How to Start a Cable TV Company

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

How to Start a Cable TV Company

Cable TV has moved from being a luxury to being standard in American homes. There are hundreds of channels for subscribers to choose from. The opportunities in the industry are significant enough for telephone companies and satellite companies to jump in the fray to complete with local cable providers. Get your piece of the pie. Start a Cable TV Company.

Things You'll Need

Business Plan
Cable Operators License
Building Permit

Instructions

Cable TV Company Start-Up Guide

Commission market studies on the local cable viewers and subscribers. Hire a research firm. Try to discover the dominant cable TV company in the market. Barbara Strozzilaan of Esomar, the world research organization, writes, "Most bonafide research organizations will be listed in one or more of the reputable directories of these kinds - including more specialized directories published by 'industrial' marketing research associations in different countries."

Write a business plan. In the plan, describe your plan of action to capture market share. Describe policies and procedures. Calculate start-up and maintenance costs. Plan your financial based on operating up to the point that the business becomes self-sufficient.

Download Free Software: Converter Free Download!

Apply for a business license or get incorporated. To apply for a business license, complete the on line forms for your state agency. To get incorporated, retain a lawyer to draw up incorporation papers.

Plan the cable delivery infrastructure. Assemble a team of architects and technology professionals to help come up with a strategy for delivering cable to subscribers.

Seek funding. Assemble a presentation for investors. Package research documents, your plan of action and details of your cable delivery infrastructure.

Apply for Federal Communications Company (FCC) license. The FCC regulates television broadcast entities and activities. Sign up for a Cable Operations and Licensing System (COALS) account to complete the application for what the FCC calls "Operator and Multichannel Video Programming Distributor (MVPD)"

Get permits and adhere to zoning and construction requirements for the state and city governments. Building your cable delivery infrastructure may require building towers or digging underground to install cabling wires.

Agree to deals with cable television stations and local broadcast affiliates. The number of cable television stations will influence subscribers. Poll potential subscribers about the stations that are most important to them.

Build or lease your service office. Hire a contractor to build the facilities. Create a customer service area to accept payments, address customer concerns and other issues.

Market to consumers. Get subscribers. Buy advertising time on the most watched channel affiliates in the area. Hire an advertising agency to help saturate the advertising channels through magazines, newspapers and television broadcasts.

Reference:click here

1 comment:

Cable TV BusinessDecember 11, 2013 at 10:06 AM
Cable TV, Cable TV Business, Cable TV Company, How to Start a Cable TV Company
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Please don't spam. Spam comments are not approved

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Easy Tips and Ideas to Start Business

Although anyone can start a business, many people fail because of a bad product or improper research. If you want to start your own business, you can improve your chances for success before you even begin. In order to make your business successful, start strong and make sure that your idea will hold out for the long haul.

Have a Good Product

Ensure that you plan to sell something useful. Although you may think that your product is important or special, that doesn't mean the general public will agree. Ask friends, family and strangers what they think of your product. If they don't seem that interested, ask them why. With their suggestions, you can either improve the product or scrap the idea completely. According to Brad Sugars of Entrepreneur magazine, most small businesses fail because they sold a product that didn't have an adequate market. This also applies to small businesses that provide a service. A lawn-care business might be useful for part of the year in a northern state, but it is in-demand year-round in the south. Consider whether people will actually want to use your service and get constructive advice from those not afraid to give their opinion.

Research Local Businesses

Research local companies before starting up your own business. This will not only give you an idea of the amount of competition you will have, but it will also help you price your product or service. If you're looking to start a wedding photography business, you may find during your research that the market is over-saturated in your area. If not over-saturated, you should contact each business and ask them for a price list. Alter your prices so you can stay competitive with the competition in town. Researching similar local businesses will also help you decide where to locate your business location. Try not to start up a store or office close to another business of your type. If your small business is located away from similar business types, this will cause locals to choose you over businesses that are farther away from where they live.

Get Professional Advice

You may know someone who has started their own successful business. Ask him for advice and listen to his stories of how he started his company. You may gain useful advice on the good and bad ways to start a business. Local entrepreneurs can also introduce you to local product providers or advertisers that you may not have met without their help. Accept any advice with open arms, especially if the advice is coming from someone successful in the area.

How to Calculate Business Start Up Costs

Starting a business in no easy endeavor. It takes a great deal of research, perseverance and hard work. While sweat equity will make your small business more successful, you will most likely need real capital to get the business started. Before you start raising capital and/or investing your own funds, the first thing you need to do is determine the total start-up costs.

Step 1

Determine your costs of sales. For most small businesses this means inventory, the cost of raw materials, manufacturing equipment, shipping, packaging, and warehousing. However, not all businesses sell products. In this case, the cost of sales is primarily the direct labor involved in making the sale. For example, to open a small shoe business entails purchasing enough inventory ($10,000) to stock the store.

Step 2

Determine professional fees. Planning your business structure, i.e., limited liability corporation or general partnership, means hiring an attorney. There may also be the need to pay an attorney for help with establishing trademarks, copyrights, and patents. In this scenario, that puts total professional fees at an estimated $20,000.

Step 3

Determine technology costs. Technology can greatly reduce the cost of labor for small business if used effectively. Most small businesses require computers, printers, cell phones, website development, Internet access, software applications, information security, data storage, and outsourced information technology (IT) consulting. If the cost of technology is $10,000 to start, add an additional $5,000 a year for maintenance (hint: maintenance is not included in start-up costs).

Step 4

Determine administrative costs. This varies with business types and may include items such as business insurance, office supplies, product packaging, parking, rent, express shipping, desks, chairs, fax machines, phones, or anything else necessary to operate the business daily. A good estimate for start-up administrative costs would be $5,000 for the first six months.

Step 5

Determine initial sales and marketing costs. Now that you have your product, you need to let folks know about it. Sales and marketing costs generally include marketing materials for presentations, printing stationery, business cards, advertising, trade show events, and public relations. These initial sales and marketing costs can add up to $3,000.

Step 6

Determine the wages and benefits needed to secure a staff. This includes employee salaries, benefits, workers compensation, and payroll taxes. Let's put the cost of wages and benefits estimated at $20,000 for the first three months of business.

Step 7

Add all costs associated with starting the business for a total. Be sure to only include business start-up costs that will be incurred in the first three to six months of operations. For this example, the calculation is: $10,000 + $20,000 + $10,000 + $5,000 + $3,000 + $20,000 = $68,000.

Pages

Wednesday, March 13, 2013