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Cable By the Channel Favored
Jack Valenti, formerly of the Motion Picture Association of America, testifies yesterday before the Senate Commerce Committee. At left is Brent Bozell of the Parents Television Council; at right is FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin.
(By Dennis Cook -- Associated Press)
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Among other things, they said, it would raise their costs, reduce their advertising revenue and crowd out niche channels that would not attract enough viewers to survive if sold on their own.
Kyle McSlarrow, who heads the National Cable and Telecommunications Association cable industry trade group, said recent studies had found that mandatory a la carte rules "would be likely to hurt consumers by increasing prices, decreasing choice and reducing diversity in programming, and it would do so in a way that violates the First Amendment. "
Without endorsing any particular solution, Martin outlined three options to deal with the issue.
He said providers could offer customers a family-friendly programming package; they could sell channels a la carte, allowing parents to buy only those channels they want; or the government's limits on broadcast indecency and violence could be extended to core offerings from cable and satellite companies.
For more than a quarter-century, broadcasters have been barred from airing "patently offensive" material of a sexual or excretory nature between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., when children are most likely to see it. No such restriction applies to cable and satellite providers.
The House this year passed a bill championed by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) that would raise the top indecency fine on broadcasters to $500,000 from $32,500. The bill would not affect cable or satellite providers.
"We continue to believe it will be an uphill battle to enact cable indecency legislation," Stanford Washington Research Group analyst Paul Gallant wrote in a report. He said mandatory a la carte rules could hurt cable and satellite providers, TV programmers and telephone companies now entering the video business.
"As a result, legislation would have to overcome significant lobbying efforts by powerful industries," Gallant said.
