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David,

This isn't a matter of being stingy. The incremental cost to add this one channel is very expensive compared to other cable channels. The real issue is that CSN insists this channel be made available to every cable customer which in turn requires a large rate increase to be applied to every cable customer. Many of these customers will never watch CSN or a Blazer game. If CSN allowed the network to be placed on a sports tier I would anticipate every system would have signed up by this time.

posted 4 years, 5 months ago
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EXCLUSIVITY AND HIGH PRICES FOR ALL ARE THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM

As an executive in a local cable company I have been involved with Blazer Broadcasting in its various formats, over the past 16 years. Historically, the Portland Trailblazers have struck an acceptable balance between serving the greater fan base and providing an exclusive experience to their ?dedicated? fan base. They accomplished this by combining programming on radio and broadcast television outlets, coupled with a pay option which has been provided in various forms including; pay per season, pay per game, and carriage on Fox Sports Northwest.

What made this model work for Blazer fans, was scheduling more games than this season on the broadcast outlets while providing the dedicated fan the option to make an individual decision to purchase the additional games. What made this model work for cable and satellite providers was associating the programming charges only with the additional games, i.e. they were due only form those customers who ordered the service.

This year it is unfortunate that all customers in those cable systems who have launched Comcast Sport Net, can likely expect a substantial rate increase (> $2.00) to offset these programming fees. I am faced each year with making the tough choices of balancing our customers? requests for new programming with contractual restrictions and programming fees to provide the service. The goal is to provide a cable service that generally meets their needs at an affordable price. After careful review we cannot justify the required rate increase, applied to all customers, not just Blazer fans, to cover the addition of this single channel.

Mitchell Moore
President
Clear Creek Telephone & TeleVision

posted 4 years, 5 months ago
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