Released: May 18, 2007

A la carte foes have cable links

Source: David Lazarus, San Francisco Chronicle

Rep. Hilda Solis, a Southern California Democrat, had an interesting opinion piece in these pages the other day. She made the case that paying only for the TV channels you want to watch is a bad idea.

“A close look at the idea of a la carte pricing shows that it would be a disaster for consumers,” Solis wrote. “Most consumers would pay more for less, as the sweeping rules would decimate small and niche cable channels while raising prices.”

That’s essentially the view of the cable industry, which has been lobbying aggressively to maintain the current (and highly profitable) practice of selling customers bundles of more than 100 channels, most of which, studies show, go unwatched.

A la carte programming is once again a hot topic on Capitol Hill as lawmakers debate ways to shield kids from exposure to excessive levels of violence on TV.

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