New York - DirecTV will look
long and hard at its programming lineup in an ongoing effort to keep
programming costs in check, including paring channels that are lacking
in viewership, executive vice president of content strategy and development
Derek Chang said at the satellite giant's Investor Day conference here
Thursday.
Chang said that historically
DirecTV had carried some networks simply because cable lacked the channel
capacity. But in the current 200-plus channel universe, having an extra
network or two that your competitor doesn't isn't the advantage it used
to be.
"In our battle to manage
our economics, we will look to repackage channels where we have over-distributed,
or frankly just to remove certain channels from our platform if they
are not relevant," Chang said at the conference. "Is there a place
for channels that only serve a small fraction of our audience? Should
we have to pay retrans fees and continue to carry channels which were
once considered to be part of the equation when we didn't pay retrans
fees? As the marketplace changes, these questions become more important
for our entire industry."
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