ZuDfunck

Written so well I decided to leave it up.

Now we may have to join Witness Protection after we post a few of these lessons I’ve learned. The multi-billion corporations are not gonna want this information getting out to you, easily accessible, to undercut their profits. As I have a Telecom background, I realize more than anyone how expensive and elaborate their infrastructure must be. But I think the whole pricing structure is out of control. And it isn’t just the providers, when you look at the fact ESPN charges over four dollars per subscriber. Time Warner’s TNT charges over a dollar. You can quickly see how fast that cable bill can climb.

I cut the cord in January 2012 mainly because I am working a minimum wage job on a part time basis. In my telecom career I was making a decent high five figures. Now I stock shelves on midnights. I had to do something. My cable bill was 135 bucks a month. Now it’s true I had every sports channel Comcast provides, a landline and internet rated at 15 meg.

So I ported my phone number to my 25 bucks a quarter pay as you go 7 dollar Nokia cellphone. Downgraded my internet to 3 meg and now I’m paying a manageable 39.95. Thats ninenty bucks I have saved and I am still able to feed my sports addiction.

Tom Brady got me all flustered prior to the Super Bowl when he mentioned last year while on vacation in South America he was able to watch the game via some illegal streaming site. The next day the Fed’s busted a few dudes, one a fellow Michigander as it turns out. But a week later they were pointing folks, myself included, to networks providing the sad postmortem coverage of the Patriots loss.

I am an ethical, taxpaying, bleeding heart liberal and it pains me in some facets as to how I am forced to consume my media now. When it comes to movies & TV shows I use Netflix and Hulu.com, so don’t you put me in the torrent wielding trickbag. I do have limits to how far I will go. 

I strongly feel, if enough of a movement can gain momentum, we can together see refinements in the pricing structure and how the infrastructure is managed, to the extent that the user and the providers along with the content creators, can all find an acceptable middle ground.