Comcast to Drop Fuse Music Channel

[AntennaTV2020]

Comcast is dropping Fuse, the music cabler owned in part by Jennifer Lopez, raising questions about the independent channel’s future as a linear cable offering.

Fuse blasted the cable giant on Sunday for the decision, asserting that it “met Comcast’s financial demands and no other requirements were ever communicated to us.” Comcast said its subscribers were notified of the change some weeks ago. It’s unclear how many subscribers Fuse, which targets young, urban viewers with music and lifestyle programming, will lose from Comcast, the nation’s largest MVPD.

Fuse reached about 74 million cable households a few years ago but was down to about 60 million as of February of this year, according to Nielsen. Comcast has a total of 22 million video subscribers.

Fuse president-CEO Michael Schwimmer on Sunday signaled the start of an effort to put PR pressure on Comcast for dropping one of the few sizable independently owned channels in the U.S. cable landscape. Comcast’s status as the No. 1 cable operator and broadband provider makes it vulnerable to attacks from watchdog groups. Schwimmer was quick to mention the Justice Department’s history of anti-trust oversight of the conglom stemming from its 2011 acquisition of NBCUniversal.

For the past seven years, Comcast has had to operate its cable systems under behavioral restrictions established in exchange for federal approval of its NBCUniversal purchase. But the company’s consent decree with the Justice Department expired in the fall. Despite lobbying by Comcast rivals, the Justice Department is not believed to have taken any steps to extend that oversight.

Comcast’s axing of Fuse comes as all of the major traditional MVPDs are taking a hard line with programmers to prune their lineups of underperforming niche channels. The traditional cable and satellite TV business is under extreme pressure from Netflix, Amazon and the new breed of low-cost streaming channel bundles offered by YouTube TV, Hulu and others.

Fuse launched in 1994 as a music cabler owned by Cablevision, the former New York cable giant. Lopez came into the picture in 2014 when her NuvoTV channel bought Fuse for $226 million and merged operations under the Fuse banner.

The company is known to have been on the block for some time. But a single niche-targeted ad-supported channel dependent largely on cable carriage for revenue is a hard sell at a moment of major transition for the pay TV eco-system.

Lopez bought into NuvoTV in 2012. That company was formed on the back of Si TV, the groundbreaking Latino-focused cable channel launched by producer-entrepreneur Jeff Valdez in 2004.

https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/fus...el-1203096848/

[favoriteshow]

It was niche channel for music - originally MuchMusic USA and I think DirecTV was one of the first major platforms for it, but now as Fuse, it looks heavy on reruns of sitcoms most of the day. And, it's probably in higher tiered packages.

Surprisingly, it made it to both the base packages of Sling's Sling Orange and Sling Blue, where Viacom channels and even CNBC are not and only available as Extras.

Fuse airs Scrubs currently, and I liked that show and the only show interesting to me on Fuse, but that show is on Hulu.

The Jennifer Lopez connection is interesting. How does she contribute to the channel?

[TMC]

Originally Posted by favoriteshow

It was niche channel for music - originally MuchMusic USA and I think DirecTV was one of the first major platforms for it, but now as Fuse, it looks heavy on reruns of sitcoms most of the day. And, it's probably in higher tiered packages.

Surprisingly, it made it to both the base packages of Sling's Sling Orange and Sling Blue, where Viacom channels and even CNBC are not and only available as Extras.

Fuse airs Scrubs currently, and I liked that show and the only show interesting to me on Fuse, but that show is on Hulu.

The Jennifer Lopez connection is interesting. How does she contribute to the channel?

Fuse to me jumped the shark the moment that MSG sold it to Jennifer Lopez's company in 2014. Before that, Fuse pretty much helped fill the void that was left by the demise of MTV. But ever since that time, Fuse has pretty much become what MTV2 is now. All Fuse airs is reruns of sitcoms from the 1990s-2000s (Scrubs, Malcolm in the Middle, My Wife and Kids, and just about anything that aired on UPN or The WB). In effect, the channel has gone on autopilot and running on the cheap and lazy.

[MA]

It seems like all they show now is nothing but sitcoms and not music.

[DeadlyToolTime]

Only channel where anyone can watch Malcolm in the Middle

[MA]

Malcolm in the Middle should return to FX or something.

[favoriteshow]

FX tends to air newer shows and mix of movies, and more masculine leaning content than family friendly per se. The Simpsons is an exception but that show falls into so many categories. The show is on Hulu if one can't get this channel, and Fuse is on Sling still.

As Fuse is mainly airing reruns and ones from the past, no sports, it shouldn't be an expensive channel. Maybe it is charging too much and why Comcast is dropping it.

Interestingly enough, Jennifer Lopez produces World of Dance for NBC currently, which is owned by Comcast. If Comcast drops Fuse and it hurts Fuse, and thus J. Lo's revenue from it, she should step in possibly more in the negotiations with Comcast.

[icecream]

I never watched Fuse, don't think it was part of my package anyway. Fuse wasn't needed, with the dozens of commercial free music choice stations offered on Comcast.

[favoriteshow]

Another point. If one has Comcast with a package with Fuse, and misses Scrubs and/or Malcolm In the Middle once Comcast drops it, one can get Hulu to make up for that loss. And, Comcast has a 30% stake in Hulu.

[MA]

Are both of the shows on Hulu?

[DeadlyToolTime]

Originally Posted by favoriteshow

Another point. If one has Comcast with a package with Fuse, and misses Scrubs and/or Malcolm In the Middle once Comcast drops it, one can get Hulu to make up for that loss. And, Comcast has a 30% stake in Hulu.

Yes, but there are people who either don't do streaming services or cannot afford it.


Hell, if the show is available for streaming, why isn't it on DVD? There's mostly just sketchy bootlegs of the series out there.

[AntennaTV2020]

Verizon Fios is dropping the channel too
https://deadline.com/2018/12/verizon...ia-1202527551/

[zeebre12]

Speaking of former music channels, has GAC dropped music videos altogether? Music video programming doesn't seem to be in its schedule now, has it dropped it altogether? If so when did it?

[favoriteshow]

Originally Posted by DeadlyToolTime

Yes, but there are people who either don't do streaming services or cannot afford it.

Yeah, I don't think Comcast cares too much about people who can't afford services. It figures it has a lot of channels and can be competitive without Fuse. It also derives no revenue from Fuse as there is no ownership stake in it.

Until the Comcast removal, I didn't even know about the Jennifer Lopez connection to Fuse. I knew about Fuse more from it's predecessor MuchMusic and it's Cablevision history.

The articles now are also saying Jennifer Lopez-owned Fuse and have a picture of her with the news story. Most people probably don't know about Fuse but know about her.

She has an estimated net worth of $360 million and $40 annual salary, from a search. I wonder if Fuse being dropped from Comcast/Fios will have a noticeable drop to her salary. She is involved in so many ventures.

I hope Comcast can at least replace Fuse with Family Entertainment TV in all it's missing markets, assuming that channel is inexpensive. Fuse is apparently charging too much even for Fios. Likely Fios had to figure a way to keep ESPN/ABC and maybe chose to cut Fuse. Or it's coincidental timing but Fios anyways figured Fuse didn't having much to offer for it's price.

[MA]

I hope that another classic TV channel can go in its place.