Since when does free mean fee?

These hard economic times have had a negative impact on many industries. Some deal with it, others go under and some try to curb spending until the storm blows over. It seems that network television stations, however, are out to screw over everyone else in order to protect their profits.

As consumer confidence declines, so does advertising. When advertising revenues go down, industries that rely on said revenues take a hit. One of those industries happens to be network television, including stations such as Fox and NBC. In light of the recent drop in advertising, Rupert Murdoch, CEO of Fox’s parent company News Corporation and the 32nd-richest person in America according to Forbes, has decided to screw over consumers by charging higher fees to cable companies that carry his basic cable networks and affiliates.

Just to be clear, these fees are being charged for a product that is 100 percent free to anyone with a set of bunny-ears antenna or the right kind of television. Somehow, filtering something that is free (network television) through something that is not (cable television) magically makes charging extra for that free service acceptable.

This, naturally, also increases the rates charged to consumers. The research firm Centris found that the average consumer pays about $75 a month for digital cable as it is, and those numbers are going up constantly. Even local programming—which is broadcast for free, remember—costs around $11 a month depending on where in the Portland area one happens to be.

Ultimately, consumers have the say in whether or not a product gets purchased, but the issue is clouded when networks use cable companies as scapegoats to keep most consumers in the dark about where the increased fees are coming from.

Time Warner took this opportunity to publicly out Fox with an anti-Fox marketing campaign. A recent ad chastised Fox for trying to squeeze more dollars out of Time Warner and, thereby, the consumer. They encouraged consumers to visit www.rolloverorgettough.com to get details on what Fox was trying to get out of Time Warner.

As of now, unfortunately, all the Web site says is that a deal has been made, that the details of said deal are not up for discussion and it is as-yet undetermined how the deal will affect consumers’ inevitable service-fee increases. Guess they decided to roll over at the expense of the customers.

“One need look no further than the music industry for an example of what happens when consumers feel taken advantage of by an entire industry,” said Time Warner spokesman Alex Dudley. It seems clear that this is exactly what is happening to cable television. The blatant disregard on the part of service providers to fairness and consideration for the consumer could potentially drive their revenues even lower and make subscribers take their business elsewhere or just download shows for free.

Even if Murdoch and other news network owners insist on charging for their service, they should do so openly. As it stands, they are essentially pretending that it’s free by routing the payment through an intermediary. The cable company gets charged the fee, and the cable company charges the customers that fee while customers remain none the wiser. Network executives should consider adopting a monthly payment system for their channels.

Either make it free to the consumer or don’t. Don’t pretend it’s free while shirking responsibility to another party.