Sharing cable access logins is not the way to fix it though. It gets people dependant on entertainment distribution platforms that could disappear in a moment once they change the rules of the game.
The answer to the problem is the one a modern person hates: Sacrifice. If it isn't on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon or some other legit streaming service you don't get it. Period. If everyone did that the system would get redone in a few years. We would have net neutrality because Netflix would contribute more to Congress than any cable company. Sacrifice could fix everything.
That is too much to ask though of an entitled population, me included. So we will dance this dance with the cable companies in and out of the courts for decades.
No one should pretend two wrongs make a right though. The cable companies are wrong, AND the people who break the rules are wrong.
Thanks for the intelligent response. Its a nice change in threads like these.
Let me give you guys a little background: I worked for over 4 years at Charter Communications in the call center. I did sales, retention and repair. I took it on myself to find out the answers to questions that customers asked me and most of those regarded price. I talked to the trainers, the network reps, spent way too much time on DSLReports. I didn't just read the talking points from the documents.
The networks are the ones who control pricing. All these ads you hear now where this provider lost that network....how many times did you hear that 10 years ago? Now the networks know they have the providers by the balls and they jack up rates every single year. Of course the networks have to buy rights from the studios and the studios have to pay your favorite actors $1M per episode or whatever it is. None of it is cheap and none of it is getting cheaper.
For years Charter wanted to every single network and show available for streaming. You would have thought they were asking the networks for their first born. Not only were the networks paranoid about piracy, they were afraid they wouldn't get their $2 for each episode like they do OnDemand. The networks are so afraid of computers that they think that anyone can snatch their shitty TV shows out of the internet tubes and put them on Napster. That's how stupid the networks are.
And yes, these companies do have to hoard cash. They buy up other companies all the time, they need to upgrade equipment all the time, they need cash. Cash is always a worry with them.
I get that hating the cable co is the easiest thing to do. But its just not an educated thing to do.