Cable Companies Want You to Pay for Watching Shows Online

It's not like we need more reasons to dislike cable companies, but brace yourself because here comes another one. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that cable companies are planning to restrict access to online content (full episodes of your favorite shows) to people who are currently paying for cable. What's worse, the networks seem to be pretty thrilled with the idea.

You may now commence ranting, background rage music optional.



That's right, one of the best parts of watching TV online (c'mon, we're all Hulu addicts by now, right?) is that it's free. Free! And that's not even mentioning some really nice benefits such as being able to what you want when you want, and how many times you want, and rewind to that part where Jim talks about the Klingons and Wookiees in last night's episode of Battlestar Galactica, again, and again, and again.

(and again)

But getting back to my original point, why should we be paying the cable companies to watch content online, in other words, without needing cable at all? The networks shouldn't be excited about this either because they still get their ad revenue from online views just like they do from TV views, but restricting their audience to paid subscribers will limit the number of online views (and therefore bring down ad revenue).

Basically, it's very perturbing that the cable companies are trying to affect the way that we watch content if we choose not to have cable. I realize that this is their attempt to legitimize their business model in an internet-centric world, but it sure is hard to swallow when we've been able to see content for free so far.

To see what I'm talking about, check out the review of internet TV sites. For more tech news, try some of these blog posts viewable only by people who AREN'T paying a subscription:

Gateway Unveils Cinema-Oriented TC Laptop Series

2008 Sees LCD TV Demand Decline

This Week in Movies: Feb. 20

New 82-inch LCD TV Coming to Market

Hulu Pulls Content from TV.com, Strikes First Blow in Battle Over Internet TV Market