A la carte: The solution to TV indecency?

Published: 2005-12-09

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In the decade since Congress rewrote telecommunication law, cable television prices paid by consumers have far outstripped the inflation rate. This is due in part to consolidation, which reduces the number of alternatives available if a municipality sours on its cable TV franchisee, but is also the result of demand for more channels -- from viewers and programmers alike -- as America careens toward the mythic "500-channel universe." But what if, instead of viewers wanting more channels, they wanted fewer? Earlier in the decade, the concept of "a la carte" pricing arose to cut the consumer's cost of cable TV. It made little sense, the argument went, to pay for channels one didn't want to watch. Now, a la carte pricing is being touted as a cure for indecency on cable TV. New Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin suggested as much during a Dec. 2 Senate hearing on televised indecency. TV today "contains some of the coarsest programming ever aired," Martin said, adding that an a la carte approach will offer consumers a real choice at no cost to cable companies.

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