All You Can Eat TV: It's the American Way

Todd Chanko | February 09, 2006, 03:38 PM

Senator John McCain has got it wrong. So does the Consumers Union. Pushing à la Carte legislation is one of the worst things that could happen to Pay TV subscribers - the 89% of US TV households that pay for TV service.

Let's keep it simple. You subscribe to a magazine. You buy a daily newspaper (some of us still do.) There are bound to be articles you're not really interested in - maybe even regular columnists that you ignore but end up paying for nevertheless. Naysayers will try to refute my argument by analogizing a magazine or newspaper to the very TV networks that are in question. But the example still obtains: how far down will we drill into content aggregators to identify only that content that meets our needs and our moods? A TV network, no matter how "niche," is still an aggregator; so are Pay TV operators. Where do we draw the line?

Moreover, there is the vague stench of righteousness and censorship - the odious "family values" thugs trying to get their way for a second time. The à la Carte debate is not about cost. This is about preventing diversity of views. Cost is a red herring. What about serendipity? True, I tend to watch only a handful of networks on a regular basis - but I also enjoy channel surfing and responding to off-network promotions for shows I otherwise would have never discovered. I'm dumbfounded that TV viewers would prefer to limit their choice and risk paying more for the big brands than they do now - brands like ESPN and MTV.

A la Carte should stay where it belongs. On restaurant menus.