Ala carte
Ala carte will never come to cable, the numbers don't work because they would have to sell you individual channels for far more than you'd likely be willing to pay.
For instance ESPN charges your cable company over $6 per subscriber because it is included in most people's plans. If only the 1/3 or so of homes who actually watch it regularly wanted it, they'd have to charge closer to $20 - but at that price they'd have fewer interested subscribers, so they'd have to charge even more than that. Channels like AMC are closer to a buck a month, but again they'd have to charge $5/month or more if it was only paid for by those who watch it. And these are what your cable company is paying in volume, before they mark it up to you.
If ala carte ever did arrive, over 90% of channels would disappear because they couldn't pay their running costs. You might say "who cares" because you'd think about all the garbage that's on but undoubtedly a few channels you like would be amongst those culled.
Be careful what you wish for...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
