• Broadcasting & Cable, Wednesday, September 26, 2007 11 AM

"Family values" pressure group Parents Television Council (PTC) has rolled a new a la carte cable bill calculator based on a menu of network choices with associated subscriber fees, i.e. what cable programmers charge an operator per person to carry their channels.

However, the site where the calculator appears -- howcableshouldbe.com -- warns that "programming rates and distributor mark-ups presented are derived from the best publicly available information." Therefore, "the data should not be presented as necessarily factual or accurate." Still, the group is trying to make the point that bills could come down if subscribers could choose -- or even de-select -- networks and subtract their cost.

Cable operators argue the equation is far more complicated, and the calculator does not factor in the price of lifeline basic, those channels cable operators have to carry by government mandate. They also point out that the price of the networks would go up under a la carte, since fewer people would be taking the channels so subscriber fees would rise to compensate for the decline in ad reach.

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