One of the country’s leading TV providers, which shall remain nameless, recently let me down. I had assembled a group of my friends – many of whom had come from London – to Bristol, to join me for a Pay Per View event. Let’s say it was a big boxing match, so I don’t ruin my carefully hewn reputation by admitting to watching professional wrestling at my advancing age. With my front room filled with booze, snacks and stinking humans, I sat down to order the event. And it didn’t work. At all.
I phoned the technical support line. The 45-minute wait led me to presume that many others were suffering and, as expected, I received no resolution from the poor soul on the other end of the line. I was assured the PPV would work, which was a lie scripted to throw me off the scent. Of course, I’m not sure why I bothered at all. Technical support is an afterthought, isn’t it? I’d paid my subscription fee. What did Generic Pay TV Company care if the service worked or not? Not enough to employ someone whose first language matched mine.
I have since tried to investigate the reasons behind the failure by pathetically haranguing industry contacts with my tale of woe. In hindsight I must apologise for this. I realise now that the precise reason for the failure is irrelevant. It is the fact that a handsomely paid TV provider is unable to provide a live event in 2010 that is important. Pay Per View tech has been around since the mid-’80s! Do we not live in the modern digital age?
With a front room full of disappointed fans, I was not going to be defeated. I checked for an official stream of the event online, which I quickly found. However, its availability in the United Kingdom was unclear, and since it was more than twice as expensive after the dollar-pound conversion, I was unwilling to take the gamble. Besides, I had read numerous negative reviews of the stream quality of previous events, suggesting my money would not be well spent anyway. I repeat my question from the previous paragraph: Do we not live in the modern digital age? In what universe is it acceptable to provide an inferior product for a greater price, with a built-in risk that puts even your most dedicated consumer off?
My solution was one I am neither proud nor ashamed of. Let’s just say that I found a way of watching the event. My room full of people did not go home unhappy. Sure, we saw the action in a slightly lower resolution than we would have done otherwise. But watch it we did. I felt at the time that it was a necessity, so it is lucky for me that I am both tech- savvy and utterly unscrupulous.
Here’s the bottom line: we do indeed live in the modern digital age. All things are possible. If you want something, you can get it. It is just a shame that the only people who seem to be doing things right are those inhabiting the fringes rather than the official sources.
I have argued for a decade that greater digital freedom will only benefit the bottom line of media providers. They will always argue back to the contrary. I’m not a complete socialist, I just know what I want as a digital citizen. Without trying it, the media companies will never truly know what good (or bad) could be done to their businesses by expanding online.
Sadly, these massive companies, backed by huge amounts of funding, appear to be comprised of dribbling, uncaring nincompoops. I was prepared to pay for this event and I was thwarted by those supposed to be providing it. That really is not good enough.
