Senate Committee Rejects McCain's A La Carte Cable Provision

Cable networks' advertising sales divisions may be breathing a sigh of relief now that the Senate Commerce Committee rejected a Sen. John McCain proposal that would have forced cable operators to offer consumers a la carte programming.

The 20-2 vote against the provision was part of a day-long effort in working on a video franchise/telecommunications-reform bill. With the McCain provision out of the bill, experts believe it should ease the way for phone companies to be allowed to start up television services.

A la carte could have affected billions of cable network advertising dollars by diminishing the number of subscribers for all networks--and thus potential viewership.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has been in favor of a la carte--and praised the amendment and McCain, saying it was courageous for him to stand up to the cable companies.

McCain said the current cable pricing system is unfair to consumers. "Why should we, at an ever-increasing cost, force people to accept programming they don't want to see?" he said. "We are paying more for channels consumers don't want, and cable companies get away with it for a long time. People who are retirees don't want to spend $3 for ESPN every month."

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Other Senators worried that the a la carte bill would force off much-needed educational channels.

Committee Co-chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) said that he was concerned that channels like The History Channel or Discovery Network might be lost in an a la carte world.

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