FCC looking out for the little guys in cable with proposed restrictionsnews, customer adventures, television — by TDavid @ 6:09 am PST
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Cable television that has enjoyed being fairly regulation-free compared to over the air TV is in the crosshairs of the FCC regarding lowering the price of what they cable operators charge smaller television programmers for leasing space on spare cable channels. Also, the FCC wants a limit placed on overall ownership to no more than 30 percent of total cable subscribers.
Predictably the cable companies are crying foul, saying this will “cripple the industry” according the WSJ article below. The FCC points to history which says otherwise.
“In every other industry regulated by the FCC, there have been significant decreases in the price of services, such as in long-distance rates and wireless rates,” [FCC Chairman Kevin J.] Martin said in an interview last night. “But the one exception to that is cable rates, which have gone up almost 100 percent” over the past decade.
510 days ago, our family of five dropped TV, so I don’t have a dog in this fight, but that doesn’t stop me for rooting for the little guys. I’d rather the government wasn’t involved and the cable companies did this freely.
While we’re at it, let’s see a la carte pricing for channels. Instead of jamming hundreds of channels in packages at people, most of which have nothing worth watching, let people pick and choose the ones they want. Or has TV changed in the last 510 days that there is now a bunch of stuff worth watching on these package channels?
We went sans tv about the same time as you did, but I manage to watch a little here and there at friends houses, and there still isn’t anything worth watching on those package channels. I can’t wait for alacarte channels. I could honestly get by with about 10-15 of the 150 channels that are available locally. Now I get by with only one broadcast channel that doesn’t get seen too often anyways as my son seems to think that 24-7 “Cars” is a great alternative.
Comment by thatedeguy — November 12, 2007 @ 1:11 pm PST
Yeah, DVDs can fill in nicely. I miss NFL Sunday, but since we have satellite radio I can listen to it. Once upon a time radio was everything for entertainment.
Comment by TDavid — November 12, 2007 @ 1:58 pm PST
The one broadcast channel we get is FOX, so we do get at least one game a week (usually), but certainly doesn’t compare to having Sunday Ticket or even all 4 NFL channels(FOX,ABC,CBS,ESPN). I can never remember whether it’s CBS or NBC now though. I usually revert to the play by play on nfl.com for updates on the games I actually care to follow while watching the one that’s on tv(usually Vikings).
Comment by thatedeguy — November 12, 2007 @ 2:41 pm PST
I’d like lower cable prices and unbundled channels as much as anybody, but I think the FCC is over-stepping its mandate here. In order to justify their action within the bounds of the 1984 Cable Act, the FCC is counting Fiber Optic facilities from the competing telephone companies as if they were “cable”. Wow. Let’s use evidence of competition as an excuse for fighting excessive market power. The FCC should get some legislative cover from congress before trying to pull these shenanigans. More on my blog [see signature]
Comment by Ike Elliott — November 12, 2007 @ 7:06 pm PST