YNN and its masters, Time Warner, are downright UNAMERICAN if they restrict access in any way to a political debate. YNN shouldn’t be in the debate business AT ALL, if they’re trying to make a buck off of voters’ attempts to educate themselves about candidates. There’s right and there’s wrong and that applies to everyone — even corporate enterprises.

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BTW, how about some reporting on the effect of Time Warner’s “brilliant” new paywall idea? Seriously. It’s a legitimate news topic, just like the NYT’s attempts to erect a paywall…which is still porous as all hell. Thank you, NYT! I rarely have a problem viewing articles at the Gray Lady and I read A LOT of their articles. Waaay more than their monthly limit…whatever it is.

I would like to know if Time Warner has signed up a ton of new customers locally and nationally since they put cable news behind a paywall. I would bet the farm that the answer is a resounding “NO.”

Have people been accessing CapTon’s videos like crazy now that they’re
behind the paywall? Come on. Tell the truth. I bet that the video
section of CapTon’s website has become a vast wasteland. YNN’s general
news site isn’t even worth mentioning. Nobody accessed that piece of
crap even before the paywall.

Cable news has ALWAYS had a problem competing with the big guns (CBS,
NBC & ABC). To put it behind a paywall is a case of self-immolation.
You have to wonder how much they pay management types at Time-Warner
headquarters to come up with an idea like this. I am in the wrong business.

The issue for cable companies, cell phone companies and TV makers is that they’ve pretty much SATURATED their markets. Most everybody who wants a cell phone or TV with cable access has it. The only way for these firms to seriously increase revenues is to offer fancier and fancier services (and so more expensive services) to EXISTING customers. That’s a hard sell. I know because I’m the prime customer that these firms would love to reach. I have no smart phone, no TV and yet I can afford both.

I will NEVER buy a TV and sign up for a costly PACKAGE of crappy cable shows just so I can watch HBO’s Dexter, whenever I want on, a smartphone. I’ll stick to buying the DVDs. Putting YNN’s crappy general news and even CapTon behind a paywall will NEVER entice me (and certainly not the average Joe Schmoe) to pony up a boatload more money for a TV, a monthly cable subscription and an expensive data plan (that you are REQUIRED to get) for a smart phone.

What do I want? When somebody can offer me TV shows like Dexter on my computer at a reasonable A LA CARTE price, they’ve got my business. I talking about TV show access without owing a TV AT ALL. I’m talking no cap on my Roadrunner internet access either. If I get a smart phone, I’m not going to pay through the nose on a data plan. The cable and phone companies are trying to see how much the market will bear pricewise for their services. That’s their perogative. It’s my perogative to tell them to screw themselves until they lower the price enough until BOTH of us are happy. They’ve got a loooong way to go until we reach a concensus.