Any PC can outdo any cable box. All that is needed is a very inexpensive device with the equivalent of a SIM card and it seems as if many people are just discovering this as they’re looking for various cable tv alternatives.
Even better, a cheap device in your TV or linked to a any tablet would open up a HUGE world of competition for better interfaces!
Mike James on FB: I make no apology for loathing the cable TV business and its near monopoly, its demand that I pay for dozens of channels I never watch, that it lobbies big time to make sure that my alternatives are limited, that its fees grow multiple times faster than actual inflation without multiple gains in service, etc. etc.
In the UK people might pay for a Freeview box which is a one-time purchase to expand the number of TV channels. There are even Freeview boxes from Humax Direct or other suppliers that let people record the programs they want ahead of the schedule. If cable adopted a business model where people do a one-time purchase of channels it might not be so bad. But cable doesn’t want to do that, they want the costs to go up while the benefits remain the same.
“The monthly cost of renting cable boxes has gone up 185 percent since 1994……By comparison, the Consumer Price Index, which measures overall inflation in the economy, was up about 60 percent in that time.”
– NYTimes
“I don’t pay for the Comcast modem – bought my own outright; I don’t use their router or phone service or set top box, but Comcast doesn’t make it easy to break the chain – we still need them for decent broadband and even basic network broadcasts.
So I’m cheering this small step the FCC may take soon to loosen the anti-competitive grip now enjoyed by the cable giants. One more reason to vote D this year……”
Any PC can outdo any cable box. All that is needed is a very inexpensive device with the equivalent of a SIM card.
This would open up a HUGE world of cometition for better interfaces!