 cents and a dollar a subscriber to carry the Fox network.

Cablevision customers were also asked if they mostly watched shows on cable or on broadcast TV and how upset they’d be to lose particular cable services. If those services are Food Network and HGTV - two channels yanked by Scripps Networks in January after Cablevision refused to negotiate new carriage agreements - the answer would seem to be very upset.

The survey results will give Cablevision some fire power as it gears up to do battle with a range of content providers seeking additional fees for their programming. But will it mean that Fox and ABC will cost customers another a dollar on their monthly bills?

A Cablevision spokesman sent this statement along. “As a matter of course we survey our customers all the time to get their thoughts on our cable TV and other products. We ask about cable channels, broadcast networks, VOD and HDTV and other areas of interest that help us succeed in our highly competitive market.”