Author Topic: Cable industry slams a la carte study (Read 847 times)

DREDIOCK · « **on:** March 16, 2006, 09:00:23 AM »

Personaly I favor a la carte.
Cable bill is absurd, Satalite isnt much better pricewise.
And out of the sevrla hundred channels I get I only actually watch or want a fraction of them.
For example
I have like 20 different music channels that I never watch.
I have two ABC Stations that exept for the News, show exactly the same shows at exactly the same time. and the list could go on.
I just dont need,want,nor do I wish to pay for alot of these channels I get

Cable industry slams a la carte study

Repudiating a 2004 commission report that opposed a la carte, the FCC says that niche channels, often packaged in a tier of digital services, might be stronger under a la carte: Consumers could order them without paying first for expanded basic networks.

The new reports are a sign of "industry hysterics," says Consumers Union's Gene Kimmelman. "In Canada, you can buy a la carte as many channels as most Americans watch for about 20% less. In France, you can get ESPN for 40 cents a month, so it's hard for me to believe it would be $20 here."

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2006-03-15-cable-a-la-carte_x.htm

indy007 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 16, 2006, 09:59:57 AM »

I'd kill for a la carte. My cable bill is ridiculous... between phone lines, residential broadband, commercial broadband, and the uber channel package (all premiums, on demand content, HD channels)... I pay $130/month for my house, and another $200/mo for my office. The ridiculous part is, with hundreds of channels available, I watch less than 2 dozen. My dream package would be HBO, Showtime, Military Channel, History Channel, Spike TV, and the HD channels... that's all I really want. I don't think I've ever even used the 100 music channels.

Bronk · « **Reply #2 on:** March 16, 2006, 10:26:27 AM »

Don't have cable or sat for just this reason. I dont need x number of shopping channels , or other useless channels. I don't and wont pay for something I'll never use. The only thing that temps me to get cable are Speed , SciFi (seen new bsg once and damn i'm hooked), and military channel

Bronk

Sandman · « **Reply #3 on:** March 16, 2006, 10:29:19 AM »

If the FCC has the time and/or manpower to conduct studies such as this, they are grossly over-funded.

Krusher · « **Reply #4 on:** March 16, 2006, 10:47:50 AM »

All I need is:

Sci-Fi
History
A&E
TLC
Discovery
HBO
Fox
My locals

And I could probably give HBO up.

xrtoronto · « **Reply #5 on:** March 16, 2006, 10:51:59 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Krusher
And I could probably give HBO up.

give up HBO and you'll be getting a visit from this guy:

Mustaine · « **Reply #6 on:** March 16, 2006, 11:36:56 AM »

seeing as i lost cable at my house, and just spent the night at parents last night watching cable....

i found myself surfing in no particular order:

A&E
Bravo
Turner Classic Movies
AMC
Sci-Fi
Comedy Central
MTV
VH1
Spike
Discovery
History
Travel
FX
USA
TNT
CMT
TBS
Animal Planet
TV Land
Cartoon Network

add all those up, would i save money a la carte? there's at least 1 thing i like watching on most of those channels at one time or another. depends on the mood.

Krusher · « **Reply #7 on:** March 16, 2006, 12:33:42 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by xrtoronto
give up HBO and you'll be getting a visit from this guy:

But Tony, I watched it on DVD rentals I swear !

Sandman · « **Reply #8 on:** March 16, 2006, 12:35:16 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Mustaine
seeing as i lost cable at my house, and just spent the night at parents last night watching cable....

i found myself surfing in no particular order:

A&E
Bravo
Turner Classic Movies
AMC
Sci-Fi
Comedy Central
MTV
VH1
Spike
Discovery
History
Travel
FX
USA
TNT
CMT
TBS
Animal Planet
TV Land
Cartoon Network

add all those up, would i save money a la carte? there's at least 1 thing i like watching on most of those channels at one time or another. depends on the mood.

With TiVo, I do not surf ever. A la carte would be cheaper for me.

Mustaine · « **Reply #9 on:** March 16, 2006, 01:06:31 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Sandman
With TiVo, I do not surf ever. A la carte would be cheaper for me.

so you sit start to finish thourh 1 show?

i was watching both myth busters and world series of poker at the same time last night, and felt i got a good does of both, along with other stuff when there was commercials on both at the same time.

Sandman · « **Reply #10 on:** March 16, 2006, 01:11:08 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Mustaine
so you sit start to finish thourh 1 show?

Exactly. I don't watch anything "live" and I fast forward through all commercials.

A one hour show has approximately 15 minutes of advertising. I don't start watching until it's at least 15 minutes into it.

Reschke · « **Reply #11 on:** March 16, 2006, 01:12:35 PM »

Yep a la carte would be the way to get it done. BUT somehow I think we would still get reamed by the man. Face it guys the little guys (consumers) never get the deals that would benefit us. It must benefit the corporate enviroment to be good for everyone.

Mustaine · « **Reply #12 on:** March 16, 2006, 01:33:05 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Sandman
Exactly. I don't watch anything "live" and I fast forward through all commercials.

A one hour show has approximately 15 minutes of advertising. I don't start watching until it's at least 15 minutes into it.

see i never know what i am in the mood for. if i had tivo, i would not have tivoed the poker, because i might not have been in the mood.

there's so many shows like that out there, i would not want to spend 2 hours reading tv guide and setting up what to record for the next week / month whatever.

i got a channel changer, it's made for commercials

Skuzzy · « **Reply #13 on:** March 16, 2006, 01:35:42 PM »

Like Sandman, I never watch live TV anymore. I also have dual PVR's so I can record more than one channel at a time, when there are conflicts in decent programming. The last time I tried to watch a show in real time, I found I just could not do it. I really had forgotten how obnoxious commercials are.

That said, sure ala carte would be a good deal. I probably watch fewer than a dozen channels. It will never happen. They will argue about how the cost of the infrastructure would negate any savings to the consumer.

Of course, I would just tell then to fire thier IT staff if that is true.

Mustaine, we do not have to read TV Guide. I select from categories listed on my screen. Very fast, and very easy. For movies, you record once, for regualr season shows, it will automatically record the show each week. For daily shows, just select daily and that is it. Channel surfing is dead. Hehe

Mustaine · « **Reply #14 on:** March 16, 2006, 01:50:27 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Skuzzy
Channel surfing is dead. Hehe

surf or die!!!!1111ONE

i am the bodhi-zappha of surfing (the kind without water

)