ala carte Programming ?

[digital223]

Did any one catch a blurb on Fox News today, regarding ala carte programming.
I heard that because of the continued increases for cable subscribers, a/c/programming will be considered. That out of most sub programming packages only an average of 18 channels are viewed.
Can anyone confirm this...............also, how do you think this effect D* and E* ?

[SSW_Exposure]

As I recall in E*s early days the had an ala carte package.
First it was 10 channels for $10, then increased to 10 for $15, and then disappeared. Subs were able to keep this package for long after it was no longer offered.

I asked a NRTC exec about this not long ago, and was more or less told, this would 'tuff' to do today with the way 'station entities' charge more per station if you don't take their entire package. Not his exact words but that's what I got out of it.

[TNGTony]

The package you are thinking of is "DishPIX". It was very limited because Viacom did not allow their channels on it. ESPN, Disney, or any of the MTV networks were not allowed.

See http://echostar.swiki.net/120 (Swiki is finally back up BobaBird)
http://ekb.dbstalk.com/120 (Give me a few minutes to move this one over.)



Dish had to drop it for two reasons. The main reason is Dish needed a higher monthly average fee per subscriber. But what pushed it over the edge was the fact that programmers hated it and would penalize Dish if the continued to make it available. Dish Pix was available through May 1, 2000 to new subscribers. Existing subscribers to the package were allowed to keep it for close to two years as long as they didn't make any changes. None were allowed.

Some a la carte programming is still available on Dish, but it is VERY limited.
See http://echostar.swiki.net/119
or http://ekb.dbstalk.com/119

See ya
Tony

[TNGTony]

Check that on the swiki links. The site just went down again and I wasn't able to grab the source code to port it to the back-up site. It was an editorial decision back when I was invited to use the DBSTalk site and Chris allowed me to use his server.

I'll get it as soon as I can.

Tony

[FTA Michael]

It's hard to confirm a negative, but Google News turns up a blank searching on keywords "FCC cable a la carte", "FCC a la carte", and "cable a la carte".

I stumbled onto an October 2003 report by the US General Accounting Office, "Issues Related to Competition and Subscriber Rates in the Cable Television Industry". Link: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d048.pdf Among many topics, the report points out that a la carte programming for basic cable channels would require addressable converters on every box, which would get expensive.