The Cablevision and Disney dispute 2 weeks ago left a lot of companies and media analysts wondering as to how frequently this problem might occur in the future. If this year is any indication, there might be a lot more disputes. Cable providers often times have very little negotiation room. However, what many of them (not all) tend to forget is that they have access to very valuable data through cable boxes that they sell to consumers.
According to TiVo’s privacy policy:
We use Anonymous Viewing Information to develop reports and analyses about what programs, advertisements, and types of programming our users (as a whole or in subgroups) watch or skip, for other programming or advertising research, and for any other legitimate business purpose. For example, we use Anonymous Viewing Information to develop inferences that people who watch show X also watch show Y. We also use Anonymous Viewing Information to help with the investigation of technical issues with our systems.
This information is extremely valuable not only to TiVo for recommending programs, but TiVo has also collaborated with Nielsen to deliver data to advertisers. The amount of information they have access to is significant and can have a positive impact on programming companies as well.
While it’s unknown how many cable companies provide such information to broadcasters, this information can be used as a collateral to negotiate and even reduce cable transmission fees.
