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The evolution of cable television in the U.S. might be instructive. At first, TV (broadcast) was free, with ads. IIUC, when cable TV later rolled out, it was
by CoastalCoder 3y ago
The evolution of cable television in the U.S. might be instructive.
At first, TV (broadcast) was free, with ads.
IIUC, when cable TV later rolled out, it was ad-free. Viewers paid for it instead.
But eventually even those paying for cable TV were shown ads.
So one lesson is that paying for a service might only delay its enshitification.
EDIT: It seems I was wrong about cable TV starting out ad-free [0]. So my example isn't strong evidence for my enshitification claim.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18409942 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18409942
- thfuran 3y agoI think the lesson is that unsolicited advertising should be banned because it corrupts everything it can touch.
- flyinghamster 3y agoOn the other hand, when I was growing up, HBO, Cinemax, and The Movie Channel were all part of my local cable system's basic lineup. Feature-length, commercial-free movies were part of the basic cable fee. I guess that was the hook to convince people to sign up for cable, since this was not a fringe reception area. It was only later that the ad-supported channels began cropping up and ultimately taking over, cable fees be damned.