A la Carte TV on its way!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051212/tv_nm/media_decency_dc]
Dec 12, 2005 Reuters
Cable operators to soon launch family packages
Several top cable companies plan to launch packages of family-oriented channels soon, an industry official said on Monday amid pressure from lawmakers and regulators to weed out content deemed indecent.
Comcast Corp., Time Warner Inc., Advance/Newhouse Communications,Insight Communications and two others plan to unveil the new packagesin the near future, Kyle McSlarrow, head of the National Cable &Telecommunications Association, told lawmakers.
The offerings would be digital packages, and the companies McSlarrowsaid he spoke to were aiming to make them available to consumers in the first quarter. However, he did not know what the packages were likelyto cost.
Some Senate lawmakers and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin two weeks ago pressed cable and satellite companies to offer consumers better options to avoid channels they may find inappropriate for their children to watch.
Martin has urged cable operators put together packages of channels that exclude those with racier content or permit subscribers to pay only forthe channels they want.
The industry until recently has strongly resisted such pressure,arguing attempts to regulate its content would violate free speech rights and urged parents to use blocking technology to screen out channels they find offensive.
The Senate and FCC raised the pressure, warning that industry in action could lead to attempts to regulate, like applying broadcast decency standards to cable. That would probably provoke a constitutional showdown.
Yet Wall Street has been nervous about overhauling the cable model,worried that such a move would cut revenue and cash flow. It also could up end the cable advertising world, since rates are based on viewership.Opponents of per-channel pricing for cable warn that changes could leadto higher prices and squeeze out niche channels.
Dec 12, 2005 Reuters
Cable operators to soon launch family packages
Several top cable companies plan to launch packages of family-oriented channels soon, an industry official said on Monday amid pressure from lawmakers and regulators to weed out content deemed indecent.
Comcast Corp., Time Warner Inc., Advance/Newhouse Communications,Insight Communications and two others plan to unveil the new packagesin the near future, Kyle McSlarrow, head of the National Cable &Telecommunications Association, told lawmakers.
The offerings would be digital packages, and the companies McSlarrowsaid he spoke to were aiming to make them available to consumers in the first quarter. However, he did not know what the packages were likelyto cost.
Some Senate lawmakers and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin two weeks ago pressed cable and satellite companies to offer consumers better options to avoid channels they may find inappropriate for their children to watch.
Martin has urged cable operators put together packages of channels that exclude those with racier content or permit subscribers to pay only forthe channels they want.
The industry until recently has strongly resisted such pressure,arguing attempts to regulate its content would violate free speech rights and urged parents to use blocking technology to screen out channels they find offensive.
The Senate and FCC raised the pressure, warning that industry in action could lead to attempts to regulate, like applying broadcast decency standards to cable. That would probably provoke a constitutional showdown.
Yet Wall Street has been nervous about overhauling the cable model,worried that such a move would cut revenue and cash flow. It also could up end the cable advertising world, since rates are based on viewership.Opponents of per-channel pricing for cable warn that changes could leadto higher prices and squeeze out niche channels.
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