Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin has written a letter to several minority groups saying that it would benefit their communities if cable subscribers got to choose channels a la carte.
In the letter, Martin pointed to a Nielsen study that shows the average American household gets 85 channels but only watches about 16, an experience that's particularly true for the Hispanic community and other minorities.
But under an a la carte system, viewers would only pay for the channels they want, something that would also benefit families that don't want to subsidize objectionable channels they'd rather not have in their homes.
“All of this programming is owned by about six major companies, and they all force these big bundles of programming into your home and then make you pay for everything whether you watch it or not or whether you block it or not," said Dan Isett, director of corporate and government affairs for the Parents Television Council.
Minority networks have a difficult time getting into those bundles of programming. The Black Family Channel was recently relegated to online viewing. Daniel Weiss, senior analyst of media and sexuality at Focus on the Family Action, said something is wrong with that picture.
“Instead of having good family-oriented programming, some of these minority communities are forced to subsidize very harmful content directed toward their community.”
Isett told Family News in Focus that allowing consumers to drive the market would bring independent content and higher-quality programs into more homes.
“If you simply let the market decide what it wants and what it’s willing to pay for," he said, "then you have a much more balanced approach.”
