An Essay On Subscription Television

dpu writes "Who would pay $1.99 to download a television episode that only costs about $0.0014 to see on cable? This is a short essay on the current and past state of subscription television, and a hope for the future. It skips a lot of points that the thinkers among us might care about, but it does the math and drives a nail into Big Content's pinky toe."

Re:PT Barnum

[node 3]

Yikes! That's over 1/2 million PT Barnums born per year!

I'd have thought the number would be much smaller...

Re:Well, when you put it that way...

[Stu22]

Thats $1.12 per picture. 20 TVs all running picture in picture can easily get the price up to $44.80.

And for someone who watches 10 hours a month...

[patio11]

... its a freaking sweet deal. I pay for the stuff I want to watch (Heroes, 24), and everybody else gets to pay for "We Put Twenty Attention-Starved Coeds On an Island and Drama Happened".

DVD/VHS comparison?

[jbreckman]

I stopped reading when he claimed VHS looked better than DVD.

Re:Well, let's see

[PancakeMan]

Yeah, if only DVD's didn't come with annoying ads, trailers and "do-not-pirate-shit infomercials" that I can't skip, that'd make what you say true.

That's the "value-added content"!

Re:when did we start paying for advertising?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow! I didn't know it was that bad in theaters! Good thing I am always 10 minutes late into the theater when seeing a movie.