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John McCain Introduces Cable A La Carte Legislation To Stop Bundling
Deadline ^ | 5/9/13 | DOMINIC PATTEN

Posted on 05/09/2013 12:34:44 PM PDT by Teflonic

John McCain wants to unbundle cable and to stop broadcasters like CBS and Fox from moving their stations to pay TV. The Arizona senator right now on the Senate floor is introducing The TV Consumer Freedom Act of 2013 (read it here). The legislation is intended to “allow the consumer, the television viewer who subscribes to cable, to have à la carte capability. In other words, not required to buy a whole bunch of channels that that consumer may not want wish to subscribe to,” McCain said moments ago. The former GOP Presidential candidate also went after broadcasters like CBS and Fox who have said that they could move to cable if they lose in the courts against Barry Diller’s Aereo streaming service. “We’ll also establish consequences if broadcasters choose to downgrade their over-the-air service,” McCain told the Senate. His legislation would also eliminate the sports blackout rule “in events that are held in publicly financed stadiums.”

The proposal is expected to meet heavy resistance among the cable companies. ”Only Dish and Cablevision have been for a la carte and smaller bundles because we think it’s consumer-friendly”, Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen said during his company’s conference call today. “Having said that, there are five big groups that probably have enough clout in Congress to stop that legislation today. He added that “the marketplace is going to determine” if the price is too high. “There’s an awful lot of people who don’t consume (200 channels)”, he said, “and most of us would like to look for creative solutions”.

“This is unfair and wrong — especially when you consider how the regulatory deck is stacked in favor of industry and against the American consumer”, he said. “You can only do that when you have a monopoly”, he added.

(Excerpt) Read more at deadline.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: mccain; tv
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To: andyk

Kick their stupid wires out of the public right of way, and off our HOA’s land. Or, they can offer what we want!


41 posted on 05/09/2013 1:00:56 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: Perdogg

Do not agree.

I despise having to pay for Spanish language TV. Almost a dozen channels I am forced to pay for.


42 posted on 05/09/2013 1:03:50 PM PDT by Hulka
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To: Buckeye McFrog

McCain, a day late and a dollar short.


43 posted on 05/09/2013 1:04:58 PM PDT by hadaclueonce (dont worry about Mexico, put the fence around kalifornia.)
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To: Perdogg
What do you think would happen to your cable bill?

Nothing because I don't waste my time or money on it now !

44 posted on 05/09/2013 1:06:18 PM PDT by Newbomb Turk ("All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.")
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To: Sender

Money.
The cable company gets paid to carry channels that they offload onto the customer. They have FCC requirements. They have money in their eyes.

The only change this will do is allow for all companies to not have the FCC backing any longer.

Talk about no more sesame street hahahahaha.

TV will be Youtube on steroids. If there is a broadcaster of a poll dancing club no stopping from you watching...

Commercials will be worth watching.


45 posted on 05/09/2013 1:07:25 PM PDT by Baseballguy (If we knew what we know now in Oct would we do anything different?)
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To: Teflonic

Attention, Senator McCain! Your ship has sailed.


46 posted on 05/09/2013 1:07:38 PM PDT by Makana
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To: Teflonic

what i want is the ability of tv’s to mute and dim the screen when commercials come on. a user-menu option setting.


47 posted on 05/09/2013 1:07:44 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I can neither confirm or deny that; even if I could, I couldn't - it's classified.)
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To: Teflonic
Without real competition what good will it do?
48 posted on 05/09/2013 1:08:02 PM PDT by Average Al
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To: Teflonic

Thank God Congress is finally getting some work done instead of wasting time on Benghazi... [/sarc}


49 posted on 05/09/2013 1:08:43 PM PDT by Mad Dawgg (If you're going to deny my 1st Amendment rights then I must proceed to the 2nd one...)
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To: Teflonic

television needs to be free... let sponsors carry the load and charge the consumers for their advertising.

i am tired of paying thrice... once for the privilege of having the signal come into my house, and then having to watch commercials and THEN paying higher prices for things because of the cost of interrupting my programs.


50 posted on 05/09/2013 1:09:08 PM PDT by teeman8r (Armageddon won't be pretty, but it's not like it's the end of the world.)
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To: Mad Dawgg
B T T T ! ! ! ©

51 posted on 05/09/2013 1:09:41 PM PDT by onyx (Please Support Free Republic - Donate Monthly! If you want on Sarah Palin's Ping List, Let Me know!)
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To: SampleMan
you wouldn't have to pay for gay tv, unless you wanted to of course....

and all those merchandise channels.

52 posted on 05/09/2013 1:09:44 PM PDT by cherry
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To: Teflonic

No place for gubmint to be nosing around.


53 posted on 05/09/2013 1:09:57 PM PDT by exnavy (Fish or cut bait ...Got ammo, Godspeed!)
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To: Sender
why do I pay $100 a month for cable and yet I STILL have to watch 20 minutes of commercials an hour?

Cause you don't have a DVR?

54 posted on 05/09/2013 1:10:30 PM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: All

translation.. higher prices for popular channels like History and ESPN while they give away Telemundo and Logo..

please stay out..


55 posted on 05/09/2013 1:10:45 PM PDT by newnhdad (Our new motto: USA, it was fun while it lasted.)
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To: lu shissler

If it does pass, I will discard akll the channels I don’t use or want

I think my Satelite provider will want to carry the blaze now that I will only have 10 channels....


56 posted on 05/09/2013 1:12:08 PM PDT by GraceG
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To: GraceG
I would think giving consumers the power to starve msnbc and gay propaganda channels out of business would be a good thing...

It is. And I can't wait for it to happen.

57 posted on 05/09/2013 1:15:05 PM PDT by South40
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To: Baseballguy

Money.
The cable company gets paid to carry channels that they offload onto the customer. They have FCC requirements. They have money in their eyes.

The only change this will do is allow for all companies to not have the FCC backing any longer.

Talk about no more sesame street hahahahaha.

TV will be Youtube on steroids. If there is a broadcaster of a poll dancing club no stopping from you watching...

Commercials will be worth watching.

Yeah, I would LOVE to get the brainwashing that is PBS off my channel, they can air Doctor Who re-runs instead, and I might watch them, even if they have to add some commercials...

We should change PBS to KPBS, because they should pay their bills like everyone else... WNPR too


58 posted on 05/09/2013 1:15:09 PM PDT by GraceG
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To: Secret Agent Man

what i want is the ability of tv’s to mute and dim the screen when commercials come on. a user-menu option setting.

Heck I would settle for “half muted”


59 posted on 05/09/2013 1:15:30 PM PDT by GraceG
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To: oh8eleven

Something can be done. It’s called the Free Market.

Nobody is forcing you to pay for anything right?

If people don’t like the prices, ditch the service. Geez.

We live in a free country. Anytime the government touches
something it screws it up.

As to your assertion that we’d still be living with an ATT monopoly? I don’t think so. If something else comes along that’s cheaper and a better option people would have the freedom to switch.

We’re talking about a different animal if they’re getting government monies though.


60 posted on 05/09/2013 1:15:56 PM PDT by ConservativeMan55
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