Congress is looking at whether consumers should be able to order individual programs a la carte from cable TV companies, rather than being forced to get the usual large block of channels.
One study has found that consumers typically watch only 17 or so of the 100-plus channels they receive in some cable packages.
While consumers clearly want more choice in their cable subscriptions, cable companies have been strongly resisting the idea. One notable exception is Charles Dolan, chairman of Cablevision Systems, who said last week, “Consumers should not be obliged directly or indirectly to buy services they do not want.”
Exactly. An a la carte system would also defuse widespread parental complaints about the increasingly sex- and violence-saturated fare on cable — consumers who didn’t want racy stuff could simply not subscribe to those channels.
Besides, think of all the boring channel surfing in this country that could be avoided. Congress needs to approve this long-overdue change.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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37 Comments
I agree, why should I have to pay for a package when there are really only a few channels that I watch. It would make it so much easier to moniter what my grandkids watch, also. I only like the Discovery Channels and HGTV anyway, plus my guilty pleasure, Cops!
I agree. If I only want the TV guide delivered to my door on Sunday morning, why should I have to pay for the entire Sunday EAGLE newspaper?
And if I need only a couple eggs from the grocery store, why should I have to purchase the entire dozen?
And — for sure — why should more than 80,000 Sedgwick County taxpayers who oppose the proposed taxpayer financed downtown arena, have to pay the 20% increase in our sales taxes for this future white elephant.
There are many important Sedgwick County government needs such as roadways, bridges, jail expansion, renewal of business districts in the small towns around the county, for which this 1/4 billion dollars should be used.
Right, JWink–What you’re saying is that the “free market” system doesn’t really give people what they want, a lot of the time.
For instance, why don’t the cable companies let you watch any show on any channel and just bill you a reasonable price (10 cents an hour) for each hour you watch?
Since I watch about 3 hours of tv a week, that would be perfect for me. But then cable companies couldn’t rake money in by the forklift full.
Problem is, it’s a monopoly, more or less; you can choose broadcast, cable or dish, and then be stuck with whatever programming the one you choose wants to give you. One way out would be the same solution we had to the phone company monopoly. Let Cox, or whoever, run the lines, and let subscribers choose whatever program providers they want.
Cable will most likely change quite a bit in the future. With DVR, Internet, On-demand, and etc. I think we will be looking at an ala carte system.
Cox cable has to have its license renewed each year by the city council. If a person or group wants to speak their mind regarding Cox cable offerings, they may fight approval of the license.
all services will become ala carte soon.
Gen Y is used to and expect a custom car, custom clothes…etc. personalization will become a requirement to compete. Take a look at Scion or MINI….those companies are doing great because they offer a no two cars alike kind of personalization.
Second, It makes the companies more money. They will price ala carte at a point that most people will be paying more than they pay now just so they can have TV thier way. Its really a win-win and once again the free market works just the way it should
DR–you are such a shill.
“Free markets” are the mythical premise so that corporations can do whatever they want and call it “natural” and “inevitable.”
I’ve wanted to buy digital recordings since the technology was perfected in 1970. But thanks to the RIAA, we were forced to listen to scratchy analogue–records and tapes–for thirty years.
There’s your “free market” for you.
Oh, yeah, the “free market” also said that nobody would pay for air bags.
So from 1960 to the mid-nineties hundreds of thousands of people died unnecessarily because of the “free market’s” refusal to put air bags in cars.
Oh galahad, I just dont know how you sleep at night, with all those black helicopters hovering around your house. Everything is a conspiricy to you!
It’s not a conspiracy, DR, it’s just simple power. The corporations have it and we the people don’t.
You don’t need to conspire if you can just hire the government to do what you want it to.
Which is what they’ve done, with people like you defending to the death their right to screw us.
Yes, Galahad…it IS conspiracy theory that you continually espouse..the big bad businesses are all in collusion to screw the consumer, no matter what.
History suggests otherwise. Go back a few years for starters, the Ford Edsel..ahead of its time in many ways, but the public (free market) hated it.
“New Coke” flopped, the public hated it. Less known was Ronson’s attempt to replace wax candles with a metal candle. The Acura Vigor was cancelled after 3 years due to poor public acceptance. Apple III, Apple Lisa and Apple Newton all failed to get any market share. Crystal Pepsi lasted less than a year. McDonalds Hula Burger was a huge flop for a massive corporation.
Irridium global satellite phones never attracted an audience. Kodak disc cameras had a short life.
The list is very, very long of failed products that did not make it on the Free Market. Huge corporations have lost untold millions..and have NOT been able to force these products on the consumer.
Sorry, Galahad, hate to burst your conspiracy bubble, but the free market does work.
I certainly hope a la carte programming becomes reality. I could finally get rid of those pesky religious and family friendly stations!! MTV, Comedy Central (gotta have “South Park”)and Playboy Channel are all I need!
Cox’s franchise expires July 1, 2009. They are subject to a five year review this year, which city staff hasn’t begun yet.Some other points to ponder:There are three local stations which are not on cable. Cox wants $70,000 a month to put them on cable…the stations on cable pay nothing.Now, Demon cable wants to throw the other broadcasters off cable. Two Republican House staff drafts of the DTV bill would give cable companies the right to throw broadcasters off by 1/1/2014.This, after the president of Comcast told a Congressional committee that large cable systems like Wichita’s would have a capacity of 1,500 channels by 2020 (they have 488 channels now).Southwestern Bell will ask the Kansas legislature in 2007 for permission to offer multichannel video service in our state. They have permission in Texas and will work on Missouri next year.Wichita does have the ability to recruit a second company…but staff is apparently opposed to the idea.Conclusions?
well your name says it all
“It’s not a conspiracy, DR, it’s just simple power. The corporations have it and we the people don’t.” -Galahad
See you are a walking victim. Everytime you spend a dollar YOU feel victimized. When I walk around, every dollar I spend is a privledge, thats why I say thank you to THEM when they hand me my product or service. I am the consumer if its not worth it to me I dont buy it! When it is worth it, I buy it and am greatful that someone is offering something that I can’t or won’t do for myself. I am glad for all the options I have for my money. I am glad for wal-mart, gasoline, hospitals and cable. How much money someone else makes does not change my capacity to earn an income. my income is determined solely by the rarity and demand for my skill….also known as a free market…So the free maket does clearly exist on both the income and consumption side of the equation if you are not a walking victim.
Ray–the business failures you cite show how free enterprise DOESN’T meet people’s needs, not how it does.
Ask the parents of a kid who died from lead poisoning (paint and leaded gas) how well the free market works . . .
Galahad..I was simply refuting your assertion that big bad business can force anything they want on the poor defenseless consumer. Obviously, they cannot do that, there are thousands of examples.
“Mr. Controversy”…I am asking you to back up your claim, that “staff is apparently opposed to the idea”. Where did you get that? I know some of the hated “city staffers”, and would like to know which ones in particular you are blaming? What are you basing such a statement on?
A blanket accusation like that needs some backup, or admit you were making things up.
I want to buy a car that’s made in the United States (not just assembled here). I want to buy a TV that’s made in the US. I want to buy a non-polluting energy source to heat my house with this winter. I want to buy a pork chop that wasn’t factory farmed in a giant stinking warehouse. I want to buy a shirt that wasn’t sewn together by 12 year olds in American Saipan.
The “free market” system doesn’t give me any of those things . . .
Then quit whining and DO something about it. Get the education and form a car company (not impossible, John DeLorean did it) and build a car in this country. Same thing with a television…there is NOTHING stopping you from forming a company to make them here in this country–that is pure FREE MARKET.
You want non-polluting energy? Put some solar panels on your house. You want pork that wasn’t factory farmed? Buy a farm and raise your own. You want a shirt not made in Taiwan? Build your own factory.
Just because you can see all kinds of obstacles stopping you, there is nothing in our free market from stopping you trying any or all of those things.
There are loans, grants, venture capitalists that provide necessary funds.
This is a perfect example of a FREE MARKET at its best…if you want to make/build/sell something, you CAN. So, quit whining about the corporate bad guys and get out there and DO SOMETHING about it.
I said “apparently”.Here’s what I have. I’d dearly love to be wrong:I met on several occasions with then assistant city manager Jeanne Hernandez and a member of city staff during the last staff review of the franchise in 2000. We were promised (supposedly by Chris Cherches) that there would be a public hearing with at least a month’s notice, if we would agree not to contest things further. Needless to say, that never happened.However, to Mr. Cherches’ credit, they did allow (supposedly) a provision for a second cable company.About a year ago, I met with three senior city officials (one no longer with the city), and the first words out of their mouths were “our interest is in Cox”.I say “apparently” because I’ve taken my suggestion(s) to a number of council members, and given the venom-infested memos sent them by a certain senior city staffer, it’s obvious that their mindset is still the same–whoever has the most money is automatically right.If you have different information, please share it. I’d give my right arm to be wrong about this…especially about Mr. Kolb.I just don’t think I am wrong.
Ray–heh, nice, switch the argument to “it’s all about you.”
Even if I could start my own car company (yeah, how’d the Tucker and DeLorean work out, by the way?), I don’t flipping want to.
I want the “free” market that provides consumers with “anything they want” to do it for me.
You can either argue that the free market provides people with what they want because of the ‘unseen hand’ of the marketplace or you can argue that it doesn’t and people need to improve it . . . but you can’t argue both at the same time because they’re contradictory positions.
Ray–heh, nice, switch the argument to “it’s all about Galahad’s whining.”
Even if I could start my own car company (yeah, how’d the Tucker and DeLorean work out, by the way?), I don’t flipping want to.
I want the “free” market that provides consumers with “anything they want” to do it for me.
You can either argue that the free market provides people with what they want because of the ‘unseen hand’ of the marketplace or you can argue that it doesn’t and people need to improve it . . . but you can’t argue both at the same time because they’re contradictory positions.
Interesting thought..but I disagree. The free market is just that..free to change, develop and grow. It can (and does) provide the things people want and need, and it has room for improvement.
For example, you can buy a suitable rodent disposal device. Or, you can ‘build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door’.
By comparison, the former Soviet Union did not have a free market, and things were produced by quota. Whether there was demand or not, the quotas were set.
Back to my earlier post, if something fails to attract the public’s interest, it fails. If it succeeds, it can become the next Microsoft. That is free enterprise capitalism at its best.
And, just because it doesn’t provide YOU with what you want doesn’t mean it is broken. There is always room for improvement.
If the market is not producing something YOU want, you are free to produce it. Simple. If you have what you want, then it is functioning just fine from your perspective. That is not contradictory at all.
And that is where you are dead wrong, Mr. Thomas.One year ago, nearly 6,000 people petitioned Cox to carry KCTU on their cable system. Cox responded by raising the price they demand to put KCTU on cable…by $6,000 a month.And clearly, there is a demand. Ivnet.tv reports 1 1/2 million people a week are watching KCTU on the internet.Where, prythee, is the free market in that?
Mr. C.,
They’re free to gouge the hell out of their subscribers and you’re free to take the gouging and say, thank you, sir, may I have another.
That’s why they call it the “free” market . . .
But I’ll grant you one thing, Ray.
Our system is better than the old Soviet Union.
Compared to that, anything looks good.
6,000 signatures? Sorry, but in a free market economy, 6,000 people in a market base of 6.4 million cable customers doesn’t make a dent.
Less than 1/10th of 1 percent of your customers wanting something is not going to attract much attention anywhere.
Sure, it would be nice if business could be all things to all people, but that ain’t gonna happen. If you don’t like it, you are free to start your own cable company, petition for service, and try to compete. Free market allows you to do that. I am not saying it is easy, nor is it cheap..but there is nothing stopping you from trying. Petition the council, lay your own cable, negotiate your own broadcast rates. There is nothing stopping you from trying. And that is what I mean by free market.
Perfect? Of course not. 100% evil? not that either.
6.4 million? Neilsen says there are only 115,000 cable households in Wichita.Where are you pulling your figures out of?
Cox overall customer base.
If there were truly a “free market”, there would be no need for “franchises”, right?Which, of course, brings us back to the original question: why are your buddies on the 13th floor so seemingly reluctant to let “market forces” compete in Wichita?
Sorry, Mr…I took umbrage to your overal indictment of ’staff’ as evil incarnate. That does not mean I am buddy with anyone on 13th floor.
I never said the free market is perfect, either. I just said that if Galahad wants all this stuff, the free market makes it possible for him to do it himself..simple. I do not believe that big business is inherently evil, forcing the public to accept whatever big business decides–and I can provide dozens of examples of failed products that prove people cannot be forced to buy anything.
You don’t like the cable company? Don’t buy their service…that is another aspect of a free market. you are not forced to purchase a thing (other than the inevitable, like taxes, that is).
I simply do not buy into the conspiracy of big bad evil business. Business must produce what the customers will buy, or they are not in business. That is a free market.
Is it fair or perfect? Of course not. Do you offer an alternative or improvement? Or would you just rather complain?
As a matter of fact, Mr. Thomas, I’ve been doing just that.Thanks to the wonderful support of Senator Pat Roberts, a number of proposals are being made to the DTV bill being written this week that I, among many others nationwide, have been advocating for the past five years.If passed, these provisions will not only preserve 400 jobs in Wichita, but have the potential to create 100-300 more.Not all large businesses are evil. It’s not Bill Gates’ fault Netscape was a floating piece of crap. Retailers who offer good customer service can compete successfully with Wal-Mart (provided GE doesn’t shut them down first).There are good companies in the cable business…Charter, Cebridge, Galaxy, and the many smaller operators around the country.If the right DTV bill passes, I’ll be going back to Denver to continue what were fruitful and pleasant negotiations (prior to government intervention) with Dish Network. And believe me, prior to some House Republicans (over the objections of Todd Tiahrt and Jerry Moran) sticking their nose in where it didn’t belong, Dish was more than interested in those 6,000 customers Cox couldn’t care less about.I’m sorry if you felt offended by what might have seemed an ad hominem argument, but the opinions of two people on the 13th floor seem to dominate everything in City Hall…and sadly, neither one of them is named George Kolb.
Thanks….no offense taken. I am not buddies with the high and powerful…just know some staff people who are easy targets.
Good for you, Mr. I have had Charter in the past and was favorably impressed by comparison with current service.
Keep up the good work!
Forget parents trying to shield their children from indecency. What about adults that want to shield themselves from it? Americans should not be coerced into paying for filth and sleaze by ‘bundling’ this together with quality TV programming.
IM very stupid tyler is smarter then to me