CABLE A LA CARTE? NON, MERCI

Poll: TV Viewers Want Choice in Cable
The head of the FCC and some members of Congress have been pushing for the requirement that cable TV companies offer their subscribers "a la carte" pricing. People would be able to choose exactly which channels they'd get, and would pay only for those. 40 percent of the people polled thought it would reduce their cable bills. 25 percent thought it would increase them. Both groups could be right, actually.

There is one overriding fact that everyone should remember: the cable companies are not going to lose money on this deal. Unless they can somehow reduce their costs, they will make sure that they get at least as much revenue with a la carte pricing as with the current tiered system, one way or another. Which basically means that if they get less money from the people who want few channels, they'll have to get more from the people who want a lot.

People like me.

I'm hoping that if a la carte pricing does go through, it will be structured so only those getting a very small number of channels will see their bills go down. If people realize that say, 30 channels a la carte costs about the same as 250 with the tiers, they won't bother. This actually would not be that difficult to justify, if they charge high amounts for very popular channels like ESPN, because ESPN charges the cable companies a lot.

But I'd be happiest if they just leave things alone.