Your Cable Choices

Arizona Senator John McCain hasbeen a steadfast advocate for choiceamong cable TV subscribers. SenatorMcCain wants cable companies to allowusers to choose which channels they wantand pay for. Many consumer groupsthink that doing so would help lower theaverage cable TV bill, which has beengoing up at the rate of 4.6% a year since1999. Not so, according to a recent studyfrom the Federal Communications Commission(FCC). According to the FCCstudy, you would have to choose ninecable stations or fewer to lower yourcable bill; since the average home watches17 or more, including broadcast stations,cable bills would leap 14% to 30%with a la carte pricing.