Cable Companies Changing Tune On 'A La Carte' Except Not Those who've been around here a while are familiar with the debate over "a la carte" TV pricing -- or offering stand-alone channels to consumers. If you recall, the FCC first issued a report saying that the idea would result in higher prices for consumers, only to turn around a year later to issue a report that supported the idea. The idea has been championed and subsequently forgotten by politicians, much to the joy of cable operators, broadcasters and smaller TV channels -- who all know that consumers would happily pay a lot less money for only a handful of channels.

quote: Cable operators are privately working on a plan to force programmers to unbundle their networks and allow customers to subscribe to channels on an individual basis...The plan represents a complete reversal from cable operators' long-held opposition to what is known as "a la carte" programing. Over the last decade, the cable industry battled ferociously with regulators to protect the right to bundle programing, arguing it offered customers the best value. Whether users will ever actually see a la carte offers remains to be seen. Broadcasters aren't going to budge, which means the cable industry could look to regulatory action. Or, cable industry execs may just be talking a lot with little ever coming of it like all previous a la carte discussions. The cable industry has also been Many years and many rate hikes later, the cable industry now faces a growing wave of defections from consumers on tight budgets tired of the traditional cable channel bundles. As Internet video looms, industry analysts argue the constant wave of bi-annual rate hikes aren't sustainable . Now, according to Reuters , cable providers are finally warming to a la carte:Whether users will ever actually see a la carte offers remains to be seen. Broadcasters aren't going to budge, which means the cable industry could look to regulatory action. Or, cable industry execs may just be talking a lot with little ever coming of it like all previous a la carte discussions. The cable industry has also been paying a lot of lip service to offering lower priced bundled channel packages, but so far those offers have been rather empty upon closer inspection







News Jump SpaceX Providing Internet To Towns Hit by Wildfires; Verizon Launches New 5G Home Hardware In Twin Cities; + more news Stark New Reality In The Telco Business: Dumb Pipes No Longer Cut It; AT&T Unveils Mix and Match Plans; + more news AT&T Extends Overage Charge Waiver; Verizon And T-Mobile Each Insist Their 5G Strategy Is The Right One; + more news War Of Words Heats Up: T-Mobile Fires Back At Verizon, AT&T; Amazon Intros Gaming Service To Take On Stadia; + more news Starlink's Network Faces Huge Limitations; AT&T Whines T-Mobile Merger Put Too Much Spectrum In One Place; + more news WISPs Get CBRS Range As Great As Six Miles At 100 Mbps Speeds; Windstream Officially Exits Bankruptcy; + more news Charter Relaunches Free 60-day Internet And Wi-Fi Offer; NCTA: FCC Should Stick With 25/3 Speed Threshold; + more news Comcast Shuts Off Internet for Subs Who Were Sold Service Illegally; AT&T, Verizon Team To Stop T-Mobile 5G; + more news California Defends Its Net Neutrality Law; AT&T's Traffic Up 20% Despite Data Traffic Actually Being Down; + more news Are The Comcast-Charter X1 Talks Dead In The Water?; AT&T May Offer Phone Plans With Ads For Discounts; + more news ---------------------- this week last week most discussed

Most recommended from 106 comments



FFH5

Premium Member

join:2002-03-03

Tavistock NJ 1 edit 2 recommendations FFH5 Premium Member Cable hoping government forces a la carte Knowing how little leverage cable companies have with Hollywood content providers on bundling(Disney w ESPN is the most egregious), they are hoping Congress bails them out by forcing an unbundling law thru Congress. Now that will be an epic lobbying battle - with Hollywood battling cable & telcos over who gets to buy what congresscritter.



Also, they want the FCC to eliminate the "must carry" rule for local broadcasts to reverse the trend where cable had to start paying a lot of money to carry all those local broadcast channels. Cable feels if the rule is gone the local OTA stations negotiating power will be lessened.