Why can't those who provide tv channels only charge for channels the customer actually watch?

I watch maybe 6 stations but I'm forced to pay for 300, seems with today's technology the providers could come up with a plan for their customers to receive and pay for only the channels they watch. When I go to the store I don't pay for every item on the shelves, I only pay for those I actually put in my cart .
Answer:

It would actually be more expensive for you, and less profitable for the TV providers to do that. For instance, the shopping networks, that almost no one likes, pay quite a bit to be carried, and that helps pay for channels everyone likes, like Comedy Central. In a completely ala carte model, the popular channels would charge more and more and more, while the unpopular channels would probably just die out entirely. Honestly, with digital distribution and on-demand, I think the days of the "TV Channel" are limited. After all, why pay for a whole channel when you only watch maybe 20 different shows? Wouldn't it make more sense to just subscribe to those particular shows? I might watch an occasional 'Big Bang Theory' on NBC but I don't care about their sports coverage. Give me a subscription to Big Bang Theory and let the sports fans buy the games they want to watch. Stadium blackout rules be d@mned.

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