A debate rages on in this country about the way we receive our cable channels.
On one side of this debate, we have the current system. You pay for your cable channels in a package, and you get them all, whether you want them or not. Sometimes, you get new channels. Sometimes, you might lose a channel or two.
On the other side, we have a proposal known as “a la carté pricing.” Those of us familiar with that term will know what this means already. In essence, it means that you pick exactly which cable channels you want to receive.
At first glance, the choice may seem obvious. But let’s not get hasty.
This is a very tricky issue for a number of reasons. First and foremost is the revenue stream of the cable companies. What if everybody decides to drop everything except Discovery? That’s a lot of lost revenue.
We can’t go crying about the earning potential of major corporations, though. Well, admittedly, this next issue is related to revenue as well, but it also relates to us as viewers. That is, discovering new programming on cable. You may not know about a channel, or you may not know that it has shows you may want to watch. A channel may undergo a revamp in an effort to lure people back, or it may reimagine itself under new management (see The Nashville Network, which became The National Network, which became The Only Network For Men, which became Spike TV.) A network that most people would never think twice about may suddenly launch a break-out hit (see Bravo and “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.)
There is also the issue of launching a new cable network. This ties into the previous paragraph.
Finally, there are technological hurdles. Without going into detail on how cable works, suffice it to say, there is a reason why channels are offered in blocks the way they are. For this reason, analog cable, the kind that goes straight from the wall into the back of your television, will never go “a la carté”. Digital cable, however, is more than capable of operating in this fashion.
This debate will most likely drag on for several more years, with proponents of either side becoming more and more vocal. As viewers, unfortunately, there is not much for us to do to influence either side, short of voicing our opinions to the FCC. Eventually, the FCC will decide whether or not to pass legislation mandating “a la carté” pricing for cable customers.
Until then, try to keep up on which channels you like. There may be a quiz.
Tags: Rants
I hope they do something along the lines of ‘a la carte’ If there are channels you know you will NEVER watch, then why should you have to pay for them? All they are there for is to take up an extra channel flip while surfing. Example: the shopping network. I have ebay dang it!!!!!
Nice article by the way