Is A La Carte Cable Inevitable?

Verizon's FiOS television service made news a few weeks ago when it announced that it would offer its channel packages in smaller, cheaper bundles organized by category (e.g., sports, family, news). This prompted an immediate objection from Disney that the terms of Verizon's license for Disney-owned ESPN prohibit the channel from being offered in a separate sports tier.

The Verizon offer is not true a la carte programming–viewers can still buy channels only in bundled packages–but it may prove to be a bellwether. Consumers have complained for years about lack of choice in their cable packages, which require them to purchase hundreds of channels when the average viewer watches only 17. Now that television programs are widely available on the internet, cable operators are feeling pressure to attract and retain subscribers, particularly younger ones, against the many alternative sources. This pressure will only increase as the networks themselves bypass the cable