I know this is a "Radio" board, but since this is the other side and there are tons of "other" things here, I thought I'd throw this one out for discussion.

Not having read FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's proposal, I don't know if this would apply to satellite or just cable.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=76998

Personally, I'd love it. Of the 150+ channels on my satellite receiver, I could probably drop 75-100 of them and never miss them.

The very first one I'd drop is MTV. What a waste of RF it has become!

What do you think? Would you rather have it the way it is or be able to pick and choose?

Edit add after reading Andrew's post: If you don't have cable or satellite now, would you be likely to subscribe to it if you could pick and choose?

Well, I don't have cable or satellite at all now. If I could subscribe "a la carte" to one or two channels, I might get Comedy Central or something, but I'm guessing it's not going to be cheap. Most likely I'd need to get several channels minimum to make it worthwhile...and in that case, I'd probably pass. If I could get Comedy Central alone for about $9.95/month perhaps I'd do it, but I doubt that's going to happen.

Andrew

Like Andrew we don't have cable or satellite. I think most of TV is a wasteland.

I think most of TV is a wasteland.

110% agreed!

On point, though, the FCC does not have sufficient jurisdiction to tell cable or satellite how to package their lineup. This is mostly political posturing. Mr. Martin has a track record of sticking the FCC's nose into places it can't regulate, especially cable. Proponents will have a better chance banging on another wing of the administration if they really want to implement this.

It seems very unlikely that there is any real grounds to dictate how a rebroadcaster markets its product. If it was a money making idea, they would have already done it. The bottom line prognosticators at the huge cable companies probably figured they would lose more than they would gain by making that option available.

> I think most of TV is a wasteland.

Sadly, this has become true.

My beef is that the industry trend has become that the programs (or types of programs) that were once available for free now require a subscription fee. For instance, I'd love to watch reruns of _The_Twilight_Zone_ and _The_Three_Stooges_, but to me it seems like a ripoff to have to pay to watch this stuff, when 20 years ago, I could watch those shows free on local over-the-air stations. In short, even if "a la carte cable" became a reality, I still wouldn't pay for stuff that was once free.

I think this scheme would make for somewhat less of a wasteland. Right now, shoveling the content is the name of the game.

If it has any recognition at all, toss it onto a channel, flood the rest with ADs, and put it into a bundle and hope it rides along with known better quality content.

On the other hand, if it's really pay on merit system, now that technique does not have all that much merit.

IMHO, the result in the shorter term, would be less content at a higher price. However, with that comes a content vacuum.

Where those happen, we see innovation to fill it with something, and I think we need more of that and far less re-purposing stuff again and again.

I would pay more for fewer channels, particularly if quality were high. The perception that we are getting "150 Channels for 49.95" really isn't one that benefits us. Basically, the garbage is seen as some kind of value add.

Better to focus on what each dollar gets and if each program is worth it.

All of us will see some programming we like go away. Bummer. All of us, over a longer time, will eventually choose from better pools of programming.

Ala carte will never happen. The cable companies and cable channels would cease to be profitable. Simply put, there's no economic benefit for the cable companies to pursue such a plan. Besides, you'll either pay $49.95 for 150 channels or pay $45.95 for your pick of 10 channels. I'd pay the extra $4 and get them all, as would most people.

Our family is not like most families when it comes to TV viewing. We watch very little TV and thankfully our kids aren't begging for the large LCD flat screens (which I abhor...butt ugly if you want my true opinion).

Nielson Media Research has selected our family for a survey on our TV viewing habits. Once they call and realize my wife and I are in the media.... end of survey. Or there is apart of us that would love to give our opinion on what should be on TV so maybe we won't reveal our line of work.

Either way we'll be in the minority.

Oh-oh, it looks like its the end of the line for American Idol and more PBS!

Thankfully there is PBS or I'd not be watching TV at all.

I have never sat through 1 minute of American Idol and don't believe I have missed anything.

Visiting relatives recently subjected me to a night of AI. That's two wasted hours of my life that I will never get back.

On the other paw, I'd gladly pay a couple of extra bucks to get my Flintstones fix on Boomerang.

Chris said: I have never sat through 1 minute of American Idol and don't believe I have missed anything.

You haven't!

I'm not exactly some anti-TV purist. I too have never watched an entire minute of American Idol (what for???). I do very little active TV watching, but I do put late night sitcom reruns (Frasier, Seinfeld, et al.) on while I'm working on the computer. But they are just background noise, like the radio. It's just mindless entertainment that I could take or leave. Rarely worth paying for.

Andrew

http://www.tvunetworks.com

Much like Chris, I don't have cable and have no intention of getting it. I do hear about a lot of great programming (mostly Discovery Channel stuff) that I'm missing, but you don't really miss it if you don't ever see it. Based on the kind of stuff I can pick up with my rabbit ears, I'm not terribly interested in what might be out there on cable. Although TVLand might be fun...

If I paid for a signal, I'd feel obligated to "get my money's worth" and watch it, and I don't feel like I need any reasons to watch *more* TV.

I'm beginning to understand why you liberals are so uninformed. You don't have cable, so you can't get the Fox News Channel.

Ha ha ha! But Deane, here in Portland we can listen to Bill O'Reilly on KXL and Sean Hannity on KPAM. There is NO reason to be "uninformed."

Actually, Fox News is why so many conservatives are MISinformed. They still think Saddam crashed the planes into the WTC.

!!!

We've got Thom Hartman. (Thank god.)

Oh, and there is John Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Keith Olbermann, Rachael Maddow, and others on cable that totally kick FOX out of the running, where being informed is concerned.

There is absolutely no better return for viewing / listening time than with these people.

Fox is a net loss --unless you count the entertainment factor!

I don't have Cable (at this point in time anyways; don't have a plug-in in my apartment) however Comcasts Vancouver and Portland do have a number of QAM (digital cable) channels in the clear (free and unscrambled.) These are mainly the local TV/Widescreen channels (KATU, KOIN, KGW.....), community access and shopping channels. But occasionally you'd find a few regular cable networks (Comedy, Disney etc.) and DMX/Music Choice among them.

So if you have a compatible receiver like, for example, my Panasonic, you can effectively create your own little "a la carte" cable "package".

Problen with clear QAM, tho, is the channels often change positions, and (at least here) aren't numbered the same as they would be on a Comcast-issued QAM convertor. So in this case you'd likely have to reprogramme your receiver every week or so.

In a way, this is conceptually similar to free to air satellite, but it's over a local cable connection rather than coming directly from Space. ;o)

(But in case you don't have access to QAM, like me, I posted a couple of links to local QAM charts at my web page, http://pdxairguide.blogspot.com/ if you are curious...)






Oh yeah, last I checked, CC Vancouver doesn't have Fox Noise Channel on its clear QAM section. Frankly, I personally wouldn't miss it anyways.

The TVUNetworks link i posted allows you to view Fox News Channel for free!