I don’t think this is going to sit well at all with the guys running football networks.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is working on legislation that would pressure cable and satellite TV providers to allow their customers to pick and choose the channels they pay for, his office confirmed on Wednesday.
Consumers have long complained about the rising costs of cable TV packages and having to pay for dozens or even hundreds of channels just to gain access to the few that they watch.
But McCain’s legislation, which he is expected to introduce in the coming days, will likely face furious opposition from both the TV broadcasters and cable providers.
‘Ya think? That would make for a very bad hair day for Jim Delany. But that’s not all.
In addition to pressuring cable providers to offer channels a la carte, McCain’s new bill would bar TV networks from bundling their broadcast stations with cable channels they own during negotiations with the cable companies, according to industry sources. So for example, the Disney Company, which owns both ABC and ESPN, could not force a cable provider to pay for ESPN in order to carry ABC.
Ouch. You can’t do that to the World Wide Leader!
The NFL is going to go ape shit over this, assuming it ever makes it out of committee to achieve Defcon 1 status, so I doubt it ever gets close to being a real threat. But it sure would make for some great grandstanding if it ever did. Not that senators go in for that kind of thing.