A la carte Cable TV: which channels would you keep? |
AT&T isn’t a company I think too much of, but I do like them backing customers having flexibility and options in cable channels. I suspect that an a la carte model for choosing only the cable channels we actually watch would result in a greatly reduced monthly cable bill.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said Tuesday that he thinks cable operators should give consumers the option of choosing individual channels, also known as “a la carte.” His stance could push Congress to act. At least, that’s what consumer advocates are hoping
Good to know that somebody in the government cares about better handles on the boob tube, pun intended. We decided to go through Comcast and choose what channels we’d actually want to keep. I asked the family to chime in with channels they’d want to keep if we were able to go a la carte pricing tomorrow. Here are the 27 of the hundreds of channels we currently that would make the cut:
Local channels:
ABC 4
NBC 5
KONG 6
CBS 7
FOX 13
Preferably the HDTV counterparts of the same stations:
104, 105, 106, 107, 113
Sports
FSN 30
ESPN 31
Kids
FAMP 39
NIKP 40
DISNP 41
TOONP 42
News
CNN 44
CNBC 46
MSNBC 47
Other
COURTP 49
LIFEP 51
AETVP 52
TNTP 54
TBSP 55
USAP 58
SCIFIP 59
MTVP 63
Truth is, if we wanted to get really agressive we could probably pare that list of channels down to 15-20 which is a sad state for a household paying in excess of $110/month (including cable internet). We’d keep the internet of course, which brings the bill down around $60-70 per month.
We also would like to keep the OnDemand service with the free movies and would order more HDTV-specific entertainment channels if they were available. Once in awhile it might be nice to order a premium channel like HBO. No thanks on all the music channels. Have never listened to the music channels.
Lots of bloat in our cable channel diet. I remember Jeremy Zawodny going cold turkey on TV some time ago, he excised it successfully from his diet. Wonder if this stuck or the signal sucked him back?
Certainly more to life than TV, but I like to watch DVDs and TV while eating, so I don’t think I’d ever want to completely give it up. I do see a future though where our computer becomes our TV and the need for a separate cable service becomes obsoleted. Sort of like what’s happening in the VoIP space with traditional telephone lines.
What about you? What would your must TV lineup look like?
Did this post make you go hmm?
(Hmm, no ratings yet)
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TV free for nearly two years and counting, thank you very much!
Comment by Jeremy Zawodny — December 2, 2005 @ 2:05 am PST
Wow, you should post your steps for abstinence, Jeremy. Not even HDTV could lure you back? Impressive.
Comment by TDavid — December 2, 2005 @ 9:17 am PST
DirecTV for 8 years and counting so it’s not an issue … TDavid only ONE FSN? I get all of them…
Comment by FranciscoIV — December 2, 2005 @ 10:18 am PST
Yeah, we get more than one FSN but only watch the local FSN, Francisco. And yes, I do miss the Sunday Ticket on DirecTV and the Gametracker: http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20030907/246/
That’s some of the best programming on the tube, too bad it costs even more $$$. Watching eight football games at one time, right on!
Comment by TDavid — December 2, 2005 @ 11:05 am PST
I don’t think I would mind paying alacart. Though current prices may seem a bit high, I think I would end up paying more this way. The packages are a way to keep the costs passed to the customer down, by buying in bulk. I wouldn’t say that there isn’t some kind of rediculous markup on it though. I’m sure they are making a huge piece of the pie.
What does concern me about this is a government agency possibly telling a business how they can or cannot operatet their product offering and price scale. No matter how big or how small the company, I think big brother ought to keep their geazy hands out of it.
Something tells me that theres more behind this push than whats on the surface. I wonder what kind of surcharges or tiny little fees would get passed to the gov’t. What would the FCC gain by pushing this? Like I said, I think there’s more to this than meets the eye.
Comment by ^Lestat — December 2, 2005 @ 11:14 am PST
“Preferably the HDTV counterparts of the same stations:
104, 105, 106, 107, 113″
Actually, that’s the channel assigned to them by your provider (Comcast?). Also KOMO, KING, and KIRO each have not one, but two HD channels. The HD channels are 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 7.1, 7.2, and 16.1.
I also found this nifty link on the KOMO website that let’s you figure out what channels are in HD based on your zipcode: http://www.checkhd.com
Comment by Andrew Ferguson — December 4, 2005 @ 6:13 pm PST
I would probably order everything except BET.
Comment by Mark Lassner — December 19, 2005 @ 2:54 pm PST
[…] It’s also day #2 of summer break and our youngest teen has already complained about having no Cartoon Network. Back in December we listed the channels we enjoyed watching. […]
Pingback by Make You Go Hmm: » Our TV D-day has arrived — June 20, 2006 @ 1:10 pm PST
100 channels which are crap and are missing some channels you want: $80 a month. If you want the missing channels fork over the dough for the $100 a month package. Still missing one or two channels you want? Pay $150 a month of the deluxe package.
or
__ channels that you want * $1.00 per channel = $__ a month
Of course the cable company is going to say it is more expensive. There are going to say “All the channels in the lineup * $1.00 per channel = $$$$ a month”. Studies show people watch 20 channels max. No one is going to buy all the channels in the lineup. Are you really going to buy the infomercial, shopping, music, satellite radio, or religious channels if they were A La Carte? I doubt many people would. That is what scares the shit out of the Cable Co. They know no one would buy all that junk and it would eat into their profits. The profits they are willing to spend to lobby congress to ignore A La Carte.
Comment by Tom — November 15, 2009 @ 6:50 pm PST