5 May
2010
5 May
'10
1:33 p.m.
Chuck Guzis wrote:
Cable isn't in my area, so the possibility of
getting cable TV
content as a side benefit of internet access isn't there. No way I'm
going to pay for a dish so I can watch commercials.
There is one and only one reason the Sky Minidish is still sitting on
the side of the house (though it's hooked up to a PC-based MythTV PVR,
not a Sky Digibox):
BBC HD.
Every other channel on ASTRA2 and EUROBIRD (the 28 East Constellation)
is either rolling adverts, home shopping, or religion. We've got such
gems as "Npower Radio" (a radio station run by an electricity company!),
"The Unexplained Channel", "GOD Channel" and "Casino TV".
Oh, and
there's "JMLDIRECT TV" (run by a company that makes a living by
importing useless Chinese-made tat and selling it for four or more times
what it cost to make).
The full gory details are on Lyngsat: http://www.lyngsat.com/28east.html
In some ways, I wish we had something like CableCARD over here. I'd
rather like to use my PVR to watch either Sky or Virgin Media (and
obviously skip over the adverts), but I'll bet they'd never accept it
unless the Gubbermint forced them to. And even then I'll bet good ol'
Rupert Murdoch ("this is *MY* Skybox!") would sooner shut up shop than
sell a CAM module for Sky.
Either that or sell one, but charge ?10k for the thing, on a
"semi-permanent lease" (i.e.: "we can ask for it back any time we like,
and you have to give it back to us for no charge, even though you paid
for it in the first place").
--
Phil.
classiccmp at philpem.me.uk
http://www.philpem.me.uk/