vbt’s Comments

• Aug 18th, 2011 @ 2:40pm

  1%

  on A Response To Felicia Day On How Video Gets Funded In A Fragmented, Digital World
  I have often worried about whose going to pay to get things created too. The content production and distribution system is super complicated and so interwoven with traditional television, but i think some frustration comes from not being able to give money. When HBO Go was released, there seemed to be lots of traffic in my twitter feed begging HBO to let individuals pay HBO directly for the streaming. The delay sometimes between the airing of something on tv versus being available for purchasing on iTunes or elsewhere also creates frustration. I have always assumed that this was about contracts between distributors and the networks. But the notion that we all want something for free is mostly wrong - we want to pay to get content where we want to get it from. As a cord cutter, I didn't want to pay money to my ISP who constantly provides bad customer service.
  
  When I thought I lost my techdirt sweatshirt, I panicked. I told my friend it was a $50 sweatshirt and she looked at me like I was crazy. Then I pointed out that I gladly paid it b/c it was a way to pay for the time Techdirt saved me in doing research for telco policy papers in grad school.
• May 13th, 2010 @ 2:57pm

  (untitled comment)

  on Tipping Point? Quarter Of All Homes Have Totally Abandoned Landlines
  I left landline's behind 10-yrs ago. My dorm room in college had a connection but we didn't have a phone for it. I recently moved into an area w/ fios and it was much cheaper to have a landline and get the "triple play" then purchase internet and television separately. So I'm in the same boat as Tetsubo in having service I don't really need. I don't even know the phone number for the line; my google voice number rings there and my cell. I pick up whichever is closer.
  
  Information service providers will continue to lock services together to boost numbers even though some subscribers would much rather just have a good internet connection.
• Feb 26th, 2009 @ 6:22am

  (untitled comment) (as vbacon)

  on Is It Impossible For Hulu To Survive?
  Hulu has done a pretty incredible job and the commercials aren't really that bad. I know its all mental but I love that they tell me how long the commercial is going to be. I wish it hadn't cut boxee and offered more portable options - a hulu app for the iphone, streaming through the xbox, etc. I love on-demand function and even sit through some commercials that i can fast forward (Comcast's fearnet now has commercials on their ondemand materials).
  
  content-providers have got to get there stuff together and stop panicking about changing streams of revenue.