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Cable TV A La Carte?

Posted by michael on from the two-from-column-a-and-one-from-column-b dept.

Anonymous Coward writes "According to this BusinessWeek article you can now get your MTV a la carte. I having been waiting for years to buy my cable by the channel, and this article indicates that my cable company is now legally required to let me. I am going to call Time Warner tomorrow with my list just to see what they say. Anyone out there doing this now?"

6 of 458 comments (clear)

  1. talk about getting screwed by MrSkunk · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I know that cable companies try to screw you, but I didn't know they were so open about it. This is a quote from one of showtime's spokesmen.
    "It's our hope that our affiliates would use whatever tactics are available to increase their premium penetration."
  2. What we have in parts of Canada by LordOfYourPants · · Score: 5, Interesting

    For places with digital cable, we have the following setup. I'm not speaking for all of Canada, but at least with this cable provider (Rogers).

    1) Analog channels. Channels 2-~78 are analog. We can choose between 3 "tiers" which determine what type of filter is installed at the cable box itself. 2-28 is "basic" cable. 29-~42(?) is another tier, ~43-78 is another. They are grouped this way as to make filtering easier. Changing the programming is a PITA as someone has to physically drive down from the cable company and change things. Usually being wishy-washy as to what you want will net you a $50 charge each time someone has to drive over.

    2) Digital channels. Channels 80-999 are digital. You can order most any of the "basic" ones for $2.50 / each / month. Bundling them in bigger sets gets you bigger discounts. ie: 5 channels for $10, 10 channels for $15, etc. You can mix and match as you please, and they are activated usually before your call to the cable company is finished.

    It's been this way for a year and a quarter now.

  3. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  4. Re:Premium channels only by Jobe_br · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I don't see anything that says that the Time Warners, Charter Communications, and Cox Cable networks out there have to charge any *less* for saying "I want HBO-East only!" v. what they charge for having 6 HBO channels (comedy, family, etc.) From what I can recall, adding a premium channel has always been $10-$15 extra a month - just now you get multiple premium channels for the price of one.

    Am I missing something here? Seems to me that being able to select which regular channels you want (so you don't have to get QVC, for example) would be more useful.

  5. Re:You're not married are you? by cdrudge · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I showed my wife an article about the behind the sceens of one of those episodes and how much damage/money it costs to repair the "renovation". I believe it was either the one where the lady cried on camera or the hay on the walls. She now hates the show even more then I do. :)

    Her best friend recently had a neighbor do an episode. The weekend after they left they undid everything that they had done to their room.

  6. Situation in other countires? by joe52 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What are the cable deals like for Slashdot readers outside of the US?

    I spent four months living in France this year and my cable provider had a point system. Each channel cost a certain number of points (ranging from about 2 for something boring up to 15-25 for a premium channel) and you paid for packages with varying amounts of points. Then you could pick the channels you wanted and not waste points on something you would never watch. It seemed like a better deal (perhaps not cheaper, but much more flexible) than what we have in the US. I don't even have cable here since I'm not a huge fan of television and cable TV packages cost more than I am willing to pay.

    -Joe