Here's Some Irony

Via CNNMoney:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Federal Communications Commission is expected to suggest that cable companies could best serve their customers by allowing them to subscribe to individual channels instead of packages of several stations, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The newspaper said that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is expected to announce Tuesday that the commission will soon revise the conclusion it reached in the report it issued last year on "a la carte" pricing in the cable industry.

Citing an FCC official familiar with the revised report, the Journal said the report will conclude that buying individual channels could be cheaper for consumers than bundles and that themed tiers of channels could be economically feasible.

I get a queasy feeling in my stomach every time the government "suggests" the "best" ways for private individuals and companies to conduct their own business. That's usually because such "suggestions" mysteriously transform into official policy via government coercion.

Here's a novel concept: Perhaps cable companies actually know better than a federal agency what their own customers prefer. What business is it of the FCC to determine the costs of cable television service? If it were cost-effective for, say, Comcast to allow customers to pay only for the stations they're interested in watching, it would already be company policy. Government interference through regulation will only result in higher cost of service and deteriorated service.

I have a suggestion: How about the federal government allow the American taxpayer to selectively pay - you know, "a la carte" - only for those government agencies we're really interested in having around?