A la Carte Pricing for cable TV

[amagab]

I know I've bitched about this before but it's driving me crazy. Let's stand up and demand a la carte pricing from Oceanic Time Warner!!!!

Why are we paying big bucks for 200+ channels when I'm sure the majority of us only watch a fraction of them. Our household probably don't even watch more than 10 channels.

My brother lives in Europe and there a la carte pricing is the norm. He pays approx $1.50 (1 euro) per channel. Sure, it gets expensive if you watch a lot of channels but they offer both a la carte AND package deals.

I'm sick subsidizing channels I never watch!!!!!

HELP ME!!!

[scrivener]

Re: Demand A la Carte Pricing

I wonder if, with cable being the the prevalent norm, Oceanic should qualify (and be regulated) as a public utility.

[amagab]

Re: Demand A la Carte Pricing

Sure, considering they have a monopoly.

[amagab]

Re: Demand A la Carte Pricing

Doing some research online I have found out that all digital cable boxes manufactured today are enabled to support and capable of "a la carte channel subscriptions". Oceanic Time Warner just have to enable it on their end. What is stopping them? Why can't we have consumer choice? It's quite ironic that a socialist society like Europe have more consumer choice than The Land of the Free.

[matapule]

Re: Demand A la Carte Pricing

I gave up on cable television 3 or 4 years ago. I have no TV now. I get all my news and entertainment on the Internet. Even with a basic cable package, I felt that $30 per month was too much.

There are less than 6 channels I would watch, including CNN, History, Discovery, PBS, ESPN. If subscription television were available at $2 a channel I might become a subscriber again. Otherwise, Time Warner gets no money from me.

[amagab]

Re: Demand A la Carte Pricing

I gave up on cable television 3 or 4 years ago. I have no TV now. I get all my news and entertainment on the Internet. Even with a basic cable package, I felt that $30 per month was too much.

There are less than 6 channels I would watch, including CNN, History, Discovery, PBS, ESPN. If subscription television were available at $2 a channel I might become a subscriber again. Otherwise, Time Warner gets no money from me.

I would do the same thing if it wasn't for another person I share housing with who demands 2 channels that are only available on cable. On sleepless nights however, I do enjoy watching the Science channel and History channel. It certainly would be nice to pay for only those 4 channels. There was some hope in the last administration that FCC supported forcing a la carte pricing from cable companies. Who knows what will happen now?

[amagab]

Re: Demand A la Carte Pricing

I'd like to add that I do understand that Time Warner needs to charge a fee for their infrastructure and support. We would never be able to just pay a channel fee subscription fee. However, having the option to pay a small service fee and then a per-channel fee would be in my favor. Unless this change comes soon I might never see it......it won't be many years until I go to Internet-based entertainment only.

[salmoned]

Re: Demand A la Carte Pricing

With an entire subsection devoted to media, why should we find this post in 'Circuit Circus'?

[amagab]

Re: Demand A la Carte Pricing

Depends if you define cable service as technology or media. I can see it both ways. I will leave it to the moderator to be the judge.

[buzz1941]

Re: Demand A la Carte Pricing

Oceanic has been breaking the law for a long time.

Here's a story I wrote on the issue back in 2003.

[helen]

Re: A la Carte Pricing for cable TV

Does Directv offer a la carte pricing? Does other Time-Warner cable companies in the United States offer a la carte pricing? Do other US cable companies offer the option as well?

[cyleet99]

Re: A la Carte Pricing for cable TV

As a matter of fact, I am going to return my monster digital cable box right after I finish my lunch.
We scaled back this month to basic. We use the computer for any special programming we want.

I looked for any specific channels we might want to get monthly; can't find any worth fighting over. HGTV, food network, history and travel, nat geo, all on standard.

[amagab]

Re: A la Carte Pricing for cable TV

What really are the true options at Oceanic Time Warner? I only see one package and one only on their website....which is the one I have.

Does anyone know of any IPTV box that can be purchased and order channels online.....legal or illegal?

Thanks for participating in the discussion. This drives me nuts!

[helen]

Re: A la Carte Pricing for cable TV

Depends on where this IPTV box is getting it's signal from.

Also I sort of remember that Oceanic cable some time ago (in the early 1990's) offered certain channels for a fee of $2/month vs the HBO channels that ran for $14/month. But this was in the day of analog only cable.