Congress and the FCC Turn Up the Heat

[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John M. Higgins and P.J. Bednarski]
A la what? Cable companies are howling at FCC Chairman Kevin Martin’s new agenda which includes allowing customers to pay only for the cable channels they think they will watch. He's offering this pay system, called "a la carte" pricing, as a way to lower customers' monthly bills and allow them to block programming they find objectionable without having to pay for it. Cable operators see à la carte as the regulatory equivalent of a dirty bomb, rendering both systems and basic networks economically uninhabitable. The more expensive channels, such as TNT or sports channel ESPN, could end up as costly standalone choices. How many people would pay the $15 per month one analyst estimates that ESPN might charge in an à la carte world? Smaller networks without much marketing money would struggle in the clutter. Cable operators fear lower revenues if customers buy fewer channels and, at least near term, marketing chaos as the industry rips up the model for selling their core product. Perhaps most challenging will be defining, as Congress seems to want them to, what exactly “family programming” is. Consumer advocates have for years pushed à la carte as a way of letting subscribers reduce their bills, allowing customers to choose individual channels in a package from the current offering of 100 channels or so. Subscribers would select basic channels the same way they can take or leave movie networks like HBO or Showtime.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6288804?display=Feature&referral=SUPP
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

* Cablevision's Dolan 'Flying Alone' in Support of 'a la Carte' Model
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001613719

* A la carte TV
http://news.com.com/A+la+carte+TV/2100-1038_3-5980800.html?tag=nefd.lede

See also:
* Did I really see that?
[Commentary] Oh my stars. Just when I think Kevin Martin can't impress me anymore he goes and tells the world the FCC issued a bad report last time. I just know I'm in for disappointment once he gets around to ownership, but I'll take the crumbs I can get. Why am I so giddy over this, especially when I haven't taken a stand on the actual substance of Martin's discussion (a la carte cable programming) and I'm not thrilled with the notion of “family friendly” cable programming tiers? See the URL below
http://www.wetmachine.com/totsf/item/385