Put ESPN in the penalty box

Tufts' gripe with ESPN may be new to students, but it is nothing new in the cable industry. As a matter of fact, Tufts is just joining the ranks of providers who are upset with the rates ESPN demands. Tufts Computing and Communications Services was most likely fully aware that students would be upset by the lack of ESPN. But the unpopular decision, in the end, places Tufts on the side of a much more powerful group.

This month, James Robbins, the chairman of Cox Communications, the fourth-largest cable provider in the nation, verbally chided ESPN for charging exorbitantly high rates for its programming. If Cox Communications, with its paying costumer base of seven million subscribers, is protesting, one cannot fault Tufts University, with a customer base of just a few thousand, for not adding ESPN to the channel lineup.

There is good news in the future for Tufts and for sports fans on campus not satisfied with Fox Sports or with NESN. When Comcast, the largest cable operator in the United States, was able to force Starz Encore, which operates 14 movie channels, to charge a lower price for its programming than it originally demanded, it possibly portended a change in the cable industry.

As the cable industry aggregated into fewer providers with larger influence, programmers such as Discovery Channel, USA Networks, and Starz realized that they could not afford to be left out of the channel lineups of the nation's largest cable providers. As the cable industry continues to consolidate and power transfers from programmers to providers, it is likely we will see a decrease in the amounts companies like ESPN can charge for their programming. Most of the price negotiations have been kept behind closed doors. That is, until James Robbins spoke out against ESPN, a provider that banked on its popularity, variety of lineup, and quasi-monopoly on the national, 24-hour sports news information to maintain its cost.

Tufts students who are upset by the lack of ESPN can do something to get it back on campus. ESPN, as proved by the Rush Limbaugh controversy, is acutely aware of public opinion. Previous outcries were directed at ESPN's higher management. So, send in your letters. Ask ESPN to provide a reasonably priced service to you, the customer and the fan. They can also hope that the power of cable providers like Cox Communications and Comcast will eventually force the programmer to reduce its prices.