CBS and Comcast Read My Blog!

Woo-hoo! Congrats to CBS and Comcast for using my ideas. I didn't copyright them, but they are doing what American electronic media have always done: make the bargain with the audience that we can see shows for "free" in return for exposure to advertising. As you've read in this blog in the past, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" (George Santayana, 1922, Reason in Common Sense). I will always remember USA Today trying to charge something like $4.95 per month to have access to read their newspaper online when there were hundreds of other free sources online. I'd love to know how much money USA Today took in under the "pay per view" model versus their current advertiser-supported model.

So, Bravo to CBS and Comcast who are clearly taking the right path for themselves. I confess I don't really care to see commercials, but I'll make the trade, pretty happily, I think.

One source for this story (the link is probably not permanent) is the Los Angeles Times, 15 September 2006.

---

You may use this content (better still, argue with me!), but please cite my ideas as © 2006, Dr. Bruce Klopfenstein. Find any typos! Don't smite me, let me know!