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CBS, Comcast in web TV trial subs

Comcast has snagged reluctant online broadcaster CBS to join in testing a service that will let cable subscribers have access to cable television online at no extra charge. At issue is whether the future of American online television will be advertisement-funded or require a subscription. Web sites like Hulu.com prove the …

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Anonymous Coward
WTF?

Hollywood is Overpaid

If they didn't pay these actors/actresses so damn much they would need as much money from advertising. This goes for sports, too. They keep paying these ridiculous salaries and are passing the cost on to us consumers or cramming some shoe/drink/clothing/car down our throats. Break the F'n cycle. Nobody should be paid millions to act like an fool in front of a camera for a few hours a day, a few days a week, a few weeks a year. I'm sick of spending almost $60-80 just for 2 people to see a movie and have some snacks. I'm sick of paying over $100 a month to TV when I only watch it for a few hours a day, if that, and still have to watch commercials with blaring sound.

I haven't been to a major sporting event on my dime in years. Why are they paying these people millions of dollars to play a GAME? And then sit out when they have a damn hangnail for two weeks. Are you kidding me? I go to WORK sick as a dog just so I don't get fired. "We're talking about practice?" Hell yes, you whiny little maggot. It's part of your job to be at practice. Shut up, grow a pair, and do every damn thing asked of you for your millions of dollars. Role models my ass. A homeless man on the corner begging for change works hard for them, dollar for dollar.

We, the people, need to kick them, the whole damn entertainment/sports industries, square in the balls and say that we've had enough.

James Woods

I disagree

I think the real problem is people are axing their cable service. I personally work 8-12 hours a day, if im lucky I tune into an hour or two during the day and then perhaps a few hours on the weekends.

I never watch these stupid mainstream channels for their shows or news, and im not the only one.

These deals have anti-trust smeared all over them but I guess that's one of the things that's sparking comcast to rename it's Comcastic to "it's a monopoly stupid".

Viewership will continue to be down, especially if the media continues to run the country by putting presidents in the whitehouse. I always can remember a family member that did not have a television in their house. I said how can you not have a television,,,,,,,, well honestly I can see exactly how now.

YouStupidBoy
Thumb Up

Bandwidth caps?

The question that immediately springs to mind: Is this going to count against my monthly bandwidth cap that Comcast imposes? Not sure how much data we're talking about but for HD content that won't look like garbage on a large flatscreen, I'd imagine it could stack up pretty quickly - the HD torrents that I've seen on trackers generally seem to run around 1.5 gigs/hour. Also it would be nice, since they are apparently going to limit the content to the channels you're already subscribed to if they could offer a trial period of the shows on the other channels (2 free episodes or similar).

On the plus side, this could make a potentially great VOD service that will hopefully be far better than what Comcast currently offers. Anyone know what method they're going to use to select the homes for the trials?

Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward

Horse First Please

Comcast needs to hire someone who understands network reliability first. I still have a wired POTS line because Comcast routinely experiences outages whenever they expand their service.

lukewarmdog
Alert

'Ow Much

"US broadcasters aren't so sure ads are lucrative enough to support online video."

"Cable operators, meanwhile, are struggling to preserve their business model"

Decisions, decisions. Totally agree with the OP, Daniel Radcliffe is reported to being paid $43 million for the next and last two Harry Potter films, John Terry will be on over £200k a WEEK for playing football at Manchester City.

Bassey

Re: Hollywood is overpaid

So might I suggest you stop paying $60-80 for a movie and $100/month for your telly? It's no use complaining about Hollywood. As you rightly point out, it's YOU who are paying the ridiculous salaries so grow a pair yourself and stop paying them!

Hud Dunlap
FAIL

Subscription or ad's

What the cable compainies haven't figured out is people are tired paying a subsrciption and watching 15 minutes or more of ads. Oh yeah and I have to wade through all of the Spanish langauge chanels to find an interesting show. Supposedly the channels are free but why am I getting them.

Let me choose the channels I want without buying a package of shows I don't and I might me interested.

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