This is the strawman they always float to try to shut down discussion of a la carte.
proof please. (there is no reason it should cost *more* for me to remove channels I currently get)
This will only happen with govt intervention. The monopoly hold is too strong for any cable/sat/IPTV service to break (ie. witness Intel abandoning it's IPTV effort).
And FWIW, I hope DTV takes a very tough negotiating stance, even if it does mean service interruption.. it's the only way to stop the madness of content price increases.
EDIT: if it really would "cost more".. please explain how the content providers are RACING to switch to this higher revenue stream. They'd be all over it. It's not much different from the "shared data plans" the cell phone companies recently were so *gracious* to offer us.. anyone notice how the bottom-line cost actually went UP?

Content providers would HAPPILY offer alacarte with the left hand if it meant them receiving more money with the right.