• WSJ (paid subscription required), Friday, February 10, 2006 10:47 AM

Releasing the results of a study that differ markedly from one it announced in 2004, the Federal Communications Commission yesterday said that cable-television bills would be reduced by as much as 13 percent if a la carte pricing were introduced as standard industry practice. The FCC said the earlier study, conducted by Booz Allen Hamilton, was flawed, which led to a different conclusion. In that study, it was said that allowing consumers to pay for just the TV channels they wanted would result in an average monthly billing increase of at least 14 percent. "A careful analysis reveals that a la carte and increased tiering could offer consumers greater choice and the opportunity to lower their bills," Kevin Martin, FCC chairman, said yesterday. The country's leading cable companies, some of which have vigorously opposed a la carte pricing, arguing that it would lead to steeply higher prices for its customers, are bound to react to the FCC study--even though some of the operators have already begun to make a la carte pricing available to their subs.

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