Except you're looking at it wrong, the ISP is not preventing your access to DSLReports or ESPN360. In this case, it is ESPN360 that is electing to only allow certain people to enter their website. I think the poster's point was if you want the content and the provider (ESPN) wants to charge for it, get out your own credit card.
So long we are not forced into buy any tier as condition of service....
Take Netflix for example.... if I want to stream their movies I have to pay to them... not inderectly via Cox. If they keep lumping this crap content services soon more than half our bill is going to be crappy cable networks seeking to milk more money. ESPN already makes a 3-5 dollars of my cable bill... now is going to be making more out of my internet bill...
What if I DON'T care about them... why I have to pay for not using it...
reply to AVonGauss Exactly and this horrible content served up on a take all or none basis is the excuse as to why we see yearly price increases at many times the rate of inflation.
These providers should be compelled to unbundle this crap and content generator forbidden from extorting money by blocking access to other channels they sell.
It comes down to ABC/Disney abusing their market position to sell horrible content (like ABC Family) by pulling channels people do want. And they are putting themselves into the position to do the same with internet content. I have no doubt that soon it will be ABC/Disney telling cable operators that they are paying for ESPN360 or not getting other ABC owned content like Disney or ESPN.
reply to AVonGauss That is the crux of the matter, YOU can't buy it., only your ISP can! So ESPN gets a fat deal on all the ISP customers who couldn't give a squat. If you are a big ISP you have power to negotiate, otherwise ESPN says pound sand... If ESPN went to a regular subscription model there would be no problem. Then they pour salt in the wound telling the customers to switch ISP's. The reverse side of that is the ISP's start to decide who's DNS records to pass on. ESPN360? What's that. "SERVER NOT FOUND" That makes it look like ESPN's lameness like it is. That is a very slippery slope that ESPN wants the net to tread on.
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