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<SPAN class=TopStory>Well! It's official. Are you guys ready.
</SPAN>
<SPAN class=TopStory>Cable bills move up $400</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline>SportsMax/Fox Soccer Channel deal starts today</SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Julian Richardson, Business Observer staff reporter
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
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</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description></SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>At least two Kingston cable providers will today add $400 to their customers' monthly bills to cover the cost of beaming the highly popular Fox Soccer Channel (FSC) into homes, as an exclusive deal between the American channel and local station SportsMax takes effect.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"Either pay $400 or lose the programme," said Mario Francis, general manager of Logic One Limited. "We are getting everything in place, customers who don't subscribe by the end of the month (yesterday) will lose the service."<P class=StoryText align=justify>Florence Darby, general manager of Telstar Cable Limited, gave a similar response. "Coming tomorrow (today), we have to show it based on people who pay," she told the Business Observer yesterday. "The stipulation is that the customers will now have to pay $400."<P class=StoryText align=justify>Last month, SportsMax announced that as of November 1 it would begin offering subscription packages on its satellite network to recover redistribution costs.<P class=StoryText align=justify>According to SportsMax chairman Pat Rousseau, his firm was spending between US$300,000 and US$400,000 per year on rights fees to redistribute Fox Soccer Channel.<P class=StoryText align=justify>As a result, he said he was forced to apply a monthly charge of $400 in Kingston and surrounding areas and $300 outside of the capital to local cable operators to beam the two channels offered on SportsMax Limited's satellite network.
These are its self-titled sports channel, SportsMax and the recently formed Fox Soccer Channel Jamaica (FSC Jamaica).<P class=StoryText align=justify>In September, International Media Content Limited (IMC), the parent company of SportsMax, signed an agreement with FSC, a subsidiary of United States broadcasting giant, Fox Network, which gave SportsMax broadcasting and distribution rights in Jamaica for the rebranded Fox Soccer Channel Jamaica.<P class=StoryText align=justify>According to Rousseau, the rights fees being soaked up by SportsMax, when combined with extensive production costs, meant that the business was not feasible merely generating revenue from advertisements.<P class=StoryText align=justify>This business model, he said, follows in the footsteps of well-known international networks such as Skysports, which, he claimed, generates up to 72 per cent of its revenue from subscriptions.<P class=StoryText align=justify>However, the additional monthly cost to watch football has raised the ire of many viewers, who have complained to this newspaper ever since the announcement was made.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Under the agreement, subscriptions will be made through the cable operators by customers. Therefore, it will not be a mandatory charge as the channel will be optional. However, some customers have argued that they are indirectly forced to pay for the service due to the fact that SportsMax, in acquiring the rights to distribute FSC, now basically owns the rights to distribute the majority of international football to the Jamaican market.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The only other local station that currently distributes live international football is CVM, which shows bi-weekly football games from the UEFA Champions League.
<SPAN class=TopStory>Well! It's official. Are you guys ready.
</SPAN><SPAN class=TopStory>Cable bills move up $400</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline>SportsMax/Fox Soccer Channel deal starts today</SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Julian Richardson, Business Observer staff reporter
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=350 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description></SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>At least two Kingston cable providers will today add $400 to their customers' monthly bills to cover the cost of beaming the highly popular Fox Soccer Channel (FSC) into homes, as an exclusive deal between the American channel and local station SportsMax takes effect.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"Either pay $400 or lose the programme," said Mario Francis, general manager of Logic One Limited. "We are getting everything in place, customers who don't subscribe by the end of the month (yesterday) will lose the service."<P class=StoryText align=justify>Florence Darby, general manager of Telstar Cable Limited, gave a similar response. "Coming tomorrow (today), we have to show it based on people who pay," she told the Business Observer yesterday. "The stipulation is that the customers will now have to pay $400."<P class=StoryText align=justify>Last month, SportsMax announced that as of November 1 it would begin offering subscription packages on its satellite network to recover redistribution costs.<P class=StoryText align=justify>According to SportsMax chairman Pat Rousseau, his firm was spending between US$300,000 and US$400,000 per year on rights fees to redistribute Fox Soccer Channel.<P class=StoryText align=justify>As a result, he said he was forced to apply a monthly charge of $400 in Kingston and surrounding areas and $300 outside of the capital to local cable operators to beam the two channels offered on SportsMax Limited's satellite network. These are its self-titled sports channel, SportsMax and the recently formed Fox Soccer Channel Jamaica (FSC Jamaica).<P class=StoryText align=justify>In September, International Media Content Limited (IMC), the parent company of SportsMax, signed an agreement with FSC, a subsidiary of United States broadcasting giant, Fox Network, which gave SportsMax broadcasting and distribution rights in Jamaica for the rebranded Fox Soccer Channel Jamaica.<P class=StoryText align=justify>According to Rousseau, the rights fees being soaked up by SportsMax, when combined with extensive production costs, meant that the business was not feasible merely generating revenue from advertisements.<P class=StoryText align=justify>This business model, he said, follows in the footsteps of well-known international networks such as Skysports, which, he claimed, generates up to 72 per cent of its revenue from subscriptions.<P class=StoryText align=justify>However, the additional monthly cost to watch football has raised the ire of many viewers, who have complained to this newspaper ever since the announcement was made.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Under the agreement, subscriptions will be made through the cable operators by customers. Therefore, it will not be a mandatory charge as the channel will be optional. However, some customers have argued that they are indirectly forced to pay for the service due to the fact that SportsMax, in acquiring the rights to distribute FSC, now basically owns the rights to distribute the majority of international football to the Jamaican market.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The only other local station that currently distributes live international football is CVM, which shows bi-weekly football games from the UEFA Champions League.
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