The Cable Paradox! Countless Channels But No Freedom to Choose!?

Contributed by Chaz Luciano

Dear Internet,

There’s shows I watch here and there, but I’d estimate about 95% of my thousand-plus channel cable box is trash to me. I guess it’s nice in case I bring over someone who wants to see the latest episode of The Big Bang Theory or whatever, but most of what I’m trying to watch is on HBO or Netflix. I guess that sounds snobby, but if it weren’t for local news and sports I’d cut the cord altogether. I can stream South Park, Game of Thrones and Bojack Horseman anywhere. I’m happy to pay HBO and Netflix a few bucks a month. I’m not so irritated by the ads on southparkstudios.com because I know Matt and Trey are getting the lion’s share of that money, and they’re targeted to people who like South Park, so I’m not watching a 60 second montage of an active older man with a wife who makes you wonder why he’d need such a pill in the first place. Diet and exercise man, diet and exercise…

When I do find a cable show I like, Archer or Justified on FX for example, it’s often easier to get it illegally than it is to pay for. Each new episode is on streaming sites within hours. Click, click, done. Just like with HBO and Netflix I’d be happy to throw FX a few bucks a month for their content, but I don’t get to do that without paying a certain giant media conglomerate many times more for a whole bunch of stuff I have no particular use for. Okay, I can TVOD FX shows on AppleTV or GooglePlay, but not the same day those episodes premiere! And music… I feel no guilt when I download the 3 songs I enjoy off a particular album. I’ll pay the artist by buying merchandise or concert tickets. I want to compensate the effort artists put in — I don’t want to feed the beast.

What the file sharing mentality shows is that people (or at least I) want a la carte access to their entertainment, and they (I) want it now. The SingularDTV project is important to me because it is building the infrastructure for creatives of any type to fund, develop and release their content without the burden of a colossal, soul-sucking corporate hegemon. I want my money to go to the people who lift the pen and shine the lights — who create the shows, music, and art that I love…not to the suits who wave hands and make phone calls.

Yeah, this is a plug. 15 year old me would be seething, but 27 year old me understands that some things are worth plugging. Exploitation happens when the workers have no ownership over the means of production. As a lover of art, a system that enables artists to have both independence and access to expertise and economies of scale

All the best,

Chaz Luciano