In recent years, the idea of pay-by-channel cable television has caught on with a broad audience, but conservatives have been particularly keen on the idea. By selecting only those channels they want to pay for, conservative families could stop subsidizing networks they find morally offensive, and save some money on their cable bill in the process.
But not everyone on the right is pleased to see the idea, sometimes called “a la carte cable,” catching on. In particular, TV preachers have grown quite dependent on the current system and will fight to keep it in place.
The idea of paying for only the cable channels they want might have strong appeal for consumers, but to religious programmers, the prospect seems just short of apocalyptic.
Pay-per-channel pricing “would have a devastating effect on the inspirational programming we currently provide” and “decimate both the audience and financial support for religious broadcasting,” according to the Faith and Family Broadcasting Coalition. The group includes Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network, which is based in Virginia Beach.
The FCC says that the average household watches only 17 channels — and apparently, evangelical right-wingers aren’t pulling in the viewers. To help lobby against the per-channel pricing, CBN, Jerry Falwell, Benny Hinn Ministries, Trinity Broadcasting Network, Robertson’s American Center for Law and Justice, and FamilyNet TV — a motley crew, to be sure — have teamed up to save the costly and impractical cable system that helps keep them on the air.
Their panic is palpable.
Jerry Rose , president of the evangelical Total Living Network , said a big chunk of religious networks’ audience comes from viewers who inadvertently discover religious programs while flipping through the channel lineup in their cable package. Some viewers who sample the programming become fans, he said.
Per-channel pricing would eliminate easy sampling because consumers would order channels piecemeal. Rose predicted that consumers probably would buy only prominent channels, such as CNN or ESPN, and the specialty channels in which they have personal interest.
Many consumers, “especially people who’d be considered non religious, they’re just not going to click off on that Christian channel and pay for it,” said Rose, whose network carries “The 700 Club.” For religious broadcasters, he said, “it would limit our audiences considerably and be a challenge to all of us.”
So Robertson, Falwell, et al will have to lobby Congress and the FCC to stop an effort — popular with conservatives — to help consumers save money and pick only the channels they want to buy.
We’ll see how that works out for them.