Tag: marketing

Categories
Miscellaneous

Why Are TV Channels Packaged?

Television providers have packages for various programming levels: basic, deluxe, and premium or by theme: movies, sports, music, and Spanish. This can be frustrating for consumers who may end up buying an entire package just to watch one channel or perhaps even one show.

Why is this? Why can’t we just buy the channels we want a la carte?

Although there’s a historical reason for this, there’s no longer any technical justification for bundling entertainment channels into packages.

With all service providers, every channel is present on the feed (be it cable, fiber optic, or satellite). When the feed reaches our houses, the items we don’t pay for are blocked.

When cable TV first came on the scene, it was analog and electronic devises were inserted to filter out various parts of the feed people weren’t paying for. These filters were imprecise and couldn’t be finely tuned to individual channels but did work okay for groups of adjacent channels. This resulted in the birth of channel packages.

Now we have digital and individual channels can be turned on and off at each house’s receiver. There’s no longer a technical reason to package channels and sell them as a group.

However, cable and satellite TV providers are used to the revenue provided by selling packages and not anxious to change that. Plus it’s easier to track and bill half a dozen packages for each subscriber, rather than hundreds of individual channels.

If entertainment providers were truly focused on their customers, they would allow for individual channel selection, letting us pick and pay for only the channels we want to watch.

Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD, is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book The Successful Author for insider tips and insights.

Categories
News

A New Blog: From the Publisher’s Desk

This blog, the “Musings of Peter DeHaan,” is about nothing, but covers everything. It is essentially a sharing of my stream of conscience. While this blog will continue unabated, I have started another blog, one with a stated purpose and goal.

It is a business blog, called “From the Publishers Desk,” and shares my tips and commentary about advertising and marketing. If this topic is of interest, I encourage you to check it out. Just like this blog, you can sign up to be notified via email of new posts or subscribe to a list feed.

[In 2013, the name of the blog changed to “The Book Blog,” and the focus became book publishing. All old posts were saved in the archive section.]

Categories
Miscellaneous

Credit Card Injustice

My company accepts credit cards as a means of payment for ads. This week I received a letter from one of the four major credit card companies. They were notifying me that the rate they will charge me will be increasing—and they’re already the highest.

(Merchants that accept credit cards are charged monthly fees, a fee for each transaction, and a percentage of the charge. For example, on a $100 charge, the credit card company might keep $3 and pay the merchant $97.)

I accepted the news with resigned acceptance. However, what was next communicated irked me.

They said I could lower the percentage of what they keep if I would agree to let them hold my money for 15 days. Here’s how it would work. Assume that I ran through a 100 dollars charge on the first of the month. They charge the cardholder on the first, then they keep the money for two weeks, and finally give me my 97 dollars on the fifteenth. In exchange for an even lower fee, they would hold my money for 30 days!

In this day of electronically moving money around the world in an instant, there is no reason for them to keep my money for 15 or 30 days—other than greed. (And look at the mess that greed has gotten our global economy into.)

Each credit card holder who doesn’t pay off the entire balance each month is being charged interest from the day the charge was first posted. So, the credit card company is double dipping—getting money from the merchant and the credit card holder for the same transaction, while they hold on to—and use—my money.

The purpose of credit cards is so that merchants can be paid quickly—that’s why we pay the fees.

I’m sure they have some way to justify their decision—but to me, it’s just wrong.


Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD, is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book The Successful Author for insider tips and insights.

Categories
Miscellaneous

Beware the Jury Duty Identity Theft Scam

My credit union just alerted me to a new identity theft scam going around. The FBI calls it the “Jury Duty Scam.” In researching it, I discovered that it’s not really new, but since it’s new to me, perhaps others are unaware as well.

So, I’m doing my part to spread the news. If even one person is kept from having their identity stolen and their bank accounts wiped clean, it will be well worth my time and effort.

Here’s how the scam works:

An unsuspecting person receives a phone call from someone claiming to be a “jury coordinator,” who threatens that person with fines and arrest for not responding to a jury duty summons.

When the recipients protest that they were never contacted, the scammer asks for their social security number and date of birth in order to verify their identity and cancel the arrest warrant.

Often the caller indicates that a small fine is involved, offering to take care of it over the phone—thereby saving the person a trip to the court house. Of course, the caller will accept any major credit card.

Once this information is shared, the called person’s identity is then stolen and their bank accounts wiped clean.

The reason this scam is often successful is that thieves, claiming to represent the court system can easily intimidate their victims into doing whatever is asked of them to avoid further problems.

To protect yourself, never give out any personal information to anyone via an unsolicited phone call or email.

Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD, is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book The Successful Author for insider tips and insights.

Categories
Miscellaneous

The Spin Cycle

Last week in Information Week magazine there was a headline, “Chertoff is Cyber-Insecure.” The caption for a snarling photo of Michael Chertoff, added “Homeland Security chief expects trouble.”  What followed with an alarming discourse on the vulnerability of the government of the United States of America to a large-scale cyber invasion, such as what was launched against the government of Estonia last year.

The report left me panicked and concerned about the viability of our government’s ongoing ability to function and provide services to our country.  I began to formulate “what if” plans—and didn’t like the implications.

However, also last week, eWeek magazine, covering the same event, entitled their piece, “The new Manhattan Project” (a reference to the successful and collaborative, full-out effort to develop the atomic bomb to end WWII).  Their photo was of smiling Michael Chertoff, with the assuring caption, “Chertoff: Government is increasing security efforts.”  The article identified the same risks, however placed them within the framework of a concerted and proactive effort by the US government to anticipate, thwart, and negate such attempts.

I was gratefully relieved and confident after reading this piece.

Is the glass half-empty or half full?  What ever happened to reporting the facts, sans interpretation and spin?

Frankly, I don’t know which angle to believe, but I’ll go for optimism over pessimism any day.

Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD, is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book The Successful Author for insider tips and insights.