The FCC’s so-called a la carte report is plain wrong, NCTA and Di...

another by Disney defended program bundling, calling a la carte a bad deal for customers. The findings were expected (CD March 15 p10). “People like to pay for what they use and not for what they don’t use, so superficially a la carte has long had appeal,” said Dan Brenner, NCTA senior vp-law & regulatory policy. Bundling’s benefits are “significantly understated” and mischaracterized in a revised Media Bureau report issued last month, he said. Brenner said several times that report “misses the mark.” Selling the Disney Channel as a separate network was failure due to a low take rate and $12-$14 monthly additional fee on cable bills, Preston Padden, Disney exec. vp-govt. relations, said. “We don’t have to rely on theoretical economic analysis, we have history,” he told a press briefing. The FCC misread a 2004 Booz Allen study saying viewership might decline if cable offered a la carte, didn’t discuss the risk of increased customer defections and inadequately analyzed arguments for more, not less bundling, said Mich. State U. Prof. Steven Wildman, hired by NCTA to review the Commission report. Jeffery Eisenach, employed by Disney, said the FCC study wasn’t a cost-benefit analysis and didn’t effectively rebut the Commission’s earlier conclusions. As with shoes, software and other products, “bundling in almost all circumstances is helpful for consumers,” he said. The report backed by FCC Chmn. Martin offered cable operators 3 options including more bundling, instead of selling channels piecemeal (CD Feb 10 p2).