Well, here's the latest cable showdown between conglomerates, this time between Time Warner Cable and Viacom (owners of Nickolodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, etc) And Viacom is threatening to cut the cord, er, cable, at midnight if TWC doesn't pay more money for the channels. Of course, the reaction is divided, with some ready to move somewhere else if that happens, and others siding with the cable company. I'm get my channels through DirecTV, so I'm not affected this time. But you hear about these showdowns from time to time, so sooner or later everyone's going to get a turn. But nowadays people have options, and I have 2 alternatives right off the top of my head (3 if you count Dish Network) I could switch to if I wished, and that's before you consider online (this showdown has TWC responding that Viacom offers their programming for free online, so why should they pay more?) and other *ahem* means.