Half Price Matinee

Ala Carte, the dream of many television enthusiasts, whereby you choose (and pay for) only the channels you actually want. It’s an idea that’s been out there for a long time. The basic argument breaks down like this:

Consumer - I will never, ever, in my life, watch the Oxygen channel, LIfetime, C-SPANs 1 thru 20, or any home shopping network; could you please not force me to buy the Ultra-Mega-Combo package with all these channels included just because I want the NFL Network?

Cable Company - If we allowed people to only buy the channels they wanted, then all the channels with a small subscriber base would not generate enough income to stay on the air, leaving only the “most popular” stations.

Now, while I could care less if Lifetime stays or goes, I’d be pretty miffed if I lost one of the channels I enjoy. As it stands now, I’ll watch almost anything on my new 130″ High-Def television, but I can imagine that might get old after awhile.

What do you think? Would you be willing to risk losing a channel you like to only pay for the channels you wanted?

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