I don't need HBO Latino. I really don't.

OK, so for years, the cable industry has claimed that channels came in blocks (12 channels of HBO, 13 of Showtime, 10 of MLB/NHL/NBA Season Pass options) and that it would be more expensive to break those down further.

"We don't need a repeat of movies playing on a Pacific time zone clock," we said.
"Shut up, we're the cable company... you want us to cut your cord, bitch?" said Comcast.

For whatever reason, sending the signal in blocks made things cheaper and easier and we all bitched and moaned and forked over $100 a month so we didn't miss an episode of Nick and Jessica's Newlyweds or I Love Lucy reruns.

Life without Cribs? Unthinkable and damn near un-American.

Now this from the Chicago Tribune (and hundreds of others, I bet).

Most cable TV customers would save money if allowed to pay for only the channels they want to watch, a report from the Federal Communications Commission concluded Thursday, reversing an earlier finding that so-called a la carte programming would raise cable bills.

The report set off howls of protest from the cable industry, praise from consumer advocates and mixed reactions from special interest groups trying to calculate whether mandated channel choices help or hurt their causes.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a longtime a la carte advocate, praised the new FCC study and said he would introduce legislation next week to require channel choice.

Two things:

1.) I can't wait to see where this goes and what lengths the cable companies go to in order to kill this backlash.

2.) McCain is focusing on this? really? This is on his radar and is a pet issue. I might have to consider him as a viable candidate in the future. He's like Ralph Nader, crusading for the public good, but without the hippie stench and better suits.