Yes, I wasn’t clear about that. But network bundling imposed on cable carriers is only contractual, not regulatory. It isn’t mandated by the federal government. That’s where the consumer deception comes in.
Cable carriers are under no legal obligation to purchase only packages. If they would simply refuse to purchase the bundles and take the financial hit for a few months. the networks would cave and offer what consumers want.
Cable companies would make up their losses and then some as single-channel-purchase consumers returned to the fold. As it is now, their business is shrinking, not expanding.
If a huge market like Los Angeles simply refused to renew Time Warner’s franchise until they offered a la carte purchasing,that could be the first domino in forcing the networks to be responsive to consumer demand.
Cable companies would lose the argument if they refused to buy the bundles the networks offer. Every time the cable company and a network get into an argument the network wins, because eventually the network gets blacked out and the viewers want to know where their network that they’re paying for is. Last year Cox and the local CBS had one of their arguments, so CBS went away right before the NFL playoffs, Cox was fighting the good PR fight, all the way up until a previously planned rate hike went into effect. Then Cox customers blew up at them, here they were “fighting” a hike from CBS that amounted to $2 a month, and then they hit us with another rate hike that averaged $8 month. They caved into CBS’ demands within 48 hours of the first bills hitting mailboxes.