Execs urge less government regulation of industry

Pending legislation would force cable companies to offer 'a la carte' pricing.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
NEW ORLEANS -- Leaders of major cable companies encouraged the government to keep its hands off the cable business or risk pushing prices higher and stifling innovation.
In a panel discussion at the cable industry's annual trade show Monday, executives from Comcast Corp., Time Warner Inc. and Charter Communications Inc. said the government would be overstepping its bounds if it interfered with the industry on issues such as pricing and decency in programming.
"The reality is, we're not an unregulated local monopoly," said Brian Roberts, Comcast chief executive, referring to the competition that cable operators face from satellite-TV providers and telephone companies.
Consumers, voting with their checkbooks, will regulate over-the-top programming and pricing, Roberts said.
'A la carte' legislation
A Georgia congressman introduced legislation last week calling on cable companies to offer "a la carte" pricing so consumers would not have to pay for channels they do not watch.
Consumers Union's public policy director, Gene Kimmelman, also endorsed the concept again, saying: "Consumers are demanding choice and control when it comes to the channels and programming they pay for, and policy-makers are hearing their concerns."
Roberts, however, contended that enabling consumers to buy individual channels could actually reduce their choices in the long run.
"Cable channels are boutiques" that cater to narrow interests, he said.
The current model of putting dozens of channels in a basic subscription package is akin to placing specialty stores in a shopping mall, rather than at scattered sites around town, Roberts said. The "collectivism" has allowed niche programs to attract advertisers and interested viewers, and thus has allowed the channels to survive, he said.
"The government should let the markets run," said Richard Parsons, Time Warner's chief executive. "There's plenty of competition in the marketplace."
Indecency issue
On the subject of indecent programming, Roberts noted that the industry has offered to make channel-blocking technology available to consumers for free.
"Everyone who has kids can understand" the need to keep children from viewing adult-oriented material, Roberts said. But he said regulators and politicians should avoid a "rush to judgment" based on one episode -- a reference to Janet Jackson's breast-baring incident during the Super Bowl halftime show.
Comcast, though, is planning to offer a variation on a la carte programming: "tiered" programming, which packages related content such as sports channels as an option rather than as part of a regular subscription.
Producers of programming do not like tiered offerings because they can lower their channels' potential viewership. But cable companies have been giving tiers a closer look as a way to stem rising programming costs and keep politicians at bay.
Robert Sachs, chief executive officer of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, said that, without the lifting of many regulatory controls in 1996, the cable industry likely would not have spent $85 billion on upgrading networks to carry more channels, increase the diversity of its programs and allow advanced services such as fast Internet access.