Cable Ala Carte Pricing A Nightmare

Do you really want to manage your cable subscription like a menu of choices?  A cable ala carte menu might just start to look like a Chinese menu where you pick 10 choices from column A, 20 from column B and 30 from Column C for one low price with sports networks sold separately.  

 If that approach doesn’t suit your fancy, perhaps it looks more like a sushi menu instead:

Broadcast Networks $1.00 each

ABC ____

CBS ____

FOX ____

NBC ____

PBS ____

WB ____

Entertainment Networks: $0.50 each

AMC ____

Bravo ____

Comedy Central ___

Discovery ____

E! ____

TNT ____

Children/Teen Networks: $0.75 each

ABC Family ____

Disney ____

MTV ____

Nickelodeon ____

Sprout ___

Sports Networks: $2.50 each

CBS Sports ___

ESPN ___

ESPN2 ___

Fox Sports 1 ____

NBC Sports ___

Regional Sports Networks: $5.00 each

MSG ___

YES ___

Managing this approach would be a nightmare.  And as you can see, the cost for receiving every channel would soon be astronomical.  Consumers would ultimately be paying more for less.