Should everyone be forced to pay for programming that only 1% of the viewing audience actually watches?
Once, the TLC basic cable network aired programming that was genuinely educational. But today, the channel has become home to shows like
19 Kids and Counting, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo – and
My Five Wives, a program about the Williams family, a clan of “progressive polygamists” consisting of husband Brady, his wives Paulie, Rhonda, Rosemary, Nonie and Robyn and their 24 children.
No doubt, some viewers enjoy such programming, and they should be able to see it. But the first season of
My Five Wives drew only 1.2 million viewers – or roughly 1% of the more than 100 million cable and satellite subscribers in the U.S. Should everyone be forced to subsidize a show only a tiny minority want to watch?
Whether discussing ESPN, TLC, or the Syfy channel, the point remains the same: only under an ala carte cable choice system will viewers truly have the power to pay for only those channels they actually watch.
To learn more about PTC’s Cable Choice campaign,
click here.
