[John O]

But consumers already have the choice not to subscribe to cable, and to block any channels they don't like. The government needs to butt out,

But we DON'T have the choice to get some channels and not others. MTV is part of every basic cable or satelite package. Why should I be forced to subsidize (pay for) MTV when all I want is the disney channel, sci-fi and HGTV? (for example)

All this bill does is uncouple the packages and let the consumer actually pay for only what he wants.

Of course this will result in some channels going broke due to lack of subscribers (MTV being one of them I think) but ifthey can't make it in the open market they shouldn't be around anyway.

[ALPAPilot]

Drop the cable, hook the TV up to the internet and watch what you want. I think that’s what most kids are doing now anyway. Cable TV is going the way of the home phone, an unnecessary expense for a product that is not often used.

[Maceman]

Of course this will result in some channels going broke due to lack of subscribers (MTV being one of them I think) but ifthey can't make it in the open market they shouldn't be around anyway.

But the open market is what you have when a cable company packages channels and then offers the packages to the customers who can decide to either by the service or not. Having the John McCain and the government come in and regulate the offering, and screwing with the business model, is the opposite of an open market.

Besides, people always have the choice to watch TV shows on the Internet.

[antidisestablishment]

Quit subscribing to cable. Get internet only and subscribe to Amazon prime and/or Netflix. Watch what you want, when you want. AP is not all pay per view-many current shows and older movies are free. Drive the market with $...