I don't think ala carte would be a trend regardless of how ownership shakes out. ESPN costs ~$5 per subscriber per month whether you watch it or not. Its welfare for sports junkies. Move to ala carte and the 10 million true fans would have to ante up without the subsidy from the other 190 million of us that couldn't care less. (BTW, these accurate statistics were completely made up.)
We cut the cord last year and, except for the occasional cooking show, haven't looked back. What I need is a way to cut the internet cord and, at the same time, get gigabit speed for free. Dare to dream.