This is like saying that popsicle manufactures should be forced to sell their products in single-flavor packages because some people can’t eat or don’t want all the flavors in a mixed-flavor package. Capitalism doesn’t work that way. It is competition for customers that forces the hands of businesses, not the customers themselves. You certainly aren’t going to get Congress to dictate that you have some right to buy cable TV in some package that suits you. But why do we see our grocery shelves packed with gluten-free offerings? Because there are people out there who really and strictly won’t buy it if the manufacturer can’t guarantee that the food is without gluten.
If it is more profitable for somebody to offer a limited-channel package, someone will do it, once they realize there are dollars there for the taking. What they do now is to sell you a certain basic package and trust that you know how the channel-blocker on your television works. This is why Congress has not decreed that you have some right to buy some TV without buying a package that includes things you do not want: You have a way to keep the things you don’t want off of your TV, short of going without TV entirely. Not only do you not have the right you want to have, you don’t need it. Well, but some people don’t have the time or knowledge to do this. Wouldn’t they pay to have someone assure them that they can buy something untainted right off the shelf?
You might suggest to your local cable provider that they might find a market niche by offering pre-censored cable packages. After all, we all know that cable providers are totally capable of selling local advertising to a pre-filtered customer base. Why not make it work both ways? People might actually pay extra for a basic package that runs not only pre-censored shows, but also pre-censored advertising–something that broadcast channels no longer provide. IOW, encourage cable providers to capitalize on the edge that broadcast providers have given up in order to compete with cable. If you can make the case that there is money to be made in this way, you might get some interest in it, particularly if you live in a conservative area where many customers might jump at such a package (and even pressure each other into buying). Even if the package were sold at the same price as more inclusive basic cable, these packages would provide a way to sell targeted advertising and to pick up customers who would rather not buy TV at all than have to go to the work of policing it themselves. Just because some customers like cable because it is uncensored does not mean that other customers won’t buy a package precisely because it is censored!
Even if that doesn’t work, it does not hurt to complain about channels you do not want, at any rate. The channels compete with each other to be included in the various cable packages, and the cable companies pay for the channel based on how much money they can make by offering them. If a channel is unpopular or upsets customers, the cable channel saves money by not offering it except to people who are willing to pay extra for it, and lowering the payment they make to the objectionable channels accordingly. So by all means, do write your cable provider and urge them to drop the particularly objectionable channels and pressure channels to drop objectionable shows, with a cc: to the cable provide.
