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Comments on news posted 2005-11-29 09:14:23: In what's a surprising turnaround, the FCC is expected to support "a la carte" pricing of cable channels, reports Reuters. This would stand in stark contrast to an earlier FCC report praised by the cable industry, which suggested such a move woul.. ..
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TimeWarnerSucks
@cuny.edu | Thank God! I'm forced to pay about 60 bucks a month for my 200+ channels, of which I only ever watch about 20. How about a dollar per channel? I'd like that. | |
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Anonymous
Premium
join:2004-06-01
IA
 ·Mediacom
1 edit | Money It's all about money. Cable cos like to see a customer paying $100+ a month. A la carte pricing will be a problem for them. You will pay less since you will be getting less channels but I'm sure a la carte pricing will be ridiculously overpriced so you may end up with 80% less channels and 30% smaller bill (yes I'm pulling these numbers out of my a** but you get the point).:D | |
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dadkins
Can you do Blu?
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA
·Comcast
2 edits | I think it's a good idea... ...who's time has come! I don't speak(or understand) any second language. Why must I have 4 Spanish, 2 Farsi?, and 2 Chinese/Japanese/Philipino/??? channels in my lineup?
WTF is the Golf Channel?  No idea who watches it... but it's in the lineup.
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Think outside the Fox... Opera | |
| | plattypus1
join:2005-04-08
Riverside, CA
·Charter Pipeline
| What's the big deal? Okay, I pay around $60 a month for cable (the wife loves her movie channels), and I get too damn many channels to count. And, like everyone, I only watch maybe 10. But every once in a while, I like to channel surf. Why would I want an a la carte pricing structure? The cableco is never going to lower channel pricing low enough that it'll make a significant dent in my bill, and if I only got ten channels and suddenly there was something interesting on another channel that I just *had* to watch, I'd be out of luck.
I'd much rather have 300 channels at $60 than 10 for $45. | |
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G_Poobah
join:2004-01-17
Schenectady, NY
| Re: What's the big deal? 300 for 60 vs. 10 for 45?
You need to look at www.bigdish.com to get an idea of exactly how much a la carte SHOULD cost.
Take the basic 12.00 (20 channel, ABC/NBC/CBS/FOX/WB/UPN/etc) lineup that all cableco's are required.
Then add in the cost of the '10' channels you watch. Most likely, that's only going to add about 15-20/month. Your total bill would be 27-32.00, not 60.00, and you'd still watch the same things.
Around here, the '50' additional channels, of which I only watch 4-5 of them, costs almost 50.00 by itself. (65.00 bill). Under the a la carte plan, I'd only pay about 18.00 a month for the basic + 5 channels I watch.
Cost difference over a year : 780.00 (old) vs. 216.00 (new), and I STILL watch exactly the same things. Sure, no ESPN, Golf Network or Telemundo, or HSN, but I don't want to pay for those. I'd much rather have 564.00/year in my pocket than give it to ESPN.
Who benefits from the change? Why, ME the customer. Sure, that's a strange and scary concept for the corporate apologists, but the FCC exists 'FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD', not to ensure cable companies make money.
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Sure the internet has lots of porn and piracy, but I'm sure there's a downside to it. | |
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KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
 ·AT&T Yahoo
·AT&T DSL Service
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| Re: What's the big deal? said by G_Poobah  :Who benefits from the change? Why, ME the customer. Sure, that's a strange and scary concept for the corporate apologists, but the FCC exists 'FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD', not to ensure cable companies make money. Oh I so wish it really was the way you say, and would work out that way.
But I stronly believe that the Cable companies would not fairly price ala carte offerings. They would simply raise prices on channels people want so that their profits stay the same (or potentially, are even higher) even if the consumer only gets 2 dozen channels vs 200.
I'd love to think the Bigdish prices would reflect the Cable companies prices, but alas, based on their history, I would say not a chance.
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"Regulatory capitalism is when companies invest in lawyers, lobbyists, and politicians, instead of plant, people, and customer service." - former FCC Chairman William Kennard (A real FCC Chairman, unlike the current Corporate Spokesperson in the job!) | |
| 
packetscan
Premium
join:2004-10-19
Bridgeport, CT
clubs: | Crap I see they are pulling the protect the children line again..
Well why am i paying for a V-chip in my Tv!
Great something else i'll have to pay for..
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Who do you want to pay off today? | |
| houselog442
join:2005-10-05
| they would do the canadian way i bet if they do a la carte, they will do how canada does it. They a very basic package that is $20 a month that you have to get to begin with, mainly it has locals and other crap, but very minimal. After that, you can then get channels in certain type of packages like all the espn channels for like $6 or $9, and you can then shop around and see the other packages. But if you want to get a better deal you can get the give me all channels thing like we get now and pay a less than you would if u got them thru a la carte | |
| Eric Martin
join:2005-06-19
66308 | Irony Don't regulate broadband prices or allow competitors to use the lines but force them to offer alacarte. Hypocrisy at it's finest. It's all about special interest groups . | |
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KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
·AT&T Yahoo
·AT&T DSL Service
·Cox HSI
·AT&T Southwest
| Cable threatens increased prices for Ala Carte The idea behind Ala Carte channel options is simple:
Customers choose only the channels they want, and therefore, don't have to pay for channels they don't want, and save money.
There's just one problem: That's not how it will work out.
There's NO WAY the Cable companies would allow Ala Carte pricing to affect profits negatively. My guess is they would actually take advantage of the situation to increase prices dramatically.
Basically, what they would do is increase the price per channel well above what that actual channel costs to provide.... the more indemand or popular a channel is, the higher the price they charge for it... The net result is that Ala Carte programming means consumers get many fewer channels but end up paying only slightly less, or the same, or even MORE depending on what channels they choose.... meanwhile the Cable industries save money on licensing and content royalty contracts.
They already have excuses for "higher costs" on standby to justify price increases for Ala Carte.
I'm all for Ala Carte offerings, but I think there will have to be firm controls in place otherwise it will just become a gigantic rip-off for the customers.
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"Regulatory capitalism is when companies invest in lawyers, lobbyists, and politicians, instead of plant, people, and customer service." - former FCC Chairman William Kennard (A real FCC Chairman, unlike the current Corporate Spokesperson in the job!) | |
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