Minority Groups Target Undbundling

Minority business groups that have historically opposed retail cable a la carte said wholesale program unbundling will be equally "devastating" for program diversity. In a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin and the other commissioners, more than one-dozen groups ranging from the National Congress of Black Women to the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce argued, as they did on retail a la carte, that program bundling increases the availability of minority-targeted programming, which boosts investment, which "yields a higher-quality product." Program unbundling -- which would require cable programmers to offer channels individually, as well as in bundles -- would "strike a deadly blow at this virtuous cycle by eradicating the benefits of bundling," the groups said. They also took aim at a suggestion by Chairman Martin that one unbundling model might be to require channels above a certain per-subscriber price -- say 75 cents or $1 -- be sold individually as a way to lower cable prices and increase cable-operator control over their channel lineups.
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