Apple had been in discussions for some time now with TWC.This may have been what Jobs was referring to when he said that he had figured out what to do with AppleTV. Some believe that what Apple was trying to obtain was the Holy Grail of wire cutting – video a la carte! That’s to say that you pick what programs you’re willing to pay for. Nothing more than that.

But from what I have been able glean from the internet, this will give Comcast roughly 75% of the U.S.’s cable audience. I’m not a professor or anything nearing that sort of intellect but it seems to me that this pretty much constitutes a monopoly.

And it’s only going to create to a rehash of what the record companies had to learn. It’s going to drive the consumers into the arms of illegal sites and otherwise.

And you can see that wire cutting making its making its move. Hulu+, for example, now has adverts during shows just like regular television. But personally, I really don’t mind paying for that. This would mean that at long last I’m only paying for the programs that I want. That’s financially a great deal less than what I was paying Comcast for stuff I didn’t care about!

Plus, you’ll have more now than just one company in your area to get your programming from. At least, cable-wise. (that’s not including things like Dish and other such services). So the free-market can finally work.

And Comcast saw the writing on the wall long ago. Why do you think they bought NBC? Because the future is all about content. The I nternet is now your delivery system. And you have plenty of sources to choose from.

Now I know there’s going to be a lot of people complaining that they still have to watch commercials. But let’s remember that production companies still have to make money to creating our desired programming. Plus, after all, it is a business to make profit. So, I have no bones about it.

Then again, the price of an album hasn’t changed. But if you follow that metaphor, we should see a drastic reduction in our financial outlays for what we want to watch. Because you pay for only what you want to watch. And that’s a good thing.

Until my recent move, I had cut the wire for about two years. And the amount of money that I saved was amazing. Plus, I paid for only the shows and podcasts which I wanted to see. And that’s what it’s really all about, isn’t it.

©2014 Frank Petrie