I don’t own a tv, so I stream what few shows I watch. With the new year, it seems everyone has changed their sites/apps to demand proof you’ve got a cable provider before you can stream from the network sites - what’s up with that?
Money. They don’t want people like you freeloading. By asking for proof, they know they’re getting their cable fees.
More frustrating is when you do have cable but they won’t accept your provider. I have Time Warner, but some shows don’t have that as an option, and it’s not like I can switch providers.
What’s weird is this cuts out people that were watching via over-the-air broadcast - is that segment so small now they can just blow them off? And all the network sites were generating some revenue, as they force you to sit through ads (ABC’s site does 4 ads per break).
I had this problem during the 2012 Summer Olympics. NBC sites would not let me watch unless I provided them with the name of my cable provider. I did, over and over and over again. I never did get to watch the stream that NBC sites were running. For some reason, they could not figure out that my cable provider was valid. And it isn’t some oddball provider, we’re on Comcast.