Who pays for cable TV?

Factual Questions
1

Besides the obvious, subscribers and advertisers, that is.

A discussion cropped up today at work about the flow of money between our local cable company (Comcast, if it matters) and basic cable TV stations like USA, TBS, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, etc.

Some of us think the aforementioned stations pay to have their stations broadcast by the cable company and collect revenue from advertisers directly, while others thought that the cable company purchases “bare” programming from the stations and sells advertising between the shows.

I realize, of course, that the situation is probably different for premium, commercial-free programming, e.g., HBO, and that, when all is said and done, there are probably only a few large conglomerates involved in complicated money shuffling.

But sticking to a “basic cable” station, such as those mentioned above, does anyone have an idea of which way the money flows between Comcast “cable company” and the company that produces the content “station”?

2

The short answer is that big-name, much-in-demand channels can require payment from the cable companies. New channels usually have to pay to the cable companies to get onto the cable system.

It’s a complex business, and the balance of power shifts constantly between content providers and content airers, with deep, long, and bitter battles among them as to whom is going to pay what to whom. The situation changes yearly as well, as channels lose viewers (A&E, AMC) and others gain them.

3

ESPN alone charges cable systems $2 per subscriber per month. (cite)

The middle of last year, this was a very big issue in the NYC area. The Yankees moved almost all their games to a new network, YES. Then they charged the cable systems $1.85 per subscriber. Cablevision, a major provider in the area, refused to pay because it would have directly jacked up basic cable rates. (more info) Not sure how that ever was resolved.

Anyways, next time you complain about your cable bill, you know who to blame.