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One of my greatest wishes would be for television to go "a la carte", so the market could decide which networks survive and which die.

There is a wonderful grassroots lobbying organization that has been pressuring for a la carte television for a long time, the Parents Television Council.

According to Wikipedia, the Parents Television Councilwith a stated goal to "promote and restore responsibility to the entertainment industry", ...seeks to inform parents of television programs or other entertainment products that it considers beneficial or harmful to the development of children through such publications on its website including reviews, research reports, and online newsletters. Campaigns run by the Council include allowing subscribers to select and pay for only the cable channels that they prefer to watch, holding advertisers accountable for the television programs that they sponsor, and trying to keep children from watching television content they deem to be harmful and negative.

Over the years, the PTC has launched several campaigns in response to perceived "indecency" on television programs. Such campaigns have also involved filing complaints with the FCC, with the PTC succeeding on a few occasions. The PTC has generated the majority of complaints over perceived indecent television content, whether through letter-writing complaints or indecency complaints filed with the FCC.

Parents Television Council was started by the first Tonight Show host, Steve Allen, and was run for a number of years by William F. Buckley's nephew, Brent Bozell, who is head of the invaluable Media Research Center and its NewsBusters site.

PTC has scored many victories with advertisers and the FCC, but it's an ongoing battle. I've been a PTC supporter for a dozen years. It is well worth sending them a donation every so often to get their newsletter in the mail, which often contains petitions you can send back to the FCC or your local television stations -- lobbying made easy. You can also check them out online.