Officials with Lawrence’s Sunflower Broadband are supporting a newly launched effort by cable executives to allow subscribers more freedom to pick and choose which channels they want to receive.

Patrick Knorr, general manager with Sunflower Broadband, said the company was in favor of a proposal cable executives made to Congressional leaders this week that would attempt to control the cost of cable bills by giving consumers more ability to drop large, expensive networks, like ESPN or MTV, from their basic cable choices.

Cable providers, like Sunflower, pay cable networks, like ESPN, a monthly fee. Knorr said many times the contracts Sunflower has with networks require Sunflower to offer the channel to at least 90 percent of its subscribers.

Knorr said that has become problematic because ESPN, for example, has been increasing the programming fee it charges Sunflower by about 20 percent per year. That in turn results in higher cable bills for customers. Knorr said the end result is that people who have no interest in ESPN are having their cable bills rise anyway.

“We think it is really an issue of principle,” Knorr said. “Not allowing people the option to choose doesn’t seem right.”

Cable executives from several of the largest cable providers in the country testified before the Senate’s Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Tuesday.

They said cable bills, on average, have risen by 50 percent since 1996. Cable providers said the main reason was higher programming costs passed along from networks.

Charles Dolan, chairman of Cablevision Systems Corp., which serves 3 million customers in the New York area, said he wanted Congress to help cable providers by limiting the negotiating tactics of the network owners, who often demand that a channel be placed in a basic package.

Dolan said lawmakers also should eliminate the requirement that consumers buy basic service before they can subscribe to other channels.

“Would the government insist that all customers entering a supermarket to buy a loaf of bread be required to buy a dozen eggs and a quart of milk?” he said.

Officials with cable networks opposed the changes, saying that Congressional action would give cable providers an unfair advantage in negotiations.

Knorr said he thought many cable subscribers would choose to drop some channels from their basic service if it would help control rising bills. He said surveys showed only 30 to 50 percent of cable subscribers considered themselves die-hard sports fans.

Sunflower Broadband is owned by The World Company, which also owns the Journal-World