Kudos to FCC Chair Kevin Martin for embracing a la carte pricing for cable channels, which could lower cable prices. One way the cable industry maintains its ability to keep prices high is by forcing consumers to choose from a set of a few pricing packages, rather than choosing only the channels they want. U.S. PIRG and other consumer groups, including the Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union, have long condemned the practice as anti-competitive. Family-based organizations such as Concerned Women for America have opposed it because it forces them to accept (and pay for) family-unfriendly channels in their bundle.

We published a detailed white paper in 2003 on The Failure of Cable Deregulation, which exposes many seamy practices of the industry.