Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia) introduced the Consumer Choice in Online Video Act yesterday — legislation that intends to safeguard competition in the online video market, by preventing cable and satellite companies from stifling growth of services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. The proposal could be good news for consumers who complain about subscriptions that include channels they don’t watch, although industry pushback is likely.

The legislation “would bar cable, satellite and large media companies from engaging in ‘anti-competitive’ practices against online video distributors,” explains Variety. “It would do so in part by putting ‘reasonable limits’ on contractual provisions in carriage contracts that limit online providers’ access to programming.”

“In a statement, Rockefeller drew a parallel between the growth of online video providers today and the growth of satellite providers in the 1990s, saying that these new firms should enjoy the same protections as satellite providers,” reports The Washington Post. “Granting those protections, he said, is a boon for consumers.”

“We have all heard the familiar complaint that we have five hundred channels, but there is nothing to watch,” Rockefeller said. “My legislation aims to enable the ultimate a la carte — to give consumers the ability to watch the programming they want to watch, when they want to watch it, how they want to watch it, and pay only for what they actually watch.”

Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) introduced legislation earlier in the year designed to end the bundling of channels, but the proposal has yet to gain traction. As chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, Rockefeller may be better positioned to push through his proposal, despite the fact that industry resistance is expected.

“Although the legislation would not prevent cable and satellite companies from offering usage-based pricing for their Internet service, the legislation is intended to make billing clearer and more understandable,” notes Variety. “It also would direct the FCC to ‘monitor broadband billing practices to make sure they are not used anticompetitively.'”

Rockefeller’s legislation does not directly address Aereo, which is currently being challenged in court. The National Association of Broadcasters expressed concern that the proposal would help legitimize services such as Aereo. “Copyright theft poses a very real threat to the revenue stream that supports local television and the U.S. network-affiliate relationship that is the envy of the world,” the organization said.

American consumers are increasingly turning to computers and mobile devices for their video access. In March, Nielsen reported there are about 5 million U.S. households without cable subscriptions.