Chrisitan
"THA govurnment wants to take our guns bluhbluhbluh --- this isn't CSPAN."
"Its this weird world where the cable companies still have a lot of power."
Garnett
"Or persevered power!"

So, A. Chrisitan you're clearly ignorant on this topic. B. Garnett, their power isn't "perceived" it is 100% real. This is the exact thing I commented about WEEKS ago when we were speculating over an "obviously false" rumor. The United States infrastructure for cable and internet is stratified by WEALTH, and it is vertically integrated with content controlled by basically 2 corporations for the entire United States.

You guys talked about how Xbox One's integration with NFL games makes it a cool proposition. Well what network airs NFL games? NBC. What network did the Comcast just purchase earlier this year? NBC. Hmm now if Comcast controls both the pipeline through which you access content, and the content you really want to see, do you think they have any interest in making deals with third parties to access that content?

Microsoft had to pay the NFL like $400 million supposedly just for "exclusive NFL content" through Xbox Live. Gee, maybe you football fans will get some Kinect smello-vision to your favorite team's locker room!
How much of that $400 million dollars do you think comes out of Gold subscribers pockets? How about all of it. That is not "perceived power" Garnett. That is shit loads of money going to waste, whether or not the people buying it even like football.

So if you're going to bitch about how Microsoft's strategy here sucks, you should go through the trouble of educating yourself on the politics that drove them to this position. You can't just demagogue a corporation if you're not willing to think about the circumstances and causes of their actions.

If you want a good primer on this issue (anyone who is concerned about Microsoft's Xbone strategy), watch this interview with Susan Crawford on Bill Moyers.

Interview with Crawford:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xI847vQTto

One of the points Crawford often raises is that tech people think they can "geek around" cable duopolies power. Well I, and the executive at Microsoft, are here to tell you that you're being naive! Netflix and Hulu are nice, but the bottom line is that they deliver their video through the pipe that cable companies control. And here's a pro tip: Microsoft doesn't want to be a tv network no matter how many Halo tv shows they license. And they don't want to be like Google and run a fiber wire to your home either. They would rather make a deal with Comcast, and get in on scamming and gouging consumers.

Also, look at bandwidth caps for instance. A. For Comcast, the internet service they offer is only a small part of their pipeline. Most of that pipline goes to broadcast tv. There are 2 reasons for this. 1. Unlike fiber, the bundled copper wire they use has shitty upload speeds. It is designed for passive entertainment. 2. reason is they want to control how you consume video because they get higher profits that way.

B. on data caps: Data usage doesn't cost anything for companies. All the cost for running wire is upfront. But---surprise---private companies don't want to build more wire because that would mean less profits, which pisses off their share holders, who---another surprise---are more important to them than the actual consumers of their service.

That said they also don't want to provide the internet for poor people, because poor people can't pay $150 a month for a "value bundle." By that I mean, they don't just want to avoid selling it to poor people. Poor people don't even get the option to buy it, and when they do its actually more expensive. Again this is real power being wielded by only a few corporations, and you can't just brush it off.

*Rant complete.