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A La Carte Cable TV Channels?

ryantate writes "I was reading TV Tattle and came across an interesting story in the Washington Post about people who spend less than $30 per month on cable buying a la carte. To do this you need a huge C-band dish, but Sen. John McCain wants to require a la carte pricing on digital cable. Content companies like Viacom are fighting it -- they don't want people to be able opt out of their less established channels. And at least one economist type, this guy in the Financial Times, seems to think we'll end up paying just as much under a la carte pricing. EchoStar is game but says Viacom and others are refusing to go along. "

8 of 382 comments (clear)

  1. The Illuminati will control you, sheep! by grub · · Score: 5, Funny


    The TV broadcasters don't want a la carte programming. The reason they say, cost, is not the real reason. For years the broadcasters have been using extremely low wattage, spread spectrum messaging to program our minds via channel packages.

    For example, if you have a "Family Package" consisting of a cartoon channel, Lifetime, etc, the broadcaster will send a weak Bogon-Lyston Mind Control signal of approximately .02 nanowatts across each of the family networks to your television set. (TVs have uniquely addressable IDs in them, they don't want you to know this)

    To date this has been undetectable by standard means, however donning a tinfoil hat will block the signal and you will feel the difference within a few weeks.

    Now, if a la carte programming goes through the broadcasters and their masters (The Illuminati) will have to use a stronger signal on their most popular channels. A stronger signal may be detected which would reveal their nefarious plans.

    History
    Back in the mid 1960s, a brilliant electronic engineer had detected an odd signal embedded into television signal of The Ed Sullivan Show. Decoding the signal, he found messages saying "DRINK MORE SOFT DRINKS" and "SUPPORT THE VIETNAM WAR". The engineer sounded the warning bell, but to the media itself. Bad move. He was heavily drugged for over 3 years then was placed at the center of a CIA/NSA/Illuminati organised mass murder crime scene. That engineer, Charles Manson, is still in jail suffering the ravages of the drug therapy.

    Don't believe me, search the net! The truth must be tol... wait a sec, there's someone at my door..

    --
    Trolling is a art,
    1. Re:The Illuminati will control you, sheep! by FrYGuY101 · · Score: 5, Funny

      "SUPPORT THE VIETNAM WAR", eh?

      Well, I don't think we have much to worry about then...

      --
      "If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living."

      - Seneca
  2. First "Kill Your Television" Post by Neil+Blender · · Score: 4, Funny

    $tv_show? What are you talking about? Never heard of it. I don't have a tv, haven't owned one since $date. You should get rid of yours and spend more time on $activity[0], $activity[1], and $activity[2].

    1. Re:First "Kill Your Television" Post by mph · · Score: 5, Funny
      You should get rid of yours and spend more time on $activity[0]
      C'mon, everybody knows that Slashdot readers can't get $activity[0].
  3. Potentially a Good Idea, But Suceptible To Abuse by tealover · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ordering cable channels a la carter provides a tempting opportunity for the cable providers and their content-provider cohorts to bleed us to death with fees.

    I can imagine it now.

    "Yeah, I'd like the MTV 14 Channel"

    "That will be $2, sir....in addition to the $10 activation fee"

    "$10 activiation fee ?!? What the hell is that?"

    "Sir, this is a fee we assess to cover the cost of processing your transaction, as we have to send the truck out to your house"

    "Why can't you just flip a switch at the computer?"

    "Sir, our systems don't work that way."

    "Well forget my order. In fact, I want to drop MTV 2 that I'm currently getting"

    "No problem sir. That will be a $10 deactiviation fee"

    --
    -- You see, there would be these conclusions that you could jump to
  4. Re:Another Idea by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 5, Funny

    Cancel Cable. Save $50 a month and read a good book.

    OK.

    What's the ISBN number for The Daily Show?

  5. Re:No MTV by dekashizl · · Score: 3, Funny

    Really? I actually like it. But the way I watch it is I turn on MTV and *MUTE* the TV. Then I play my own music off of CDs. A little bootyshaking and cleavage in the background makes almost any kind of music just a little bit better. For example, try Gypsy Kings over a Jay-Z video. Nice!

  6. Re:Another Idea by Wireless+Joe · · Score: 4, Funny

    OK.

    What's the ISBN number for The Daily Show?


    It's 0836253256 .