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LPWire: ACA to ESPN: Cox is Not Alone!

Challenging Disney's Greed
ACA to ESPN: `Cox is Not Alone!'

The American Cable Association launched today a broad-based nationwide campaign to support Cox Communications in its struggle with the Walt Disney Company's ESPN over its excessive price increases.

"ACA fully supports the efforts by Cox to reign in ESPN's outrageous price increases," ACA President Matt Polka said. "When inflation is at its lowest level in 40 years, price increases at more than 11 times the rate of inflation are completely unjustified. Every cable operator should be doing all it can to support Cox and ACA in our battle to protect the value of basic cable for American consumers.

"ESPN needs to know that Cox is not alone in this battle," Polka added. "This is not just a one-on-one between Cox and ESPN. It's a battle involving more than one thousand independent cable operators, and one MSO, Cox, courageously challenging Disney's greed."

ACA, a national association representing cable operators serving nearly 8 million subscribers in smaller markets and rural areas in all 50 states, has been at the forefront of raising awareness in Washington, D.C., about enormous programming price increases dictated by media conglomerates Disney, Fox, Viacom and General Electric. In May 2003 Cox CEO Jim Robbins testified along with ACA Chairman Jim Gleason of New Wave Communications before the Senate Commerce Committee on rising programming costs.

"This coalition of Cox and ACA represents more than 14 million subscribers. The escalating cost of programming, especially in sports, is the single biggest factor in retail price pressures," Polka said. "Rather than spending at will and forcing more price increases down to cable operators and consumers, we think Disney's Michael Eisner and ESPN's George Bodenheimer should be doing more to keep their own costs under control."

According to Polka, ACA's announcement today is the beginning of an "unrelenting grassroots campaign" to educate Washington on programming price increases and media conglomerate abuse. Polka said ACA is seeking more operator-consumer choice through tiering rights and other marketplace controls. Cox executives have said that they would seek tiering rights if ESPN refused to moderate its excessive price increases. ACA and its members are "resolved and focused" to fight alongside Cox until "change that benefits cable operators and consumers" is achieved.

The ACA campaign will include links from its website (www.americancable.org) to Cox's website (www.makethemplayfair.com), grassroots contact by ACA members with their congressmen and senators, personal visits in Washington, and other ACA informational sites, rallies and events.

"ACA and its members are committed to the long-term in this campaign - months and years, not days and weeks," ACA's Polka said. "However, I trust it won't take years for Disney and ESPN to realize that their greed only hurts consumers, and that fair, reasonable relationships with its distributors will be most beneficial to all concerned. Disney and the other media conglomerates need to know that 'business as usual' will no longer work."

ACA's Polka also took aim at ESPN's "low blows" to direct Cox cable customers to DirecTV and EchoStar. "Unfortunately, this is indicative of what the operator-programmer 'partnership' is like between ESPN and cable operators. ESPN's actions are no longer constructive, but corrosive."

In the end, ACA's Polka said ACA's members and Cox will succeed based on ESPN's programming cost and numbers alone.

"ESPN keeps talking about value, value, value, but elected officials and consumers know more and more that the issue is about ESPN's greed, greed, greed," Polka said. "When the latest consumer price index actually dropped by 0.1% in November, it's unimaginable that ESPN can rationalize forcing our customers to pay 20% more every year, or even 10% more, just to see Sports Center."

About the American Cable Association:

Based in Pittsburgh, the American Cable Association is a national association of independent cable television businesses and owners of smaller cable systems that work together to ensure the future competitiveness and viability of their businesses. Association members primarily serve customers in smaller markets and rural areas across America. The Association represents independent cable businesses through active participation in the regulatory and legislative process in Washington, D.C. ACA's more than 1,000 member companies serve 7.5 million subscribers in all 50 states.

--Posted December 19, 2003
Source: American Cable Association

 

 

 


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