SNL Kagan: Cost of Sports Channels to Continue to Rise

NEW YORK: Sports networks will continue to drive up costs for pay-TV platforms, an SNL Kagan study indicates, with the average fee per channel haven risen by a compound annual growth rate of 5.1 percent since 2000 and a 7.3 percent CAGR forecast from 2014 to 2018.

The SNL Kagan study says that the average consumer today gets about 100 channels, as compared with just 27 20 years ago. Since then, the cost per channel has increased at a CAGR of 2 percent, from a monthly 26 cents per customer in 1995 to 39 cents per sub per month last year.

Sports networks are the most expensive, averaging about $1.03 per customer every month—with rates ranging from 4 cents or 5 cents for the likes of Outdoor Channel, Outside Television and Sportsman Channel to ESPN's $6.04 per subscriber every month. Next are film channels at 81 cents per sub per month, then general/variety at 39 cents, family/kids at 29 cents and news at 28 cents. Within each sector there are wide variances in price ranges, SNL Kagan says.