Draug, I suspect if the scenario I described were the general operating procedure of all grocery stores -- yes, pretty much fucking everybody would mob the store and steal everything in it, because their behavior is tyrannical.

Go somewhere else? 90+% of all "new media content" is controlled by massive corporate conglomerates that require you to pay insanely excessive fees to access there line up of channels. The overwhelming majority of people watch less than 10% of their available selection.

If this business model existed *anywhere* else in society their would be open rebellion.

But, the cable companies, etc, have locks in every town...I can only get one cable company where I live, or go sattelite or basic antenna (I have an antenna in my attic). They have "bought" the right to serve me cable TV, but I get no benefit from them purchasing those local rights, and nobody is coming in to compete (can't...need government approval to do that...) So I have no real choices other than excessive costs, no cable content, or steal what I want, or buy what is available from Netflix, Google Play, etc (and I buy episodes all the time...The Waling Dead, for example)

But the current distribution systems is a crock of shiites.

Where I live, I get to see all (and I mean ALL) the channels for just 5 $ /month.
And that too, legally :)

Mozart himself pirated. http://www.classicfm.com/composers/mozart/guides/mozart-allegri-miserere/

You wouldn't download a car though

Balrog - what internet/satellite stealing backwater hellhole do you live in?

@2WL - When I purchase a large enough 3 printer, Mr krellin will be driving a new downloaded car each week. Stuff that in your pirate pipe and smoke it.

Well, beyond satellite and antenna, I actually have two options for cable and this business model is gaining support... Traditional cable and telco fiber. I have Cinci Bell Fioptics instead of Time Warner cause TWC is outrageously priced. But beyond that, except for premium channels, most of then networks have their shows online the day after they air in their normal time slot. So you only have to miss those HBO and other premium channel shows and, quite frankly, I live without GoT and the rest until they hit Netflix or Amazon Prime.

"TWC is outrageously priced."

Because they have a pretty captive market which they purchased from the government (both Federal level and local)

Honestly, I mostly do what you do - wait until it shows up. I rarely pirate anything anymore; mostly purchase Episodes of shows I have …uh….”sampled” and like. In other words: Pirating *increased* revenue from me…

And I am good with that. It's the people who just pirate and never buy. Also, my blu-ray player gets all the streaming systems like Hulu and the aforementioned Netflix and Amazon Prime, so for a much cheaper per month, you cam get all of them and get plenty of entertainment with just a few months delay and, in the case of Hulu, just a days delay or a week at most.

@Krellin - I live in India, and the number of cable tv ops and other providers is too high for any of them to keep their rates any more than what I mentioned.

PS: I get to see almost half channels in HD if I pay 2$ extra per month :P

Apart from competition another reason for this excessively cheaper price is the amount of piracy being done over here.

So piracy is forcing the cable companies to cut their prices and cutting into their bottom.line, meaning the networks they rent from have to demand less for the cable companies to afford to stay in business which means the networks have less revenue coming in to spend on quality productions resulting in lower production values and shittier (or is that shettier) shows. Sorry, that pun was a tad racist.

Draug, I thought you didn't do consumer software. Do you not love open source things as much as you should?

And I like R+L=J. It makes Jon's existence much more believable and does a good job of indirectly making Robert's character way deeper.

"So piracy is forcing the cable companies to cut their prices and cutting into their bottom line, meaning the networks they rent from have to demand less for the cable companies to afford to stay in business which means the networks have less revenue coming in to spend on quality productions resulting in lower production values and shittier (or is that shettier) shows."

I love how you fiscal conservative types are so good at putting together these chains of logic directly from your bumholes. Can you in any way support this claim, that shows are "shittier" when corporations make less profit? Unlikely. Can you even support the claim that piracy forces my cable company to lower its prices?

You can argue that it's "wrong" to pirate and that argument has some merit - but you'll lose ground quickly once you go down this path, Draug. Contrary to neocon pop belief, not everything trickles.

Whatever model does not fit the pre-conceived western capitalist idea is considered a 'backwater hellhole'. That is exactly the mentality that is keeping the west stupid, and the others advancing quickly.

I was referring to the Indian companies. Have you ever seen TV made for Indians? I have (we have both Latino and Indian channels on Fioptics). The shows have lower production value than multi camera sitcoms and soaps from the 70s and 80s.

@Draugner - Piracy is a secondary reason and its mainly related with people over here pirating foreign TV (e.g. GoT) shows mainly. You can't find a single pirated copy of local TV shows.
And despite having lower profits the number of service providers have nearly doubled in last few years (I can think of almost 8 national and numerous regional providers). The primary reason for that is the massive population (1.3 billion), due to which everybody has something to earn. Its more like "more business with less profit"

And as for the quality of TV shows, I have to say: I totally disagree with you, not because I am Indian. But, the culture and mindset of the people over here is almost 180 degree out of phase to that of western culture. So naturally you might find our TV show boring (focusing on diff. aspects of a family) or having bad quality.

Relevant: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones
I bought season 1 on dvd from amazon, and might buy future seasons, but for now I stream.

"resulting in lower production values and shittier (or is that shettier) shows. Sorry, that pun was a tad racist. "

It only would be racist if you had said "shiitier"

Let's see...a Latino guy gets attacked by a black kid and get's killed in self-defense....and the media says not only is this a hate crime throughout the trial period, but black activists take to the streets *across the country* with a giddy media in tow, perpetuating the story, and basically supporting the notion that not only was the Latino man a racist, but ALL of whtie America is racist....such fucked up thoughts echoed around here by the WebDip race baiters.

But this...a gang assault on a white man (and not a SINGLE witness from the 40+ people milling about)...'Ho hummmm....This isn't the racism you are looking for...move along...move along..."

/\ Well that was the wrong thread...

I was talking actual production values like set design and such.

Krells - Shetty is an Indian surname and the surname of at least two Indian actresses here in the states.

And shitte is a shitty terrorist. <yeah, that was a little racist.>