Wednesday, May 4, 2005
Public Broadcast Disservice
I was just starting to really like the on-demand service our cable provider gives us. My 3-and-a-half-year-old son really liked it because he could watch PBS Kids shows whenever he wanted. Then one day about a month ago, the PBS Kids link in the menu went away. I finally decided to send an e-mail to our cable provider about this.
I got a timely response which informed me that PBS had pulled their content and signed an exclusive contract with Comcast. First of all, I have serious thoughts that since this is public broadcasting, an exclusive contract would be illegal. However, PBS is a privately owned non-profit organization. I’m sure there’s nothing stating they can’t do this, although there should be.
This is a company that I donate too, and utilize on a regular basis. For them to indiscriminately decide that I don’t need their content is outrageous. And it’s not like I can switch the to other cable provider. We all know how those monopolies work.
If you have access to on-demand content, I urge you to check out this PBS content arrangement. I’ve written two e-mails to PBS and will continue to pursue a change to this policy.
» Posted by Queue at 08:22 AM (ET)
Category: Idiot of the Moment, Rant
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