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I would like to see the providers offer this on their own. I would NOT like to see a law mandating it.
The Internet is changing the game with regard to visual entertainment. Ten years ago, I might have supported this bill. Not today. Today, the cable companies are already losing large numbers of people to Netflix & Hulu. This trend will continue until they give people more choices and lower prices. They will get to an "a la carte" system on their own - no need to force it at the barrel of a gun.
Ditto.
Competition should drive improvements,not wrong headed laws.
I would like to see the providers offer this on their own. I would NOT like to see a law mandating it.
The Internet is changing the game with regard to visual entertainment. Ten years ago, I might have supported this bill. Not today. Today, the cable companies are already losing large numbers of people to Netflix & Hulu. This trend will continue until they give people more choices and lower prices. They will get to an "a la carte" system on their own - no need to force it at the barrel of a gun.
To some extent I agree, but cable is not a competitive field. The entire industry is basically monopolistic-ally competitive. These cable companies will have contracts with each other that split up regions they provide service to, so there's not much choice in the market.
I would love this. Out of 200 channels there are maybe 20 that I regularly watch. There are a few I would like to watch, but have to jump up to the next package to get those 3 or 4 channels.
I never watch ANY of the 30 or so sports channels, HSN, church channels, etc.
Buy 20 get 180 free. Coming soon to a cable company near you.
We have Dish and their prices are just stupid. I'm going to work on them, about all we watch there is local news. We have a Roku box, Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime, all of which are nicer to watch than Dish. Even with DVR you still have to FF through the commercials.
I don't see why any channels would go out of business under your theory. They wouldn't currently be in business if nobody watched them. The same people watching them now would subscribe to them later, presumably.
Here is the argument against it
If you're spanish and you live in an area that 99.9% of the public speaks english, then no one will pickup the spanish channel and your cable company will not offer it, meaning you dont have anything to watch..
The original theory was by mandating cable companies offer x, y, z, that the minorities would have options not normally open to them.
To some extent I agree, but cable is not a competitive field. The entire industry is basically monopolistic-ally competitive. These cable companies will have contracts with each other that split up regions they provide service to, so there's not much choice in the market.
I'd love to see open competition for this, along with dsl/cable service.. Our dsl service here sucks and I'm forced to go with cable, which costs me $150 a month for just intenet access (since I need open ports)
If you're spanish and you live in an area that 99.9% of the public speaks english, then no one will pickup the spanish channel and your cable company will not offer it, meaning you dont have anything to watch..
The original theory was by mandating cable companies offer x, y, z, that the minorities would have options not normally open to them.
Seriously? I don't have cable , but my parents do and I think there is 1 Spanish music channel. Everything else is in English. Non cable has like 4 Telemundo stations or something like that.
Politicians never let an opportunity get away where they can justify their meddling in commerce... for our own good.
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