Re: FCC Urges 'A La Carte' Cable

On Tue, 29 Nov 2005 22:55:16 -0500, Stan Brown
<the_stan_brown@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Tue, 29 Nov 2005 14:18:22 -0800 from Ian J. Ball <ijball***NO-
>SPAM***@mac.com.invalid>:
>
>> Cable and satellite providers complain that "a la carte" pricing or
>> tiers would drive up costs for equipment, customer service and marketing
>> ? charges that would likely be passed to subscribers.
>
>Of _course_ it will drive up costs, at least for some consumers.
>Cable companies aren't miraculously going to accept less money with a
>la carte pricing. So to keep their revenue stream intact they will
>charge enough per channel so as to take in the same amount of money
>they're taking in now.
>
>If I'm paying $60 a month for 100 channels, it's _not_ going to be 60
>cents for each channel I tale on the a-l-c plan. if I take say 30
>channels then the cable will have to charge me $2 per channel to make
>the same revenue.
>
>Of course some consumers will win and some will lose if a-l-c pricing
>is adopted. But it's obviously not going to be a net gain for
>consumers overall. And most likely it will be a net loss as cable
>companies will undoubtedly hide price increases in the new
>complicated pricing structure.
>
>Does no one remember the idiocy of the AT&T breakup just 21 years
>ago? That was supposed to save consumers money, too. What happened?
>Long-distance costs plummeted and local service skyrocketed -- not
>the basic monthly cost, which was too visible, but incidentals like
>installation fees and repair charges and extra charges for everything
>like Directory Assistance that used to be free.

And phone books. Last year, I wanted to get an updated book for my
hometown, which is an hour away from my house. The phone company
wanted $52.00 for it!

And the tech is crap, in comparison to when Western Electric and other
US companies were manufacturing them.

The issue that's persuaded me that a-l-c pricing isn't a good idea is
that it's unlikely new channels will be started, since almost nobody
will pay to sub to an unknown. I never watched FX until "The Shield"
began, and then I was very happy that this "unwanted" channel was
included in my package. The economics of cable is sort of circular,
and I think a-l-c will kill the prospects for new ventures.
.

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