Craig Birkmaier wrote: > I DO NOT watch the vast majority of channels that I am > FORCED to pay for if I want the few channels that I do watch. > As you say, I could just say no to all of them. But I cannot > say - I only want to pay for what I am actually consuming. But you keep barking up the wrong tree. The problem you're facing is simply that the monopoly that you choose to use for TV distribution, the cable system, chooses to use this scheme. Which makes sense for them, because it lowers their operating costs. Even with the FCC allowing more equitable franchising: //www.freelists.org/archives/opendtv/11-2007/msg00044.html this situation won't necessarily change anytime soon. Because there are obvious limitations to how many of these multichannel providers can coexist in one location. So they all use the same model. However, you CAN wait and buy the DVD sets for quite a large number of TV programs now. Isn't that a decision made by the various conglomerates? They are bypassing all the middlemen by doing so. Doesn't this point to the actual source of the hearburn you're experiencing? I have little doubt that the evil conglomerates would not mind more of an a la carte model from your cable company, as you keep wanting, if they could jack up the rate of individual selections enough. And if there were very many local multichannel TV distribution outlets, you would see many more variations on package deals than you see now. Bert ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.