[citation][nom]del35[/nom]While I agree with this, I disagree with your claim that Apple was the first to do this. On another note, because Apple has shown itself to be a patent troll promoting locked-down standards and lack of cross-platform support, I would prefer not to see Apple's shiny claws grabbing for my wallet in my living room or computer.[/citation]
Just vote with your wallet and don't buy their overpriced products... Pretty sure there are already some services that could offer the equivalent of that.
As I said before, the problem with delivering a-la-carte TV programming is that the distributor would have to negotiate for each channel individually, rather than buying in bulk. Add to that the in-predictability of knowing beforehand the amount they'll be able to sell (how many customers will actually subscribe for that particular channel, how many will keep it and how many will dump it after a few months) and you have the perfect recipe for a price hike.
The perfect scenario would be a receiver box (cable/satellite/broadband ) that one can buy, connect to the content distributor (cable company/satellite via dish/broadband ISP) and select the channels would like to buy, click and purchase directly from the channel owner (CNN, ABC, etc.). That would be ideal. The distributor would make a small percentage from each transaction. There would be no fourth-party (like Apple) to pay.