re: The Count of Monte Cristo (PBS) Limited Series

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Call me a cheapskate, but why in the hell do we as American taxpayers have to pay extra to stream PBS?

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Because their federal funding was cut and they have to depend on private donations like other broadcast stations.

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I had to subscribe to it under Biden’s Autopen (Masterpiece Theater programming like Monte Cristo & don’t know about PBS’s other programming), so when did funding get cut to cause need for subscriptions back then?

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They’ve long used private donations (that’s what you’re doing, donating) to supplement funding on the federal level which has waxed and waned over the years. That was the biggest complaint from when Johnson signed the public broadcasting bill, that funding wasn’t automatically secured. That shifted to purchasing streaming options when it became more popular than broadcast TV. PBS federal funding has never been a permanent funding proposal.

This last cut was a total severance that makes them dependent on private donation alone.

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Ok. In your reply to another poster you mentioned federal funding cut as the cause (I took it in context of watching this masterpiece theater show), and since masterpiece theater pricing has been around awhile and seems to not have change much (Amazon does offer promos & packaged promos which could be masking changes) I was thinking by your comment that there were other large specific cuts to PBS that caused the original masterpiece theater charges in the first place.

I tried to stream it once using the PBS app on Apple TV for an early Endeavor season using a process that I think did not require an additional fee, but it required some process to validate I had access to the local channel (or which one) and linking app to your facebook account with some granting of some kind of limited access. Even that had limitations on available programming like no past seasons or even past episodes in current season after awhile without paying, and I just can’t remember if some other situation helped stop any additional charges or not or even remember specifics of the exact process. After one season of trying that I just waited for Endeavor seasons to show up on regular Prime.

You mentioned subscribing to PBS Masterpiece Theater as basically being a donation, and that PBS is now dependent on donations like other broadcast stations (assuming you mean other publicly owned broadcasters). I don’t consider my subscriptions donations or part of some old school donation drive. I pay to be able to watch certain shows and don’t pay when there is nothing I want to watch just like every other subscription streaming service I use. If PBS thought of the masterpiece theater subscriptions as what they really are - subscriptions based on available programming and not as donations they might figure out how to boast revenue. It needs to take the P thinking out of PBS.

Finished EP7 last night. Extremely good episode.

****EP7 SPOILERS*****






Unfortunately it looks like it will stray from the book on who Edmond will end up with. All the signs were pointing to Mercedes but was still holding out hope it would be Haydee but she was sent away at the end of the episode.

Everything to do with the revenge against Fernand was fantastic. Loved every minute of it and they did a really good job with the tension. Even the dueling scene with Albert was perfect. I ahve to say, the actor playing Fernand is a really good actor. props to him because he was great in EP7.

Going to be a lot happening in EP8 if they are having to tie up the revenge of VIllefort and Danglar in one episode.

I was waiting for you to finish before I commented on the ending. No matter how I worded it, I thought it would reveal too much.
I was really happy with the ambiguous nature of it. I don’t think we will ever see an adaptation where he ends up with Haydee because it’s a problematic dynamic from today’s point of view.

A little too soon for me to do a reread. I’m going to read The Three Musketeers after I finish the Expeditionary Force series in a couple weeks. I’m burnt out on sci-fi after that.

So they can send condoms to Mozambique and to sponsor tranny tolerant training conducted by gay Mexican midgets.

It's really been a quality series. I recorded it on YouTube TV, then started watching this week. I don't like to watch one episode per week of these series because I forget who did what to whom, and who is that guy?

When we got to 7, we wanted to finish it off, so I fired up my PBS Passport app and streamed the final episode. Passport generally lets me stream an entire series starting the day the first episode airs. It's a bit clunky, so I prefer using YouTube TV DVR if available.

I donate $10 a month to LPB, and that gets me full access to Passport. (Minimum donation to get it is $8 a month or or a one-time donation of $96; recently up from $5.). Most all of the old Masterpiece and other PBS shows and specials are on there, ready to stream. As noted, all episodes of new series are available on debut.

The Passport donation also gets you a monthly Visions magazine, like a TV Guide for LPB. It has profiles of the upcoming new shows, and reruns of old favorites, so you can be ready to watch/record/stream. I also started getting Louisiana Life magazine, so I assume it is part of the package.

Re the former federal funding (repealed in 2025). Only about 1% of NPR funding and 15% of PBS funding came directly from the government via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Rural stations may have relied on federal grants for 25% or more of their budgets; some larger city stations may have received only 3-7% of their budget from federal funding. They all get zip now.

I'm happy to make my small donation. I watch much more LPB than I do Netflix, which costs a heckuva lot more.

We finished it last night. Neither one of us remember the book so we really enjoyed this adaptation.

We have Infinity/Comcast so we get PBS free. So many great shows on Masterpiece Theater. One of our favorites is All Creatures Great and Small.

I am rubber, you are glue, so this boo now sticks to you!

I've read my last book.

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If I wait long enough between subscribing and allow some seasons to show all or at least most of its episodes I can watch a few seasons for a month’s charge, but it’s very sporadic with quality programming in English and requires a longer wait in between subscriptions to make it worthwhile than other services. Last time I even had some promo thru Prime for $2.99 for 2 or 3 months, and right before the second promo priced month was to be charged I cancelled as there was nothing else I wanted to watch.

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This is the way.

With all streaming formats. Rotate and catch up.