Look… I’ve been saying for years to anyone that will listen (which, admittedly, hasn’t been a lot of people) that Big Cable is going to die. At least…Big Cable, as we know it, is going to die.

Digital downloads of TV shows and movies are going to kill the basic business model for companies like Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, and all the rest.

Let me explain what I mean. Here’s my set up at home: rabbit ears for local channels and major networks, high-speed Internet service for downloading individual episodes of all my favorite cable-channel shows. Now, instead of paying a monthly fee to Comcast for a hundred channels–many of which I do not use–I pay a small, per-download fee to iTunes or Amazon, and only pay for the content I want.

And virtually all television shows are available online now, some for a fee and some for free.

Once broadband Internet access becomes the norm (if it isn’t already), there is no more need for a set-top box from a cable company. Period. It’s over. The future is in a la carte content.

This is why I’m not surprised at all with the move Comcast made into offering telephone service. They spent the last few years building themselves into a player in the internet service provider industry as well. But actual cable television? Soon to die a wretched death, by my estimation.

And now we have new evidence: Comcast has unveiled a new website called FanCast. FanCast is basically a TV guide mashed together with a video site. They have content deals with all but one major network, and are working on deals with major movie studios. They clearly want FanCast to be your one-stop shop for information and downloads. And so far, that’s fine with me. Go here to check out FanCast.

They have a TON of television shows–full episodes–already available, with promises of more. And the TV shows are free. I guess eventually there will be shows as well as movie downloads that will cost money. Again… fine with me. A la carte, baby!

And this is why a lot of people are saying the HD-DVD versus BluRay war is now over before it’s begun. It’s only a matter of time (years…maybe months) before digital downloads a la carte are the norm. There won’t be a need for a physical disc of any kind, nor a physical “player” to put those discs in. Instead of a DVD in a plastic case, my $15 will buy me a digital copy of that film–at much higher quality, mind you. There are so many benefits to doing it this way, it’s not even funny: no more trips to the store for DVDs, storage space eliminated as a need, higher quality film presentation, less equipment to buy, etc.

This is a very good, bold move by Comcast. They are the first of the big Cable firms to step into this arena, and it’s a signal that they know the days of monthly cable subscribers are numbered. They want to grow this new revenue stream so that when regular cable dies (honestly, probably not for several more years) they won’t have a huge dip in their profits. Smart.

It’s almost enough to make people forget Comcast’s recent not-so-positive headlines, such as the FCC probe into possibly shady restrictions on some customer’s web access, or thelocal Nashville blog for Comcast-haters (people fed up with bad customer service). Almost enough.

If you have broadband, go check out FanCast and watch a TV show, and ask yourself… do you really need to pay those monthly cable fees?