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Show COMICS ‘A la carte’ cable could 7 PARDON MY PLANET EZ I4 save viewers money Frazier Moore THE ASSOCIATED PRESS jor cable subscribers, “a FR carte” sounds appetizing: Pick the channels you wantand payonly for them. Spare your family from networksyou never watch and don't want your kids exposed to. And save moneyin the pro- THE BORN LOSER DON'T WORRY, MY BOY, There's gung-ho talk about a la carte pricing for cable TV service, muchofit from the Federas well as from Capitol Hill. But I’m not convinced. starters, I'm‘suspicious aboutthat term.A la carte — sounds mighty French, doesn’t it? Besides,I’m happy with the current plan. You subscribe to a tier of cable orsatellite service, then get a bundle of channels. The more you pay, the widerthe selection of channels you can flip through from your La-Z-Boy. A la carte? Mais non! I want cableto stay the wayit is: as American as a salad bar. And I don’t mean the kind where they weighyour plate.Call it Freedom Vision! Build your own salad,all you can eat. Pay one price. Then go back for more! In fact, when settle down for TV-watching,| picture a vast salad bar beneath the Plexiglas sneezeguard — so many channels to choose from, in any combination and quantity I wish. Thereare standarditems like the TV equivalent of lettuce, shredded cheese and bacon bits. Maybe I'm in the mood for cole slaw or tabbouleh. Maybe Jell-O with fruit. Maybe I'll try some- Daily Herald, Thursday, March 9, 2006 e R 4 thing exotic I don’t even rec- ognize. Andif I don’t feel like anchovies,I'll just pass them by. Maybe someothertime. The bounty of the salad bar apparently rubs someobservers the wrong way. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is pushing la carte as a weed. ing-out process for parents who are worried about whattheir children might see. The other major argument raised fora la carte: It will save you money.Despite getting (andpaying for) scores of channels, the average household tunesto only 17. By hand-picking those channels, a subscriber could trim his;¢able bill by as. much as 13 percent. Atleast, those are findings from a recent FCC report, which contradicts an earlier study that declared a la carte pricing wouldlikely drive up FoOULY, CHIEE, DOYOU REALLY (©7008 by NEA Ine womcomecom I'M LOOKING OUT FOR YOUR BEST INTERESTS! ne cess. PAUL SAKUMA/AP FCC chairman Kevin Martin is pushing “a la carte” channel choice for cable TV as a filtration system. TABSOLUTELY!ITS ONLY NHEN TA UINGTHATYOU G4 NeEDTOLOK $F pT out! THE WIZARD OF ID cable costs. But while acknowledging researcherrorsin its 2004 study,the consulting firm of Booz Allen Hamilton stands by its conclusions. In particular,it cautions that, with la carte,“diversity would suffer. A significant numberof cable networks,including those that offer innova- THOUSANDS OF OUR SENIORS ARE GOING ACROSS OUR BORDERS FOR PRESCRIPTIONS TM PROUD To ANNOUNCE THAT DRUG SALES IN OUR KINGZOM ARE GOING DOWN! tive and untested formats,will B.A. mmcnssimeninoe whne-wnramiomy be forced out of business before they have.a chance to build the MuTTS audience they need to become profitable.” HeY EARL— Viewers may indeed concentrate on only 17 channels. But overtimethat 17 could vary. Viewers’ tastes change and what they choose to watch can reflect that, if the options are there. I, who had no interest in AMCforits movies, was snagged in January by its charming new caper drama “Hustle.” Every now and then GA (Video Game Television) catches my eye, and I’m not even a gamer. After sampling CurrentTV,the youth-oriented news-features network,I find I'm defaulting to it the way I used to gravitate to CNN. «Ina media worldthat’sa little too targeted andpartitioned for mytaste, I think there's valuein breaking out of the Tut; in indulging a whim orjust stumbling across something you would never have thought to watch, Serendipity TV. Sure,a la carte holds out the dual promises of saving you money and preserving your children’s virtue. Sounds great, * But would a la cartemakea dentin either problem? Not likely. I just think it could reduce viewing choices toa short-order menu's dimensions, I prefer (pardon my French) a buffet. WNP wited ABS THEY ALL soutp BE RETURNING FROM THE SOUTH SOON... SHMAYBE THEY CHARTERED |