Ethical Questions for Your Inner Couch Potato

Note to Self

WNYC Studios

Self-improvement, Tech, Note, Npr, Education, Public, Wnyc, Manoush, York, To, New, Self, Radio, Business, Technology, Relationships, City, Society & Culture, Zomorodi, Newtechcity

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2015

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Watching TV — especially when it isn’t, strictly speaking, on TV — has gotten complicated. This week we bring you a conversation with the creators of "High Maintenance." They're staying off broadcast and embracing a smaller but devoted online-only audience, instituting a paywall in exchange for the artistic freedom. So what do they think of sharing passwords on Netflix accounts and fast forwarding through commercials?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello friend, this is an episode of Note to Self, but from when we used to be called New Text City.
0:07.0	Same good content, just the old name. Enjoy.
0:10.0	From WNYC, this is New Text City. We're Digital Get's Personal. I'm a new summer Odie,
0:19.0	and I have kind of a sore throat, so hopefully you just think it's sexy.
0:23.0	Work with me.
0:25.0	This week, watching TV is complicated. Let's use House of Cards as an example.
0:31.0	First of all, it's on Netflix. Have you hooked it up to your TV? Or are you just
0:36.0	slumming it with your laptop like I am? Secondly, are you using your own account?
0:41.0	No? Yeah, well, 46% of Americans stream using shared passwords, so-called consumer reports.
0:49.0	How we get our video these days is often ethically ambiguous. So as consumers, watchers,
0:57.0	how do we make sure we click play not just affordably, but with a guilt-free conscience?
1:03.0	Later, we're going to talk to the stars and makers of the online show High Maintenance
1:08.0	about what passes their smell test when it comes to morally righteous viewing.
1:13.0	But right now, I want to introduce my friend and colleague, Irvaganja.
1:18.0	Hey, Manish. Irva is a senior producer at WNYC's Daily News Show, The Takeaway.
1:23.0	But she's got a side-passion project. I sound like Carol King now.
1:27.0	And her side-passion project is called The Stream Stress.
1:31.0	And this is where she reviews and thinks about how to watch the best online video.
1:37.0	Yeah, I mean, beyond what we watch, there's so many questions about how we watch it,
1:41.0	and then how should we actually get access to that content?
1:44.0	There are so many services out there now. There's Netflix, there's Amazon Instant Video,
1:49.0	there's Hulu, there's Vimeo, there's this new service called Acorn,
	...

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