Giving cable consumers the opportunity to buy cable channels a la carte is insufficient, as long as the cable operators are stocking the cart.
Elsewhere, Todd Chanko makes the case that we need a more edited selection of cable programming. And that the editors should be the dealmakers at the big cable companies. I think we can do better.
We’re rapidly approaching a point where real a al carte–fine-grained Internet-style a la carte–is a real possibility for television. And consumers should be given the option of buying directly from the programmers, with the cable companies providing source-neutral common carrier access to all programming. We should be paying our cable companies a monthly fee for the one area where they add value to the transaction, which is a speedy and reliable connection to the entertainment and information we want from the vendors we choose.
The variety and quality of choices we’d have in that world would make the current cable programming lineup look like the Soviet supermarket it is.
Originally published on my blog at JupiterResearch.