Cable channels alacarte?

[davidmg1]

Saw a TV news consumer segment last night about the rising costs of cable TV rates. The reporter mentioned a "little known law" passed recently that allows all cable TV customers to purchase channels alacarte.

I didn't quite catch which law they were referring to. Also not sure if it applied to satellite TV.

Anyone know anything about this law? (Believe it had to do with the FCC).

[DarrellP]

Cable companies have been sticking to customers, forcing them to purchase in tiers. Now you can have the digital tier without having to have the Basic Analog package first. Also, if all you want is the HDTV, that's all you pay for.

Search AVS Forums HD Program area under AT&T HD and you should find references to this topic.

[jened]

the media has certainly seemed to misinterpret the ruling or law. i guess they don't really understand it.

[RichW]

The fact is that the cable companies, like DBS companies, cannot do much ala carte packaging simply because the channel providers either wont let them, or make the channel so expensive ala carte, that one channel costs almost as much as a package.

[Jacob S]

If it becomes law for them to provide a channel ala carte then wouldn't the channel owners have to allow Dish and Direct and Cable to buy the channels individually and not buy in pairs, to have to buy one channel to get another/others? Thats the only way that Dish, Direct, and Cable could allow the purchasing of those channels ala carte, if the channel owners will not allow them to be bought seperate, what can they do?

[RichW]

Originally posted by Jacob S
If it becomes law for them to provide a channel ala carte then wouldn't the channel owners have to allow Dish and Direct and Cable to buy the channels individually and not buy in pairs, to have to buy one channel to get another/others?

That is unlikely to happen, since the FCC and Congress prefer to have the "marketplace" determine carriage terms. The "marketplace" in this instance means the channel producers and the carriage companies, not the subscribers or viewing public.

In fact, even if the public were involved, I would say a majority of subscribers want more channels rather than less. In the past, Ergen has stated that he would rather be able to sell all channels ala carte and be able to carry local network affilates without being forced to carry things like ABC Family or the SOAP channel. But the dominant business proactice for channel packaging has been established for years now. It would require a tremendous political effort to overturn the status quo.