The Cable a la Carte Debate

A study recently done by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may be able to help you out with reducing your cable bills. They discovered that if cable companies would offer programming on an a la carte basis, many subscribers would save money. Surprisingly, the study's results actually reverse an earlier FCC findings made in 2004 that concluded a la carte programming would actually be more expensive than our current system.

With an a la carte system, you could pick exactly which channels you wanted, rather than having a set programming list. If this system would be put into place, your cable bills could be reduced by 13 percent, according to the study.

Members of the cable industry insist that offering cable a la carte will ultimately cut down on options because channels that do not have much of an audience will not have enough support to continue broadcasting. Reacting to pressure from the FCC and lawmakers, several cable providers, including Time Warner and Comcast, have recently released plans to offer family friendly packages; however, they have held back on any plans to provide cable a la carte. Several government officials believe that cable providers new cable options still do not give consumers enough choice.

However, all of this may not be as important in upcoming years as new technologies and services are introduced into the marketplace. Competition from phone companies Verizon and AT&T; entering the cable market as well as other developing technologies that might make the subject moot.