This blackout of FOX by Dish caused measurable drops in ratings for the news network, with average daily prime-time viewership from the prior year of 1.38 million viewers to 947,000 for the same week this year. According to FOX, Dish lost an estimated 90,000 subscribers due to the FOX blackout.
During this period, FOX employed questionable tactics in dealing with the contract rift including using two of its most notable and highly rated hosts Bill O’Reilly and Megyn Kelly, to claim that Dish was censoring FOX. The actuality seems that it is more likely FOX was extorting Dish and going against contract obligations that were already in place. No matter which perspective is taken, FOX got what it was looking for and gained the increases that it sought.
This effects the media industry in multiple ways as it once again establishes that content is King. Distribution companies such as cable and satellite providers are dealing with the hard and fast truth that wireless connectivity is changing the way content is delivered at an amazingly fast pace. In order for these basically antiquated distribution systems to keep up with and be competitive in the current market, they will need to come up with alternate ways for media delivery to meet the demands of todays high tech universe.
Both satellite and cable providers will no doubt be confronted with constant rate increases due to the fact that everyone in the media industry must maintain a profitability factor. Stockholders of these large media networks demand higher dividends and are no longer satisfied with small or no profits from news networks. The stakes have been raised and the higher costs will of course be passed on to who else, the consumer. When people get tired of paying huge satellite and cable bills and have lower cost more pinpointed media delivery available to them, these distribution companies will be faced with two options, adapt or die.