Introduction
If you are tired of paying ever-increasing rates for your television entertainment, then this book is for you. It will provide you with detailed information to help you make informed decisions to get the most bang for your home entertainment dollar. For many, that can mean a savings of $100 or more per month – over $1000 a year!
Over the course of the chapters ahead, I’ll be examining a variety of options available to consumers to help combat the “Do it our way” mentality of the cable and satellite TV conglomerates.
Did I mention that “their way” is an outdated model harkening back to the 1980s?
The technological advances in recent years have dramatically turned the tables in favor of you, not them. They just haven’t faced that fact yet. The cable companies are fighting this trend tooth and nail in a desperate attempt to keep their archaic business model alive.
Remember how the music industry reacted to digital downloading of songs over the internet? They made it as difficult as possible, sued folks for piracy if they shared music on sites like Napster, and generally refused to rethink their business model for the new digital era.
How did that work out?
In a nutshell, consumers won. And it didn’t really take that long.
Currently you can buy digital music from a variety of sources – iTunes, Amazon, and Walmart.com are just a few examples. Rarely do you have to put up with DRM (Digital Rights Management) restrictions. You buy the song and can play it on just about any device you want without the hassle of having to use some software tool to convert to a different format and remove the DRM. And if you would rather listen to streaming music, you can have access to an incredible library of songs at your fingertips.
The music industry has adjusted its thinking. The television industry hasn’t yet, to a large degree, but consumers like yourself can help force them to wake up to reality.
Whether they like it or not, the cable and satellite TV companies – as well as the content providers – are going to have to adjust to the demands of consumers in our connected world.