More wishes for the new year

Re “We wish . . . ,” editorial, Jan. 1

The two wishes for a la carte cable TV and a cheap, easy way to get video from the Internet are related. Based on current and anticipated technology, in the near future all telecommunications will be delivered by the Internet. The delivery service will be split off from content providers. Watching any TV program, originating anywhere in the world, in real-time or time-shifted, will be as simple as surfing the Web.

One wish you left off your list but have supported in the past is a redistricting method for state legislative and congressional districts that would eliminate gerrymandering and make as many districts as possible competitive.

Jim Mentzer

Los Angeles

I was struck by the call for a la carte cable TV in your editorial. This is amusing on a couple of levels: Your wish does not call for a satellite TV a la carte offering (no local ad sales competition with a national provider) and the newspaper industry has resisted such efforts for its own all-things-to-all-people business strategy, no doubt to sell advertising. Gee that is just like cable TV.

As I threw away the Classified section and the ads, I wondered why I couldn’t just have the parts of the newspaper that I read. So how about putting your product where your mouth is?

I would like the front page and some inside pages but not the rest. Parts of the Sports section are good, but I really only want to focus on professional basketball articles, not college basketball or the 49er football articles. Also please provide the Food section for my wife and Calendar but only on Thursdays and Sundays. Skip the stock tables, the Classified, the ads, any columns by the arrogant and mouthy T.J. Simers and the long-form obituaries. If you can deliver this a la carte package at a significant cost reduction, I would be most pleased. Otherwise, mind your own business model.

Brett McKee

Torrance

I’m looking at the editorial for the third time, still hoping that somewhere on your wish list is healthcare reform. And I do mean genuine reform that gets to the root of our miserable healthcare system. No wishes for that? Say it isn’t so.

Tom Robischon

Los Angeles

Well, it’s a new year, and it seems we’re saddled with climate change crisis, oil crisis, water crisis, healthcare crisis, home mortgage meltdown crisis, AIDS crisis, energy crisis, lead-laced-toy crisis, obesity crisis, budget crisis and consumer confidence crisis. I can hardly wait for more crises in 2008.

John G. Thompson

Sylmar