Confused by some of the more esoteric titles for the packages I sought out the official website to see what they contained, only to find that all the deals had changed recently. Perhaps the new arrangement would prove beneficial and result in more bang for our buck?
Short answer: NO!
Long answer: The new packages manage to be even worse than the previous ones. After some brief number crunching I worked out that to keep all of our current channels would cost even more. Thankfully our plan will remain on the old deal as long as we don't modify it at all.
What I can't figure out is why we the consumer have to bugger around with these packages to begin with. Wouldn't a system were people just individually bought the channels they want be better for everyone? The viewers would get want they want and I'm sure that Telstra could come up with a pricing system where they don't lose money (hell they'd probably be able to squeeze more cash out of people than they already do).
Further more this system would clearly show which channels are the popular ones which I'm sure would be desirably news for those in charge of advertising.
Though I shouldn't be surprised by this current situation. I've always believed that the basis of all business is the rule that you should make it as easy as possible for consumers to give you money, and time and time again I've seen companies ignore this. The really infuriating thing is that somehow they are frequently successful.
Satire. Subtly not included.
But what about the time and costs associated with asking all consumers (by document, by phone, by television software) which channels they wanted and maintaining those preferences ? A database of that magnitude would be astronomical to manage! The invoicing procedure would be a lengthy and confusing process too, as opposed to just generating the same invoice over and over with a different address on the letterhead. And what about the installation process, every single set-top-box connection would have to be individualised for every consumer. HEADACHE. I'm not saying this channel-selectivity won't happen in the future, it just hasn't happened yet because the manageability of such an endeavour is at present un-doable.
ReplyDeletedon't know that much about tech but having to individualise every box sounds like a design flaw that is no doubt present, so I'll give you that one.
ReplyDeleteAs for the logistics I have to disagree with you. All you'd have to do is tick the boxes you want on the official website. Sure that would mean that people without internet wouldn't be able to do it, but who the hell would get pay TV before internet. Also in this day and age it should be trivial for a such a vast company to track a dozen or so options for a company.
The reason communications companies do not allow people to "tick boxes" is because it's far too difficult to broadcast something singularly than it is to broadcast it nationally and in an undifferentiated manner across 1000s of households (with slight package variations). Internet is like this, phones plans too. The technology and logistics of preference-tracking are somewhat interrelated.
ReplyDeleteI never said broadcast singularly. After all they don't do that now so why would they do that with my idea.
ReplyDeleteOkay, try this. You pick your preferences on the site and they take note of your IP address. The box has to be connected to the internet to work, and it unlocks only the channels you have subscribed to. The only problem I see with this is that if the internet goes down so does the Foxtel.
But the majority of people who pay for/subscribe to cable television are middle aged people who are probably not very internet literate. Going onto a website and picking what channels you'd like is going to make the product infinitely more complicated to sell (and to use). In addition, for people who've never tried Foxtel, how would they know what channels they WOULD like? What's the difference between Channel V and MTV, between TV1 and TV Hits (Ch.111)? Part of the advantage of package deals is that consumers are exposed to a multitude and variety of channels, ideally catering to at least one of their television wants.
ReplyDeleteDo you know that middle aged people are the main demographic as a fact, or are you just making an assumption? And the advantage of a multitude of channels is also a a disadvantage as at least 2/3 of the channels I have are never used, and many of the last 1/3 are only used sometimes. As for difficulty, is it too much to ask for people to take some initiative for personal gain? I suppose I'm just over TV as these days I tend to download anything I'm actually interested in.
ReplyDelete