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from the also-have-great-deals-on-oceanfront-property-in-Kansas dept.
Charter tries to convince FCC that broadband customers want data caps
Charter Communications has claimed to the Federal Communications Commission that broadband users enjoy having Internet plans with data caps, in a filing arguing that Charter should be allowed to impose caps on its Spectrum Internet service starting next year.
Charter isn't currently allowed to impose data caps because of conditions the FCC placed on its 2016 purchase of Time Warner Cable. The data-cap condition is scheduled to expire on May 18, 2023, but Charter in June petitioned the FCC to let the condition expire two years early, in May 2021.
With consumer-advocacy groups and Internet users opposing the petition, Charter filed a response with the FCC last week, saying that plans with data caps are "popular."
"Contrary to Stop The Cap's assertion [in an FCC filing] that consumers 'hate' data caps, the marketplace currently shows that broadband service plans incorporating data caps or other usage-based pricing mechanisms are often popular when the limits are sufficiently high to satisfy the vast majority of users," Charter told the FCC.
Or you could offer some kind of software that shows which users are hogging the network.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Thursday August 13 2020, @02:19PM (3 children)
What I've noticed about "blockbuster movies" since the piracy wave hit is that their quality seems to have increased dramatically. Granted, there are a lot more movies that center on a small number of actors than there used to be, but when you're paying big names $20M to show up, plus a cut of gross - what do you expect. If "pirates" are hurting the industry, first I'd go after the agents for the big name actors - bigger pirate impact there than the whole internet.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by toddestan on Friday August 14 2020, @10:11PM (2 children)
You're one of the few people I've heard that claims that the quality of movies have gone up. Most everyone seems to bemoan how formulaic, unoriginal, and boring movies are now compared to how they used to be.
Unless you mean things like production quality and special effects and stuff like that.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday August 15 2020, @01:24PM (1 child)
Films from "the golden era" were breaking new ground, like Rock'n'Roll of the late 1960s->1970s - try anything: that's groundbreaking and innovative, Jimi Hendrix using feedback was a big deal, like the first director who said: "no, keep the lens flare - control it like this..."
CGI has progressively enabled films to be made that just wouldn't have been attempted before, like LOTR with full battle scenes, or 2001-style movies that actually show Saturn's rings. It's analogous to the first Star Trek animated series that told stories they never would have attempted with their live-action cast and crew - but you don't have to put up with visuals as wooden as Shatner's acting.
I'd say actors are better. Watch Casablanca, it's a classic, they are doing a great job, but... it is all a bit stiff. Even in the late 1970s, most of what qualified as summer blockbuster classics would barely pass grade as a slapdash extended TV series episode today.
If, by "quality of movies has gone up" you mean they're enticing me to go to first run showings at theaters more than I used to - well, no... and I don't think they'll ever win that battle, though I do still go - in part because the theaters themselves have been improving with bigger seats, wider row spacing, (usually) better sound and visual quality, etc.
Streaming format delivery means that I do "binge watch" quite a bit more than I used to, and there's a lot more selection available to binge watch than there used to be. In part, I think the frustration over "quality" of current movies has a lot to do with the sheer quantity of what's available. If you want to get into some original storytelling, continued innovation in directing, etc. you're going to have to step away from the monster-financed sequel machine and put up with some 1960s era production budgets. God knows they've expanded the topic base as the years go by, from modern topics like environmental/societal concerns, minority(black) heroes to indigenous peoples' issues to LGBQTDHSWF; no, I don't know what all those letters stand for, but I'm sure if you really go through Sundance and similar festival entries, they're all there and more... Go back to 1970 and find me a well known film that told deep authentic stories about minorities, or controversial issues of the time...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2020, @02:26PM
"there's no accounting for taste"