Only A la Carte Can Permanently Resolve Fox-Cablevision Dispute

[Commentary] There's only one permanent solution to retransmission consent problems: a la carte television.

"A la carte TV" generally refers to the ability for customers to decide what individuals channels they want to subscriber to, rather than having to pay for a package of channels determined by their cable provider. Though far from a new idea, it's most often talked about in terms of how its potential for maximizing consumer value in terms of what they get for what they pay. But I want to point out today how valuable a la carte TV could be for ridding us of these silly disagreements between content providers and cable operators. It boils down to the simple fact that the current paradigm of TV doesn't allow for true market dynamics to work their magic on keeping value high for consumers.

So if the Federal Communications Commission really wants to resolve this situation, let's not take the easy way out and just try to fix the symptom. It's time we acknowledge that what's best for consumers is trying to cure the disease of a broken marketplace that's divorced from demand and driven too much by supply.