Will buying channels ala carte ever happen ?

You can not view streams of the actual cable networks via the Roku box-or any other set top box not tied to a cable/satellite company. At best, any basic cable network that offers a  ''channel app'' on the Roku, will only provide clips of their on air programming, not full length episodes or movies. The Roku website has a list of everything-free and paid content that's available for everyone to inspect. 

http://www.roku.com/channels/#!browse/movies-and-tv/by-popular

If you want those channels then you need cable. It's the only way you can receive them.

The topic of al a carte comes up often but it's something that will never happen.

The ONLY source of ala carte programming was C-band sat, before it went digital.

I think it WILL happen eventually, but it will be a while, and it will start with new networks popping up in a subscriber only format (like Glenn Beck has done). The current networks will fight it for as long as possible before adding their content to current subscriber only services (like most of the big 4 have done with Hulu and Netflix). Some networks (like CBS) will fight it even longer, but eventually too many people will tire of paying for stuff they don't want and will be willing to sacrifice a network's shows until they DO offer it online in an easily accessible format.
Some networks won't be supportable in a subscriber only format, and you will only ever see them bundled, so you WILL see the 120 channel cable bundles for a long time still.

Good quality television programming, like Mad Men, The Walking Dead, etc. costs a lot of money to make and produce. By staying with cable operators who promote their channel they are guaranteed a certain amount of money. Also, with hit shows there's more advertising dollars and more dollars means better shows (at least in a few cases). How much would you be willing to pay for channels that you watch? Even if you only watched 5 of them, if they cost $10/month that's $50, plus add in what you pay for internet, maybe Netflix or Hulu, and it comes to almost what you would pay now for cable. While ala carte sounds like a really nice idea it could also end up being a very expensive one.

In the future there will be plenty of channels now whether you want to pay for them might be another story. Even now DVRs are beginning to impact the content the major networks air. In roughly 50% of homes (and growing) the ad dollars they are losing grows everyday so much so they are fighting to get ratings to include same day + up to 7-day delayed viewing. Going Internet based doesn't work for the masses... try viewing three different HD shows over the house at the same time. You just gave up any advancement in quality you gained via HD. Just like the tax system, laws and everything else in life it's designed for the masses... the current system benefits the most people.

I don't see anyway of building the large audiences required to air the current quality. Sure some of it (such as sports) could eventually find a new (lower cost) model by having to accept what's offered versus being demanded. However most content would simply be reduced and have very little reflection of today's shows. Most would end up paying more to obtain anything close to what they had before. Those seeking such (ala carte) should actually endorse the current system and hope it last for a very long time. Most of the content you want is available now via Amazon, VUDU and whatnot streaming and as pay-tv loses favor their pricing will only go up.... the revenue has to come from somewhere.

Agreed, also this is what people like Mark Cuban have been talking about for sometime. And don't forget that old proverb, "Be careful what you wish for you might get it."

I have been wondering if the real reason for the spat between Dish Network and AMC might be Ergen telling AMC something like, "if you need so much more money to produce those successful series why not become a Premium channel?" Makes sense to me and we would get these series without ads.

Since they've been back on Dish, all of the AMC Network channels were placed in lower tiers than they were before the dispute. So that wasn't the case at all. Dish used those channels as a chip in the Voom lawsuit.

The problem with this is it will only be temporary. IE new network players who cannot get contracts with main stream media will go it on their own. While the cable companies we know of today may not exist in years to come, something like google, netflix and amazon prime will probably replace them and as all companies with power do they will set up "up selling" techniques and packages where you pay probably double to tripple what you really wanted to and get 50x the content, most of it you never will watch. That is just the way things work, its kinda like how for all those years all the major phone companies only offered minutes in chunks never just a pay a reasonable rate per minute and they even do that today. The only way you get individual pricing is always so much more expensive, think pre paid phone plans where you pay for the minute. All companies would just rather get you paying a reliable amount every month.

If I have learned one thing in life this is the universal truth to how things work. Every so often someone tries to break that business model but eventually even that very business tends to go back.

The irony of the whole situation IMO is that we get worse TV although some will argue the other way. I think if we paid individually for everything it would be better you can see this in EVERY aspect of life. AVR