I've always wondered what people mean when they say the US taught those people terrorism.
Teaching someone to build bombs is not teaching them terrorism.
Teaching someone to use those bombs against military targets is not terrorism.
Teaching someone to use those bombs against civilians to create fear in the populace IS terrorism.
So, did we tell them to blow up movie theatres or did we tell them to blow up barracks? There's a huge difference between the two.
I don't know which we did but I would like to know if the people claiming that we taught these people terrorism actually know what the hell terrorism is.
I have to wonder what people are so concerned about. Unless you are doing something illegal or stupid (like sending your SSN and DOB around) what would it matter if they did this? Does it matter if someone reads your vitally important message about how you kicked ass at the LAN party?
I'm really asking what the concern is, not being a smartass.
Production Contract
Distribution Contract
Actor residuals
Writer/Producer residuals
Legal costs
Pipeline/Delivery costs
And music rights
Actor, writer, and producer residuals - Those people get a percentage of the profit, not a flat rate per airing. Since it is based on a percentage the owner of the show could decide to give it away free and those people would get nothing.
As for all those other things the dollar must cover, aren't they the exact same things included in the cost of DVDs? The average price for a season of a TV show on DVD is about $50 and since the average number of episodes in a season is 22-24 the cost per episode on DVD is $2.27 to $2.08. (Forget about Star Trek DVDs costing $100 per season; that cost is a function of greed plus insane rabid fans)
I think it would have to be cheaper to distribute a show over the Internet than to pay for the material and shipping costs of producing disks. With electronic sales you also don't have the problem of unsold merchandise to deal with.
So to say TV shows would cost 5$ per episode to download is totally absurd. As shown, an episode would cost at most about 2$. In the future that price could increase if people start making "direct-to-download" TV shows (meaning it is never broadcast so there is never any advertising revenue).
There are some things a business like this would have to do in my opinion; most of these rules apply to both PPV and buying from a website:
1. No freakin' commercials (unless it is an optional version that costs much less)
2. Good shows (remember when MP3 sites only sold crap that nobody ever heard of?)
3. Purchased episodes must be downloadable and recordable
4. Offer different video quality options (I like 350MB Divx for 42min. shows but some might want better quality or faster downloads)
5. Episodes must be available for download at the same time as, or even before, they are aired normally. I believe the delay between the airing date and the DVD release is a prime reason for people "pirating" TV shows.
6. For website - No freakin' streaming video
7. For cable/satellite PPV - Must be truly "on demand" viewing, not the "on demand if you happen to demand it at the time we tell you to" model we have now.
8. Must offer samples of the shows like MP3 stores do. Perhaps offer the pilot episode free.
9. Reasonable pricing. None of the "let's charge as much as we possibly can without starting a riot" that they do now. If you charge less, people will buy more (except for 'status' items) is a basic principle of economics that these people vigorously ignore.
As far as I'm concerned those are all requirements. If even one of those isn't supported then I'm not interested. Yeah, I'm a picky bitch but I'm also the customer and they are supposed to give the customer what he wants as long as it is reasonable and I think what I want is reasonable.
Slashdot Mirror
I've always wondered what people mean when they say the US taught those people terrorism.
Teaching someone to build bombs is not teaching them terrorism.
Teaching someone to use those bombs against military targets is not terrorism.
Teaching someone to use those bombs against civilians to create fear in the populace IS terrorism.
So, did we tell them to blow up movie theatres or did we tell them to blow up barracks? There's a huge difference between the two.
I don't know which we did but I would like to know if the people claiming that we taught these people terrorism actually know what the hell terrorism is.
Let's nickname the elevator 'UPS' (since it carries stuff up). Only Slashdot readers would know it was short for 'Ultimate Phallic Symbol'.
I have to wonder what people are so concerned about. Unless you are doing something illegal or stupid (like sending your SSN and DOB around) what would it matter if they did this? Does it matter if someone reads your vitally important message about how you kicked ass at the LAN party?
I'm really asking what the concern is, not being a smartass.
Don't be scared, it will be better once you are all Americans too.
I look forward to welcoming France as the 52nd state. (Canada will be the 51st of course)
Resistance to our marketing is futile.
From previous post:
That dollar has to cover:
Production Contract
Distribution Contract
Actor residuals
Writer/Producer residuals
Legal costs
Pipeline/Delivery costs
And music rights
Actor, writer, and producer residuals - Those people get a percentage of the profit, not a flat rate per airing. Since it is based on a percentage the owner of the show could decide to give it away free and those people would get nothing.
As for all those other things the dollar must cover, aren't they the exact same things included in the cost of DVDs? The average price for a season of a TV show on DVD is about $50 and since the average number of episodes in a season is 22-24 the cost per episode on DVD is $2.27 to $2.08. (Forget about Star Trek DVDs costing $100 per season; that cost is a function of greed plus insane rabid fans)
I think it would have to be cheaper to distribute a show over the Internet than to pay for the material and shipping costs of producing disks. With electronic sales you also don't have the problem of unsold merchandise to deal with.
So to say TV shows would cost 5$ per episode to download is totally absurd. As shown, an episode would cost at most about 2$. In the future that price could increase if people start making "direct-to-download" TV shows (meaning it is never broadcast so there is never any advertising revenue).
There are some things a business like this would have to do in my opinion; most of these rules apply to both PPV and buying from a website:
1. No freakin' commercials (unless it is an optional version that costs much less)
2. Good shows (remember when MP3 sites only sold crap that nobody ever heard of?)
3. Purchased episodes must be downloadable and recordable
4. Offer different video quality options (I like 350MB Divx for 42min. shows but some might want better quality or faster downloads)
5. Episodes must be available for download at the same time as, or even before, they are aired normally. I believe the delay between the airing date and the DVD release is a prime reason for people "pirating" TV shows.
6. For website - No freakin' streaming video
7. For cable/satellite PPV - Must be truly "on demand" viewing, not the "on demand if you happen to demand it at the time we tell you to" model we have now.
8. Must offer samples of the shows like MP3 stores do. Perhaps offer the pilot episode free.
9. Reasonable pricing. None of the "let's charge as much as we possibly can without starting a riot" that they do now. If you charge less, people will buy more (except for 'status' items) is a basic principle of economics that these people vigorously ignore.
As far as I'm concerned those are all requirements. If even one of those isn't supported then I'm not interested. Yeah, I'm a picky bitch but I'm also the customer and they are supposed to give the customer what he wants as long as it is reasonable and I think what I want is reasonable.