“Where are my Online Episodes?!”

Dear Sci-Fi Channel,

I would love to tell you that I have seen the most recent Episode of Battlestar Galactica. You know, the one that I keep hearing is fantastically awesome. I would love to share with you my new theories about who the fifth cylon could be. However, I can’t. You can blame(/thank) yourself for that.

You see,you used to have this great, forward-thinking feature on your website. You called it Rewind, your term for what is basically time-shifted content. Whenever you would air a New Episode of Battlestar Galactica you would also post it on your website later that evening at 1am. You see, I work days and nights, and am thus not home when BSG is on TV. So for the first six weeks of new episode bliss, I would excitedly pop over to your website at some point after 1am and excitedly watch the weeks new episode. Last Friday, I excitedly popped over and found nothing. You had the four previous episodes, but not the newest one. I searched and searched and could find no announcement of when it would be posted.

So I ran over to Hulu, which puts their episodes up at the same time as you do (you know, since you’re both owned by the same company). They had nothing either. I hoped that it would be a simple technical problem, and that the show would be up by Monday. Wrong.

I popped on Sci-Fi.com Monday, confident that my beloved BSG would be there waiting for me with a warm embrace that only two lovers can share. Nothing. No announcement, nothing. So I checked out Hulu. This time, they did have an announcement:

Upcoming Episodes:
Guess What’s Coming to Dinner: Pt. 1; Airdate: May 16, Avaiilable on Hulu: May 24
Guess What’s Coming to Dinner: Pt. 2; Airdate: May 30, Avaiilable on Hulu: June 7
Sine Quan Non; Airdate: June 6, Avaiilable on Hulu: June 14
The Hub; Airdate: June 13, Avaiilable on Hulu: June 21

Being that you get the episodes the same time Hulu does, this is essentially rewind’s schedule also. So I angrily ask, I have to wait a week and a day to watch the Episodes online?? That’s a week of dodging co-workers out of fear of spoilers, instead of spending time talking with them about and building up buzz and goodwill for your damn show. That’s a week of avoiding enthusiast forums and blogs, instead of discussing and dissecting.

So guess what happens now? I stop playing your game. You were at one point getting advertising revenue and hard viewing statistics from me watching your show online. GONE! I will now go back to far more convenient BitTorrent approach to watching your show. I got rid of Comcast a few months ago, so I’m still able to download those Peer-enabled wonders.

The tragedy here, Sci-Fi, is I actually like the show enough, that I was willing to jump through your flash-driven, advertising-enabled hoops. I don’t do that for just anything or anyone. But, hey, if you change your mind and decide to embrace the 21st century, give me a call. You’ve got my number.

Love,
~Chris

So now Comcast is extending the olive branch to BitTorrent, eh?

Wouldn’t that be nice? A perfect and fluffy world where Comcast and Bittorrent held hands and frolicked through the meadows of the scenic swiss alps? I, for one, cry foul. While it may appear to be that way up front, I have a feeling the end will be more like this video (Yoshi = Bittorent, Comcast=Mario):

It was just a little more than a week ago that Comcast said that the FCC didn’t have the authority to prevent them from blocking P2P traffic. I believe that they are very afraid of testing their assertion that they are above the authority of the FCC. This seems more like a last ditch effort to prevent the FCC from actually mandating net neutrality than anything else. The fact that they are announcing this, but then saying that it won’t take effect until the end of the year… maybe longer… speaks volumes. If they are so lovey-dovey with Bittorrent now, why not stop the arbitrary blocking now?

All we can hope now is that the FCC has the clear mind to proceed with their investigation into Comcast’s practices to prevent others from following the same path and to prevent Comcast from trying this stunt again in a few years when there is a new FCC Chairman. But that would rely on the FCC having some common sense, which is not what they are know for.

Now if only the FCC would only do something about Comcast’s two-hour hold times and price gouging… Just remember folks, Comcast: It’s Craptastic.