 bigunkGort, Klattu Birada Nikto
join:2001-02-10
USA | reply to linicx
Re: We all need to remember I see what you're saying here. I remember the early days of C band, when the scrambling started. VideoCipher 2 was the system they chose.
In a lot of areas, you could only buy programming through the local cable company, and they made sure to price it at or somewhat above their offerings. 'Course, the only way to not buy from them was if they were not in your neighborhood. They defined your neighborhood as within a mile or two of the closet wired residence, so all bets were off in cities where they were merely close.
Soooooooo........ people started hacking the VCII code. What a time that was. The technology went through a painful and expensive evolution, with a lot of people going to jail.
Then along came a situtation where if you had, say, an apartment community and had just installed your own SMATV system (or even if you had not), the cable companies were granted automatic easements to come in and wire your property, even if you did not want them there. Property owners were up in arms, especially since the cableco's were hiring the cheapest install crews in the business, and they made Swiss cheese (or maybe Jarlsberg) of most properties they touched.
Seems to me the backlash is in full swing. I hope it shakes out for the consumer, for it is the consumer who makes the cableco's very existence possible. I just hope the cableco's don't make another move toward communism and buy a politician that will mandate everyone have cable and mandate payment, then offer garbage for the price, with no alternative. Kinda like state-owned information ministries in China and Iraq, et all.
The future should be interesting..... |
