Stop Comcast from blocking Netflix!

[Dan J 277]

If Comcast wants to stifle their customers streams they can. Those same customers can also find another way to get the content and leave Comcast.

Most places in the US have only one or two high speed internet providers. Due to infrastructure ownership. The only way there will ever be more competition in the ISP market, is if a public/private company owns the infrastructure and private companies provide service on that infrastructure.

[Kang Lang 7]

comcast, time warner, verizon, dish it doesn't matter none of them will go ala carte. they can't it would sink their businesses. what a lot of people are not aware of or don't remember is that none of those companies are "programmers" they are merely delivery systems. they pay the programmers exorbitant amounts of money for the "privilege" to deliver it to customers they are just the pipeline by which we receive our programs. those programmers raise those fees every year with disney/espn being the worst.

going ala carte sounds nice in theory however what you will lose for that is diversity. you will watch ethnic programming stations disappear not just in rural areas but in metro too. you will lose most foreign language programming barring spanish language ones. i know that i would miss the limited amount of chinese programming i get to watch from hong kong as it is, unfortunately my husband's language is not available via cable (thai).

i absolutely do not purport to know what an answer is, but it isn't just the fault of comcast etc. it's a different age and there is going to be give somewhere i just don't know where. the devils advocate in me says, albeit meekly that i would hate to see netflix win this one outright since all those cable, satellite providers employee lots of folks that would otherwise be out of work in dismal economic times.

[luckytxn 2,264]

Most places in the US have only one or two high speed internet providers. Due to infrastructure ownership. The only way there will ever be more competition in the ISP market, is if a public/private company owns the infrastructure and private companies provide service on that infrastructure.

Yet somehow I am able to in a truck drive all over this country and use none of these companies y'all are talking about and with my Virgin aircard gets usually zooming speeds. I go home and use my card and it is faster than what the cable provides.

[Dan J 277]

Yet somehow I am able to in a truck drive all over this country and use none of these companies y'all are talking about and with my Virgin aircard gets usually zooming speeds. I go home and use my card and it is faster than what the cable provides.

Cell companies generally have rather low transfer caps compared to other broadband providers (200 Mb to a 2-5 Gb). With the exception of 4G service which is just starting to get rolled out, the speeds are often less than 1Mb, on a good day.

You get the benefit of being mobile, but its not really a good comparison to regular broadband.

[luckytxn 2,264]

Cell companies generally have rather low transfer caps compared to other broadband providers (200 Mb to a 2-5 Gb). With the exception of 4G service which is just starting to get rolled out, the speeds are often less than 1Mb, on a good day.

You get the benefit of being mobile, but its not really a good comparison to regular broadband.

I find I usually get better than cable broadband speeds but I do need to be nearer to cities and especially the interstates. Granted the cable broadbands are complained all the time in my area by everyone. I do get to stream and download a lot on the road and don't need to be online while I am at home much.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

everyone in our management team has an iPad now, from the CEO down to my boss. at my level, about half of us have iPads but unlike the aholes above us, we paid for our own.

of course, this means i can download apps to my ipad without going through procurement which is always nice.

Bush has an iPad too.

[SuperDuper! 230]

comcast, time warner, verizon, dish it doesn't matter none of them will go ala carte. they can't it would sink their businesses. what a lot of people are not aware of or don't remember is that none of those companies are "programmers" they are merely delivery systems. they pay the programmers exorbitant amounts of money for the "privilege" to deliver it to customers they are just the pipeline by which we receive our programs. those programmers raise those fees every year with disney/espn being the worst.

going ala carte sounds nice in theory however what you will lose for that is diversity. you will watch ethnic programming stations disappear not just in rural areas but in metro too. you will lose most foreign language programming barring spanish language ones. i know that i would miss the limited amount of chinese programming i get to watch from hong kong as it is, unfortunately my husband's language is not available via cable (thai).

i absolutely do not purport to know what an answer is, but it isn't just the fault of comcast etc. it's a different age and there is going to be give somewhere i just don't know where. the devils advocate in me says, albeit meekly that i would hate to see netflix win this one outright since all those cable, satellite providers employee lots of folks that would otherwise be out of work in dismal economic times.

I wouldn't be betting your IRA on this. Just look at all the disruptive, game changing tech coming out (what we've discussed in this thread), and look at the examples just in the past 20 years about how one technology or way of doing things is quickly made obsolete by a new technology. If the cable Co's stay the course and don't change their biz models, then they will fall by the wayside.

ps, how is that payphone and record store business doing for ya these days? Not putting much food on the table, is it?

How quickly times change, and the times they are a changing.

Edited November 30, 2010 by Boing!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I wouldn't be betting your IRA on this. Just look at all the disruptive, game changing tech coming out (what we've discussed in this thread), and look at the examples just in the past 20 years about how one technology or way of doing things is quickly made obsolete by a new technology. If the cable Co's stay the course and don't change their biz models, then they will fall by the wayside.

ps, how is that payphone and record store business doing for ya these days? Not putting much food on the table, is it?

How quickly times change, and the times they are a changing.

Yep. The delivery system has changed the game. In the beginning of cable tv, most consumers were limited to only one provider and that provider negotiated with tv and film producers for content. Network tv was structured the same way. Now, there are internet sites like Hulu, where consumers can not only watch only a specific show, but can choose which episode to watch. This new found consumer freedom has already made its mark and consumers aren't about to give that up. Add to the mix, smart phones and other handheld devices for delivery along with the impact of YouTube and the barn door is wide open. TV and film production companies are no longer confined to the networks to get their product out to the consumers. They can now go directly to the consumers via the internet and it's a beautiful thing.