Perhaps, but I can also see the middleman as a value add. When I paid Netflix and could see most anything, it was great, though a few things I couldn't see. N

Perhaps, but I can also see the middleman as a value add. When I paid Netflix and could see most anything, it was great, though a few things I couldn't see. Now I pay Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, pay for devices (e.g. Roku) to access them, have to hop accounts, and STILL can't see everything. Heck, Netflix's library has gotten less reliable. ("Want to see Groundhog day? let's see if it's currently in or out of catalog"). Middlemen aren't evil. Middlemen that want to gouge money WITHOUT providing value coughcoughRIAAcough* aren't evil either, but they're a lot less "good". Frankly, I'm a fan of competition, and in general when competition revolves around trying to offer more value to consumers, it's a bunch of winning (except for the companies that fall behind). Too often we see a competition to AVOID that scenario (Coke/pepsi & exclusive deals, everything about Comcast, HFT, the examples are numerous).