Last updated: February 21, 2008 - 12:06am
[SOURCE: Center for American Progress, AUTHOR: Eric Alterman]
[Commentary] What's wrong with family tiers and a la carte cable pricing? If small, experimental channels and programs are not picked up by enough consumers, media diversity in general suffers. Smaller channels, like Current TV or FX, which try to do something different, would suffer cuts. Then there’s the danger of a trickle down effect. It’s a likely scenario that the family plan could very well lead to some cable channels censoring some of their shows, in order to make them more palatable to the family bundles -- and thus reducing the already slim pickings offered for those of us mature enough to handle television that is aimed at an audience older than 14. What’s more, just what does “family-friendly†mean and who gets to decide? If it’s going to be FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, the former Kenneth Starr staffer and Bush supporter from Texas, I'd say be afraid.
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=1302921