The current state of TV is a mess, I agree. But don’t assume that a la carte is going to be good for consumers. I watch a pretty limited selection of shows, but I’m certain that if I had to buy an individual channel, show or episode, my costs would easily exceed what I’m paying now. Not to mention the fact that I would not be able to discover or watch something I hadn’t ordered in advance.
The iTunes model isn’t the way to go here. The Spotify model, where you pay one relatively low price for everything, is a better solution. At least with music, Spotify saves me a lot of money, and I suspect it would be the same with the TV.