What Free Cable?

suckass writes: "Apparently if you've got a cable broadband connection from AT&T you can get free basic cable just by splitting the line that goes into your cable modem. News.com has a story about it here."

Comments

Not for long.

[TomatoMan]

One way to kill a freebie: post it on /.

Slashdot: News for thieves. Like ethics matter...

[fmaxwell]

The double standards on Slashdot are amazing. What's next? An article on how easy it is to shoplift at convenience stores while they take deliveries?

This is not news. I always assumed that I'd be able to steal basic cable from my provider (Cox Communications) by simply hooking into the splitter on my outside wall. But I don't pay for basic cable so I did not do it.

To people in the software industry who are stealing cable: don't get mad if you find out that the cable guy is pirating the software that your company sells.

Why now?

[hether]

So what is the point in publishing this story now? I can't believe that the media just found out. It's something most of us have known about for years. We need to figure out what their purpose is in letting more people know about this. Is it just another attempt to point out how many people are stealing? Is it to encourage more people to do it and pull one over on At&T since they're raising prices? Was it a slow news day and they were grasping for content? There's got to be a reason this story was published now. Any ideas?

Monopoly

[cyberformer]

The money goes towards the cable company's profits, of course. (Or more accurately, towards mitigating the losses from the company's stupid investments during the bubble.) It's a monopoly, so they charge what they like.

And the "free cable" described here isn't really piracy, as other posters have pointed out. The broadband customers are paying a bit more than those who just want basic cable, and the "free" cable is part of the deal. In fact, this is another reason why the basic bill is so much: The company wants the incremental cost of extra services (Net access, premium channels, etc.) to be so low compared to the $40 you're already paying that you will choose to buy them.

Re:Slashdot: News for thieves. Like ethics matter.

[mobiGeek]

This is like producing one CD for all of your products, shipping it off whenever one of your customers buys an application you made

I can't completely buy this analogy. If I have cable coming into my house, I am allowed to hook up one device to it. Just because I can splice it and run cable to other sets in my house doesn't mean that I legally can.

So, you have a cable modem hooked up to your cable. This doesn't mean that you are allowed to splice that cable and run it to another device.