John McCain Wants Pay Channels Sold Individually, Not In Bundles

[dfergie]

Sen. John McCain wants to let customers buy their pay channels on an a la carte basis -- an idea that would fundamentally alter the TV landscape and threaten one of the major revenue sources for media companies.

Source & More: thewrap.com

 

[john262]

Here is another link to that story.

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/senator-john-mccains-plan-to-torpedo-tv-as-we-know-it_b178641

This proposal will face a lot of opposition from the industry, but as far as I'm concerned something must be done about the rising cost of cable and satellite services, which is rising six times faster than the overall rate of inflation. Such rapid price increases are unacceptable. Normally I would oppose government intervention in the marketplace, but in this case if it takes the government to step in to stop this then so be it.

 

[CK SatGuy]

For once, I agree with John McCain on something...

 

[Pepper]

uh oh. If McCain likes it, there must be something fundamentally wrong with the idea.

 

[madmadworld]

would kill some channels don't you think ?
at least cut into the making of new shows for many.
they are kinda pooling our money like auto insurance now and the diversity is good. since the price of most things never drop i question this when you add the gov in the mix i'll pass.
McCain has tried to get the fed into Boxing for years what dumb idea that is....please

 

[riffjim4069]

Please, if Idiot 1 and Idiot 2 want to see an Idiot Show...then let them pool their money together, start their own television station, and get other idiots to pay for it. As much as I like ESPN and Sports programming, it makes no sense that my little old aunts should be forking over $5- $10 to the ESPNs just so they can watch basic cable. Paying for subsidized programming is no un-American! Good programming will surfife and the remainder of the commercial laden nonsense channels rightfully disappear and free-up bandwidth for legitimate programmming.

 

[eurosport]

uh oh. If McCain likes it, there must be something fundamentally wrong with the idea.

Yeah some big TV corporation CEO's will get a tax break I'm sure!

 

[madmadworld]

As much as I like ESPN and Sports programming, it makes no sense that my little old aunts should be forking over $5- $10 to the ESPNs just so they can watch basic cable. .

i thing most of us pay for a Lot of channels we never watch, heck there must be 50-60 i don't need.
but the bottom line is more gov involvement......... enough of it now.

 

[qcjoe]

Ala cart legislation by John Mcain?

I just saw this on facebook. Does any one have any info on this?

 

[upsss]

Here you go, http://www.mccain.senate.gov/public...ecord_id=8a5d2818-ac05-71a2-5eae-5b58400e0019

 

[qcjoe]

Here you go, http://www.mccain.senate.gov/public...ecord_id=8a5d2818-ac05-71a2-5eae-5b58400e0019

Good man. Im usually scared when legislation interferes with free market, but I only see good here. I like also that theres to be no black outs on tax paid stadiums. Whats everyone elses opinions here?

 

[medic-dan]

It's long over due. The technology to enable this exists

Granted, there will likely be a fixed minimum basic service charge which I can understand. I also think that local broadcast stations shouldn't be allowed to charge the service providers, it goes right in there with public money and the stadiums. If they want to use the public airwaves then what is the difference? If anything, the locals should pay the provider for making them available.

No more VH1, MTV, or ESPN (can't stand the announcers, thankfully we have RSN's) for me!

 

[Joe Diamond]

Is he really bringing that up again?

He used that to get attention when he ran for president eight years ago.He served our country with distinction and kept the faith with his fellow prisoners while being held prisoner of war. Since then he has been a U.S. Senator. But the TV a la carte thing.... just doesn't sing! He needs to find a better issue.

Joe

 

[cave1376]

At least he is trying to get a bill that would benefit most pay tv subs.

 

[JerryVolunteer]

I dont like it. If we ever got a la carte then it would be so expensive per channel that you couldn't afford it.

Ill take my packages

 

[mike123abc]

would kill some channels don't you think ?
at least cut into the making of new shows for many.
they are kinda pooling our money like auto insurance now and the diversity is good. since the price of most things never drop i question this when you add the gov in the mix i'll pass.
McCain has tried to get the fed into Boxing for years what dumb idea that is....please

Or it would force networks to come up with more than 1 or 2 shows. HBO/SHO etc. manage to get people to buy their product a la carte. The problem now is that a company like Viacom puts out 20 networks each with 1 or 2 popular shows and charges you for all of them to get any of them. If they were really forced to compete for your $$ they may be forced to make only 2-4 networks.

This idea was last put out by McCain in 2006, it was killed last time and I expect it to be killed this time too... Too much big money against a la carte.

 

[Teehar]

his idea was last put out by McCain in 2006, it was killed last time and I expect it to be killed this time too... Too much big money against a la carte.

I tend to agree.Although,with prices at all time highs,more and more consumers complaining,perhaps it will get more interest this time around.I sure hope so.

 

[mr_tv]

Not sing? I think it does. I had Cband back in the day and paid only for the channels I wanted. I paid $75 a YEAR for the channels I wanted, and only the channels I wanted. Now we have channels that so few people, if any watch, and we all have to pay for them. Waste of money and bandwidth I think for me, for you. Only the junk channels come out on top of this.

So if we can actually get a ala carte option I think there might be a lot happier customers. Now having said that, I do think IF a customer does opt for ala carte they might need to be charged for the install and maybe the equiptment. Then they save during the backend of their TV watching.

So a bunch of junk channels go off the air. To bad. They needed to. Why should we be forced to subsidize bad programming? We shouldn't and ala carte is going or could make for a better model. I hope McCain succeeds with this. The technology exists in every receiver right now to do it.

 

[mr_tv]

I dont like it. If we ever got a la carte then it would be so expensive per channel that you couldn't afford it.

Ill take my packages

That is the logic the programmers feed us. I am not sure it is completely true having had the experience of ala carte in the past. YES I did pay more per channel. YES I did pay less overall for my TV programming at the end of the year. I have been there and it worked out just fine.

 

[whitewolf8214]

I don't see this going anywhere but let's hope at least it gets them talking about it and doing something with it!!