• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, June 22, 2015

Apparently traditional TV, time-shifted TV, and over-the-top (OTT) services aren’t enough: People will pay additionally for single TV movies/programs/sports events -- presumably either ad-free or with limited advertising.

In a Hub Research April survey, 20% of respondents aged 16-64, who have watched TV programs/movies online on any device, say they have paid for separate programs/movies. This figure was up from 16% levels achieved in 2013 and 2014.

Is this the true a la carte world many have talked about?

New OTT services like Sling TV, CBS All Access, HBO Now, Sony’s Playstation Vue, and others offer “skinny” programming packages with pseudo a-la-carte options, but not individual programs.

For sure, this is good news for traditional pay TV providers, whose . revenues from traditional packages continue to drift lower.  But it may also signal perhaps another opportunity for niche businesses to find new viewers.

This isn’t news for the likes of WWE, with its big events from Wrestlemania or big boxing promoters.  They have been making money with now-quaint-looking pay-per-view channels for a couple of decades.

Back in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s, TV analysts were blue-skying the business, touting that one day we could see the Super Bowl on pay-per-view.  People scoffed at that. Over-the-air TV proponents believe that would never happen; today that sentiment continues.

But analyst also said the once-powerful ABC show  “Monday Night Football” would never go to cable. However, that show moved to ESPN at the same time “Sunday Night Football” started up on NBC. And previous prognostications were forgotten.

Considering the way some feel about traditional TV ads, maybe we are getting close to transitioning to single events that consumers will pay for, with limited or no advertising.

Will that model work for the Super Bowl? Sounds incredible, but maybe there’s just a few more years to go before it will  -- and maybe you won’t even notice.