Have you ever wondered about the fees that make up your monthly TV bill?  As your local high-speed Internet, cable TV, and phone service provider we want to give you a little background information to help you better understand the economics of the TV business.

Your monthly cable TV bill is comprised of 2 major costs. The first is the cost from ImOn Communications to provide the cable TV service to you. Our costs include maintenance and equipment costs, infrastructure (our network to your home), business expenses, and employee salaries. This cost is actually a small percentage of your cable TV bill. The other cost, which makes up a majority of your bill, comes from network fees. All cable TV and satellite providers, like ImOn, have to pay each Network (CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, TNT, USA, AMC, etc.) a fee to carry their channels.

With only five media companies controlling about 90% of all TV networks, they can use their power to demand more and more money for their channels.  In fact, according to the National Cable TV Cooperative, network fees have increased 3.5 times the rate of inflation over the last 15 years. They also force us to take ALL their channels, even ones we don’t want to carry. Plus, many networks charge fees based on how many households receive their channels and they force us to provide their programming to all our customers. We are not allowed to just give you the channels you want. If ImOn refuses to pay increases in fees, the networks will pull their signals, causing their channels to go dark on your TV.

While TV networks are relentless in their demands for large annual rate hikes and new channel carriage requirements, another significant cost for cable TV comes from retransmission consent fees.  Local broadcast stations like KWWL(NBC), KGAN (CBS), KFXA (FOX) and KCRG (ABC) demand significant fees to pass through their TV signal to ImOn customers, even though the same programming is offered for free over-the-air when you use an antenna. Similarly, regional sports networks like Comcast SportsNet, Big Ten Network, and SEC Network charge big bucks for access to their live sports programming.

ImOn Communications will always  fight for a fair market value price when dealing with programmers. Our goal is to keep prices as low as possible for our customers and to be transparent when it comes to cost pressures ImOn faces when it comes to cable TV. Rest assured, we’re on your side. For more information about cable prices and current negotiations visit: http://www.tvonmyside.com/imon-communications/index.php