This post originated from an RSS feed registered with .NET Buzz by Doug Thews. Original Post: Paying for Broadcasts Feed Title: IlluminatiLand Feed URL: http://apps5.oingo.com/apps/domainpark/domainpark.cgi?client=netw8744&s=JETBRAINS.COM Feed Description: A technology blog for people enlightened enough to think for themselves Latest .NET Buzz Posts Latest .NET Buzz Posts by Doug Thews Latest Posts From IlluminatiLand

There's been a recent bothersome trend regarding Internet broadcasts. With the exception of Major League Baseball (MLB), I've always been able to get my favorite NFL and NCAA team games by listening to either their home radio stations on the Internet or going to the club site itself. WQAM used to broadcast all the Dolphins games, and I could go to either the Arizona State University web site or the KTAR web site to get any of the ASU games (football, basketball, and baseball).

Well, greed has taken over, and these once free broadcast are now fee based ... and we're not talking chump change. MLB has always blocked you from listening to league games via the Internet by forcing you to go through their site (for a fee). So, if I want to listen to any ASU game, I have to register with Yahoo and pay $19.95 for a 1 year "subscription". What's worse, is that the quality wasn't that good, either. I listened to the ASU/NAU game this past weekend, and I kept getting timeouts & cutouts during the broadcast. The NFL has also taken it to the consumer, by charging $99 for a 1 year subscription to all NFL games (similar to the Sunday NFL Ticket).

I feel like one of those customers in the bank commercials. "That'll be $5 'talk to the teller fee', $2 'get in line fee', $5 'ask a question fee', etc. Ridiculous!