I think its BS.
I don't watch 80% of the channels yet I don't have a choice on which ones I want to pay for. It's not just WOW (which I have) but it's all the providers including Direct TV and Dish. I'm not a sports fan yet I have to accept and pay for sports channels I never watch, sounds fair to me...
They need to group similar channels together and give people better choices.
Last week I called in to see what WOW could do for me to get the Science channel. It would cost me $12/month to get that 1 channel. Sure I got a whole bunch more (95% I will never watch), I only wanted the one. The guy ended up giving the "package" to me for free for the next 6 months.
When XM and Sirius merged, it was suppose to be better for the consumer. You could pay for groups of channels you wanted. Yeah, that worked. In reality, for me to keep the same service with my current radio, I had to pay an additional $2.99 month so I could listen online and if I wanted to "pick" my channels, I'd have to buy a new radio for over $100.00, to save $2-3 a month.
If these networks didn't pay the actors and people they endorse big money, our rates would be less.