Big business shipping is more automated. More scanning, less touching. They also frequently ship from nearby warehouses, or drop directly at major delivery hubs, cutting down number of loads/unloads.
Personal shipments are almost exclusively handled, as there is little to no regularity to them. Plus, unloading trucks sucks. You pretty much throw every package, because it's the only way you can keep up.
Except that most small retailers don't buy directly from the manufacturer. They buy through distributors who have more bargaining power than them. They are free to find a distributor that negotiated a good price and isn't passing along any price floors. In fact, those distributors can sometimes get really good pricing as they can move more product than large individual retailers.
Small retailers generally can't generally compete with the big box stores on price anyway. They have to obtain product that passes through more hands, instead of buying direct. Many of them focus more on service and specialty (e.g. the A/V store near me that sells Sony stuff and Dish Network, nothing else. They have $$$ Sony equipment that BB & CC don't carry.) There are plenty of stores I visit that have a limited selection of brands/items, and none of them appear to be hurting for business.
If a product is so great that everyone must carry it or risk going out of business, then it must be in such demand that price floors are a largely moot point. Otherwise, put a big sign up in your front window that says "Dickhead Inc. is price gouging you! Ask me how!" Show those people that what you carry is just as good or better, for a similar or slightly higher price. Talk you your local news about it (they eat that crap up). Take all the free attention grabbing you can.
Your argument boils down to "big companies have bargaining power, therefore little companies need to be given the same power artificially". That smells bad to me.
Do you have actual experience in this? Can you give a specific example of how this is a problem? Every business I've seen fail "because" of product selection type issues usually has plenty of other problems. Being somewhat detached from retail for a couple of years, I would be very interested to hear good counter arguments. I don't buy the theoretical "small business can't compete on price" anymore. They almost never could anyway.
Yes, it is. Freedom to contract is a fundamental right. If you don't like their terms, don't buy/sell their product, and let them choke off their own distribution network. Buy another product and promote/sell it. Tell everyone why you won't sell DickHead Inc.'s products anymore. Consumers react really well to perceived price gouging.
Do you really think that major retailers are going to be happy with manufacturers that cut off their main method of advertising, the SALE!? There will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
You have a right to refuse the contract, they have a right not to sell you the product. I imagine one need only look at the average franchise contract or car dealership to see obnoxious contract terms in the wild. I will not chip into the freedom to contract to prevent large manufacturers from being stupid.
You do realize that there are many studies that show there is no link between life expectancy and health spending, right?
Ethnic diversity and lifestyle factors weigh heavily on US life expectancy, and extraordinary efforts to save premature infants significantly affect our numbers in the other popular measurement.
But by all means, lets assume the poorly paid doctors in the cesspools of clinics in Cuba are great. After all, their system is so wonderful that Castro had a doctor flown in from Spain.
You might read the page you linked to and note that almost every system discussed is running into serious funding problems. They are also running into personnel shortages (treat doctors like indentured servants, you get less doctors).
I'll be sure to inform my father that the doctor in the dirty hospital in one of those "better systems" who told him to go back to the States for his care was wrong. He apparently should have defected to Cuba instead. . .
Man am I tired of the whole "life expectancy" shtick. . .
Watch your models. The LJ 4's and 5's were built to last. Those things are tanks. Some of the modern stuff is plastic junk.
I've replaced plenty of "Business Class" laser printers that were designed to last the warranty period. I'm currently jettisoning a Lexmark Optra that eats $150 transfer kits for breakfast (1-2K pages from a part that is supposed to last at least 10x that). It prints, it's just prohibitively expensive to maintain.
HP's can be hit or miss as well. I've seen some $4K color lasers drop a circuit board one month out of warranty that HP wants $2500 to replace. The 4050's do seem to hold up fairly well though.
I could be wrong, and I'm too lazy to go look it up, but I'm guessing that plenty of things could hurt them more. Major whammies to the Madden, NBA, or NFS franchise would greatly diminish that huge pile of money they sleep comfortably on. With cash cows like those, they haven't needed to be innovative.
I guess it depends on whether you call all those console owning, 'I'll buy every Madden that comes down the pike', folks "gamers".
Porn movies don't bother to go through the ratings process. That's why NC-17 exists. Porn got into the "how many X's can I put on this box?" wars.
NC-17 is a death knell for non-porn movies. It basically limits you to niche independent theaters and video. Movies like Hostel edit themselves down to get down to an R rating. Mainstream movies do that all the time, because the earnings potential difference is huge. In addition, they can make even more by releasing the "Unrated" version on DVD.
AO sucks for games because it cuts out virtually all retail channels for purchase. It becomes internet only, which requires a credit card and more direct intent (few impulse buys). There have been repeated attempts to make the AO rating legally binding, but all have been struck down (so far). Doesn't much matter though if the store refuses to carry the title.
Those ratings also affect the advertising for both movies and games greatly.
Guessing because of laws governing estimates and revisions to them. Can you tell them what tests, etc. they are going to have to run, what complications are going to arise? Can they give you the price of some other facilities (e.g. the independent radiologists)? They also might not know off the top of their heads, just because no one has asked (everyone thinks it is "free"). Ask them how much an office visit is for a well check, and I'll bet they have an answer (I know my Dr. and my daughter's pediatrician do). Or visit one of the growing number of doctors who don't take insurance. They usually have the prices posted on the wall.
Completely agree with you about crappy tech. . . I can only assume because lynch mobs are frowned upon in polite society.
Bad precedent. The guy is already motivated, he's already filed. Small claims filings are very cheap (frequently $30-50 bucks). He could theoretically be trying to pull a fast one. People do it in small claims all the time, because the barrier for entry is very low.
Gateway would rather force arbitration (likely at the consumers expense), where they will most likely be out cheaply and cleanly and off the public record, than cave and give this guy a wad of cash.
What's to stop the next 2.4 million customers from doing the same thing this guy did?
Of course, you assume when you go this route that it doesn't get major press and make you look like big corporate bullies. Depends on how you want to spend your marketing budget I suppose, building image or refunding PC's. Roll them bones. . .
Exactly. So far, the contest is over whether Gateway can compel arbitration. The judge decided that there was reason to believe Sheehan could not have seen the mandatory arbitration clause, so he could not be compelled. Then comes the decision as to whether the rest of the EULA is enforceable if one clause is invalid.
Quite possible he'll lose his case anyway, or lose on appeal. Most likely it will settle and go away quietly.
Plus, the case law on whether or not arbitration precludes a later trip through the courts (binding/non-binding) is a whole different matter.
IANAL, but my two cents is that statutory law trumps common law. Constitution, statutory, administrative, common, in that order.
The Constitution was designed to enumerate what the government was allowed to do. They weren't supposed to be able to do anything else. Long ago, Congress overrode that and the courts let them get away with it because of the "Commerce Clause" [wikipedia.org]. Common law is regularly trounced upon by statute, and the Constitution says "Suits at common law".
Another possibility is that the courts have not allowed this to be enforced on the states through the 14th amendment. This case is in small claims (municipal) court, not federal. He could try to use federal courts, but they are much less forgiving of pro se litigants.
On top of those possibilities, the Amendment is most likely interpreted to protect the right to a jury trial instead of decision by judge, not your inability to agree to bad contracts.
I'm not sure of the exact legal reasoning by which the courts hold these enforceable, and I'm too tired to read through one of the opinions right now. Look up Gilmer v.
Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp., 500 U.S. 33 (1991).2. That's the case I see cited most in a few quick googles.
Any lawyers in the house, feel free to correct me. . .
The entire concept of contracts (which the libertarians are so in love with) only works if you accept the legal fiction that everybody reads all the contracts they've committed themselves to. Which is, of course, utterly impossible.
Actually, I accept the fiction that we might be educated enough not to agree to a contract that we can't comprehend. I DO read my leases, CC agreements, etc. before signing them. I certainly read the terms on any credit card or loan I'm thinking of signing up for. I have also learned enough to understand all the things they are talking about. I have pointed out parts of employment agreements that clearly violate the Fair Labor Standards Act. If I am uncomfortable with any of these things, I make sure it is fixed before I sign it.
Sadly, it is a fiction. Americans long ago gave up the concept of personal accountability. They just take whatever is put in front of them, then whine/file bankruptcy/go to court later.
EULA's are a special kind of evil though. I really can't stand reading them.
Keep in mind that many folks are saying, "This is good enough".
I know too many folks who have already dumped serious money on HD setups that are now "insufficient". Folks aren't used to buying new TV's or converters every couple of years. They're more used to having an old tube TV that lasted twenty.
Facing the monetary hurdle, many of my acquaintances and I look at our current setup and say, "Enough!". But then, I don't have a $8000+ HD setup to try and justify over and over again, nor am I an audio/video-phile.
--you might realize how terrible DVDs actually look
I work in television. I've seen pretty much all the HD flavors. Do they look better? Sure. Does SD DVD look terrible? No. Hell, VHS didn't look "terrible", or no one would have bought it. I will agree with you that I haven't seen an up convert I was impressed with. Once you've thrown the data away, it's not very practical to try and make it all up from scratch.
Just started playing Twilight Princess about a week ago, and my wife just purchased Mario Party 8 this week.
What I'm wondering is: Why is playing alone with the Wiimote any more silly than playing with a typical controller? If you are bothered by playing with the controller by yourself, it sounds like you're not interested in the game enough. If you're interested in the game, the controller should just disappear.
I find many of the younger gamers (the XBOX(360) / PS2(3) crowd) lose interest in the Wii because they don't really enjoy the games. While I still enjoy playing God of War, FIFA, etc. on my PS2, I also enjoy some of Nintendo's stuff. My wife, and many of our friends, were never into any other console, but still enjoy Wii. It also isn't a regular activity, as we all have full time jobs and kids eating up our time (not to say you don't).
We were in the same boat, having never owned a GC before. When the Wii games weren't terribly exiting we started playing Pikmin and such and loving it.
We purchased two official Nintendo Wavebirds. They are more pricey, but we don't have a single complaint about them.
Of course, your milage may vary.
(we're picking up Mario Party today as well, the Mrs. LOVES Mario Party since the N64)
What competition would be irreversably and adversely affected by this merger? Is there ANY case for anti-trust? I don't see it.
I'm sorry, but I don't see why the FTC should be involved because a private company may have too much web surfing info. Especially given the quantity of data your average government agency has about you that is much more damaging than your web surfing habits.
Petition Congress to make "something" illegal. They seem to be willing to do that for the right amount of money these days.
The pivotal point is that Nielsen is in no way controlled by the networks. Ratings points come from Nielsen, and Nielsen doesn't care about anything other than their boxes/journals.
I want the networks to realize and acknowledge that the way Nielsen counts viewers is not at all accurate
They do. They hate Nielsen. They are slaves to the ratings.
I'm amazed that the networks even offer shows on their web pages, as they know it won't be counted by Nielsen. I'm guessing that their online activities are actually an active attempt to subvert Nielsen. Unfortunately, the only thing advertisers care about are the Nielsen ratings. Those ratings set ad rates, and ad rates are the income for television.
What I try to teach folks is that the networks have no involvement in ratings other that making and promoting their product. If you would like web viewings counted into the ratings, then the word "network" need not be in your sentence. You need to yell at Nielsen.
Any time you hear someone bitching about how the networks count people, please inform them that THE NETWORKS DON'T COUNT PEOPLE! Nielsen does, and television is at their mercy. You can't just add your web numbers in, because all the ad agencies have copies of the Nielsen books. I'm sure the networks get reports of legitimate web plays (e.g. iTunes), and probably try to increase ad rates based on them. Until the ad agencies care about web views (which are frequently commercial free), free web streaming just reduces potentially Nielsen counted eyeballs.
As someone who works in television. . . They know it sucks. Nielsen stinks. It is easily manipulated and increasingly irrelevant. But they are the only game in town. Feel free to create some competition. Please.
In addition, feel free to blame the advertisers who participate in the "ratings points == ad rates" game. TV raises rates on good ratings, advertisers demand lower rates on bad ratings.
Yes, those really exist (or at least they used to). They cut down on the claims against the company for vandalism (spray-painted, broken windows, etc.). Yes, that really does happen.
Ironically enough, the UAW guys don't consider a car American based on where it's assembled, unless it is convenient to do so. That determination is based on whether or not UAW workers built it, and the nameplate. The old excuse was that the rice burners were built by non-union guys using foreign supplied parts. I don't know what the excuse is now, as I believe many of those cars are made of domestically produced parts.
Slashdot Mirror
Big business shipping is more automated. More scanning, less touching. They also frequently ship from nearby warehouses, or drop directly at major delivery hubs, cutting down number of loads/unloads.
Personal shipments are almost exclusively handled, as there is little to no regularity to them. Plus, unloading trucks sucks. You pretty much throw every package, because it's the only way you can keep up.
Mine is upright in a moderately ventilated cabinet.
Whenever I leave WiiConnect24 on, the thing nearly burns skin on the sides. It was slightly cooler when out in open air, but not much.
Except that most small retailers don't buy directly from the manufacturer. They buy through distributors who have more bargaining power than them. They are free to find a distributor that negotiated a good price and isn't passing along any price floors. In fact, those distributors can sometimes get really good pricing as they can move more product than large individual retailers.
Small retailers generally can't generally compete with the big box stores on price anyway. They have to obtain product that passes through more hands, instead of buying direct. Many of them focus more on service and specialty (e.g. the A/V store near me that sells Sony stuff and Dish Network, nothing else. They have $$$ Sony equipment that BB & CC don't carry.) There are plenty of stores I visit that have a limited selection of brands/items, and none of them appear to be hurting for business.
If a product is so great that everyone must carry it or risk going out of business, then it must be in such demand that price floors are a largely moot point. Otherwise, put a big sign up in your front window that says "Dickhead Inc. is price gouging you! Ask me how!" Show those people that what you carry is just as good or better, for a similar or slightly higher price. Talk you your local news about it (they eat that crap up). Take all the free attention grabbing you can.
Your argument boils down to "big companies have bargaining power, therefore little companies need to be given the same power artificially". That smells bad to me.
Do you have actual experience in this? Can you give a specific example of how this is a problem? Every business I've seen fail "because" of product selection type issues usually has plenty of other problems. Being somewhat detached from retail for a couple of years, I would be very interested to hear good counter arguments. I don't buy the theoretical "small business can't compete on price" anymore. They almost never could anyway.
Yes, it is. Freedom to contract is a fundamental right. If you don't like their terms, don't buy/sell their product, and let them choke off their own distribution network. Buy another product and promote/sell it. Tell everyone why you won't sell DickHead Inc.'s products anymore. Consumers react really well to perceived price gouging.
Do you really think that major retailers are going to be happy with manufacturers that cut off their main method of advertising, the SALE!? There will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
You have a right to refuse the contract, they have a right not to sell you the product. I imagine one need only look at the average franchise contract or car dealership to see obnoxious contract terms in the wild. I will not chip into the freedom to contract to prevent large manufacturers from being stupid.
You do realize that there are many studies that show there is no link between life expectancy and health spending, right?
Ethnic diversity and lifestyle factors weigh heavily on US life expectancy, and extraordinary efforts to save premature infants significantly affect our numbers in the other popular measurement.
But by all means, lets assume the poorly paid doctors in the cesspools of clinics in Cuba are great. After all, their system is so wonderful that Castro had a doctor flown in from Spain.
You might read the page you linked to and note that almost every system discussed is running into serious funding problems. They are also running into personnel shortages (treat doctors like indentured servants, you get less doctors).
I'll be sure to inform my father that the doctor in the dirty hospital in one of those "better systems" who told him to go back to the States for his care was wrong. He apparently should have defected to Cuba instead. . .
Man am I tired of the whole "life expectancy" shtick. . .
Watch your models. The LJ 4's and 5's were built to last. Those things are tanks. Some of the modern stuff is plastic junk.
I've replaced plenty of "Business Class" laser printers that were designed to last the warranty period. I'm currently jettisoning a Lexmark Optra that eats $150 transfer kits for breakfast (1-2K pages from a part that is supposed to last at least 10x that). It prints, it's just prohibitively expensive to maintain.
HP's can be hit or miss as well. I've seen some $4K color lasers drop a circuit board one month out of warranty that HP wants $2500 to replace. The 4050's do seem to hold up fairly well though.
I could be wrong, and I'm too lazy to go look it up, but I'm guessing that plenty of things could hurt them more. Major whammies to the Madden, NBA, or NFS franchise would greatly diminish that huge pile of money they sleep comfortably on. With cash cows like those, they haven't needed to be innovative.
I guess it depends on whether you call all those console owning, 'I'll buy every Madden that comes down the pike', folks "gamers".
I do agree with you that EA generally stinks. . .
Porn movies don't bother to go through the ratings process. That's why NC-17 exists. Porn got into the "how many X's can I put on this box?" wars.
NC-17 is a death knell for non-porn movies. It basically limits you to niche independent theaters and video. Movies like Hostel edit themselves down to get down to an R rating. Mainstream movies do that all the time, because the earnings potential difference is huge. In addition, they can make even more by releasing the "Unrated" version on DVD.
AO sucks for games because it cuts out virtually all retail channels for purchase. It becomes internet only, which requires a credit card and more direct intent (few impulse buys). There have been repeated attempts to make the AO rating legally binding, but all have been struck down (so far). Doesn't much matter though if the store refuses to carry the title.
Those ratings also affect the advertising for both movies and games greatly.
Beautifully and succinctly stated.
I wish I could take this and overwrite the first post with it, then make everyone read it.
SOMEBODY MOD PARENT UP!!!!
Guessing because of laws governing estimates and revisions to them. Can you tell them what tests, etc. they are going to have to run, what complications are going to arise? Can they give you the price of some other facilities (e.g. the independent radiologists)? They also might not know off the top of their heads, just because no one has asked (everyone thinks it is "free"). Ask them how much an office visit is for a well check, and I'll bet they have an answer (I know my Dr. and my daughter's pediatrician do). Or visit one of the growing number of doctors who don't take insurance. They usually have the prices posted on the wall.
Completely agree with you about crappy tech. . . I can only assume because lynch mobs are frowned upon in polite society.
Depends on the laws governing your local small claims. Some preclude lawyers, others don't.
How does a corporation show up though? I would guess through a representative. Say, maybe, the general counsel?
Bad precedent. The guy is already motivated, he's already filed. Small claims filings are very cheap (frequently $30-50 bucks). He could theoretically be trying to pull a fast one. People do it in small claims all the time, because the barrier for entry is very low.
Gateway would rather force arbitration (likely at the consumers expense), where they will most likely be out cheaply and cleanly and off the public record, than cave and give this guy a wad of cash.
What's to stop the next 2.4 million customers from doing the same thing this guy did?
Of course, you assume when you go this route that it doesn't get major press and make you look like big corporate bullies. Depends on how you want to spend your marketing budget I suppose, building image or refunding PC's. Roll them bones. . .
Exactly. So far, the contest is over whether Gateway can compel arbitration. The judge decided that there was reason to believe Sheehan could not have seen the mandatory arbitration clause, so he could not be compelled. Then comes the decision as to whether the rest of the EULA is enforceable if one clause is invalid.
Quite possible he'll lose his case anyway, or lose on appeal. Most likely it will settle and go away quietly.
Plus, the case law on whether or not arbitration precludes a later trip through the courts (binding/non-binding) is a whole different matter.
IANAL either. . .
IANAL, but my two cents is that statutory law trumps common law. Constitution, statutory, administrative, common, in that order.
The Constitution was designed to enumerate what the government was allowed to do. They weren't supposed to be able to do anything else. Long ago, Congress overrode that and the courts let them get away with it because of the "Commerce Clause" [wikipedia.org]. Common law is regularly trounced upon by statute, and the Constitution says "Suits at common law".
Another possibility is that the courts have not allowed this to be enforced on the states through the 14th amendment. This case is in small claims (municipal) court, not federal. He could try to use federal courts, but they are much less forgiving of pro se litigants.
On top of those possibilities, the Amendment is most likely interpreted to protect the right to a jury trial instead of decision by judge, not your inability to agree to bad contracts.
I'm not sure of the exact legal reasoning by which the courts hold these enforceable, and I'm too tired to read through one of the opinions right now. Look up Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp., 500 U.S. 33 (1991).2. That's the case I see cited most in a few quick googles.
Any lawyers in the house, feel free to correct me. . .
The entire concept of contracts (which the libertarians are so in love with) only works if you accept the legal fiction that everybody reads all the contracts they've committed themselves to. Which is, of course, utterly impossible.
Actually, I accept the fiction that we might be educated enough not to agree to a contract that we can't comprehend. I DO read my leases, CC agreements, etc. before signing them. I certainly read the terms on any credit card or loan I'm thinking of signing up for. I have also learned enough to understand all the things they are talking about. I have pointed out parts of employment agreements that clearly violate the Fair Labor Standards Act. If I am uncomfortable with any of these things, I make sure it is fixed before I sign it.
Sadly, it is a fiction. Americans long ago gave up the concept of personal accountability. They just take whatever is put in front of them, then whine/file bankruptcy/go to court later.
EULA's are a special kind of evil though. I really can't stand reading them.
As much as I hate replying to an AC. . .
Have you read any actual laws lately? The average bill coming out of just about any legislative body is nearly meaningless to the common man.
Keep in mind that many folks are saying, "This is good enough".
I know too many folks who have already dumped serious money on HD setups that are now "insufficient". Folks aren't used to buying new TV's or converters every couple of years. They're more used to having an old tube TV that lasted twenty.
Facing the monetary hurdle, many of my acquaintances and I look at our current setup and say, "Enough!". But then, I don't have a $8000+ HD setup to try and justify over and over again, nor am I an audio/video-phile.
--you might realize how terrible DVDs actually look
I work in television. I've seen pretty much all the HD flavors. Do they look better? Sure. Does SD DVD look terrible? No. Hell, VHS didn't look "terrible", or no one would have bought it. I will agree with you that I haven't seen an up convert I was impressed with. Once you've thrown the data away, it's not very practical to try and make it all up from scratch.
Just started playing Twilight Princess about a week ago, and my wife just purchased Mario Party 8 this week.
What I'm wondering is: Why is playing alone with the Wiimote any more silly than playing with a typical controller? If you are bothered by playing with the controller by yourself, it sounds like you're not interested in the game enough. If you're interested in the game, the controller should just disappear.
I find many of the younger gamers (the XBOX(360) / PS2(3) crowd) lose interest in the Wii because they don't really enjoy the games. While I still enjoy playing God of War, FIFA, etc. on my PS2, I also enjoy some of Nintendo's stuff. My wife, and many of our friends, were never into any other console, but still enjoy Wii. It also isn't a regular activity, as we all have full time jobs and kids eating up our time (not to say you don't).
We were in the same boat, having never owned a GC before. When the Wii games weren't terribly exiting we started playing Pikmin and such and loving it.
We purchased two official Nintendo Wavebirds. They are more pricey, but we don't have a single complaint about them.
Of course, your milage may vary.
(we're picking up Mario Party today as well, the Mrs. LOVES Mario Party since the N64)
No. Just stopped working. Replaced the battery, and still nothing.
Dealer replaced it. . .
People look at you funny when you're climbing in a car and the alarm is going off.
What law would Google be breaking?
What competition would be irreversably and adversely affected by this merger? Is there ANY case for anti-trust? I don't see it.
I'm sorry, but I don't see why the FTC should be involved because a private company may have too much web surfing info. Especially given the quantity of data your average government agency has about you that is much more damaging than your web surfing habits.
Petition Congress to make "something" illegal. They seem to be willing to do that for the right amount of money these days.
I love that feature. Right up there with "opening the door with a key does not disarm the alarm".
Had a keyfob die while not at home (or at the dealer, go figure). No way to open the car without setting off the alarm.
Nope. Still missing the point a bit.
The pivotal point is that Nielsen is in no way controlled by the networks. Ratings points come from Nielsen, and Nielsen doesn't care about anything other than their boxes/journals.
I want the networks to realize and acknowledge that the way Nielsen counts viewers is not at all accurate
They do. They hate Nielsen. They are slaves to the ratings.
I'm amazed that the networks even offer shows on their web pages, as they know it won't be counted by Nielsen. I'm guessing that their online activities are actually an active attempt to subvert Nielsen. Unfortunately, the only thing advertisers care about are the Nielsen ratings. Those ratings set ad rates, and ad rates are the income for television.
What I try to teach folks is that the networks have no involvement in ratings other that making and promoting their product. If you would like web viewings counted into the ratings, then the word "network" need not be in your sentence. You need to yell at Nielsen.
Any time you hear someone bitching about how the networks count people, please inform them that THE NETWORKS DON'T COUNT PEOPLE! Nielsen does, and television is at their mercy. You can't just add your web numbers in, because all the ad agencies have copies of the Nielsen books. I'm sure the networks get reports of legitimate web plays (e.g. iTunes), and probably try to increase ad rates based on them. Until the ad agencies care about web views (which are frequently commercial free), free web streaming just reduces potentially Nielsen counted eyeballs.
As someone who works in television. . . They know it sucks. Nielsen stinks. It is easily manipulated and increasingly irrelevant. But they are the only game in town. Feel free to create some competition. Please.
In addition, feel free to blame the advertisers who participate in the "ratings points == ad rates" game. TV raises rates on good ratings, advertisers demand lower rates on bad ratings.
Yes, those really exist (or at least they used to). They cut down on the claims against the company for vandalism (spray-painted, broken windows, etc.). Yes, that really does happen.
Ironically enough, the UAW guys don't consider a car American based on where it's assembled, unless it is convenient to do so. That determination is based on whether or not UAW workers built it, and the nameplate. The old excuse was that the rice burners were built by non-union guys using foreign supplied parts. I don't know what the excuse is now, as I believe many of those cars are made of domestically produced parts.