I would just like to say that the old cable distribution model is dying... fast. the exact same thing happened to the music industry. When was the last time any of you went to the store and bought a cd? Or listened to the local radio station? Most people I know, buy their music online and listen to pandora or some other music streaming service. The music industry fought the change too, and lost. If it wasn't for iTunes and the like, selling people music the way the wanted it, the music industry would have been devastated. It just seems that, in any business, you sell people what they want to buy. If you don't, the people will find a way to get it without you, and you loose out. People just don't want cable anymore. $70/month to get 100 channels, 85 of which suck. Of the remaining 15, 6 can be received over the air (and with better quality due to less compression). The shows on the remaining 9 can mostly be found on iTunes, hulu, netflix, or amazon. Whatever is left (HBO, showtime, ect.) will be downloaded illegally by those who know how to do so. But more and more are learning how to. The industry needs to change before my parents learn how to torrent, because if it gets that far, the industry is lost.
Full disclosure: I work in the entertainment industry on a somewhat successful cable TV show. Our show can be streamed via an ipad app, for free. While I was on set I decided to download the app, and see what it was like. Turns out you need to have a cable subscription to use the app and watch the show (with ads). I don't have cable so I was unable to watch a show that I was currently creating... How is that for stupid.
