First off, yes, I work for a certain large cable providers. I am pretty low on the food chain, and I do not speak for my employers, blah blah blah.
There are 3 major obstacles that will stop this from saving money for customers.
To make this work, the cable providers will need to scramble everything beyond the basic local broadcast channels(which they are required to carry by law for every subscriber. At least in Massachusetts). So for customers who don't have a cable box on TVs but have the standard cable channels, they will now be forced to get a cable box on every set.
Back end expenses. While most people here know how to install a cable box, you'd be surprised how many don't. All the man hours and inevitable overtime to install boxes on every TV, as well as the cost of the boxes themselves will add up fast. And let's not forget the having to retool the back end billing systems to accommodate a hundred plus new rate codes.
There are not as many cable channel owning companies as many believe. If you think that renegotiating the contract for individual channels is going to make the media and cable companies any less money in the end, you may have another thing coming. Those 'couple channels' you actually watch will likely be the most expensive, to the point it will be practically cheaper just to get the package you had before. Oh, and the home shopping network you want to get rid of is likely a locally broadcast channel a cable company can't drop if it wanted to.
On top of these, you will lost out in variety, since the less mainstream channels will suddenly find themselves with fewer viewers. They will get less money from the cable stations who aren't carrying them in the number they used to, and fewer viewers means less ad revenue. Some will go belly up, others will have to scale back on their programming.
The idea of government enforced a la carte sounds like a good idea, full of rainbows and unicorns and sugar plum hills, but in my opinion, it is anything but for the consumers.
Speaking of Relic, let's not forget Dawn of War. I much preferred their approach of a unit being a squad of men, and heroes being less overly powerful than War3 heroes in a long game. On top of that, the game just had a more brutal feel to the combat.
...that Terran Marine looks even more like an Ultramarine than in SC1.
Square is in for a rude surprise.
on
Ten Years of FFXIII?
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· Score: 2, Insightful
"There is no FF7 but FF7"
That is, I don't think any of the Final Fantasy games to come will have the staying power that 7 has had. Making a business strategy around a franchise of a sequel that is still a long ways off doesn't seem to be too bright.
This is BioWare, so I can only assume if they pushed it back, they have a good reason. They don't rush games out of the door(Hey, KOTOR2 wasn't made by them!), so I guess I'll just wait a little longer.
Better service from actual people, which is why I expect to pay more in an actual store. If Circuit City is firing all of their best people, why am I going to pay more there than from, say, newegg?
..but decided not to tell anyone until late March, can we file a class action lawsuit for negligence if any of our card numbers were compromised, or illegally used?
...Microsoft makes a low cost development kit and it is an abuse of monopoly? If anything, this opens up the field to smaller developers who can't afford the multi-thousands-to-tens-of-thousands cost for the equivilent Sony or Nintendo kits.
Seriously, there are plenty of reasons to hate MS, this sin't one of them.
Like Bush has said, the terrorists hate us for our freedoms. If we simply get rid of those freedoms, then they will have no reason to hate us. Problem solved.
According to multiple student witnesses, after he was told he would need to leave he logged off of the computer, and left. He was stopped by police as he was leaving. And there is no excuse for tasering a handcuffed student who was posing no physical threat. It is plain ole brutality.
...if after watching this video, you see what the LAPD(and by extension, the UCLA PD) are willing to do on camera, and in front of dozens of witnesses, what do they do without people watching?
And am I the only one that upon hearing, Police burtality" and "Caught of tape" are completely unsurprised the LAPD are somehow involved?
SCENE: A darkened room filled with terrorists plotting to kill and maim. Suddenly, a young terrorist bursts into the room.
Young Terrorist: Ackmed, Ackmed! I just recieved word that Saddam Hussein has been found in a court of law!
Ackmed: By Allah, that can only mean one thing... Everyone, pack your gear and go home, The insurgency is over. I'd like to thank all of you for your time and service to the cause, but democracy has won the day. As you leave, we will be handing out pamphlets on applying for a new job. Also on the way out, please remember to throw away your paper cups.
*as the terrorists leave,the lights in the hideout all turn on*
Ackmed: The electricity is back on! We can go on living now! Thank you George Bush! Thank you!
Letting someone else die in your place is corwardice. Bush didn't even have the dignity to keep his Air Guard commitment. He was grounded after refusing to take a physical that included a drug test(this was back when Bush couldn't even remember the drugs he was on).
Slashdot Mirror
NBC currently allows you to watch episodes free online after they air in exchange for watching a couple of ads. http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/video/episodes.shtml
I wonder what Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois have to say about this hairbrained plan.
First off, yes, I work for a certain large cable providers. I am pretty low on the food chain, and I do not speak for my employers, blah blah blah.
There are 3 major obstacles that will stop this from saving money for customers.
To make this work, the cable providers will need to scramble everything beyond the basic local broadcast channels(which they are required to carry by law for every subscriber. At least in Massachusetts). So for customers who don't have a cable box on TVs but have the standard cable channels, they will now be forced to get a cable box on every set.
Back end expenses. While most people here know how to install a cable box, you'd be surprised how many don't. All the man hours and inevitable overtime to install boxes on every TV, as well as the cost of the boxes themselves will add up fast. And let's not forget the having to retool the back end billing systems to accommodate a hundred plus new rate codes.
There are not as many cable channel owning companies as many believe. If you think that renegotiating the contract for individual channels is going to make the media and cable companies any less money in the end, you may have another thing coming. Those 'couple channels' you actually watch will likely be the most expensive, to the point it will be practically cheaper just to get the package you had before. Oh, and the home shopping network you want to get rid of is likely a locally broadcast channel a cable company can't drop if it wanted to.
On top of these, you will lost out in variety, since the less mainstream channels will suddenly find themselves with fewer viewers. They will get less money from the cable stations who aren't carrying them in the number they used to, and fewer viewers means less ad revenue. Some will go belly up, others will have to scale back on their programming.
The idea of government enforced a la carte sounds like a good idea, full of rainbows and unicorns and sugar plum hills, but in my opinion, it is anything but for the consumers.
Speaking of Relic, let's not forget Dawn of War. I much preferred their approach of a unit being a squad of men, and heroes being less overly powerful than War3 heroes in a long game. On top of that, the game just had a more brutal feel to the combat.
...that Terran Marine looks even more like an Ultramarine than in SC1.
"There is no FF7 but FF7"
That is, I don't think any of the Final Fantasy games to come will have the staying power that 7 has had. Making a business strategy around a franchise of a sequel that is still a long ways off doesn't seem to be too bright.
This is BioWare, so I can only assume if they pushed it back, they have a good reason. They don't rush games out of the door(Hey, KOTOR2 wasn't made by them!), so I guess I'll just wait a little longer.
Don't try to gain unauthorized access into the freaking Department of Defense network, and then basically admit to it.
For a smart guy, he's rather stupid.
Better service from actual people, which is why I expect to pay more in an actual store. If Circuit City is firing all of their best people, why am I going to pay more there than from, say, newegg?
Answer: I'm not.
..but decided not to tell anyone until late March, can we file a class action lawsuit for negligence if any of our card numbers were compromised, or illegally used?
Megatokyo ceased being funny when Largo was kicked off the comic.
Perhaps the morale is, 'Don't RTFA'.
Balance a Space Marine to Guardsman? Unless this is a MMOFPS, then it'd be easier...
CableCARD 2.0 should hit sometime this year, IIRC. They will do OnDemand.
Working link? :p
...that 'Bad Strek Game' tends to be redundant these days. :-(
...Microsoft makes a low cost development kit and it is an abuse of monopoly? If anything, this opens up the field to smaller developers who can't afford the multi-thousands-to-tens-of-thousands cost for the equivilent Sony or Nintendo kits.
Seriously, there are plenty of reasons to hate MS, this sin't one of them.
You can get the board here.
Like Bush has said, the terrorists hate us for our freedoms. If we simply get rid of those freedoms, then they will have no reason to hate us. Problem solved.
O'Rielly also bashed people with iPods, practically saying that owning one is a personal character flaw.
He has downloadable podcasts for his paid website subscribers. Whoops.
Seriously, O'Rielly is a self absorbed idiot who believes anyone that disagrees with him is 'one of them'.
According to multiple student witnesses, after he was told he would need to leave he logged off of the computer, and left. He was stopped by police as he was leaving. And there is no excuse for tasering a handcuffed student who was posing no physical threat. It is plain ole brutality.
...if after watching this video, you see what the LAPD(and by extension, the UCLA PD) are willing to do on camera, and in front of dozens of witnesses, what do they do without people watching?
And am I the only one that upon hearing, Police burtality" and "Caught of tape" are completely unsurprised the LAPD are somehow involved?
Well, he certainly had a free hand to grab the pepper spray with...
SCENE: A darkened room filled with terrorists plotting to kill and maim. Suddenly, a young terrorist bursts into the room.
Young Terrorist: Ackmed, Ackmed! I just recieved word that Saddam Hussein has been found in a court of law!
Ackmed: By Allah, that can only mean one thing... Everyone, pack your gear and go home, The insurgency is over. I'd like to thank all of you for your time and service to the cause, but democracy has won the day. As you leave, we will be handing out pamphlets on applying for a new job. Also on the way out, please remember to throw away your paper cups.
*as the terrorists leave,the lights in the hideout all turn on*
Ackmed: The electricity is back on! We can go on living now! Thank you George Bush! Thank you!
Letting someone else die in your place is corwardice. Bush didn't even have the dignity to keep his Air Guard commitment. He was grounded after refusing to take a physical that included a drug test(this was back when Bush couldn't even remember the drugs he was on).