[LINK] open source Boxee

[Peter Bowditch]

I was interviewed by a market research outfit about pay TV once. The first 
thing they did was tell me about a new product - absolutely everything 
that the service offered bundled together for a single price (I think it 
was about $39.95 a month). They then asked me to  say how enthusiastic I 
would be about some other packages.

The bizarre thing was that ALL of the other base+option packages were 
either more expensive than the all-you-can-eat or at best only one or two 
dollars a month cheaper. To every question "How likely would you be to 
take this package?" I answered "Not at all. I would take the all-included 
package".

The interviewer had to follow the script right through to the end, even 
though both of us knew where it was going. At the end I was thanked and 
given an envelope with some money in it. I never did see the all-included-
for-one-low-price package advertised.

> Disintermediation:  the elimination of an intermediary in a transaction
> between two parties
> 
> Only the other day I was talking with friends and family about the value
> of
> subscription TV services, and all of them identified the providers'
> tricks
> of allowing subscriptions only to bundles of mostly unwanted channels.
> 
> "Why can't I pick just the channels I want?"
> 
> Suffice to say, none of them will be customers anytime soon.
> 
> Boxee is a great example of cutting out these middlemen and their super
> expensive, customer unfriendly services.  With the evolution of "HD"
> YouTube
> and more capable retail broadband connections I think the writing is on
> the
> wall for usurious subscription models.
> 
> George
> 
> PS  - ha, looks like the inventor of the word "usurious" saw them
> coming.
> 
> Adj.  usurious - greatly exceeding bounds of reason or moderation;
> "exorbitant rent"; "extortionate prices"; "spends an outrageous amount
> on
> entertainment"; "usurious interest rate"; "unconscionable spending"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 8:00 PM, <stephen at melbpc.org.au> wrote:
> 
> >
> > "Boxee has allowed me to replace cable with no remorse," said Jef
> > Holbrook, a 27-year-old actor in Columbus, Ga., who recently
> downloaded
> > the Boxee software to the $600 Mac Mini he has connected to his
> > television. "Most people my age would like to just pay for the
> channels
> > they want, but cable refuses to give us that option. Services like
> Boxee,
> > that allow users choice, are the future of television."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> George Bray, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
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> 


-- 
Peter Bowditch
The Millenium Project - http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles
Australian Council Against Health Fraud - http://www.acahf.org.au
Australian Skeptics - http://www.skeptics.com.au