Let Viewers Pick and Choose

[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Mark Cooper and Gene Kimmelman]
[Commentary] Over the past 10 years, the average price of expanded basic cable service has increased from just over $20 to well over $40. While it's true that the number of channels has also increased, typical households watch fewer than 20 of them. Consumers are forced to pay for 50 channels they do not watch and may even object to. Many find the programming on some of them objectionable and are rightfully annoyed they must pay for them. Why not just pay for what you watch? Today, the cable operators, not consumers, decide what channels must be purchased together. Because of that, they're able to favor the channels they own. A mixed bundling policy — in which consumers can choose the big bundles, or put together small bundles, or even buy individual channels — would solve both the problem of price increases and offensive content. Consumers would determine what they want and what they're willing to pay for it, thereby preventing cable companies from overpricing. Exposing programmers directly to consumer demand would also increase channel diversity. Consumers might finally get a chance to see Faith TV, a Christian movie channel, and CoLours TV, a diverse ethnic channel, in addition to channels owned by Time Warner and Comcast. Though this would be a revolutionary change for the cable industry, it is the way most markets work. Imagine Time Warner telling consumers that to buy Time magazine, they also had to buy Time Warner-owned Field & Stream. In the competitive publishing market they can't get away with that, but in TV, they make more money by controlling how consumers get cable and satellite programming. Bundling lets them squeeze consumers and control content. They have no incentive to quit unless Congress makes them.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20051201/oppose01.art.htm