Cutting the cable cord

Posted on October 16, 2014 by bvanrysdam

HBO and CBS-TV took a shot across the bow of the cable TV industry by announcing plans to offer a streaming service separate from cable subscriptions, effectively cutting the cord as a stand-alone product.

Consumers of the boob tube have long complained about being forced to purchase channels they weren’t interested in to get the channels they want. Not interested in sports? Too bad because you are still going to get ESPN, one of the most expensive channels out there.

In a rare display of bipartisanship, Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) attempted to introduce legislation that would have allowed consumers more choices, but that effort stalled out.

Now HBO and CBS-TV have decided to join companies like Netflix and Amazon Fire TV by offering programming directly to viewers. There are 80 million households in the U.S. that currently do not get HBO and the cable channel is counting on many of them wanting their programs without having to get a slew of channels they’re not interested in.

It is estimated that 45 percent of Americans stream television shows at least once a month and that number is certain to grow. Is this start of the demise of cable television? It may be too soon to tell, but when a broadcast outlets like HBO and CBS-TV break away from the pack, you can be sure cable executives will be tuned in.

A Tale of Two Leagues

Posted on September 17, 2014 by bvanrysdam

The NFL has been busy these past few weeks dodging and weaving like Walter Payton, trying to avoid the big hit. By now, everyone has seen and heard about Baltimore Ravens running back, Ray Rice cold-cocking his then girlfriend in an Atlantic City hotel elevator.

We have since learned that Minnesota Viking running back, Adrian Peterson disciplined his son by giving him a “whooping” causing injuries severe enough to lead a doctor to alert authorities.

We could continue this rap sheet with other names such as Hardy, McDonald and let’s not even get into whether the Redskins is an offense name, or a badge of honor. Let’s face it, the NFL is having a rough time, but much of it seems self-inflicted.

It was not that long ago when former NBA owner Donald Sterling was recorded making racist remarks to his female friend. What happened? The NBA immediately suspended him and forced him to sell his team. Granted, he made a boat-load of money, but the NBA demonstrated a zero tolerance towards anything which could tarnish the league.

Since then, the Atlanta Hawks have also been severely punished for “insensitive” comments, which interestingly enough, are not illegal, yet caused great embarrassment to the NBA.

No one can argue the NFL is the most popular sport in the land. TV ratings seem to be broken every season and fans sell out stadiums every Sunday (and Monday, Thursday and the occasional Saturday games). So it is puzzling why the NFL does not institute a zero tolerance policy. Do they think not having a Ray Rice or Adrian Peterson on the field will diminish fan interest, or God forbid, cause the owners to loose revenue? Former players talk about protecting the shield (the NFL logo), but there seems to be an underlying avoidance of standing up for what’s right in the league office.

Now I do believe in due-process (although that didn’t seem to be a problem when it came to Donald Sterling and the NBA), but many, including sponsors like Anheuser Busch are beginning to ask what the NFL stands for and don’t think that hasn’t gotten the owners attention.

Roger Goodall is taking the heat, but it needs to be noted that he works for 32 owners who are ultimately responsible for what takes place when it comes to league operations. Up to this point, owners are supporting Goodall, but could easily throw him to the wolves, or worse, the court of public opinion, which will make everyone feel better, but solve nothing.

Why Didn’t I Think of That???

Posted on August 27, 2014 by bvanrysdam

Do you “Twitch”? For those non-gamers out there, Twitch.tv is a website that provides live streaming of people playing video games.

Sound crazy? Check out these crazy numbers

The site generates 55 million regular visitors from around the world each month.
Those people watch 16 billion minutes of its videos.

More than 1.1 million people broadcast their gaming activity to the service.

Those are the kinds of numbers that attract attention from the big boys and it launched a bidding war with Amazon prevailing, dishing out a cool $970 million in cash for the right to join the game.

Want more numbers?

Twitch had 43 percent of the live video streaming traffic by volume in a given week, more than ESPN’s website, MLB.com, CNN.
Last year during a championship for the game “League of Legends”, 32 million people were reportedly watching live. That’s more than the audience for the finales of Breaking Bad, 24 and The Sopranos combined.

Worst President Ever??

Posted on July 28, 2014 by bvanrysdam

Politics can get pretty rough. Take for example, these comments about a US president:

The administration “has been disgrace from the very beginning to everyone who has anything to do with bringing it to power.”

The nation needs “a president with brains; one who can make a plan and carry it out.”

Are they talking about Obama, Clinton, or Bush? No, the comments were directed towards Abraham Lincoln. What makes it even worst is that the comments were made by people from his own party while he was up for re-election!

It’s a good reminder for us that America always seems to be in turmoil. The Comprise of 1840 almost tore the country apart and the civil war certainly made it difficult to be an American. In today’s 24-7, social media world where controversies and crisis seem to be the norm, it’s helpful to step back and provide perspective.

For the record, it seems that Honest Abe ended up being remembered fondly with a large monument which can be found in our nation’s capital and a large head carved into Mount Rushmore. Now, I’m not sure Bush or Obama will ever reach that kind of status, but it does help one pause and ponder what history will finally say about our current presidents.

Would You Care To Run That By Me Again?

Posted on July 2, 2014 by bvanrysdam

Once again, I am scratching my head over politics. This time it is over the debate going on in Austin on how much, if any, regulation is placed on facilities that store chemicals like the one in West, Texas.

I understand the argument (but don’t buy into it) that the proposed regulations would overburden the facilities with complexities and cost. It’s an age old consideration that is hard to prove either way, but puts everyone on notice that we could damage the economy.

What I don’t buy is Attorney General Greg Abbot’s stance that the exact location and what is stored should not be made public to safeguard against terroristic threats.

Here’s where the disconnect comes in; he says that anyone is free to inquire with chemical companies on what is stored at their premises and receive an answer within 10 days.

Can you imagine parents walking into a storage plant and asking them if their child’s school is in the “blast zone” (and how would you know if the parents were terrorists)? It is also not clear what, if any punishment would be handed out if the company fails to respond within the allotted time.

To no one’s surprise, candidate Abbot has received several healthy contributions from the infamous Koch brothers, which of course leads to people speculating that they are helping to influence the discussion (not that there is anything wrong with that since no party is immune to being bought).

More than a year has passed since fifteen people were killed, more than 160 injured, and more than 150 buildings were damaged or destroyed in West, Texas. I do understand the need to discuss sensible solutions to complex issues, but knocking on the door at my local storage facility to see what kinds of chemcials they keep and how much doesn’t seem to be one of them.

Tea Party Becomes Diluted

Posted on May 29, 2014 by bvanrysdam

A funny thing happened on the way to the recent run-off election; the “Official” Tea Party of Montgomery County, better known as the Texas Patriot PAC (TPPAC) got hijacked and now they’re madder than the notorious wet hen.

The TPPAC was founded to organize, educate, inform citizens regarding public policy, and to support the election of local, state and national candidates who share their core values. Those values include upholding the constitution, free markets, limited government, fiscal responsibility and political action.

So why are they so angry? Seems that not all conservatives agreed with them and decided they would go out and form their own Tea Party which caused the TPPAC to cry foul. The TPPAC did not like the fact the other “faux” Tea Parties were trying to fool the voters (a la Dave Wilson implying he was black to win election to the HCC board of trustees).

Ultimately, only 1 of the 4 local candidates the TPPAC endorsed won the run-off.

They posted on their website:

A bunch of people who have never had anything to do with any tea party activity decided to call themselves a Tea Party about a month ago and put out a “Voter Guide” to fool the people, claiming they were a legitimate Tea Party.

This begs the question of what is a “legitimate” Tea Party since there is no official vetting and no national organization that can recognize or deny a local group to call themselves a Tea Party.

The TPPAC went on to say that:

We knew we would likely be outspent by multiples of our capacity to raise funds and decided to apply our efforts through “sweat equity.”

Now we all know that money talks and has always bought influence in government. Did anyone really think Ted Cruz won simply because the Tea Party knocked on doors or because he spent more than $16 million with nearly $1 million coming from lawyers and law firms. What is ironic is that, on the one hand, they promote free markets, but then complain when the free market outspends them. It truly is a have your cake and eat it too mentality.

Brian Crumby, a Montgomery County Tea Party volunteer and board member has posted numerous messages on the Conroe Courier website lamenting “the way I read last night’s elections is the majority of voters in the county believe in the tea party’s conservative message, but it got hijacked again.” Or in other words, tea party voters are not as smart as they think they are.

I have always wondered what the people who hang out at polling locations, promoting their candidate hope to accomplish. I think its fine to do research and yes, see what different groups including the Tea Party(s) say about various candidates, but if a person still doesn’t know who they are voting for when heading to the polls, they should probably turn around and go home.

Maybe the TPPAC become too big and powerful, maybe they stepped on some toes and made some conservatives upset. What upsets me is that State Sen. Dan Patrick of Houston won the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor receiving votes from only 3.5 percent of registered Texas voters. In the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, David Alameel of Dallas receiving votes from just 1 percent of the people who can vote in Texas. Sounds like a shadowy mandate to me.

FCC Looks To Screw Up Internet

Posted on May 16, 2014 by bvanrysdam

The continuing clash over net-neutrality is picking up speed. The Federal Communications Commission recently voted on a proposal that could allow Internet service providers to charge content companies for faster and more reliable delivery of their traffic to users.

By a 3-2 vote, the commission advanced the proposal and has begun formally collecting public comment, which has already started.

In typical Washington fashion, the proposed rule is intended to prevent Internet providers from knowingly slowing data, but would allow content providers the right to pay for a guaranteed fast lane of service. Many opponents of the plan say allowing some content to be transmitted faster would basically discriminate against other content.

“Candidate Obama promised to defend a free and open Internet, pledging to take a ‘backseat to no one’ on the issue of Net Neutrality,” said David Segal, executive director of Demand Progress in an emailed statement. “The President can’t run away from this. Internet users across the country are demanding answers.”

Consumer advocates want to see the FCC reclassify Internet providers as utilities, similar to telephone companies. That’s because a 2005 US Supreme Court decision ruled that broadband services are not to be classified as telecommunications services and its infrastructure is not considered a public right of way.

“I will not allow the national asset of an open Internet to be compromised. I understand this issue in my bones,” said Tom Wheeler, chairman of the FCC during the meeting.

The public will have until July 15 to submit initial comments on the proposal to the commission, and until Sept. 10 to file comments replying to the initial discussions.

Saving College Football From Itself

Posted on April 29, 2014 by bvanrysdam

There has been a lot of discussion lately about college athletics, specifically college football. It is obvious that there is a major disparity between the haves and the have not’s. Realistically, 90 percent of schools have no shot at winning a national championship, or even being invited to a major bowl game.

There has also been greater focus put on whether or not football athletes are being used unfairly to generate money for their respective universities. One school, Northwestern, has voted to unionize while athlete directors seem to talk more these days about expanding the brand and generating revenue than helping student athletes succeed.

So where do we go from here? Perhaps the solution can be found across the pond by taking a page from the Barclay’s Premiere League. The league, for those uninformed sports fans, features England’s best soccer clubs. The clubs play matches outside the league, but winning the Barclay’s is equivalent to winning a Super Bowl or being named National Champions.

Now before you say “I hate soccer, it’s boring”; what makes the Barclay’s Premiere Leagues so unique is that they “relegate” teams every year. That means the bottom three clubs are kicked out and new ones added. (I’m sure the Texans and the Astros are glad the NFL and MLB don’t follow this policy).

The beauty of this set-up is that it creates drama at the top and bottom of the standings. First you would need to set up a “Super Football Conference”. I know there will be lots of disagreement about the criteria, but for the sake of argument, let’s pick last year’s BCS Top 25 schools. Those not making the cut would remain in their respective conferences.

The top four teams in the BCS standings at the end of the year were Florida, Auburn, Florida State and Michigan State. These schools could have competed in a play-off system to determine the national championship. USC, Duke and Northern Illinois finished at the bottom of the list and would be relegated out of this super conference and returned to their respective conferences.

The incentive is that opens the door to three other schools to join this super conference. Again, the exact criteria would need to be worked out as to how to select those schools. It could be best record, followed by most points scored in a season, but you get the idea and it would give a lot of schools the opportunity to play with the big boys that they might not have gotten in the past.

Perhaps a super conference could also address some of the disparity in college football by allowing them to have different rules including paying athletes and other issues facing big time college football. Yes, this means schools could lose some of their traditional rivalries, but in a world where Texas no longer plays Texas A&M and bowl games seem to extend into February, it might just take a radical move to save college football from itself.

Let the debate begin.