[opendtv] Time may have come for ordering channels a la carte Congress,consumers push for paying only for what you want
- From: Monty Solomon <monty@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: undisclosed-recipient: ;
- Date: Mon, 24 May 2004 23:55:17 -0400
Page 1B
Time may have come for ordering channels a la carte Congress,
consumers push for paying only for what you want
By Michael McCarthy
USA TODAY
Cara Cooper-Padilla is fed up with ever-higher bills for
cable/satellite TV service to get the channels she wants -- along
with dozens more she never watches.
''Cable should be like ordering sushi, where you check off what you
want on a menu,'' says the wife, mother and teacher from Torrance,
Calif. ''Give me a list of all the channels that you're offering --
then I'll check off what I want to pay for.''
Count Cooper-Padilla, 33, among a growing body of cable and satellite
customers and consumer advocates demanding that pay TV companies be
forced to offer so-called ''a la carte'' pricing to give subscribers
more control over bills. This model would price channels individually
and let consumers buy the ones they want, as opposed to the industry
practice of offering a few ''tiers'' of progressively more expensive
all-or-none packages.
No U.S. pay-TV provider offers channels a la carte, and such demands
have gone unheard in the past. But in the post-Janet-Jackson era of
decency backlash, conservative and family advocacy groups have added
their voices, seeing such ''channel choice'' as a way to keep smut
out of the family room.
This coming together of groups that might disagree on everything but
their pay TV bills -- along with the fact that cable or satellite TV
is in about 88% of the nation's 108 million TV homes -- has caught
bipartisan attention on Capitol Hill and brought at least
saber-rattling about mandating more channel choice.
...
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20040524/6226831s.htm
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