State Sen. Patty Ritchie is calling for hearings into blackouts that have left TV viewers without sporting matches and Grey's Anatomy.

The blackouts involve contract disputes between private companies, "but it’s undeniable that it’s consumers who are ultimately paying the price, both in fees for services they can’t access, and in the deep disappointment they experience by missing favorite events and programs,” Mrs. Ritchie said in a letter to state Sen. George Maziarz, the chairman of the state's Energy and Telecommunications Committee.

Mrs. Ritchie is a member of that committee.

I pass this along for its innate newsworthiness — I, for one, cannot live without my... sporting matches — and for the fact that this seems to be a tacit acknowledgement that Mrs. Ritchie believes government can be a force for good in people's lives. That's the big political debate of our times, isn't it?

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