New FCC Report Reveals Truth -- Cable Choice Helps Consumers
by Allie Martin and Jenni Parker
February 10, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Pro-family groups are welcoming an FCC report that finds consumers who subscribe to cable and satellite services could realize widespread benefits if they could pay for and receive only the channels they want. On Thursday the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued its latest report on "a la carte" pricing for cable TV customers, giving new information that contradicted the conclusions of an earlier report on the issue. According to the Commission's latest findings, consumers could save as much as 13 percent on their cable or satellite television bill if they had the a la carte option.
Cable providers have claimed it would be cost-prohibitive to allow subscribers to bundle their own channel packages by making selections from a menu of channel options. Supporting their argument was a 2004 study by Booz Allen Hamilton that determined a la carte programming could not be offered economically.
However, the "Further Report" issued Thursday by the FCC found that the 2004 report contained mathematical errors and also "relied on unrealistic assumptions and presented biased analysis" in its conclusions. After correcting the computations, the FCC determined that three out of four scenarios in the previous study would actually result in consumers' costs going down.
Concerned Women for America (CWA) is among a number of pro-family groups that have been campaigning for consumer cable choice and more family-friendly cable bundling. In addition to its outspoken advocacy for these changes, the group has urged Congress to enact legislation forcing media companies to provide cable choice options should they refuse to do so voluntarily.
CWA's Lanier Swann says the FCC's new report "puts the lie to cable magnates' wild claims that a la carte would cost consumers more money and was not economically feasible." That argument, she contends, "has fallen flat on its face" now that the true facts have been revealed in the federal bureau's corrected report.
Congress has no excuse not to act on legislation calling for cable choice for consumers now, Swann asserts. When such legislation is passed, she adds, a la carte pricing will not only "put choice back into consumers' hands," but it will also "put a few dollars there as well."
Another pro-family group, the Parents Television Council (PTC), also lauded the FCC's release of the new report. In a statement yesterday, PTC president Brent Bozell remarked, "We applaud the FCC and Chairman [Kevin] Martin for bringing truth to an issue where only lies and deceit had gone before: Cable Choice will help, not hurt, consumers."
The head of the parent and family advocacy group says he and his organization hope the Commission's announcement will spur the cable industry to do the responsible thing and offer unbundled network programming for those consumers who want it. "Consumers -- and especially families -- must be afforded the ability to pick and choose and pay for only those networks they want in their homes," he contends.
Cable Companies' Unfair Media Monopoly
Dan Isett, the PTC's director of corporate and government affairs, agrees that the current system that cable and satellite companies provide for their customers is unfair for families. "It forces people to subscribe to channels that they don't watch and all too often find offensive," he says.
"For example," Isett explains, "if you're going to take Nickelodeon and The History Channel for your kids to watch, you're stuck having to pay for MTV and VH1 and Spike TV and all these other networks that you may not ever even watch. Hopefully this report will pave the way to a change in that policy."
For several years, Isett adds, the cable industry has "perpetrated this untruth that somehow allowing their own customers to choose channels would be more expensive for them -- that competition yields more expense." However, he asserts, that false notion "has been thoroughly debunked by the FCC."
In its February 9 statement, Brent Bozell and the Parents Television Council called upon the cable industry to "shed their anti-competitive practices." And if the cable companies refuse, the PTC president advised, "then Congress should force them to do so."
Shortly after the Commission released its latest report on a la cart cable programming, Senator John McCain announced he would introduce legislation to give consumers more choices when it comes to cable television. But Isett emphasizes that legislation would not be needed if the media companies would voluntarily allow customers to pick and choose the channels they deem appropriate for their families.
