In many ways, I love my job at PIJIP, I get to work on website stuff, do some actual HTML editing, update the IP curriculum, and most importantly, troll the entire internet looking for IP related stories and events and post blurbs on them on our front page.
Of course, one of the downsides to this is that I’m forced to read through horrible stories that just make my blood boil about the state of the internet and media in this country. Take this story I just found, for example. According to Engadget, cable companies are currently plotting to attempt (read: attempt) to limit online content to pay-TV subscribers. What that would mean is that, all you people that have canceled cable subscriptions and think you can get the majority of your TV fix online via sites like Hulu and network websites would be SOL. Rather, you would have to currently subscribe to cable service in order to access these things online.
Now why is this happening? Apparently the cable companies are getting butthurt because some people find their extraordinarily expensive cable services to be, well, extraordinarily expensive, and they’re trying to find a way to supplement their already dying business model of just gouging the public because they are (were) the only game in town for providing access to media.
I’m not even entirely sure how they would implement such a thing. I’m guessing some kind of universal login for hulu/nbc/abc/every network provider website that’s tied to your cable online login? Regardless, this is silly, stupid, and downright sad. I can’t believe anyone would ever think this is a good idea.
