Proposed Law Would Allow You to Cancel Your Comcast Subscription In One Click

A legislator in Los Angeles wants to prevent cable companies from putting customers through excruciating phone calls just to cancel their subscriptions. 

The new consumer protection bill from Assemblyman Mike Gatto would force cable companies to make it possible for customers to cancel subscriptions without pressure to extend their contracts.

"AB 2867 allows Californians to conveniently unsubscribe from a service with a simple click of the mouse," Gatto said in statement. "It just makes sense, that if you are able to sign up for a service online, you should also be able to cancel it the same way."

The measure seems to have arisen from a July 2014 episode of a podcast called MVP in which one of the hosts played his entire cancellation process, a nearly 20-minute ordeal in which a Comcast service representative attempted to prevent him from canceling the service. The clip went viral, the internet got angry and Comcast issued an apology to the host and his wife. 

Comcast's aggressive tactics could be related to concerns about losing cable customers to web subscriptions like Netflix, Hulu and YouTube. But that doesn't make it okay to block the exit when customers are clearly trying to leave. With any luck, the bill will pass in Los Angeles and serve as an example for other regions in the U.S.