Corporations: hey guys, let's unionize so the government doesn't exploit us.

Employees: hey, can we als...

Corporations: NO.

Collective action for we, not for thee.
Can't wait for this bullshit to get denied because writers/actors are already striking.
Well it's not employees want the corporations to have unionized, but they just have less power to do anything about it
- I didn't say the employees wanted corporations to unionize or not. The joke was corporations interrupting employees asking if they can also unionize.

every pirate related theme song getting increasingly louder in the background

I just bought 16 TB to expand my media server :)
- You must have a lot of Linux ISO backups. Doing your part to preserve open source software history.
I have a feeling part of their plan is to sink all the pirate ships.
- Nintendo has been putting anti-piracy protection in all of their consoles since the NES in the 80's. Every single one was cracked eventually. Oh, but surely they must be getting better? Nope, the Switch was cracked less than a year from release.
  And Nintendo controls the hardware in this situation. Streaming services do not.
- The only way to do that, is to kill humanity.
Yo-ho, all together, hoist the colors high. Heave ho, thieves and beggars, never shall we die!
It sounds terrible but I still love it
ALESTORM INTENSIFIES

Just call it what it is: bribing power

Pretty sure it's more or less a cartel at this point.

streamers are currently being forced to reckon with their profitability — or lack thereof.

Netflix's 2023 2nd quarter revenue: 8.1 billion dollars BTW

Brace yourself for a tidal wave of corporate apologists rushing to point out that “revenue isn’t profit!,!”
- The number you're looking for is $1.49 billion in net income for Q2 2023.
- Profit is the portion of revenue that is stolen from workers and given to shareholders. Profit is bad. Revenue is good.
- Anybody can look these numbers up. I'm not sitting on some secret Bloomberg terminal LOL
On a tangent, and nothing to do with you, but I don't like how these streaming companies are being called "streamers". Streamers are those people streaming on twitch, not a company like Netflix damnit.

Welcome back to the high seas mateys!

🏴‍☠️

Already downloaded 4tb of movies and shows :)
Don't forget to seed!
- My average seed time is well over a year. Private trackers love me.
I even upgraded my pipe to fiber so I can share Plex with my friends and family. Built a machine with 16TBx6 RAID. Cost me a shit ton more than a year of all the streaming services but fuck them.
- cost me a shit ton
  Yes but now you have an elephantine Silicon Schlong
Was talking with a friend over lunch about this. I don't mind paying for media, but the greed I'm seeing from the streaming services now makes me feel like the more ethical choice is to pirate content and just contribute directly to the arts where I can.
They're getting to the point where they think that just because they have the platform and the licenses, they can soak their customers. Only a matter of time before the ad men move in. Anyway, fuck all that
Arr!
I never left ye lady-dressin' barnacle. Leekin' forward to sail with ye to meet those corporate scallogs for some happy fightin, lootin and rapin'
R

The slow march back to cable is unstoppable.

Pirate everything. Share everything.

Piracy is an access problem, not a consumer problem.

dismantle capitalism. I bet in like 24 years some disruptor is going to come along and buy up rights to the shit thats on peacock Hulu etc now and offer 9 bucks a month to stream it to you. rinse repeat. fuck this corpo nightmare.
It turns out cable wasn't some unique product or way of doing things, it's just the natural form media delivery takes under capitalism. Streaming services are convergently evolving to take that shape too.

$15, that sounds like so much...now let me refuel my truck up and buy another beer.
How do we socialise these globally important services? Let's say the Americans socialised all of the services we use heavily every day here in Europe. Netflix, Amazon, Disney, etc etc.
How will that affect our access to these now internal US National Services? How will it affect our rights and ability to take those services to court - now taking the US State to court instead, when they do something bad?
How does that increase my rights as a consumer, rather than stifle them?
You're forgetting that the USA doesn't live in a bubble. Other countries exist. This is a global issue.

Could they, instead, band together to offer a service that’s more user friendly than piracy? I suppose bribery is cheaper and easier.

They did, it was called Netflix.
Then the Netflix rates went up while everyone pulled and splintered content onto their own services and then started shuffling it around.
but muh maximum profits
It would be such a wonderful thing wouldn't it? Now where was I again about profits and squeezing the customers?
Imagine not being able to force set the resolution and bitrate on your stream, even tho you pay for 4k. (Btw. Same goes for YT) Plex and jellyfin are just superior.
- What do you mean same for YouTube? I can still set resolution? Is that changing?
What you're asking for is a monopoly. It rarely is cheaper or easier. Sometimes, when heavily regulated, it could be. But history shows most of these are eventually privatized and deregulated and then we know what happens.
- Don’t put words in my mouth. Industries get together and set standards and form partnerships all the fucking time. It’s as much a “monopoly” as this lobbying project is.

Lobbying should be fucking banned.

It is far more likely that remarks against lobbying will be banned, because someone would lobby for that.
It's still a useful mechanic to be able to influence government policy in between elections. Not all lobbying is pushing for this dystopian stuff, this is just what ends up in the news.
In Canada anyone can review federal and provincial lobbying activity. Eg:
https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/clntSmmrySrch?return=true&time=1695867498006
I'm guessing there is something like that for the US.
- Every form of corruption is a useful mechanic to be able to influence government policy between elections.

If I’ve learned anything about corporate lobbying groups it’s that they only exist to fuck you and ruin any legislation that attempts to protect you from them.

Eat shit SIA.

Corps form "unions" and use money gained by preferential treatment by government to create propaganda shitting on unions.
Funny that.
No wait, infuriating. That's the word.
- They cry about the "free market" and then run to the Government to ask for "protection".
- Wait, what? What corporations form labor unions designed to undermine labor unions? Are you calling a lobbying group a union? Are you using terminology creatively or is there something I hadn't heard about? EDIT: I guess I never get to find out. :(

Spotify also recently raised their proces, but tbf they kinda had to with the inflation. The depressing thing is that creators are rewarded for borting. (See slightly Sociables "the dark side of spotify" vid for indepth)
My parents are paying for YouTube TV through their T-Mobile subscription 🤦‍♂️

"Guillotine sales soar as citizens band together for lobbying power"

One can dream

Kind of lobbying I can get behind.
What's the famous quote? Something about how a capitalist will sell you the rope from which you plan to hang them? Something like that?

Laws like the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which features overly broad definitions of the platforms it targets and has troubling privacy implications thanks to surveillance requirements, could sweep companies like Netflix or Disney up into its dragnet.

Streaming companies are usually pro-net neutrality, and that’s been a difficult concept for lawmakers and regulators in DC to fully grasp.

For those that read just the headline. Not everything is black and white.

Every now and again, their interests align with the average person.
But make no mistake, the companies forming a coalition like this for one or two good causes won't make up for the long term damage it will no doubt cause.

It felt inevitable at some point this was going to happen after they got caught off guard by the strikes to make sure that it never happens again, but the fight is not over yet.

It's more important than ever then for you guys to support the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike, fight for workers, and fight for unions.

Otherwise, they'll just keep squeezing and squeezing, until there is nothing left.

Can't support the WGA strike as it's over.

That's cool, I've kicked them all to the curb over the past two years.

I like the way you think. Hoist that flag! 🏴‍☠️
- Omg, it's Limewire, I can't believe it! I used you when I was a kid! Can I have your autograph!?

Checkout streamio

You'll definitely stop paying these streaming giants.

Is it legal? I don't want to go getting into illegal stuff
- Let's call it "Grey area". If you know what you're doing.
- You probably unknowingly break multiple laws a day settle down
Dude everything on that site was pay for or made you go different apps and pay subscription. Streamio is BS.
- Streamio is not for regulars.
  I'll give you a hint- torrentio

Imagine missing the point so completely. Streaming, what a joke now.

They're capitalists. It's what they do.

Streaming has ultimately taught me how little I 'need' to watch since it trains you to really only seek out a couple things per service. I've also become very advertisment sensitive being blessed with tools to avoid that and companies honeymooning people for a while with fewer ads compared to what cable did.

Obviously, the dipshits are springing their 'trap' but I'm not bullish on the strategy of forcing consumers to suddenly tolerate a return of ads everywhere and always on entertainment. I just see folks running away again/further disconnecting from traditional media.

The search for something to watch and to evaluate what streaming service I should subscribe for the next 2 months or so has become so tedious and the overall quality so low that I'm simply giving up on them as a whole. The price increase and ads weren't even necessary to drive me away. They only ensure I will not come back.

Incoming attempts to legislate recordless VPN bans and over the top piracy mitigation strategies instead of attempting to provide better services to their users

Netflix and others look for power in number$.

Welcome to the United $tate$ of America, people; Where money is the only thing that matters

Guess we have to band together then as well.
Don't forget to seed your torrents!

That's called a cartel

It's almost never a pricing issue, but a service issue. They can band together in their bullshit campaign all they want. They're still not getting my money, because I'm not paying 15 a month, to watch one movie with 7 ads, after which they'll also sell my data

The new group is led by two former policymakers acting as senior advisers: former Republican Rep. Fred Upton and former Democratic Federal Communications Commission (FCC) acting chair Mignon Clyburn.

Source: https://www.axios.com/2023/09/26/streamers-launch-first-official-trade-group

Mignon Clyburn is Jim Clyburn's daughter. SMH

Who's that?

This can only be a bad thing.

They will win and like live nation, will merge with more well placed companies until they are printing their own money.

Is good to see the US us finally embracing unions ❤️

This does not spark joy.

These fucks never did learn

Arrr matey, it be lookin like time to raid an pillage

Ha hoy capt'n!

Great, now let me pay a single fee for the SIA, and be able to watch anything on any of those channels. I'd happily pay a higher amount for that privilege.

That's not likely to happen, but if it did, it would be much more expensive and include ads. We're not returning to cable benefits without plenty of the downsides (and, no doubt, some new ones).

Wtf is shudder!?

AMC, it's just their horror subsidiary channel.

I wish I had never gotten rid of all my dvds

You can do with a better medium that is less bulky and less prone to damage.

The Expectables.

This is honestly what Google should've done with Fiber.

Big tech's lobbyist dollars would have beaten Comcast's with ease.

I'm such an apathetic consumer of media nowadays.. it'd suck if we all just started going outside again, yknow?

The mall and downtown are dead
- That's fine, the people in the mall were dead to begin with. Just another outlet for zombie consumerism. There are better places outside.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The new trade group should give companies like Netflix and Disney a solid foundation from which to deal with current and future regulation by the federal government related specifically to streaming.

The SIA formed as regulators look for ways to deal with a changing entertainment landscape that increasingly includes content creators on social platforms, which these companies don’t necessarily want to be lumped in with.

In addition to Netflix and Disney, Axios lists SIA members Paramount Plus, Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max, Peacock, TelevisaUnivision, and some small streamers like For Us By Us Network, Vault, and AfroLandTV.

Netflix joined the MPA in 2019 and left the Internet Association, a broader trade group representing Big Tech companies like Google and Amazon that can’t really help streaming video firms with intellectual property fights (and in some cases, could be at odds with them).

Because streaming video companies exist in such a weird limbo between all of these worlds, they could get caught up in legislation that’s intended to target other facets of the internet.

Laws like the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which features overly broad definitions of the platforms it targets and has troubling privacy implications thanks to surveillance requirements, could sweep companies like Netflix or Disney up into its dragnet.

The original article contains 366 words, the summary contains 209 words. Saved 43%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

So what makes it new? Is it just bringing in digital pure plays like Netflix and Amazon into the fold of TV industry stalwarts like NBC, Disney, and Disco/Warner? Is it new working groups that focus exclusively on digital regulation as opposed to legacy over the air and cable TV?

I'm really glad I took the time to set up a Jellyfin server recently.

bing ..