The Price War that never happened
When Rupert Murdoch announced that News Corp. would acquire US satellite TV company DirecTV, he stated, and analysts concurred, that the purchase would launch a price war, as satellite and cable jockeyed for customers. The only price war, according to an article in USA Today ("Satellite, cable operators get ready to raise rates", 2/10/2004) is one against the consumer.
A string of announcements confirm that the cost of receiving TV in your home is heading upward, not downward. DirecTV has raised its rates by 3% on average. Its one major satellite TV competitor, EchoStar, is hiking its rates by almost 2%. Cable giant Comcast is adding 5.4% to its average fees, Time Warner Cable 4.9%, and Cablevision 3.2%,
Yes, there is competition between the services, but what is developing is a friendly competition, where rivals are signaling that slashing prices is not the field on which they will compete.
In the article, all the entities blame the rise on steadily increased fees for carrying key channels, most notably Disney's ESPN. As we pointed out, that's got to be one of the main motivators behind Comcast's bid for Disney.
6:42:03 AM 
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