Sen. Blumenthal Co-Sponsors Television Consumer Freedom Act

WASHINGTON – On Tuesday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) announced that he would join Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) as a co-sponsor of the Television Consumer Freedom Act (S. 912). McCain introduced the bill in May to bring consumers an "a la carte" option when purchasing cable packages.

The Television Consumer Freedom Act would allow customers the option of selecting and paying for the channels they want, instead of being forced to pay for channels they'll never watch. The bill would not eliminate or prohibit bundling as another option for customers. It would also create competition by giving programmers an incentive to sell their channels to new online distributors, and it would give incumbent distributors more incentives to compete outside of their traditional markets.

Free Press Action Fund President and CEO Craig Aaron made the following statement:

“Senator Blumenthal is standing up for millions of cable customers by co-sponsoring the Television Consumer Freedom Act. This bill would help consumers everywhere who are paying high prices for dozens — sometimes hundreds — of channels they don’t want and will never watch. We look forward to working with Senators Blumenthal and McCain to bring real competition and real choices to cable subscribers.”