Extinction of Consumer Choice?

I was talking to a friend the other day who brought up an interesting thought. He told me that over the past decade or so our choices in technology has been dictated by the industry. One of the issues bothering him was how HD televisions are causing the limitation of choice in televisions mostly in the larger chain retailers. There are very few options currently available to those not wishing to purchase such an item. After I pondered this idea further I concluded he was right! Here is my example:

My brother and I love buying the pay-per-views for WWE. A few years ago we bought the program as usual but on the day of the event we were unable to view it on our t.v. My father called up the cable company and learned that we could no longer order pay-per-views because we did not have the cable box. Instead we had cable ready on our set. The company also tried telling us we would be better off investing in digital since analog was obsolete. Well my father was not happy to say it nicely. At the time he worked with in the cable industry and from his perspective and knowledge analog was not obsolete. According to him the only real difference would be quality of picture.

How many times do companies and stores tell us something isn't good anymore just to make us buy what is considered the "new" in-thing. Shouldn't we have the right as consumers to choose for ourselves what we want based on our individual needs and budget?

And what about the auto industry as yet another example. Everywhere you look - in advertisements, bill boards, car lots - there is a huge supply and choice of SUV's. You really do not see that sort of variety in other cars anymore. Even with the current outcry from environmentalists and consumers for more energy efficient technology the big auto industry is still cranking out these gas eaters.

There is no doubt in my mind our consumer choices are dwindling but if you think about it who is to blame. After all we do live in a capitalist society - supply and demand. If we all spoke out a bit more often maybe big brother will start giving us more to pick from. If we don't, consumer choice will in the all to near future become nonexistent.