The “Happy New Year” greeting from Time Warner Cable is another rate increase. This time it is focused on sports programming.

The already ridiculously high rates continue to increase. Why is that?

The answer is printed in the sports pages almost every day – another star athlete signing a contract to claim his or her millions.

It was recently announced that the average Major League Baseball player is paid $3.8 million annually, with top stars getting between $15 million and $20 million. Football is much the same, with $15 million quarterbacks and $6 million tackles.

It is a happy world out there, with the owners making millions, subsidized by tax breaks; agents collecting a substantial percentage of player contracts; and the players living like potentates.

This happy world is made possible by us cable subscribers. No one asks us if we want to pay Max Scherzer $20 million per year. We have no voice at all. We are just asked to shut up, enjoy the TV and write our checks.

This out-of-control, “Alice in Wonderland” world could change. Congress has formed committees to investigate matters far less important to the citizenry than the monopoly powers of cable TV. I wonder if U.S. Sen. Angus King or U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree might see a problem here and work for a solution.

We subscribers will be left to our own devices if there is no governmental help forthcoming.

I do not know how to start a boycott of cable TV on my own, but if there are others out there who believe that enough is enough, I would be glad to shut my set down to get someone to pay attention to this economic travesty.

Tom Carroll

Falmouth