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FCC Call For Comments on a la Carte Cable
The Importance of writes "A couple of weeks ago, Slashdot readers commented on the possibility of a la carte cable pricing. Now the FCC is officially seeking comments [PDF] on the issue. One commentator thinks bundling between content producers and the cable companies is more important than bundling between cable company and consumer."
Basically if you have the option of only picking the stations you want to watch, many good networks are going to disappear because people dont routinely watch them, and only watch them when they have specials on.
You misunderstand. It's not going to be what stations you watch, but rather what stations you pay for.
If i were to ask you to list all the channels you would pay for, would you forget one that you like but only occasionally watch?
Not if I can get flags for TV shows, actors, wrtiers, and production houses.
"SciFi, The History Channel, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, a news channel or two, and the channels that show Enterprise, Smallville, and whatever Joss Whedon does next" should be a valid choice.
Ala Carte cable pricing has been around for years, at least in California. There was one of those fun "within ten years" laws that required cable companies to allow subscribers to purchase any single channel separately from the standard lineup. Of course, it didn't specify prices... so naturally, the cable companies have no reason to price it reasonably. (Most individual channels were between $10-15.) I don't recall the particular bill/mandate in question, but I remember bothering Comcast about it, just for fun. :-)