Posted on 01/26/2013 3:52:18 PM PST by PJ-Comix
Veteran programmer Rob Barnett recently attended a breakfast meeting of television executives where the talk turned, as it almost always does these days, to “disruption,” the industry buzzword for the way new technology is upsetting the TV applecart. From somewhere down the table, he heard a question: “Has anybody here cut the cord?” — that is, dropped cable service in favor of just watching TV through the Internet? Barnett shrugged and raised his hand. “Mine was the only one,” he recalls. “But when it went up, I saw beads of sweat break out on the foreheads of some of the guys across the table.”
When Barnett and 5,000 or so others gather Monday for the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) convention at the Fontainebleau Hotel on Miami Beach, there will be plenty of sweaty foreheads, some acquisitive smiles and — perhaps most numerous — blank looks of confusion. Not since cable turned the old three-channel TV universe on its head in the late 1970s has the industry been in such a state of disoriented befuddlement.
New technologies that give viewers more say in what they watch, where they watch and how much they pay for it are great for consumers. But they’re inducing a collective nervous breakdown among industry executives, who have to figure out new ways to make money in a business facing serious threats to its traditional sources of revenue — advertising and cable-TV subscriptions.
(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...
Somethings don’t stream on Apple tv, Dramafever is one and since we watch it a lot we went with the Roku.
Thanks, will give Veetle a try.
Be aware that you can probably only do that twice with Comcast. Then they’ll require you to sign a 2 year contract. Been there, done that. Ended up getting DirecTV after 2 consecutive months of price increases. When we went to turn in our Comcast equipment, there was a line out the door of people bringing their equipment back too.
You got that right. I am very close to cancelling all tv service. I spend more time looking for something than watching something.
It is an economic monopoly. There are no exclusive franchises in the United States. And...there was no government money spent building the cable plant across the country.
So if no one wanted to spend the money to overbuild the existing plant...then that iis not the cable companies fault.
So, if you are going to complain, please get the complaint correct. I spent the better part of my life building the cable TV plant in my part of the country.
“When the day comes that I can get my favorite channels through the internet or airwaves or however, I dump the cable company. “
As long as you are okay with that costing even more than you pay now, you’ll be happy.
If you have certain networks you really like to have, and certain shows that you really want to watch, then you will have to pay for them. And most likely it will cost more.
For example, most people watch about 10 different channels. If each one cost an average of $6-8 per month (plus high-speed internet access), that is not really saving you anything. If you look at it on a cost per show basis, say $1.00 per show, then it can be even more expensive if you watch a number of series like “24”. Can you imagine if ESPN was only pay-per-view? It’s already the most expensive network for cable operators to carry, and with PPV it would be even more so for most people.
People who cut the cable have a different outlook on TV. They are not tied to certain programs and certain networks that are must-haves, instead they go looking for content and see what they can find.
Bottom line: people who cut the cable generally watch less TV overall than they used to. That’s not a bad thing, either. It’s just that people think they can get only the stuff they want and save money. And it doesn’t really work that way — at least not yet.
TV networks PANIC at this news.
They expect audiences to LEAVE THE FRICKIN’ CHANNEL alone out of couch potato laziness and watch at least the program that follows their big “weekly hit”, if not the same network on all night long.
How can they “hook you” if you have become more pro-active in your viewing habits?
Meanwhile MUSIC listening audiences have become LESS sophisticated. They don’t tune into a real radio STATION they like (where a DJ or some sort of music programmer) is cuing one song to follow another in some sort of progression that thematically or aurally makes “sense”. Nope, “kids” today listen to Pandora or iPod shuffle living life on perpetual “random”.
3 channels or 300, what difference does it make? Most of the cable channels you are paying for are owned by a very small number of companies (DISNEY, VIACOM, Time-Warner-Turner, etc.). It is the illusion of choice.
Public domain films (and radio shows) from the past here:
How many great TV shows in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s were lost because the suits were trying to play scheduling games?
Or how much dreck they’d put before and after hit shows?
And now they’re pushing their soul-destroying agenda ever further, until they’re now in the far-fringe of normality?
Their demise is none too soon.
(Soon as football season’s over, I’m dropping my cable)
Roku’s start at $48 at Walmart and Target, and you can also get Blu-Ray players with smart features in them.
Thanks, headed to archive.org now.
Yep. I have seen some amazing stuff on the web done by volunteers and amateurs. I have even seen someone remake Toy Story with real toys using the same soundtrack from the movie, it was interesting.
1. Get the Stable XBMC version at the top;
http://xbmc.org/download/
2. Get the Repository Zip File
http://passion-xbmc.org/addons/?Page=View&ID=plugin.program.repo.installer
3. Get the Bluecop Repository Zip file
http://code.google.com/p/bluecop-xbmc-repo/downloads/list
4. XBMC installs the zip files as zips, menu is across middle of XBMC program (go to the far right: System > Settings > Add-ons > “Install From ZIP”);
Add on both Zip files like instructions in middle of this page marked “Free Cable”
http://www.windows7hacker.com/index.php/2012/01/2-alternative-iceflims-xbmc-plugin-that-lets-you-to-stream-videos-and-movies/
a. To install, go to System > Settings > Add-ons > “Install From ZIP” select the repo zip. Once that’s done, make sure restart XBMC.
b. Navigate to System > Settings > Add-ons > “Get Add-ons” > “bluecop Add-on Repository” > Free Cable to install the plugin.
c. Once the plugin has installed go back to main menu > Video > Add-ons > Free Cable.
From here you can select a list of cable providers and stream shows from each of their networks.
(me again) Good luck and good night!
Also, I move the ZIP file to the ‘C:’ drive for easy installation access.
Really good.
Much obliged, bluesman, will try tomorrow on my desktop.
btt
I watch thru my Kindle Fire with an Amazon Prime membership that costs $83. a year incl. tax. I can watch on multiple devices so I also go to Amazon.com on my laptop (using a WiFi connection that goes with my phone)and click on the Amazon Prime link, and I stream film and TV shows on my laptop.
It's true that you have to pay 1.99 for the latest TV eps but you can get them the day after they air. Amazon Prime often offers for free many of the most popular series a year after they air, such as Downton Abbey seasons one and two and BBC's Sherlock seasons one and two. They also have many of my favorite older films for free, such as Gallipoli, the Blue Max, Daniel day-Lewis in Last of the Mohicans.
You Tube often has entire films posted - watch them when you find them because they may get taken down next time you check.
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