A Judge Has Temporary Blocked Maine’s New A La Carte Cable TV Law


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TV RemoteRecently, Maine passed a law requiring that cable operators offer an à la carte TV option. The new law says that “a cable system operator shall offer subscribers the option of purchasing access to cable channels, or programs on cable channels, individually.” This would bring à la carte TV, which many have hoped for, to the state of Maine.

Now a federal judge has temporarily blocked this new law from taking effect as Comcast and a growing list of other cable networks move to challenge the new law.

The fear of cable companies is understandable. Many have predicted that a lot of cable TV channels would not survive à la carte TV as they count on people paying for the channel who don’t watch the channel. The possibility of many profitable channels shutting down because most cable TV subscribers don’t watch them has prevented any hope of à la carte TV in the past.

This will be a major landmark case for both cord cutting and cable TV. Already many cable TV companies and content owners have sued to try to block the law. If Comcast, Fox, CBS, Disney, and over 200 cable companies win, it will set back hopes for à la carte TV. If Maine wins, it could open the floodgates for other states to require a true à la carte TV option.

The law went into effect on September 19, 2019. For now, though, it is not being enforced. Those behind this lawsuit hope to block that from ever happening. Cord Cutters News will be keeping a close eye on this case and will post updates as we learn more.

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