[SoFloFreeper]

Trust me, MSNBC is not making a whole lot of money from advertisers with fewer than a million viewers. What keeps junk like Oprah and MSNBC afloat is the monthly fee we involuntarily pay when we are forced to purchase packages that include 200 channels even though all we really want is Fox News and Turner Classic Movies.

I would LOVE to be able to cherry pick my stations. Where is the freedom in not being able to do so? :)

[zerosix]

I just told my Turner Cable operators the same thing.

They began charging extra for the 10 Encore Movie stations since January but give me at least 20 station in Spanish, for no extra charge.

I informed them that no one in my household speaks fluent Spanish, nor we desire the 20 odd shopping channels, MTV no interest so take them all and give us FNC, local stations for what little news, weather and sports and movies.

[Erik Latranyi]

The provider that allows ala carte selection will make a mint!

[Christie at the beach]

It will not be good if it's a fee in which will be divided for each network to benefit from. We keep them going by paying dues/fees. I don't want to help Msnbc. Looks like this is what is coming at us. Fees (when would those fees ever stop increasing as well). There would only be fees to collect, no ratings impact..they put on any garbage they want/figure turn up the volume for their cause sorta speak..then after that the feds go after the internet because most of us will go there for movies and shows that we want to see.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Right now, you and I pay outrageously expensive monthly cable bills because we are forced...

Hold it right there...

YOU might, but I have Netflix for $8 a month. From the tons of movies and TV shows there, I can watch whatever I want, whenever I want.

SKA-REW cable.

[petitfour]

We happily cut our cable today. Our dilemma has been over college football. So after all calculations, we are saving about $85/month by cutting the cable. Hubby figures that we can always add the most basic package with ESPN in the Fall which will cost us about $40/month until the end of football season. We have xbox Live membership which we pay for via gift card purchased at the grocery store. By purchasing the gift card at the grocery, we earn Gas Rewards points. I haven’t paid attention to it, but I am wondering if Netflix has gift cards available at the grocery. That will multiply gas rewards as well.

I seldom watch tv. What tv I do watch is available on the internet. Our teenagers watch Psych and a few other shows via Netflix. Our younger children watch My Little Pony (oh it is so nauseating!) and a few other shows that our older children find for them. We have one sports nut son who will not be happy with his sports viewing options, but he will live. We will make sure he has summer work that will keep him occupied.

[swamprebel]

Cut the cable, Roku with a huluplus account works great.

[cicero2k]

I tried cutting off cable for a few months, but it did not work. Our internet is not robust enough, Hulu Plus selection was limited. You can’t get Discovery Channel anywhere except by buying the DVDs. Plus the DVR functionality was missed.

Much of the expense on cable goes to ESPN. This is lost on me but I suppose there are ESPN fans who never watch FNC-History-Discovery-AMC etc.

By the way, if you disconnect again; they will ban you for a year. This prevents seasonal connections.

[Vermont Lt]

The fees the cable companies pay for programming are based on the number of customers reached. The broader the carriage the lowers the cost to the company.

If they went a la carte you would have about six channels people would be willing to pay for...and you’d pay about the same. Don’t forget you are paying for the plant as well. And that ain’t cheap to construct and maintain.

[GATOR NAVY]

I was talking to my wife about this just tonight. I am sick of paying for the outrageous number of channels we never watch and never will watch. We finally got enough monthly bandwidth from our ISP to make Netflix a workable option and we like it. After the next and final season of Breaking Bad we are canceling the cable. Eff ‘em unless they give me ala carte channel choice.

[montag813]

Aereo has commercials, so what’s the problem?