Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think? • Hacker News Board

Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?

#91

Post by silverlight » Wed, Jan 04, 2012, 1:56 PM UTC

smokinn wrote: post #53

silverlight wrote: post #41

About a year or two ago, I still had cable (I don't anymore), and I had the premium package with all the movie channels. At the time, a new season of Entourage was starting and I wanted to catch my wife up on the previous season. This previous season was not available via HBO On-Demand, they were not showing any re-runs on HBO that I could find, and the DVD of this season was not available in stores yet. There was li…

HBO spends a lot of money on creating truly premium content. For that reason I would pay for HBO Go. But I can't because I refuse to pay for cable just to get HBO. What would I watch on cable? A bunch of crappy reality tv? No thanks, Netflix has more than enough content to keep me satisfied.

Sounds like we're in exactly the same boat :-)

Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?

#92

Post by brudgers » Wed, Jan 04, 2012, 2:02 PM UTC

Bud wrote: post #90

r00fus wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An example of an untenable choice is say skipping a meal a week so your kid gets to see the doctor. Losing your cable TV is not one, especially in this day and age of Netflix and AppleTV/Roku direct sports channels.

Losing your internet is, and in many areas, the only decent net access comes from the same folks providing cable TV. I've already given up my cable TV, btw. A year ago. Because I couldn't stand Comcast's existence anymore.

Anywhere there is cable, there is POTS and probably T1, DSL and Cellular. Cable offers convenience, it is not a necessity.

Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?

#93

Post by jordan0day » Wed, Jan 04, 2012, 4:37 PM UTC

oflannabhra wrote: post #75

jordan0day wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're pretty much spot-on here. The one thing I would add is that while everyone is talking about the cable/media companies' business models being obsolete, we could also make the same argument for the team owners. That is, when I have a 50" big screen and digital theater sound at home, and can buy a 6-pack of beer for $8 rather than a single beer, I'm much more likely to watch the game at home for (ostensib…

I'm kind of frustrated that I can't go to a game and get as good a media experience as at home. Why can't I go to a game and get the announcer's live feed on my smartphone? Why can't I get replays on my own display? You're right in that there is value in the atmosphere and excitement of a live game, but surely the price of admission could include more than a seat. Are there any startups in this area?

MLB has an app (iPhone and Android, AFAIK), that features video replays of significant plays (essentially the highlights that the MLB puts up on the game recap page on their site) and streaming audio (and video, for additional money).

There's special features for when you're actually at the ballpark, but I've never used them.

Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?

#94

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jan 04, 2012, 5:23 PM UTC

marknutter wrote: post #11

technoslut wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I don't have sympathy. My sympathy goes to people who are actually struggling in this world and not for an investor who can afford Knicks tickets that is complaining about not being able to watch them on TV for a few days or weeks in a season that has already been delayed.

Oh, so only those who are truly struggling get to complain. Gotcha.

[deleted]