this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2023
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Cable lobby and Republicans fight proposed ban on early termination fees / Customers should be allowed to cancel cable TV without penalty, Democrats say::Customers should be allowed to cancel cable TV without penalty, Democrats say.

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[–] damnthefilibuster 119 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Why do Republicans love enshittification so much?

[–] Phrodo_00 90 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Because they get paid to endorse it.

[–] kromem 56 points 11 months ago (7 children)

Not the voters though.

That's the part that's wild.

Many Republicans have cable, and probably even complained in the past about being ripped off with something related to their cable (no one I know loves to complain about losing money more than the Republicans I know).

And yet they vote for people that actively try to prevent that pain from going away.

It's like they are all masochists voting in as extreme sadists as possible so their representatives will hurt them more.

"Ohhh Daddy, tie up the FCC and spank me with more monopolistic cable fees."

[–] [email protected] 27 points 11 months ago

For the last 40 years or so, Republican voters have mostly been single-issue voters. They care very passionately about one thing, and will let almost anything else slide as a result. Being in favor of cable fees doesn't matter as long as they're anti-abortion. Being in favor of cutting social welfare programs that those very voters rely upon is fine as long as they're anti-trans.

For the most part, each voter only cares about one or two specific things, and the whole picture doesn't really matter to them.

[–] Cornelius_Wangenheim 18 points 11 months ago

"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

-LBJ

[–] linearchaos 6 points 11 months ago

They don't like paying the fee, but they're willing to take one for the team as long as they know that it hurts poor people more.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Because being able to cancel cable TV service without paying a fee is "socialism".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

The voters will support whatever they're told to.

[–] charles 22 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Because they're animated shit monsters. Shouldn't nea surprise really

[–] Bahnd 2 points 11 months ago

Dogma was a very funny movie, dont drag shit monsters down to their level.

[–] shalafi 67 points 11 months ago (14 children)

Another example of a thing I figured 10+ years ago.

Take a headline, strip it of political references. Just the facts in question. Ask yourself, "Will this initiative hurt people?" Doesn't matter if you feel those people deserve to be hurt. Merely ask, "Will people be hurt?"

And now you know who's voting for it! I played this game with myself for years. Never got it wrong.

[–] charles 8 points 11 months ago

The cruelty is the point

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[–] [email protected] 58 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Freedom is slavery!

Republicans.

[–] AtariDump 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Yeah, the problem is they really do believe the next line - even if they don’t know it.

“Ignorance is strength”

aka “Do your own research”

[–] [email protected] 46 points 11 months ago

Cable providers are among the worst fucking crooks in the entire country.

Just tried to take as much money from you as possible while providing ass tier service.

[–] Furbag 39 points 11 months ago (6 children)

I find it hard to believe that anybody who hasn't had a frontal lobotomy or isn't a corpo ratfucker could ever be in favor of early termination fees as a legitimate and healthy business practice.

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[–] Burn_The_Right 27 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Quick Trivia Question: When in history have conservatives ever been the good guys?

Answer: Trick question! The answer is never.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago

Ignoring any specific ideas about morality, conservatives (in the sense of people who resist change) and guaranteed to be on the wrong side of history, because their very nature is to cling to ideas that everyone else has decided are obsolete.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago

Being allowed to cancel subscriptions is SOCIALISM apparently!

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I wish they’ve finally just nationalize the entire infrastructure and then sell access to the ISPs like they did with British Telecom in the UK. Cable companies are scum and they shouldn’t be getting any further support or federal funding after the shit they’ve pulled.

I didn’t need a new phone line when I wanted to change long distance plans 40 years ago. Why is Internet service any different? Mandate a line/conduit to each house and be done with it. See how they like it when they actually have to compete.

[–] RagingRobot 11 points 11 months ago

Wait til streaming services start having contracts. That's next

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (4 children)

But tell me how both parties are the same. The Right is literally punishing people for not wanting the product of a private company!

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[–] aesthelete 7 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Cable lobby and Republicans ...

Isn't that a little redundant? Aren't Republicans and big business lobbies effectively the same thing?

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

In the Netherlands early termination fees are not allowed, you sign up for a period and stick with that. After that initial period you can then terminate with 30 day notice, no auto renew per year, or you get a prorated refund of what you paid (in annual payment for example). A few exceptions apply but not many.

This was done to avoid the fuckery of having a very small window on annual contracts where if you missed it, you would be locked in for another year.

[–] aesthelete 5 points 11 months ago

This was done to avoid the fuckery of having a very small window on annual contracts where if you missed it, you would be locked in for another year.

Here in the good ol US of A that's how some of my apartment leases worked.

🎶 God bless America 🎶

[–] ohlaph 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Holy fucking shit, what aren't Republicans againt when it comes to the people. The party of pro life sure are against the people.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Got rid of cable T.V. a long time ago. I endorse pirating everything until the rich start to feel it.

[–] andrewta 5 points 11 months ago

where are people living that they have termination fees on cable tv? I am in Minnesota with Spectrum (previously charter (previously something else)) .. I could call in tomorrow and drop the service and there wouldn't be a termination fee. They would give me an option : use it for the rest of the billing period or just cancel it now and prorate the amount I've paid.

I'm not saying fees don't exist. I'm just curious what companies are charging them and where these people live.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


The Federal Communications Commission has taken a step toward prohibiting early termination fees charged by cable and satellite TV providers.

Cable lobby group NCTA-The Internet & Television Association opposes the plan and said it will submit comments to support "consumer choice and competitive parity."

Carr pointed out that traditional MVPDs (Multichannel Video Programming Distributors) "are bleeding market share to new, unregulated competitors," namely online streaming services.

Carr was referring to recent 3–2 votes on net neutrality regulations and rules that prohibit discrimination in access to broadband services.

Simington argued that consumers will end up paying more because contracts with early termination fees have discounted monthly rates.

He asked whether the FCC believes that cable and satellite providers "will, out of their gracious love of consumers, voluntarily fully retain today's long-term contractual discounts while merely doing without ETF revenue."


The original article contains 554 words, the summary contains 138 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] joker125 1 points 11 months ago

Marsha Blackburn has entered the chat

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