A La Carte

SNL Kagan has provided some data showing that, when it comes to cable, you are paying a lot for channels you probably never watch.

The TV spats of the past few weeks -- between Cablevision and the Walt Disney Company over payments for ABC, and between Time Warner and the News Corporation over Fox -- suggest that the future lies in the opposite direction from free.

Bell Canada's Bell TV satellite service said it is offering Quebec customers the chance to choose which channels they want to watch, a la carte.

The Parents Television Council is calling the proposed Comcast-NBC deal anti-family, anti-consumer, and said it would "destroy the concept of consumer choice."

Sen Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) told a National Cable & Telecommunications Association audience Wednesday that she would resist efforts to mandate a la carte and Network Neutrality, but warned that unless the industry wanted Congress to get involved in retrans negotiations, it needs to try and avoid high-profile disputes.

Federal Communications Commission member Jonathan Adelstein took aim at former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin over what Commissioner Adelstein called the "no brainer" approval of the spin-off of Time Warner's cable assets.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is pushing for action in December on a plan to offer free, pornography-free wireless Internet service to all Americans, despite objections from the wireless industry and some consumer groups.

The election of Barack Obama as president will bring new leadership to the Federal Communications Commission. With that housecleaning, TVWeek hopes the movement to switch the cable television industry to channel-by-channel pricing falls by the wayside.

Cable TV rates keep rising, and federal regulators said last week they're investigating -- again -- whether cable companies are gouging consumers. Why bother? We're squandering limited regulatory resources policing an industry that's stubbornly clinging to an outdated business model.

Comcast is a clear winner in one Washington area with Tuesday's election: Kevin Martin's day as Federal Communications Commission chairman are numbered. Chairman Martin was annoyed by the cable industry's refusal to adopt stricter decency standards early in his tenure as FCC chair.