this post was submitted on 14 May 2025
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They want the old cable tv days back, but worse
Streaming was different for years and years. But then people got greedy.
This is the exact same thing cable did when it came out.
No, cable was commercial-free when it first came out just like streaming was. They repeated the ota signals for the broadcast stations which of course contained commercials, but extremely similarly to streaming they started out with a quality and ad-free pitch for their own networks and then wound up pivoting to screwing over the customer any way possible.
(As they continue to do today, btw.)
Cable providers have unskippable ads on their own "on demand" platforms. I'm sure they track everything you do on their apps and their (often required for no technical reason) cable boxes. The only reason they didn't participate more in surveillance capitalism is that they didn't have the technical chops. They tried -- and are still trying -- their best to strangle broadband with needless data caps and anticompetitive agreements with alternative ISPs.
Cable companies were also rabidly anti-dvr as anyone who had a tivo can attest to. I'm glad you like your cable provider or whatever, but cable companies suck in the US.
No, but companies are made of individual people who get more or less greedy with time, like most other attributes of people. Which is why I said 'people got greedy'.
For ages the four nations lived in harmony...
Way late to the party cuz im browsing top posts for the week, but you reminded me of how I refused to believe my father when he said cable TV used to be ad free. He said it was the whole point of paying for it back then cuz paying for TV didn't exist yet.
Way late to the party cuz im browsing top posts for the week, but you reminded me of how I refused to believe my father when he said cable TV used to be ad free. He said it was the whole point of paying for it back then cuz paying for TV didn't exist yet.
It's quite something how they're trying to force the Internet to work as an artificial version of things we already have, instead of using it for the unique purposes which it can actually fulfill.
They want the old cable TV days, but worse, and filling their pockets instead.
Youtube is also trying to be more like TV. Apparently, TV wasn’t bad enough.
Nice thing is it can't come back. There are too many other sources of entertainment and information to make one feel like one is missing out by simply opting out.