uWant To Break Up Your Cable Bundle But Keep Your Favorite Channels? That Could Be About $250.r

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  (JKehoe_Photos)

  
  A certain segment of consumers have been clamoring for years for cable distributors to break up the monolithic, 300-channel bundle into a la carte offerings. For those who don’t watch sports, the logic goes, why pay for ESPN? Why pay for TLC if you don’t watch reality TV, or CNN if you don’t give a damn about news?

  We’ve now reached the era that’s putting those theories to the test. In addition to non-linear streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu, consumers have more bundle-breaking options than ever. There are individual channels, like HBO, Nickelodeon, and CBS, available through over-the-top, internet-based, streaming access. There are small bundles of streaming channels, like Dish Sling. And there are even new pared-down bundle options in the traditional pay-TV realm, from Verizon FiOS.

  But the a la carte dream has always had two main obstacles. One is the conflict between programmers and distributors: the legal road to offering “flexible” bundles is not at all smooth. But the other the basic matter of cost. Bundling may drive some consumers nuts, but it probably saves them big bucks.

  CNBC ran the math this week on just how much a cable network costs the average viewer now, and just how much it would be likely to cost in a build-your-own bundle. Whether the results are encouraging or discouraging depends entirely on what you like to watch.

  Here’s how CNBC got their numbers: first, they assumed that most of us would build bundles of 17 channels. That’s what study after study has found the average cable subscriber actually ever watches, out of their hundreds.

  Then, CNBC assumed that the channels would not want to lose money (a safe guess), and so assumed that the revenue from an unbundled channel would need to add up to the revenue of a bundled channel.

  As it stands, in the current setup, a cable company like Comcast pays a network like ESPN or SpikeTV or Discovery a certain amount of money per month per subscriber. The sum total of those costs (and then some) is your monthly cable bill. For most cable networks, it’s somewhere between ten cents and a dollar. For EPSN, it’s over $6 per month. So there’s your high end: EPSN is getting, from cable companies, about $6 per month per subscriber those companies have. That’s a lot of money.

  But, CNBC points out, only 24% of cable subscribers actually watch ESPN. Assuming all 24% of those subscribers wanted EPSN in their personal 17-channel bundles, ESPN would have to charge those viewers over $25 each per month in order to recoup the cash.

  CNBC has an interactive chart on their site showing their results for 87 different cable networks. The most expensive a la carte channel, they estimate, would be ESPN Classic. Although its current affiliate fee is only $0.21 per month, not even 1% of cable viewers actually tune to it. So in order to make the money back from the handful of individuals who do, they’d have to charge $42.

  At the other end, we have the Hallmark Movie channel. Its viewership is more impressive than ESPN Classic, capturing almost 5% of cable viewers — but it’s a cheap one, currently estimated to be bringing in two cents per month per subscriber. That means if every current viewer put it in their bundles, they could have it for a modest $0.41 per month.

  Therefore, CNBC concludes, choosing your own personalized 17-channel lineup could be a great savings, at $16… or could run you a meaty $248, if their math is right. And for most of us, the bundle would be somewhere in between.

  The numbers are probably somewhat imprecise, since the exact terms of distribution agreements are infamously secret. But the ranges feel likely.

  So if you still want your own a la carte cable, but still want to save money, you’d better hope you don’t like sports or speak Spanish.

  How much would it cost to get your favorite channels a la carte? [CNBC]

  
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by Kate Cox via Consumerist

uPolice: Man Stole Riding Lawnmower From Walmart By Driving It Off The Lotr

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  Not the mower in question. (frankieleon)

  Because riding lawnmowers don’t just drive off store lots all by themselves, police in Nebraska say a man they found driving a stolen machine 10 miles from its home at Walmart was responsible for its escape.

  The 49-year-old man was arrested Wednesday after allegedly hopping on the $978 mower and riding it away from Walmart last weekend, reports the Kearney Hub.

  According to the police, Walmart notified them that security footage showed the suspect coming into the store, fueling up the lawn mower ad then cutting the retaining chain link fence where it was stored. He then allegedly fled on the mower, cutting another fence on the Interstate before driving off camera.

  On Wednesday, a deputy sheriff was called to an intersection 10 miles away from the Walmart, where the suspect was seen driving a mower matching the description of the stolen machine. During questioning, police didn’t think his answers about the mower made sense, and arrested him. He was found wearing a backpack with a pair of bolt cutters in it at the time.

  He’s now charged with one count of theft by shoplifting and one count of criminal mischief.

  Man gets 10 miles away on lawnmower allegedly stolen in Lexington [The Kearney Hub]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uYelp Reportedly Testing The Merger Marketr

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  (Rich Rogala)

  Yelp might still be the most recognizable name in crowdsourced online reviews, but it may be hitting a wall in terms of audience growth as it faces increasing competition; all the while, the company’s stock price remains less than half of what it used to be. All of this might explain why the company is reportedly looking to find a buyer for its multibillion-dollar business.

  According to the Wall Street Journal, Yelp has recently been meeting with bankers and possible buyers, though no names are mentioned. The company could fetch $3.5 billion or more.

  While the Yelp site attracts an impressive 143 million unique visitors each month, the audience appears to be growing at a slower rate. The year-over-year number of monthly visitors increased 8% in the most recent quarter. Compare that to a year ago when Yelp’s user base had soared by 30%.

  Competing services, like the network of review and hotel/restaurant/travel booking sites under the TripAdvisor Inc. and Priceline Group umbrellas, give users both the ability to research businesses and make purchases.

  Given the vast variety of business types reviewed on Yelp — everything from coffee shops to dry cleaners to hardware stores to contractors to prisons — it would be difficult, if not impossible to add that sort of one-stop functionality across the whole site. But the site’s mammoth review database, built-in audience, and famous brand will still make it a tasty target for some bigger company.

  After going public in March 2012, Yelp’s stock price increased peaked two years later at $97/share. Then came an April 2014 report that the site had been the subject of thousands of complaints to the Federal Trade Commission, which cut the share price almost in half. The stock recently sank to $39, its lowest price since July 2013.

  A federal court recently dismissed a class action lawsuit by Yelp investors who alleged that the site misled them about the quality of the reviews in order to inflate the share price.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uWhen Is A Treehouse No Longer Just A Treehouse?r

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  But does it have a mini fridge? Not the house mentioned in the story, but pretty cool. (Spencer 77)

  Did the treehouse of your childhood dreams include WiFi, cable TV, a mini fridge, fireplace, deck and air conditioning? Maybe not, but does having the space to fit all those amenities in a homemade structure residing in a tree mean it’s still a treehouse, or is it more like an elevated guest house? One town is seeking to define what a treehouse is, to keep people from going overboard with their aerial retreats.

  Town officials in Schaumburg, IL didn’t require one resident to get a permit before building his 112-square-foot sky castle with all those features and more seven years ago, reports CBS Local Chicago, but they’re now looking to outline the first-ever rules for future structures.

  The village’s planning and development committee is meeting to work out proposed changes to the zoning code, including: Property owners are limited to one treehouse per lot, and any houses must be built in a home’s backyard; They can be no more than 25 feet high and 100 square feet, and be at least 10 feet from the property line; and prospective builders will have to get a $15 building permit before breaking ground… er, breaking tree?

  Any larger than that, and it would seem that a treehouse would cease being a treehouse and just be a house, which means it’d fall under different zoning codes.

  Far from holding secret club meetings, the treehouse owner currently rents out his treehouse on Airbnb for $195 a night or $1,200 a week. Though it’s more than the size proposed for future treehouses, he’ll get grandfathered in if the measure takes effect.

  “I don’t think they’re anti-treehouse, and I don’t think they’re going to stop people from building treehouses, they just want to make sure they’re not too big,” he said of the village’s attempt at regulation.

  Luxury Treehouse Prompts Schaumburg Officials To Seek Regulations [CBS Local Chicago]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uNearly 70 Million Americans Had Their Personal Information Compromised In 2014r

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  (saramarie)

  
  Given the sheer number of high-profile data breaches in recent years, and the varying levels of personal information stolen, it can be difficult to quantify how many American consumers were affected. A new survey tries to answer the questions of how many people have had their info stolen (a lot) and what consumers are doing to protect themselves (not much).

  Using data from a nationally representative sample of thousands of respondents, our colleagues at Consumer Reports calculate that nearly 70 million Americans had their data stolen in 2014.

  While online retail — with your credit card data going out over the Internet and without any face-to-face interaction between customer and seller — might seem like fertile breeding ground for data theft, only 18% of respondents say their info was stolen as a result of an online transaction. The overwhelming majority (76%) of compromised data originated from the respondents’ dealings with bricks-and-mortar retailers and financial institutions.

  In fact, only 18% of consumers say their issue originated by an online retailer.

  According to Consumer Reports, the new survey’s findings are supported by research from non-profit organization Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), which found 2014 was a hallmark year for breaches.

  ITRC found that the occurrence of data breached increased more than 27.5% from 2013 to 2014, with nearly 783 breaches reported last year.

  Despite the fact that compromised personal information can cause lasting negative affects for consumers, the survey found those affected by the breaches have done little to protect themselves after the fact.

  Just half of those surveyed said they changed their online behavior after their information was compromised.

  Consumer Reports argues this blasé response highlights the need for stronger consumers protections.

  The magazine offers several tips and steps that consumers can take to safeguard their information both online and in physical stores.

  Consumers Union, CR’s policy and advocacy arm, believes that Congress could enact new laws to make shopping safer.

  The latest effort of which is a recently introduced legislation called the Consumer Privacy Protection Act, which would guard a wide swath of consumers’ personal data including financial information, as well as videos, photos.

  In the event that a breach occurs, the bill would require companies to notify consumes within 30 days.

  “This measure, as well as another bill introduced by Senator Nelson will move the ball forward on better data protection for consumers,” says Consumers Union’s Ellen Bloom. “Congress needs to set strong federal standards for defending consumer data while allowing states to enact or maintain more stringent laws if necessary to protect their residents.”

  70 million Americans report stolen data [Consumer Reports]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uJohnson & Johnson Creating An Independent Panel To Review Patient Requests For Unapproved Drugsr

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  (Scoboco)

  What’s a sick person to do when all the drugs on the market haven’t been able to help ease their ailment? Some of the seriously ill turn to medical trials held by drug companies to gain access to experimental drugs, but it’s not always easy to accomplish. A new system from Johnson & Johnson will employ an independent panel to review requests from seriously ill people who want to try an unapproved drug without participating in the actual testing of the drug.

  According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, this committee of doctors, bioethicists and patient representatives will work under the umbrella of the New York University School of Medicine, and will field the hundreds of requests J&J receives each year from patients who want to try an experimental drug.

  Physicians from J&J will first check if a patient could be included in a clinical trial or another early-access program, and if not, the request will be sent on to the independent panel. The company says while it might veer from what the panel advises, it expects it’ll take the committee’s advice.

  At that point, the patient would still have to get what’s known as “compassionate use” clearance from the Food and Drug Administration. Regulators and companies have been getting more requests for this early access to unapproved drugs, with up to 1,809 such requests last fiscal year, according to the FDA.

  But both the agency and drug companies have been accused of resisting requests, though the FDA says it’s allowed more than 99% of the compassionate-use requests it received in the last several years. Even after the FDA has approved a patient, it’s still up to the company to say yes or no.

  The way it works now, it’s usually up to individual physicians working around the company on various drugs to decide if a patient should qualify. There are fears that if a patient tries an unapproved rug and it doesn’t work or they experience serious side effects, they could sue its makers.

  “This really assures each request is handled in an objective and thoughtful manner,” said J&J Chief Medical Officer Joanne Waldstreicher.

  Critics of J&J’s new panel include advocates for “Right to Try” laws like the Goldwater Institute that believe regulators shouldn’t have as much power over which drugs terminally ill patients have access to. The company’s CEO Darcy Olson tells the WSJ she doesn’t think the panel will make it easier or faster for patients to get their hands on the medicines they seek.

  “What I think you have is J&J passing the buck on tough decision-making,” she said.

  On the other hand, the chief medical officer of J&J’s Janssen pharmaceuticals unit says the system of having a single website and toll-free hotline for requests will be much easier for patients, instead of having them go through the myriad of entry points at J&J for its drug trials. He says he expects recommendations from the committee in a matter of day for urgent requests.

  J&J Changes ‘Compassionate’ Care [Wall Street Journal]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uKohl’s Rolls Out Buy Online, Pick Up In Store Nationwider

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  (JeepersMedia)

  The ability to order something online and pick it up is very appealing to consumers, even though doing so apparently doesn’t save us any time. Now Kohl’s, another retailer that had been testing this delivery method in fewer than 10% of their stores, is rolling it out nationwide.

  The chain, which sells perpetually-discounted clothing and housewares, began its experiment with in-store pickup, or BOPIS, as it’s called in the biz, back in the fall of last year. The trial has apparently worked well in those 100 stores, and the company has opened the option up across all of its stores.

  Online pickup shoppers will have a dedicated parking spot, and will be able to pick up their orders at the customer service desk or fine jewelry counter. Online shoppers will be able to find out in real time whether the item they want is in stock at the local store or they’ll have to wait for it to be shipped there.

  Buy Online, Pick Up in Store [Kohl’s]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist