A LETTER TO OUR FANS
An Open Letter To Cox Customers:
Thank you for your interest regarding ESPN, Cox Cable and cable pricing. This is an important subject and you should have the facts.
First, Cox Cable's argument that the cost of ESPN is too high causing your cable bill to increase is incorrect. Cox sets the price you pay for cable. They make plenty of money off the fees you pay them, and Cox's own financial statements show that only about 22 cents of every dollar Cox spends goes to purchase programming. ESPN is only a fraction of that 22 cents. In fact, Cox pays more each month for non-programming operating expenses (e.g., its trucks and office space) and capital expenditures (e.g., replacing and upgrading its cable plant) than it does for all the programming it carries on its basic service. In effect, Cox is charging you for the new services that its new infrastructure provides, like telephone service and cable modems, even if you never subscribe to them.
Second, government and independent studies have concluded that ripping ESPN or other popular services out of basic and putting them on an extra-fee tier will not benefit consumers. Under Cox's tiering scheme, you will have to pay more and you will lose the variety of programming services that you expect from cable television. In addition, Cox knows that you will end up paying them an extra $4 or more each month to rent a set top box to get ESPN and any other tiered service once they are off basic cable. That's $4 more for every TV set in your home.
Finally, independent sources confirm ESPN's widespread popularity. Surveys show that 87% of Americans are sports fans and Nielsen ratings show that over 70% of Cox subscribers watch ESPN each quarter. In October, more people watched ESPN than ever before. Cox wants you to pay more for SportsCenter and the hundreds of pro and college sports events you enjoy as part of your service today; sports like the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and college basketball and football. You deserve to have ESPN stay as part of your basic cable package.
By taking ESPN off basic, Cox is only interested in making you pay more for what you get today. A big part of what is amazing about cable is sports. We are going to keep working hard to see that ESPN remains a part of your basic cable package, and that you don't have to pay Cox an extra fee and rent an extra set top box to get it.
Thank you for your interest. We urge you to sign up to join the ESPN team to keep ESPN on basic.
Thank you for your interest regarding ESPN, Cox Cable and cable pricing. This is an important subject and you should have the facts.
First, Cox Cable's argument that the cost of ESPN is too high causing your cable bill to increase is incorrect. Cox sets the price you pay for cable. They make plenty of money off the fees you pay them, and Cox's own financial statements show that only about 22 cents of every dollar Cox spends goes to purchase programming. ESPN is only a fraction of that 22 cents. In fact, Cox pays more each month for non-programming operating expenses (e.g., its trucks and office space) and capital expenditures (e.g., replacing and upgrading its cable plant) than it does for all the programming it carries on its basic service. In effect, Cox is charging you for the new services that its new infrastructure provides, like telephone service and cable modems, even if you never subscribe to them.
Second, government and independent studies have concluded that ripping ESPN or other popular services out of basic and putting them on an extra-fee tier will not benefit consumers. Under Cox's tiering scheme, you will have to pay more and you will lose the variety of programming services that you expect from cable television. In addition, Cox knows that you will end up paying them an extra $4 or more each month to rent a set top box to get ESPN and any other tiered service once they are off basic cable. That's $4 more for every TV set in your home.
Finally, independent sources confirm ESPN's widespread popularity. Surveys show that 87% of Americans are sports fans and Nielsen ratings show that over 70% of Cox subscribers watch ESPN each quarter. In October, more people watched ESPN than ever before. Cox wants you to pay more for SportsCenter and the hundreds of pro and college sports events you enjoy as part of your service today; sports like the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and college basketball and football. You deserve to have ESPN stay as part of your basic cable package.
By taking ESPN off basic, Cox is only interested in making you pay more for what you get today. A big part of what is amazing about cable is sports. We are going to keep working hard to see that ESPN remains a part of your basic cable package, and that you don't have to pay Cox an extra fee and rent an extra set top box to get it.
Thank you for your interest. We urge you to sign up to join the ESPN team to keep ESPN on basic.
