I'm livid, angry, frustrated. I cannot watch the inauguration concert as it is exclusive to HBO. My cable company Cox will not make HBO available to non-digital subscribers, so unless you have ponied up for expensive digital cable, you CANNOT watch the concert on TV. I actually called and confirmed that getting a song and dance about the issue being out of Cox's hands. Yeah right.
It was very wrong of the Obama camp to make the concert exclusive to HBO. It was wrong of the Time-Warner family to not simulcast the concert on a "basic" channel if this is a valid known technical issue preventing basic customers from accessing premium channels. And if HBO is allowing cable companies to broadcast HBO a on non-digital for the concert, then COX is wrong to hold the concert hostage to force customers to pony up for digital.
Yes the concert is being simulcast on NPR (Now that's inclusive!) and streamed on HBO.com but really now, if a person doesn't have the money for digital, do you really think that they've got a high speed setup that would work for streaming?
I stood in the cold on the mall in 1993 and watched Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan etc perform for Clinton. This time around I'm just not up to facing the crowds, security theater and I don't have a downtown office to duck into to keep warm like I did in 1993.
Surely this is a small matter when stacked up against the biggies we face right now, but little things DO matter. How can a presidency be inclusive when they sell the rights to events exclusively?
Oh well I guess I'll watch football instead. I think I'll root for Ravens ;-)