In “Why a la carte cable TV is a nutty idea – Unbundling cable is about politics, not about driving down prices,” FORTUNE senior writer Marc Gunter debunks some of the arguments and political maneuvering driving the a la carte push. It’s a must-read.

“Every Sunday morning, The New York Times lands on my driveway with a thud. I customarily discard the Styles section (no interest in weddings), the Travel section (no vacations being planned) and the Sports section (dull, dull, dull). But it never occurred to me -- until now -- to call up the people at The Times to tell them that I would like to buy only certain sections of the newspaper and not others. And if The Times were to tell me the paper is an all-or-nothing deal, well, maybe I should ask my Congressman to require The New York Times Co. to sell its newspapers a la carte.”

Great argument. Of course, there’s much more to the a la carte issue than whether consumers should be able to choose individual channels, per their individual tastes. If there are consumer benefits to an a la carte option in cable TV, then the marketplace will drive it. What’s disturbing is Washington’s apparent intent to mandate a la carte and dictate how customers are to manage what their family sees, and doesn’t see, on TV. The FORTUNE piece definitely opines on the political agenda of a la carte. [Click here for the complete article.]