A bunch of years ago there was a song with the lyric, "57 channels and nothing on"...with Netflix streaming tens of thousands of choices that isn't likely to be the case.
If cable went to an alacarte format you might at least have channels you want, but as it is, when you subscribe to cable you're paying for foreign language programming, home shopping programming, pointless channels such as MSNBC and all the special programming that is niche related. Some will want those niche programming but not everyone wants golfing/cooking/traveling/Christian/sports/public access etc. There are people who will want one or more, but forcing everyone to buy all of them means you're paying for programming you don't want.
To me, that is one of the greatest shifts in power in the history of human communication.
Think about it.
For all our lives we were force to read what was printed in the NY Times (or whatever local newspaper you read). You read what was printed in Newsweek, Time, etc. If you chose not to read, you were uninformed.
The same with television. You watched ABCCBSNBC and you watched what THEY put on, WHEN it was put on. They called it "programming" but I suggest that it was us viewers who were being programed.
Now with the interweb thingy we can pick what to read, what to watch and on our OUR timetable.
And if the news doesn't suit us, we can actually go out and do our own news reporting and publish it for the world to see/read/hear.
The only reason I have cable anymore is that my wife and kids like it. If it were up to me, it would be gone. 90% of it is crap. Exceptions are: FX, Comedy Channel, AMC, and Fox News. Even with shows I like, such as Dexter, I wait for the DVD to come out and watch the whole season in 2-3 days.