The End Of Television As We Know It

Posted on 12/31/2008 at 12:18 am by

by Lee Stranahan

And I feel fine.

In latest example of giant media conglomerates throwing hissy fits at one another, Time Warner Cable subscribers are about to lose Viacom channels like Comedy Central, Nick and MTV. Way to give people a reason to say f-ck off to both of you, really. This is just one reason that cable television’s heyday as the main middle man as coming to close. With the internet, who needs them? And with the Obama FCC about to save net neutrality and with the possibility of over the airwaves internet connections >complete with porn- umm, seriously, who needs the cable companies?

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  • gypsysoul

    and how do you get rid of it?! you want cable they show up before you get off the phone. you want to get rid of cable you spent a full day waiting in line just to have the cable person mumble some shit under her breathe about how much dog hair is in it!

  • jane

    Heh. There’s a furball on my DVR. I was thinking of leaving it there when I turn it in. Now I’m decided. I’m the decider!

  • Rod Majors

    Now how am I going to explain to my 2 year old that she can’t watch Wubbzy play kicketty-kickball? I hear Noggin in my sleep.

  • Myhero

    Lee, Lee Lee, always late to the party aren’t you?I haven’t had cable in over 5 years. Haven’t missed it at all, or their high prices.My brother has cable, stayed at his house a few times. He has 100′s of channels and after surfingthrough them all a couple times I realized its just 85 more channels of the same nothing that’s on regular tv.

  • josh

    I think Viacom looks to be the winner here. I don’t get the “a pox on BOTH your houses!” thing.I mean, people want their MTV. I know this because Billy Idol used to say it and Dire Straits had it as the opening of a song, or something. But beyond their MTV, people want their kids’ Nick cartoons, people want their Colbert & Stewart and South Park (and their ability to have a 23% chance at any time to see Brendan Fraser in AIRHEADS), people want their VH1 CelebReality; people want the stuff Viacom is selling.They could give a shit who their gateway is, for the most part, as long as it is transparent. But SOMEBODY has to create content for any media distribution network to have a saleable property.Nobody gives a crap about their pipes, exactly, except that they work and don’t leak. People use their water. The pipes are a delivery device.Let’s not throw out the water in this discussion.For people who love to hate TV, this is a Nelson-the-Bully “HA! HA!” moment, but y’all are a minority that makes the gay anorexic albino eskimo furry-enthusiast contingent seem monolithic.At a certain point, content is king. I gotta think breaking down the argument for “an extra quarter a month, you keep these channels” is a winning argument.Dude. Nick *and* Noggin? That’s every cable subscriber with a kid between 2-9 suddenly an irate caller. TimeWarner is going to lose this fight.

  • http://www.broadwaycarl.blogspot.com Broadway Carl

    Also, you have to realize that some people don’t have a choice. I live in an co-op apartment complex wired for TWC, no dishes allowed. I never watch MTV, don’t have any kids so no use for Nick and I can watch Stewart and Colbert online. So it won’t affect me as much as the rugrats upstairs, but still, cable sucks.

  • Teaflax

    Warner are really setting themselves up to tank their stock, aren’t they? I don’t know how intimately Time Warner are connected to Warner Music Group, but their combined efforts at irrelevancy in the last few weeks are almost breathtaking to watch. Way to drive people into the arms of internet piracy, folks.

  • http://unrelatedcontent.com Travis D

    >>This is just one reason that cable television’s heyday as the main middle man as coming to close. With the internet, who needs them?People with DVRs and TVs bigger then their monitors…?>>And with the Obama FCC about to save net neutralityDohohoho

  • Tracy Adams

    What’s this cable you speak of? I know only of Netflix, HULU and youTube.For three years now, we’ve been without cable. The TV is nothing more than a giant monitor for displaying DVD movies and Wii games. Not once has it been turned on to pick up a local channel, besides, why should I pay to see 500 channels when I can have control over 500 billion internet pages of HTML crap.

  • ceu

    As long as you all keep your ESPN. (they’re the biggest taxpayer in town & I’d like it to stay that way, k?)And don’t fuck with my BBC America or History International!

  • http://jennydemilo.blogspot.com JennyDemilo

    I estimate that about 20% of my TV watching is Comedy central so I’m going to call them and ask them to take 20% off my bill.I suspect they will work it out and both sides are posturing for the fight. I’m still making the call though.

  • http://unrelatedcontent.com Travis D

    This happens every couple of years, and it generally gets sussed out before any interruption in programming.

  • josh

    All you people who say “I watch it all on HULU and YouTube; you realize the content is only *generated* because of the revenue it gets from cable distribution?It doesn’t magically just EXIST for you to hulu-watch.