Gavin Scott wrote:

> Generally in any commercial enterprise there is a "product" and there
> are "customers".  Customers pay money for the product so that the company
> can produce more product, pay its employees etc.
>
> In a pay-per-view TV operation, the product is the movie/television
> program, and you would be the customer, paying to watch that program.
>
> In a commercial television operation however, you are not the customer.
> The customer is the advertiser, and the product is your attention which
> the television station is selling to the advertiser.
>
> This leads to a fundamental law:  In any transaction, if you are not a
> paying customer then beware, for *you* may be the product that is being
> sold :-)

Gavin, nice theory, BUT you pay for cable TV.  Is it ad free?
NO.  You
pay for a cable modem connection.  Is is ad free?  NO.  The point
is
when there is a potential audience, the advertisers worm there
way in.
Does this make the service cheaper?  In theory, yes, but I
wonder.

Nick D.