You can't do that on Television!

And what I am referring to is picking the channels *I* want to watch.

For decades, the CRTC has gone out of its way to make it harder for me to watch the television I want to watch - no doubt it has more to do with protecting culture than it does with unintentionally providing corporate welfare to the "native arts channel" or any of the other 35 channels I don't give a hoot about.

The main service providers are not helping matters. The cost of basic cable is affordable, but for me to get the stations *I* want, I have to buy advanced packages, or bundles, that include a lot of things I don't want.

The good news is that for the most part, the shows I want to see can be viewed "illegally" on the internet or at a friend's House who PVRs it for me. Technology, while lining their pockets, will be their undoing. Personally, I have rejected television as a form of entertainment- I had previously cancelled my cable - and only now do I have basic cable because it comes for free with the Internet.

I think it is time for the model to change- rather than buying "packages" of Pringles at COSTCO that have four tubes of good chips with four tubes of flavours only a zombie would like - I want to be able to buy channels individually. I don't need the local Hamilton channel, or six french channels, or the multiculturalism network - or, for that matter - three different forms of the CBC. But, I would probably get the CBC channels if I had the option.

Technology and the internet (and I mention them independently, because I think they are distinct) are making it that a larger market can be serviced with relative ease. I am sure that as advanced cable systems are developed, and knowing that I can rent movies at a click of a button now, we can have unique cable packages beamed into our residences.

Right now, I am paying a little more than a buck a channel - but I only want about six of the channels I have. I would pay up to $3 a channel for a package that I could tailor to include:

Global, CTV, CBC, CBC Newsworld, CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, CNN, A&E, Bravo, TSN, ESPN, WGN, YES, HGTV (I know, I know) AMC, The Golf Network, Food television, the WB, MSNBC, Sportsnet Connected, and a variety of Pay per view options. That is 22 channels at $3 each - or 66 dollars. I can't get anything close to this for under $120 because of one channel and to get that ONE channel, I have to spend an extra $60. Maybe next year it will be worth it, but the Yanks are just not that good this year.

The point is that the oligopolistic practices of the service providers to force product onto us has pushed me away entirely. If I didn't know better, I would say they colluded directly with the licensing agency to ensure that all the channels that I don't want (but you might love) are forced into my living room.

If there was EVER a minister who would push this agenda it is Maxime "I have never seen a regulation that I like" Bernier (C- Beauce, a reference to his looks). I hope he does to Television what he did to home phone service provision - scare the providers into better service.