In a trial that is underway in Charleston, S.C., and other U.S. cities, Comcast Corp. is offering television subscribers more of a choice in deciding what programming they want to pay for.
Comcast has rolled out MyTV Choice in Charleston, Seattle and parts of western New England, including some areas within Connecticut, western Massachusetts, Vermont and the Carmel, N.Y. area.
Customers have the option of selecting one of two packages that cost $24.95 and $44.95. The less expensive package, dubbed “get started," includes about 55 to 60 channels like A&E, FX and Comedy Central. The other package called “get started plus" includes those same channels plus additional programming, including BBC America and Versus.
Comcast subscribers can then add a $10-per-month theme-based package that includes the following categories: kids; news and information; entertainment and lifestyle; and movies. For example, the news and information package features such channels as Bloomberg, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and National Geographic.
Comcast spokeswoman Alana Davis explained to vision2mobile the motivation behind the trials: “We always want to give our customers more choices and flexibility in our packaging."
Over the summer, Philadelphia-based Comcast rolled out the offerings in western New England and Seattle where customers must purchase a so-called triple play package of three services – TV, Internet access and voice – in order to participate in the trial. In Charleston, where the packages were introduced this week, customers don’t need a triple play.
Davis said Comcast has not “committed to a definitive timeline" as to the length of the trials.
Comcast is experimenting with the new packages at a time when pay TV operators are reportedly expressing interest in a la carte pricing model that would enable subscribers to only pay for the channels they want to watch. Reuters reported last month that cable operators in the U.S. are privately working on a plan that would force programmers to unbundle their networks and allow customers to subscribe to channels on an individual basis.
But the nation’s largest TV operator doesn’t appear to be interested in implementing a la carte pricing – at least anytime soon.
Davis said the trials underway do not represent a la carte pricing.
“A la carte is really about buying per channel," she said. “We do not offer a la carte and we don’t have any plans to."
