yodaddy waxes roth concerning a tailfeather-ruffler of his own.
Freedom of choice? What a great concept; but where and how do we get it? Certainly not on satellite TV. I have tried on several occasions to persuade Direct TV to let me chose the channels I receive through my satellite.Dude, I was with you chapter and verse until you went all "regulatory" on me.
According to the person answering their phones I did make a CHOICE. Ah no I did not. They give me a choice of sorts. For a certain price you get a PACKAGE of channels, some of which can be very obnoxious, vulgar or just down right irritating. For instance: When I made my CHOICE, All I wanted were some movie channels; ESPN; Local news and entertainment channels and sports channels such as Fox Arizona, Versus and Fox Intermountain. What I got was some of what I wanted and a whole pile of stinking..er crap.
For instance: I am not Catholic. I am not Mormon and I am not gay. But whether I like it or not, I get a Catholic channel, a Mormon (BYU) channel and a channel that consists of pro-lesbian, pro-gay garbage, daily; all day and night long. So apparently I am sustaining and supporting their causes whether I like it or not. I don’t like it. I want those channels out of my house and out of my life. Unfortunately I can’t get rid of them without dumping channels I wish to keep. Ah isn’t freedom of choice wonderful?
Satellite TV boasts of offering many, many channels bnt they neglect to tell you that the bulk of them are ppv. That’s fine. I don’t care. All I want are the dozen or so channels that I want to watch without the rest of that l@*%$#@.
The problem seems to be that there is no serious regulatory agency keep these people in check. So who do you turn to????
Chances are you're right...but this feathered libertarian scavenger just HATES all regulation of all kinds. Call me simplistic and naive, but I really believe in the power of the marketplace. In fact, were existing regulations on television transmission to suddenly disappear, there would emerge, after a brief but gawd-awful period of utter chaos, a potpourri of viewing possibilities that are utterly impossible in today's over-regulated marketplace.
Did you know that many of the channels that DirecTV and many cable stations force you to accept -- the very self-same channels you wish to dump from your available options -- are carried either because of regulatory mandate or in an attempt at CYA, lest they be sued by one of the interest groups so intent on ramming their particular 'ism' down society's collective (and I do mean collective) throats?
Let us hearken back to telephone deregulation. Remember what an MCF that was going to be? Now look at where we are. In many markets, you can pay a flat $40-50 per month (or $25 if you are willing to put up with the inherent "issues" of VoIP) for local AND long distance service. I'd dare say that in the 70's, before deregulation, you were paying a WHOLE lot more (proportionally, in 1970's dollars) for your phone service, especially if you had out-of-state relatives. Additionally, the menu of available gadgets, options, and services has exploded. You think good old stodgy AT&T would have invested one dime in all of that creativity were their monopoly to have survived? I think not!
Nonetheless, that was a great post, yodaddy. Thanks for the input.
