watching tv-- it should be free

Talk about the best con of all time.Tv reception used to be free,then our elected officials in conjunction with our networks realized they could soak the public for big money under the guise of cable tv.After seeing how successful that easy scam was, charlie said to harry,lets take it one more level,yea thats it,i got it now,we will call it pay per view.Now in addition to a regular monthly bill,we will put things we know people really want to watch on pay per view.We have them by the balls.If you dont think there are meetings being run around the clock on how to take it to even another level of billing,call me about the property for sale in hillbilly kentucky,we can strike a deal.

reply to post by brindle


If you know what you're doing and have an Internet connection available... it is ALL free.

Just sayin'.

~Heff

reply to post by brindle


Why should it be free?

This is a market-driven society. TV is a product. If there wasn't a market for it, then they couldn't charge for it. If anything TV should be even more expensive, so that families would go outside and play ball, or hike, or something.

Would you propose that we raise my taxes, even though I don't watch TV, so that some lazy family can sit inside and watch it for free?

reply to post by brindle


I got rid of my television 10 years ago. I hate being subjected to mind programming. Even if tv were to be free, i would not watch it. So, do the best thing and put you tv on the sidewalk now!!. Don't worry, someone's gonna pick it up. Internet is the place to be IMO.
Just my 2 cents

And you gotta love how they charge you for t.v. service then include free of charge all sorts of commercials that take a 1hr show and reduce it to less than 45min. So in a sense your paying for the commercials, what a crock of b.s. I have no objection paying for t.v. service but you can keep the commercials.

This is the part I am confused on....

1) Company spends money building up a physical network (headends, fiber, coax, etc.)
2) Company spends money installing necessary equipment at customer houses.
3) Company pays fees to source providers for the right to broadcast channels and shows.
4) Company now gives away its product for free?

The first three points are reality. The last one is what the OP is suggesting. How exactly should TV be free with those costs incurred? Remember, these are private companies.

I have also wondered this myself many times, I haven't purchased cable in 3 years and I can tell you I don't miss it or it's incredibly high prices (aside from the odd cable show here and there which can be watched most of the time later online)

its paying to be advertised to, they make money hand over fist, from advertisers and cable subscribers, OP you are absolutely correct

Cable TV = we pay them to show us stuff they want us to buy

Originally posted by brindle
Talk about the best con of all time.Tv reception used to be free,then our elected officials in conjunction with our networks realized they could soak the public for big money under the guise of cable tv.After seeing how successful that easy scam was, charlie said to harry,lets take it one more level,yea thats it,i got it now,we will call it pay per view.Now in addition to a regular monthly bill,we will put things we know people really want to watch on pay per view.We have them by the balls.If you dont think there are meetings being run around the clock on how to take it to even another level of billing,call me about the property for sale in hillbilly kentucky,we can strike a deal.

What do you do for a living?

You can still get "free" tv with a digital converter that the government was giving rebates for. If you weren't smart enough to get one then you could still get "free" tv by paying like 40 bucks for a converter. What you are saying is you want all the benefits of what cable brings compared to when it was over the air but you want it to be the same price. "Free"

Running a cable company costs a ton of money and brings many jobs to an economy. Programing costs are the 2nd highest cost for a cable company. If you don't like the rates then blame the programmers and not the cable companies or satellite providers. You have a handful of people that own the most popular content and because of that they can leverage the prices you see today. If a company doesn't want to pay the price for 1 channel then they can lose like 10-15 channels that are high demand.

Your argument can be used for almost anything today, housing, land, food. It was all free at one point if you created your own and now you can't.

I will laugh if you are a person that says Obama is a socialist or you are against health care.

Originally posted by lagenese
reply to post by brindle

 

I got rid of my television 10 years ago. I hate being subjected to mind programming. Even if tv were to be free, i would not watch it. So, do the best thing and put you tv on the sidewalk now!!. Don't worry, someone's gonna pick it up. Internet is the place to be IMO.
Just my 2 cents

Sorry I am not that weak minded that I would let my t.v. control my mind. It's called entertainment, quit being so paranoid.

brilliant! this has been a bain of mine for many many years.

im from the u.k and we have to buty a tv liscence every year, £145.00 for a colour tv and £49.00 for a black and white straight there ...theres a problem i mean who watches black and white tv's nowadays? and is it even possible to buy black and white tvs now? but they know this and that is why its considerably less than the colour!

now when u buy a tv were talking at least a few hundred quid for a decent one, now bear in mind that in the uk we have 5 tv channels....u can buy a freeview box again another expenditure for some frankly extra s**t channels, or you have to have a contract with say virgin or sky to get some decent channels so again another expenditure....

now the reason us brits pay for a tv liscence is to fund the bbc!!...all the other channels fund themselves by advertising yet the bbc cant? or WONT why is that?? why should i have to fork out 145 quid annually for the privelage of watching cash in the attic and songs of praise?!

well i dont! i have never bought a tv liscence and never will...and i get HOUNDED with constant letters through my door and tv liscence inspectors threating me with 1000 quid fines and court proceedings...just cuz i dont have a liscence? they are like debt collectors...harrasing you!

if the population in the uk is 20 million...and they get 145.00 quid from every household...were talking A LOT of money just to fund the bbc?..GET LOST!! i refuse point blank to buy a liscence its ridiculous!

I am finding it funny, and maybe a bit painful, that it seems many people aren't old enough to remember a simple fact... TV used to be 100% free. In fact some of it still is. The business model used to provide free TV was pretty simple - advertisers paid premiums to get their ads on whatever show they wanted. The better the show, the better the ratings, the more expensive the commercial time.

This was a win for the consumer because it motivated television networks to strive towards having the best programming. Of course they dropped the ball often, but at least they were trying.

Then, one day, cable came along... The premise? Pay extra to watch premium programming WITHOUT commercials. Let's say that again... WITHOUT commercials. And, as a bonus, we had the option of subscribing to movie channels... Something rather mundane these days; but in a world where the war between Betamax and VHS hadn't even started yet... movie channels were a dream come true!

Now, fast forward 30 some odd years...

Cable is unregulated - meaning that they can jack up prices as they see fit. Most cable providers have little to no competition in most markets. We have the illusion of choice, IE we can choose "cable" or "satellite" but, when it is all said and done, the reality is that it all just about equals out. Price fixing, admitted or not, legal or not, is obviously part of the game. The major differences are all involving "introductory" offers... But once that first 3 or 6 months is over - well, it's back in the grinder for you, Mr. and Mrs Consumer.

Cable now has commercials. Oh dear God do they have commercials... Even the stations that swear they are commercial free have commercials about their own station and their own programming. The model that cable was initially based upon is now broken. We pay for "premium" service and then receive, basically, what TV used to be, once upon a time, for free. We pay AND they show us commercials.

This, friends, is called "double dipping" and it sucks.

But, like every other damned business in the west, these days, the culprit ends up being hidden within this fact. Networks are no longer about programming - they are about stock returns. They are about inflating the value of stocks as a means of furthering one of the illusions of our false economy... our little "produce nothing - create revenue from thin air" tactics. Oh, and also to the pay the exorbitant salaries of modern day alchemists, that we call CEO's, COO's, and CFO's.. .wizards who know this magical formula for turning nothing into gold. To create wealth from thin air.

Don't fool yourself kids... paying for TV is not about buying product from a legitimate vendor at a fair value that is supported and sustained by an open market... Paying for TV is all part of your enslavement.

So... sit back, enjoy your favorite show, complete with helpful and informative commercials designed and tailored to your specific interests and weaknesses, and live the American dream.

~Heff

Originally posted by NWOnoworldorder
brilliant! this has been a bain of mine for many many years.

im from the u.k and we have to buty a tv liscence every year, £145.00 for a colour tv and £49.00 for a black and white straight there ...theres a problem i mean who watches black and white tv's nowadays? and is it even possible to buy black and white tvs now? but they know this and that is why its considerably less than the colour!

now when u buy a tv were talking at least a few hundred quid for a decent one, now bear in mind that in the uk we have 5 tv channels....u can buy a freeview box again another expenditure for some frankly extra s**t channels, or you have to have a contract with say virgin or sky to get some decent channels so again another expenditure....

now the reason us brits pay for a tv liscence is to fund the bbc!!...all the other channels fund themselves by advertising yet the bbc cant? or WONT why is that?? why should i have to fork out 145 quid annually for the privelage of watching cash in the attic and songs of praise?!

well i dont! i have never bought a tv liscence and never will...and i get HOUNDED with constant letters through my door and tv liscence inspectors threating me with 1000 quid fines and court proceedings...just cuz i dont have a liscence? they are like debt collectors...harrasing you!

if the population in the uk is 20 million...and they get 145.00 quid from every household...were talking A LOT of money just to fund the bbc?..GET LOST!! i refuse point blank to buy a liscence its ridiculous!

Thanks,it really was a brilliant wasnt it,love the mask.

reply to post by NWOnoworldorder


That is insane I really do feel for you over there. I would be willing to bet that will work it's way this way eventually.

How come so many people here on ATS think everything should be free now? It costs money to operate a cable company.... there's lots of hardware involved, people to get everything in order and working properly.... many factors that do NOT equal free. Even broadcast TV that is free has to make a profit, and it's from the commercials and endorsements.

Then you go on to bash ppv programs? Nobody said you get to watch whatever you want, anytime you want. You can't go to blockbuster (if you can still find one... heh) or rent from netflicks and expect anything for free. You're paying for entertainment. If you want it free, watch your local broadcast and hope they play something you like.

Drama, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Mystery .... It's all there with a good Book. Your imagination can reproduce some of the best quality pictures. You can buy the books, get them from a library or download an ebook. For the cost of 1 month of Pay-per-View you can build quite a library; and you get to keep it.

reply to post by Hefficide

Then, one day, cable came along... The premise? Pay extra to watch premium programming WITHOUT commercials. Let's say that again... WITHOUT commercials.

Thats funny you bring that up as we were discussing the same exact thing in our house this morning. Reflecting back on promises made and what we have now days.

reply to post by TLomon


I see your point, but if all companies operated this way cars would cost ($$$,$$$), and electronics would be incredibly expensive, I think its irresponsible to create a new technology charge top dollar and never reduce the costs, costs eventually decrease or plateau most companies know this an adjust prices accordingly

one could say don't buy it if you think it cost to much, but what about don't sell it unless you can do it reasonably

some places people only have 1 choice for cable provider, but that's a different discussion altogether

reply to post by jaynkeel


yes its rediculous i mean we never used to have to buy a liscence...now u have to buy the tv...pay ur provider ie sky and virgin which by the way broadcast the bbc, and buy a liscence just for the privelage of watching your tv...or get fined and prosecuted lol.....like i say never will i stump up and buy one....i know...im a rebel right? lol

Originally, cable TV was AD FREE, hence the reason you had to pay for it compared to free over air TV. However in the late 90's cable started running commercials AND upped the price. If you still have cable you are chump as you are being fleeced.

reply to post by brindle


Well everything should be free, I mean what the heck are you even bringing this up for?

Especially my programming, programming is good, programming should be free, programming you to fit yourself into that roundhole should definitely be free.

Programming is good, programming should be free.

Did I mention that Dancing with the Stars rocks? WOW, did you see the episode of NCIS where they threatened to Gitmo someone if they would not talk. THAT was AWESOME. Because if you.........................

Programming is good, programming should be free.

Did you see the excellent breakdown by CNN where they said that the earth is getting hotter? I mean we HAVE to push the EPA regulations to force prices for energy to skyrocket. We just have to.

Programming is good, programming should be free.

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