Hey guys,
When I get asked by my friends if I have seen a particular commercial and I say no, I get blank stares. They tell me, "but its plastered everywhere". Well, you cannot see what is not on your TV. I refuse to pay for cable/satellite tv. Heres the reasons why:
1) The internet is a glorious thing. A subscription to netflix, hulu, and amazon prime together is still cheaper than most satellite TV (dish network/directv).
2) TV has turned from entertainment. The amount of commercials, in my opinion, is ridiculous. I paid to watch and be entertained. I did not pay for a sales man to be throwing some junk he wants me to buy in my face.
3) The media. The media on these platforms is incredibly biased. With the exception of Fox News, they lean left of center. Fox News leans right of center. But that is a margin that is ridiculous. CNN, ABC, MCNBC. Thats just the three off the top of my head.
4) The Internet is a glorious thing! I can go to any website I want and research the topics that matter to me. I can go and see the biases from each side. Meaning that I can go to a left wing blogger and read their ideas, then go to a right wing blogger and read his.
5) These cable/satellite companies do not offer "good deals" even though it may sound like it. I looked into getting both Directv and Dish. They want you to sign a contract. They charge you for use of the receiver. They charge you a monthly bill. Sometimes they charge for setup, that is if you dont upgrade to the package they actually want you to buy (the expensive one). It was the same for the cable company. Charge for setup. I didnt get far enough into the process to see if there was a contract though.
Thats my two cents on television companies. They are in it to line their pockets. And the great thing about capitalism is that I dont have to be a part of it if the items they are selling do not interest me
Hope this was interesting!
The Nuke Cow
I agree with your post. TV is old. Subscriptions to Netflix/Hulu/etc. are the better options and are more Internet-age industries. Online shows are like Uber replacing the established taxi companies.
ReplyDeleteI was reading an essay about this topic recently, actually. A large part of the difference is that with TV, the advertising is forced upon you - in order to continue watching the show, you HAVE to sit through the ads. There is certainly advertising all over the internet (and everywhere else, really), but it is forced to play a more passive role. Even with youtube ads, you usually have the choice to skip them after 5 seconds...
ReplyDeleteI agree Mr. Cow, tv subscriptions are ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteIn a similar vein, video games are moving away from physical media and towards internet delivery. As a result, smaller games that typically couldn't be published can get wider recognition from digital distributors (i.e Steam, Xbox Arcade, PS Live).
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ReplyDeleteMy roommate uses an Amazon Firestick which hosts an application called 'Kodi'. This allows the television in our household to host ad-free movies, tv-shows, youtube, and other content. The best parts are that there are absolutely no costs associated with use and that new movies and shows (including television premieres and those in theaters) are on Kodi less than 24 hours after they are released to the public - sometimes even before :p
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more. My room mates and I are pissed we committed to a 12 month subscription with *insert any provider's name here*. We chose basic cable, but came to find out that a TON of standard channels are blocked, and that we would have to pay significantly more to get those. MTV, VH1, Spike, Hallmark (for Frasier re-runs), the Golf Channel, TBS, and many more are blocked. What a scam.
ReplyDeleteI guess when a college town cable/internet provider only has to deal with their customers for 1 or 2 years, they really don't give a sh!t. Don't even get my started on our internet. As a gamer, unstable internet connections are the bane of my existence.
So, like many things in life, get all the facts, reviews, and experienced advice BEFORE you commit to something like cable and internet service.
I totally agree that all of these companies are going way downhill and getting more and more greedy. With both TV and wifi, the service sucks and they just keep upping their prices. And is that sucky service ever going to change? No, because in each town there is usually only one or two companies for cable or satellite so there's really nowhere for you to go to get better service. I like Nick's comparison of Uber replacing cabs to internet subscriptions replacing traditional TV service. And you make a great point that multiple of these subscriptions is still cheaper than cable or satellite.
ReplyDeleteExactly. Whats going to end up happening is these places will go out of business. This wont be for a while because the older generation will not conform to the internet. Once these people are no longer in the market, the companies will have no constituents.
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