Bob,
The battle between TV program providers ( both Cable & Satellite ) and we consumers over the lack of Ala-Cart programming has been on-going for some time. I believe it has heated up somewhat recently but I do not see this change occurring in the near future. The Satellite/Cable companies do raise a good point - if they offer Ala Cart programming, those channels with few viewers are going to become very expensive....or not be available at all....something that could affect your channel selection. I wish the FCC would weigh in on this on the side of consumers, though.