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6 Years after "Cutting The Cord" from cable and satellite. (opinion)
- Thread starter Overmind One
- Start date
Jim of WVa
Well Known GateFan
If I could only get the people in my life to cut the cord I'd be a happy man.
One example of just how horrifically bad TV has gotten: Tonight, while visiting a friend, he was changing channels on his TV and stopped on Showbiz Tonight. I said "I bet they will be talking about Kim Kardashian" and sure as shit, as soon as I said that they did a report on Kim K's latest "selfie" which was a pic of her big, fake ass.
I had to leave when my friend turned on The Real World. It sickens me that a grown adult would actually sit and watch that shit.
And here it is again!
http://www.businessinsider.com/internet-calls-out-kim-kardashian-for-photoshopping-selfie-2014-1
Jim of WVa
Well Known GateFan
If we ban all advertising, when will we have a chance to pee?
Gatefan1976
Well Known GateFan
That's what a pause button is for Jim 
That's what a pause button is for Jim
Another "positive" to add to the list! All you have to do is tap the space bar and whatever you are watching instantly freezes.
You can go pee, take a dump, make a sandwich or have a smoke and miss nothing at all.Gatefan1976
Well Known GateFan
"pee" and "take a dump"???
Shit man, if you are prepared to "take a dump", you might as well "go for a slash" as well
Shit man, if you are prepared to "take a dump", you might as well "go for a slash" as well
People will rebel against this. The main reason that cable companies exist today is because when they first started, cable service was commercial free. It took only 5 years for commercials to appear on cable. What cable is today is EXACTLY what broadcast TV used to be, only you have to pay for it. I find it incredibly dumb to agree to pay for my commercials or to pay for junk I dont watch (or dont want to watch). People who are cutting the cord today are not going to patronize establishments which force advertising on them by any means...RFID or otherwise.
The traffic at malls across the nation is dwindling. In southern California, large malls have been closing at an alarming rate because of high prices and hard selling.
If I could only get the people in my life to cut the cord I'd be a happy man.
One example of just how horrifically bad TV has gotten: Tonight, while visiting a friend, he was changing channels on his TV and stopped on Showbiz Tonight. I said "I bet they will be talking about Kim Kardashian" and sure as shit, as soon as I said that they did a report on Kim K's latest "selfie" which was a pic of her big, fake ass.
I had to leave when my friend turned on The Real World. It sickens me that a grown adult would actually sit and watch that shit.
I do that too!
I leave when people get all settled in to watch some inane show on TV like that. The Real World? Really? Ironic...you are living in the real world, yet your friend wants to sit and watch some programmed fakeness named "The Real World". 
. When you cut the cord, there is no way for Kim Kumdumpshian to wiggle her fat butt through your bullshit filters because you would have to choose to watch her to see her. She has no relevance on the web. She has no shows to watch because she cant act, and she is not on Netflix or any of the online services. The "keeping up with the Kardashians" show has no audience online. Why the hell is anyone keeping up with them anyway? So many others like that too. I seriously never heard of Paula Deen before seeing her name here. Does that mean I dont like southern cooking or that I dont get recipes? HELL NO! The Food Network operates an excellent website which has every recipe they have shown on the air...sans the "chef" and commercials:http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes-and-cooking/index.html
If you go to that website and find a recipe for what you are wanting to cook, you dont ever have to see Paula Deen or any of the other personalities that are on the Food Network TV show (which I have never seen on TV). When we watch our shows online or from our own hard drives, we do not get little popup overlays advertising other shows being pushed by a network.
So many advantages....
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Illiterati
Council Member & Author
The kid just queued up the pilot episode of "Alien Nation".
I really miss that show.
I really miss that show.
Roku's are cool.
--- merged: Jan 8, 2014 at 11:41 PM ---
I liked it too.
Maybe I will get the boxed set too!
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Illiterati
Council Member & Author
I loved the sense of humor of the show and how it was a great analog of race relations.Roku's are cool.
--- merged: Jan 8, 2014 at 11:41 PM ---
I liked it too.
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Gatefan1976
Well Known GateFan
It's annoying, I agree with you 100% dude, but what is going to replace commercials as a revenue stream?
This is the problem being faced by cable companies today, there are simply not enough subscriptions to pay for "network levels" of content anymore, they are drying up leaving you mountains of reality shit to wade through instead because that is quickly becoming all they can turn a profit on. Think about this. We (well, some of us) rail against tripe like faux news, yet it's ratings are a mere 1.8, less than stuff like Sharknado!!!. Yet look at the impact they have. The numbers however will not pay for "intelligent programming".
I have said it for a long time now, the internet, or more precicely, what it is used for will KILL "scripted TV", and then it will eat the movie industry, and we will have no one to blame but ourselves and our own greed.
Is it a bad thing?
Perhaps not, we will be less beholden to the idiot box, and go out into the world, rather than sitting at our desks or couches to find our "entertainment".
perhaps, perhaps not.
I disagree, I think people just find it easier to go to amazon and get what they want, rather than deal with that strange place known as "outside"
(plus, it's usually cheaper because of lower overheads
)
The cable companies and the large studios are existing within an old-school infrastructure built on advertising dollars and distribution networks. What is the Netflix model? THAT is what is going to work. It wont work for the large studios or cable companies because they have to pay for brick and mortar buildings, broadcast equipment, union actors from SAG and other unions (this is another thing that online shows eliminate in a big way). The broadcast networks will be on the deathwatch list as well, sometime in the not too distant future. Advertisers are going to go through a sea change. They are going to have to do what is being done in sports already...build entire venues. Most every new sports venue carries the name of a company now. The Staples Center is an icon in downtown LA, and is the best advertisement for Staples they have here.
Scripted TV will give way to scripted internet shows. But advertisers are going to have to settle for a back seat. TV was invented to deliver advertising, not to provide entertainment. The very first show ever broadcast was paid for by the advertisers who paid for the show to be produced. The internet has different DNA. The internet was created to share information. It has now become an entertainment medium as well, with MMO gaming and now web series and ever expanding YouTube channels. Yeah, we will not get big ticket shows with huge production values, but if it took 2 MILLION dollars per episode to create utter dreck like Stargate Universe, that is a good thing. We will get lower production values and cheesy stuff at first, but that will change.
I disagree, I think people just find it easier to go to amazon and get what they want, rather than deal with that strange place known as "outside"
(plus, it's usually cheaper because of lower overheads
Sure, that is a factor, but you dont know southern California. The mall used to be a major destination. There are HUGE malls here, and every large city within LA County used to have one. Many of them have closed completely and others have started allowing just any company to come in there...even churches. The Del Amo Mall which is the mall closest to me in Torrance used to be the largest indoor mall in the world. Today, it is crawling with cheap clothing stores, cellphone stores, costume jewelry vendors, etc. Most of the large spaces are boarded up.
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Gatefan1976
Well Known GateFan
Netflix is pay for content, the same way Cable started at, isn't it?
in essence, what you are saying is the 30 second "spot" will go away, and product endorsements will replace them. I honestly don't know if they will raise enough revenue in that format dude. Is there any source giving numbers for the revenue raising ability of the product endorsement side of things?
Additionally, what you are suggesting is the very essence of what "daytime soaps" started at, isn't it?
Sure, I have always agreed with that statement.
*puts on armour*
SGU may have been utter dreck, but that's a function of the storyline isn't it? SGU *looked* good, it was polished, it was well made, even if it's storyline left MUCH to be desired.
I see what you are saying about "inflated cost", I really do, but if you are expecting the entertainment industry to change it's costings, you are being pretty silly. We are well beyond the point to reset the economic realities of goods and services to 30 years ago, inflation has done it's damage.
Dude, kids hang out in the local McDonalds carpark cause it is a "destination"
I don't NEED to know SoCal to know what people will do, they are the same everywhere.
There is no value in "shopping meccha's" anymore, at least not within and hour transit time of eachother, cause it is simpler, and easier to use the net to move goods.
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Not quite. It took more than 10 years for Pay Per View to come to cable. Also, cable has not (and still cannot) give you the ability to make your own programming from their offerings, so no I dont think you can compare the two. Also, cable requires your home to be wired and you have to use a special cable box which is only for the cable and nothing else. Some pay per view offerings on cable cost more than the monthly fee for Netflix!
Well, I am saying that these "ad campaigns" will no longer be able to sell things based on an airing schedule that is guaranteed by the media carriers. Right now, advertisers on cable carriers can count on the fact that EVEN WHEN CHANGING CHANNELS, the same commercials will be on every channel at the same time. They also turn the volume up during those commercials. They cant do any of that shit online.
Not really dude! The advertisers are already feeling the burn. They are already paying less money to cable operators. They are no longer signing long term contracts (hence the new 13-episode "seasons" instead of the 26 it used to be.
Well, I am specifically talking about shopping malls of the huge variety.
They are landmarks in southern California. For many cities, they are the largest structure in the city, even larger than their city hall. In the past 5 years alone, many of them have failed. Isnt there a thread in here talking about this? I remember taking pics in Del Amo showing boarded up stores but I cant find it. 
. Kids are now hanging out at places other than a shopping mall.That is for sure (bolded). Amazon has killed that. But the malls used to be cool to hang out in or to have lunch, just to people watch. But who wants to pay $6.00 for a soda or basically pay the same prices you find in theater snack bars to buy lunch?
Many of these malls cannot afford to re-purpose their shop slots so they close. The ones seemingly able to stay open the most are those with large theater multiplexes at the core of the mall complex (and not a large store like Macy's or Nordstrom). When a Macy's or Nordstrom or Sears leaves a mall which was centered around it, it dies.
YJ02
Well Known GateFan
I have and love, my Roku as well. We have 2 of them, 1 for me and another for the wife to watch the old Korean tv dramas and movies
Have you noticed though just how many commercials there are on things like CRACKLE and the other free channels? Mid scene of a movie, it will cut to like 3 commercials in a row- usually 3 of the same commercials in a row. I have found no way of getting around this other then getting the CRACKLE and other channels premium service which I won't do.
I know they have to make money to have it free, but they could at least time the ads for the "natural breaks" that usually appear in films-like in between scenes for one.
YJ02
Well Known GateFan
Stores or other establishments are not required to post that they use rfid, you would not know that it is in use unless they were using personalized in store ads.
It is only the already existing rebellion that has kept this rfid tech at bay, Congress is all for it. You have rfid in many things that you do not even realize. Like, if you have purchased clothes in the last 5 or so yrs at any store- you have a very good chance of walking around wearing rfid. Criminals with rfid can do enormous damage-all they have to do is drive down a street till they find the right rfid operated door opener or "brinks" brand remote door locks and their in.
The "resistance" has been pushing hard to make rfid readers harder to get then firearms.
Here is the principle book on it by the founders of the "resistance". Had to read it for a "societal change" class: http://www.amazon.com/Spychips-Major-Corporations-Government-Purchase/dp/0452287669
their website has most of the book on it in some form as well:
http://www.spychips.com/what-is-rfid.html
shavedape
Well Known GateFan
I remember finding it creepy when I was out in CA some years ago and the malls there were nothing like I thought they would be. There was one in I think Burbank that was just dead. Plus the one in Sherman Oaks, which should have been thriving, was just a boring slog of nothingness. It was very creepy in a way.
Having worked in malls for more years than I care to remember or admit I don't have a problem with this downward trend. Since malls became nothing but boring, corporate ghettos in the 90's I welcome the effects of entropy taking place now.
(Years ago the mall I worked at was a uniquely singular place. There were privately owned stores that sold quality merchandise. There was an ice skating rink right in the center that was used year round. There was a rock lined stream with foliage that meandered thru various twisting arms of the building that lead to the most interesting stores. Then the 90's came along and they raised rents so only corporate giants could afford to be there. They ripped out the unique details like the plants and stream and the ice skating rink. They closed off the arms of the building and made it a straight shot from end to end. The place is now exactly the same as every other mall in America with nothing unique to entice me, or others, to come inside.)
B
Backstep
Guest
That is why I don't go to Crackle as much and don't even go to Hulu any more. I like that services like Roku will be an app on TV sets, this will make cutting the cord easier for more to take the leap.
Perhaps not, but credit card companies are required to tell you if your card has an RFID chip. None of mine do.
I do not have RFID in any of my clothing, and I buy lots of clothes. Please post your source for this.
Companies cannot just implant RFID chips in anything they want. Not only that, how do they code it for a specific person if you are using cash to pay for the clothes? As soon as the right wing Congress is dumped, this technology will stay right where it belongs...under control of the American consumer.There will never be an RFID chip secretly introduced into my home because Im just too thorough with my technology (and the places where I buy my goods). I notice they specifically mention Walmart and Tesco which I do not shop at.
Also, I pay cash for most everything I buy and I do not use any of those stupid cards for frequent purchases. So, if any of these chips have made it into my home, they are not coded to me. RFID is going to easily be foisted on the masses because the masses just are not sharp enough to protect themselves. It is easy when you take the time and look for stuff like this:
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-blockkill-RFID-chips/
You can buy pre-assembled RFID readers/killers for less than $50.00.
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11828
The advertising companies are going to try everything they can to stay in business, but eventually they will lose the fight. The scenario like seen in Minority Report with people walking into stores and then advertising kiosks greeting them by name and hawking some goods is just not going to come to pass. Privacy laws will be enacted to prevent it, and Americans will continue to rebel against the practice and keep it off the shelves. Advertisers and government intrusion is losing ground, not gaining it.