Trying listening to a FM radio channel and you will spend most of your time listening to advertising. Unfortunately, most of AT&T’s 200 hundred channels have the same problem – an obnoxiously high advertising content such that nothing is really worth watching anymore unless it’s seen from a recorded show that can be fast forwarded during the commercial breaks.

This is what AT&T is protecting and this is the true end result that we will suffer through for another decade. Television content made worthless by endless commercials. Do you like CNN? Actually its called CNNN now – Commercials Not News Network because if you change the channel to CNN, the odds are greater than 50/50 that you will hit a commercial break.

We are at the threshold of exchanging this tired (and tiresome), ultimately untenable video delivery system with a new model whereby we pay directly for what we want to watch without advertising. We do not need 200 channels. We do not need 500 channels full of content mangled by repetitious, idiotic, insulting advertising. What we do need is five to ten shows we like, some news programs, and the occasional movie without commercials.

I would pay for that. There are companies poised to provide content directly to viewers commercial free. We have (or had) an Internet that makes that possible. But there are obstacles. First are large ISP’s that act like robber barons. Second are the government agencies (FCC, Justice Department, Congress, President) that act like sheriffs on the take. Frankly, I can’t tell if those agencies are clueless, gutless, or just plain owned by the corporations.

We need to quit pretending we are powerless in this situation and realize that with principled and throughout regulation, we can indeed shape the society we want to live in. But first, let’s string up the thieves and replace the corrupt sheriffs and corrupt politicians. The sooner the better.

We live in the 21st century, in the digital age. I will not be dragged back into the last century so some exec can have a bigger bonus and a second vacation home. End the corruption, regulate a vital national resource (a Free Internet is a Free USA), and force ATT and the cable companies to rescind the godforsaken cap.

We’re not “extreme” users but easily, being a family of five, pass through 200gb or so a month with ease. Between my daughter’s WoW raids (voicechat and all can turn that into a couple of megs a minute both ways), netflix (which we are already paying for) and other services, it is obvious there is something sinister, if unfortunately not technically illegal (its not illegal if you wrote the laws and deregulated for that purpose after all), I more and more often feel like this can only end the same way the aristocratic bastards did in France.

I’m tired of being massively overcharged TWICE for every movie.

Given the distribution costs and the costs of maintaining and improving infrastructure, I’m not opposed to paying for what I use. I am opposed to flat caps and outrageous fees for additional usage. If the ISP wants to charge me $0.05/GB and possibly a $20/mo connection fee, I’d find that acceptable. But that will never happen because 97% of the users would pay significantly less than they are today.

If ISP’s want to bill like a utility, then they need to price like a utility and be regulated like a utility since there is little to no competition in most markets.

Anybody up for a game of kick the can? Shoot me a fax and we’ll meet up!