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Cable Companies Duped Community Groups Into Fighting Net Neutrality
walterbyrd (182728) writes Last week, it transpired that the big cable companies were bankrolling fake consumer groups like Broadband for America and The American Consumer Institute. These 'independent consumer advocacy groups' are, in truth, nothing of the sort, and instead represent the interests of its benefactors, in the fight against net neutrality. If that wasn't bad enough, VICE is now reporting that several of the real community groups (and an Ohio bed-and-breakfast) that were signed up as supporters of Broadband for America were either duped into joining, or were signed up to the cause without their consent or knowledge.
other things that are known to happen in american democracy with seemingly little if any recourse:
Oil company dupes community groups into fighting EPA regulations
Major food company dupes citizens into fighting a tax on soda
Cigarette company dupes consumers into thinking smoking is a right, not a crippling addiction
President dupes country into fighting country with no WMD's
Good people go to bed earlier.
I can get all the shows I want without paying any premium or renting their shitty hardware, and they can't do anything about it ;)
Take whatever you can get from them, my friend. They'll certainly take all they can from you.
Actually, he was only elected once.
I've posted on slashdot regularly for 5 years now, and first was very suprised about the new look of Slashdot Beta. Now I'm accustomed to it and I really would miss it when Dice abandons Beta. I have asked all my friends who also have been on slashdot for a long time. They share my thoughts, and they also like the new comment system.
I believe that the opposers of slashdot beta are only a tiny minority of the users fearing change. When humanity had followed their strategy, we would still live on trees. I think now is the time for progress and to turn off non-beta slashdot.
You can help this (real) grass roots movement by copying this post into every story.
More popular stations help subsidize the cost of less popular more niche stations. Also, a la carte wouldn't help your bill; the pricing for a la carte would ensure that you are still paying as much or more than you are for bundled tv.
Don't forget, fox news sued for their right-to-knowingly-lie and won in court.....
Oh, right, of course ... corporations are people with free speech, and entitled to actively lie to us.
What? That is utter nonsense. Corporations are not people!
Corporations are "Very Rich People". A class with little or no relation to "people".
VRPs have the inalienable right to do whatever they very much please and it is legal by Axiom*.
*: The axiom being: "Legal is what very rich people decide it is at any given point."
I really, really want to be against net neutrality, because free market and such, but when I look at Time Warner and Comcast, they are the best argument *for* net neutrality. I guess it comes down to who I trust more, the government, or the cable companies.... and it's kind of a tie at zero... Now if the FCC would decide that the infrastructure could be used by startups, allowing for actual competition, then we might get somewhere.
A la carte would mean individual channels will be priced much higher. It's very likely your bill will remain the same or increase.
Broadcasters, like the one i'm employed at, send their signals to cable and satellite companies. A la carte would lower are viewers by a fair bit, equating to less ad revenue. That will force us to toss niche channels, and cause the remaining channels to be priced much higher.
They have plenty of excuse:
1) We don't want to. Fuck you.
2) We don't want to. Fuck you.
3) We don't want to. Fuck you.
And lastly: We don't want to. Fuck you.
What benefit does alacarte give the cable companies that they would provide it?
You mean no wonder they elected GWB four times right? OK, he has had more of a tan these last two terms, big difference!