Many local cable subscribers, including students on and off-campus, may be in jeopardy of losing a highly valued cable TV network.
Cox Communications and ESPN have been in a dispute over the past few months about what Cox calls “continued price increases.” One possible outcome could be Cox eventually dropping ESPN from its basic cable line-up.
“There has been an average of 20 percent price increase year after year for the past five years,” said Sharon Kleinpeter, Cox’s director of Governmental and Public Affairs. “There has been a 500 percent increase over the past decade in ESPN’s rates. With no other network do we have that kind of increase.”
The contract between Cox and ESPN that affects Baton Rouge subscribers expires March 31.
In a document from ESPN Communications, the company said they are making progress with Cox in negotiations to secure long-term commitments for ESPN on basic cable, in exchange for moderating rate adjustments and expanded distribution of other ESPN branded services.
“We are working diligently to resolve the situation,” said Catherine Brett, ESPN Communications coordinator. “There is an offer on the table which is significantly less. We are waiting for Cox to sign.”
According to an ESPN study, 87 percent of Americans are sports fans. A Nielsen study showed that 73 percent of Cox subscribers watch ESPN.
George Bodenheimer, president of ESPN and ABC Sports, commented on the issue on ESPN’s Web site.
“I commit to the millions of loyal ESPN fans out there, who pay good money for Cox Cable each month, that ESPN will continue to negotiate with Cox Cable with the goal of maintaining ESPN as part of the basic service, which after 25 years, they have come to deservedly expect,” Bodenheimer said.
Cox said it hopes the issue is ultimately resolved in March. Neither side wants to drag out the issue for the consumer.
“We’re encouraged by the talks and confident that we can come to a solution to satisfy our customers,” Kleinpeter said.
Cox pays cable network owners for the rights to provide those channels to its cable subscribers, according to Cox’s special Web site to explain the situation, makethemplayfair.com.
“For example, we pay about 20 to 30 cents per subscriber for Lifetime, while we pay ESPN $2.61 per subscriber,” Kleinpeter said.
Both sides emphasized the point that each company would like to resolve the situation as quickly as possible and reach a solution which is best for the consumer.
“Cox certainly isn’t asking ESPN or any other sports network to take a loss – just to moderate their annual increases back into a reasonable range, so that Cox and other cable distributors can ensure a great price and value of cable TV for American consumers,” makethemplayfair.com said.
“At one point Cox wanted the FCC to have some mandate on cable pricing,” Brett said.
She said ESPN believes that government intervention is not necessary.
Jordy Babineaux, a biological sciences freshman, and his roommate, Andre Folse, a civil engineering sophomore, both said that they would not stop subscribing to Cox if they dropped ESPN completely.
“I would be mad, but I wouldn’t spend the money on satellite,” Folse said.
Completely dropping ESPN’s package from their expanded basic cable deal is not the only option for Cox.
Cox could move ESPN to a digital tier, which would require each household that wanted the network to put a box on each television set in their house that they wanted to view ESPN on. The digital tier would bring a variety of different packages the customer could choose from, including some for less than Cox’s existing expanded basic cable, Kleinpeter said.
The value of ESPN to both the network and to Cox Communications is evident in the positive attitude from both sides about wanting to keep ESPN.
“We hope to not move to a digital tier,” Kleinpeter said. “We would like to keep ESPN right where it is.”
According to BETA Research, ESPN is rated No. 1 in value, local advertising sales and driving new technologies.
Benjamin Aucoin, an undecided freshman, said he watches ESPN and would hate to see it go.
“I would rather have a box than switch to satellite,” Aucoin said.
Cox provides service to approximately 180,000 people in Baton Rouge, but the loss of ESPN would affect other cities in Louisiana as well as several other states across the country, Kleinpeter said.