BIG BROTHER STRIKES AGAIN!

One of my pet peeves is Comcast who are noteworthy for their lack of real customer service, their giant size and their “I-don’t-give-a-shit” attitude. When you are the only cable game in town, I guess you can afford this kind of attitude.

I had Comcast cable, internet and phone two years ago, but I dropped the phone after incredibly poor reception and several major shutdowns where telephone service was lost for a day or more. I still have the cable and internet.

Now I see they have been approved to buy N.B.C. I’m reminded of the lines from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar : “Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world as a colossus, and we but petty men do peep beneath.” I don’t like what this portends for future programming and service as this giant lumbers on.

I have to reprint a portion of an hilarious putdown by David Fagin posted on AOL News.


Opinion: When Comcast Rules the World

When the Federal Communications Commission approved the Comcast/NBC merger earlier this week, it set off all the usual complaints from all the usual suspects.You should be afraid! You should be mad!! Too much content control under one roof!!!

Poppycock.

So what if one company owns ... 10 TV and movie production studios (including Universal Pictures), 20 cable channels, 11 regional broadcast TV stations, 15 Telemundo stations (arriba!), nine regional sports cable networks, one regional news cable station (New England Cable News), a whole bunch of websites, two pro sports teams in Philadelphia and two arenas, a food service vendor, a ticket agency and four theme parks, plus some other stuff?I, for one, and looking forward to the many exciting changes in store for us as a result of this glorious merger between a lumbering, monopolistic cable company and a gigantic network programming company. Here are a few I foresee:

Television

Network news that promises to report on the new terror threat sometime between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

You have to call customer service if you want to turn off Leno.

Your monthly bill comes addressed to "The Biggest Loser."

"Saturday Night Live" is now not funny on 23 syndicated stations.

"Celebrity Apprentice" suddenly features members of Congress.

Comcast changes the name of its "On Demand" programming to "You'll get nothing and like it!"

Congress overwhelmingly approves bill that would make cable theft punishable by death.

Internet

Sweepstakes offering one lucky winner the chance to have Steve Carell come to your house and fix your modem.

Every time you try to use LimeWire, three members of the Philadelphia Flyers come to your house and beat you up.

New offerings, such as: "For as little as $9.99/month we'll take your choices away slower."

Helpful progress bar shows estimated time remaining on your Netflix "Instant download" is 11 years.

Instead of asking "Are you sure you want to do this?" your screen says "Go ahead. Make my day."

Downloads become so slow your Ethernet cable asks for Flomax.

People slowly begin to realize that now their phone, cable, free television, cell phone and Internet all suck. Actual human interactions begin to ensue again.


In the trendy lingo of today, all I can add is LOL!