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Note: As we pointed out earlier when the McCain Draft was released; this is an utterly bizarre development in the telecommunications policy world of the Senate. Why would 'a la Carte' cable packages be attached to franchise fees - the two issues are unrelated.

McCain's Bill gives video providers (telcos and cablecos) a huge payoff for providing 'a la Carte'. The Public gets the same commercial fare only rearranged, but at the expense and loss of public, educational and governnmental programming (PEG). McCain's 'a la Carte' will all but eliminate local noncommercial programming offerings around the country. This Bill is misguided and misinformed.

from: Multichannel News

This is an utterly bizarre development in the telecommunications policy world of the Senate. Why would 'a la Carte' cable packages be attached to national video franchise requirements? The two issues have no bearing on one another. And the proposed reduction in public interest set-asides (3.7%) all but assures that non-commercial PEG channels will not make it to the dinner table of public media consumption. This menu has been clearly been drafted by the telephone companies - and we think the costs to the public interest are far too great.