Thursday, May 19, 2011

OMG

Have you been following the Reel Grrls/Comcast story today? Here's our side of the story, in case you missed it:



Get further details from the Washington Post.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Comcast has no shame. It's defensiveness over this disgusting use of the revolving door shows even it knows it crossed the line. Now it's demanding loyalty oaths from any group it gives chartable contributions too?

Comcast is terrible.

tamie said...

I would like to see a donation campaign initiated to make up for the 18k that Comcast wants you to beg for. I would think there are at least 18k people who dislike Comcast enough to send a buck -- there's your money!

Max West said...

This is unconscionable facist behavior and it has to stop. I am seriously considering cutting off the TV portion of my Comcast account.

Were I not attending an online college I would just cut them off altogether. I can survive without TV. All the news and entertainment I need is available on the web.

I'm unemployed or I would be sending money. I urge all those who do have jobs to please contribute to this group and their efforts.

bgvermont said...

Just donate to support your summer program (learned about it through FreePress). Hopefully you can raise enough to tell Comcast that they can keep their money. Keep up the great work and don't let Comcast, or anyone else censure you or tell you what to think! I'll be sending Comcast an email as well.

Anonymous said...

Don't bite that hand that feeds you.

Comcast is under no obligation to support your group, so why would you act surprised that having your workers publically criticize them could negatively effect your donation from them?

Well unless your simply trying to spin this into an "evil company denies poor charity funding" story to try and capitalize off it and increase your donations from other sources, which appears to be the case.

Rev. Spaminator said...

When the brilliant artists emerge from this program as famous directors and producers, I hope that they remember Comcast and refuse them access to any of their creations.

Jose_X said...

techdirt.com wrote about this in case you are interested.

I think there is a serious problem (at least First Amendment concerns) when the federal government of the US creates and enforces a monopoly (or at least very reduced competition) in public airwaves and other communication access channels and then allows the heavily profiting beneficiary (Comcast) to use that profit to pick and choose what speech they want to support and what speech they want to deny.

This is another opportunity to write to my government representatives and ask them why they are tolerating this exploitation.

Also, please create a donations button where people can give a few dollars here and there.

Jose_X said...

@Rev. Spaminator, megacopyright owners like Comcast are among the winners of our IP (copyright) laws. Most folks stand to gain a lot from encouraging as many means as possible of disseminating the digital versions of their works. Comcast, Big Money, and impersonal (let's face it) greedy conglomerates are the ones that need the monopolies to sustain their stockholder supporting money-making machines. They spend tons of money "convincing" Congress to pass unjust anti-competitive, anti-consumer, and anti-artist laws while asking artists to add in their voices of support.

Artists don't need monopoly restrictions. Artists suffer from the extra power that major copyright holders carry in today's society and over our own culture. Artists don't have leverage when they have to "go to Comcast" in order to reach an audience and must sell half their soul in order to achieve this and make a fortune for the conglomerate. Artists have their name. Artists have the Internet. Artists have the brand that matters. Audiences care about the talent and work that comes from the creators and about whom the creator endorses. We pay a premium for that. We don't pay a premium so that the sponsor multiplies their investments many-fold.

As long as Big Money can buy up so many monopolies using so much leverage, artists will continue to get an inferior deal and even lose access (for many many decades) to things they created themselves.

Anonymous said...

I mainly donate to wildlife and conservation organizations (the Church, too), but I can afford a little here.

I told Comcast several months ago that if they bought NBC, I'd quit them. Can anyone offer the best alternative?