Trapped into paying extra for cable TV sports

Los Angeles Times ^ | 5/1/14 | David Lazarus

[jeannineinsd]

Cable TV's sports costs are prompting a growing number of people to "cut the cord".

Exhibit A: The $8 billion charged by the Dodgers for broadcast rights to their games knowing full well that pay-TV companies would have to pass along this sky-high cost to all customers.

Time Warner Cable is the Dodgers' partner in crime. It paid that whopping sum for exclusive rights to distribute the Dodgers channel to other pay-TV companies, assuming, like the team, that it would get away with sticking both fans and non-fans with an extra $4 to $5 fee every month.

The harsh reality, however, is that most Southern California pay-TV customers already are forking out big bucks for local sports that they may never watch.

[Utilizer]

Agree, for the most part. The thing you need to remember is that the shows were already broadcast, which means that they already got their revenue in for the episode from whichever company purchased the rights to broadcast it. So it is already bought and paid for. The broadcasters are also already paid by the commercials they ran during the airing of the program, which was then sent out over the Public Airwaves, so no losses there either.

If someone happens to loan a recording out to someone else so they too can see the program, the originator and the broadcaster (and all the advertisers) are already paid, so they lose nothing.

So long as you do not attempt to re-sell the program in any attempt to profit from it, there is nothing legally wrong with viewing it after it was broadcast.

I think all the streaming sites are the wave of the future.

[steve86]

No, I didn’t mean you were doing anything illegal, as laws currently written, but by most legal reckoning, the sites distributing these videos, streaming or not, are committing infringement. I just stay away from them; besides the fact I don’t watch movies, have plenty of other things to worry about.

[steve86]

Your rationalizations may or may not win over a jury some day in the future after laws are clarified regarding streaming of copyrighted content. But like I say, I don’t watch tv or movies, doesn’t affect me one way or the other.

[Utilizer]

Actually, the latest television sets I have looked at since at least a few years ago already come with a standard VGA connector to go along with the HDMI, RCA, and S-Video so most people are covered. Here, the VGA port works just fine for most standard television programmes.

[Utilizer]

IANAL, but in general, as soon as they feel they can prove damages simply because I happened to stream something like an episode of NCIS to watch in privacy here at home, then I will worry. I think they have no chance in attempting to prove anything of the sort.

[EDINVA]

Yep. It’s a special kind of freedom.

[Kid Shelleen]

Thanks FRiend. I have a Radio Shack indoor antenna and it works pretty good. I will look into the outdoor antenna ;

[Kid Shelleen]

do you remember the model number ?

[Trailerpark Badass]

Dumped cable over a year ago.

Started gaming with a Christian-centered, no profanity group meeting lots of committed Christians, including a good number of stalwarts from GB and Europe.

TV is garbage.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

Terk TV32.

[Kid Shelleen]

THANKS; I just called Verizon and dumped my cable TV service.

[gr8eman]

I had a run-in with directtv, cancelled, and now watch all of the hockey games on a .eu site. They have EVERYTHING on that site.