On Tuesday at NAB, Verizon chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam joined a growing contingent of consumers and insiders who believe the answer to combating cord-cutting is for the television industry to allow for a-la-carte cable subscriptions. He thinks it would be an answer to ongoing consumer pressure and says he understands when consumers ask questions such as, “Why should I have to pay for 300 channels?”

Regarding a-la-carte options, he said it would be “a novel way that could help protect subscriptions in the long run… this isn’t a cause célèbre for us but I think it’s an early warning that we should pay attention to.”

Variety explains McAdam’s point of view, noting how he compared cable bundles to bundled services for cell phones. “As more and more smartphones were out there, (customers) said why are you making me buy a text bundle, why are you making me buy a voice bundle? We said, you know, you’re right, so we did away with that… it’s simpler for them, it’s frankly simpler for us. It’s a win-win,” he said.

McAdam also spoke about mobile video, saying that it represents 50 percent of traffic on Verizon’s wireless network. That figure is expected to jump to 66 percent by 2017. “He said that to meet the demand for streaming video on live events the company worked with its technology providers so it’s no longer necessary to set up individual streaming channels for every customer who wants to watch; a single video channel can handle it,” writes Variety.