Bob; Blind yourself, you are being led by the blind. Those of us in the real world found out last Thursday (the day after a Wash Post spin piece said otherwise) McCain (the prime mover and subcommitte chair) tabled Al a carte pricing, at least for this session. I'm sorry you missed it. On Saturday, a couple of cable companies made polite noises that they would look into it; but I know that really means that they want to give a sop to the losing parties. I'm all in favor of al a carte pricing, but it will only increase cable losses, and it makes too much sense to actually happen. John Willkie -----Original Message----- From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Monty Solomon Sent: Monday, May 24, 2004 8:55 PM To: undisclosed-recipient: Subject: [opendtv] Time may have come for ordering channels a la carte Congress, consumers push for paying only for what you want Page 1B Time may have come for ordering channels a la carte Congress, consumers push for paying only for what you want By Michael McCarthy USA TODAY Cara Cooper-Padilla is fed up with ever-higher bills for cable/satellite TV service to get the channels she wants -- along with dozens more she never watches. ''Cable should be like ordering sushi, where you check off what you want on a menu,'' says the wife, mother and teacher from Torrance, Calif. ''Give me a list of all the channels that you're offering -- then I'll check off what I want to pay for.'' Count Cooper-Padilla, 33, among a growing body of cable and satellite customers and consumer advocates demanding that pay TV companies be forced to offer so-called ''a la carte'' pricing to give subscribers more control over bills. This model would price channels individually and let consumers buy the ones they want, as opposed to the industry practice of offering a few ''tiers'' of progressively more expensive all-or-none packages. No U.S. pay-TV provider offers channels a la carte, and such demands have gone unheard in the past. But in the post-Janet-Jackson era of decency backlash, conservative and family advocacy groups have added their voices, seeing such ''channel choice'' as a way to keep smut out of the family room. This coming together of groups that might disagree on everything but their pay TV bills -- along with the fact that cable or satellite TV is in about 88% of the nation's 108 million TV homes -- has caught bipartisan attention on Capitol Hill and brought at least saber-rattling about mandating more channel choice. ... http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20040524/6226831s.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.