There's no question but that the central value multi-channel video services provide is "more choice."Up to this point, industry economics have worked fairly well. Distributors have been able to build sustainable businesses delivering more choice, adding more niche channels to a basic tier.
As recurring fees continue to increase, resistance will grow, some believe. Analysts at the Diffusion Group, for example, say more consumers are unhappy than happy about having to buy a bundle of channels to get access to the relative few they actually watch.
An argument can be made that any move to full a la carte buying will reduce choice, as most smaller networks will not be able to create advertising revenue streams under such a regime.
You will know a tipping point has been reached when the first major network decides it can forego exclusive distributor carriage. That tipping point still seems relatively far off, though. It is hard to see any change from the current bundled offerings that is anywhere close to revenue neutral, even for the largest networks. Small networks will be hurt by a la carte.
http://asktdg.com/blogs/tdg-opinions/archive/2009/04/10/paytv-operators-must-embrace-expanded-consumer-choice-that-is-if-they-hope-to-avoid-becoming-dumb-pipe-providers.aspx
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