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Firm quietly boosts H.264 streaming license fees from $100,000 up to staggering $4.5 million
(www.tomshardware.com)
this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2026
171 points (99.4% liked)
Technology
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Absolute financial parasitism. This is why we can't have nice things. People who own a license of something critical can just sit on their asses decades on end and collect unearned income from other companies who will in turn move to cost to the consumers.
Remember when Martin Shkreli was thrown in jail for hiking the price of medicine by 5555%? That was 2017, but when something like this happens in 2026 nobody bats an eye.
No? He was arrested for securities fraud, not for increasing the price of medication.
That's why you're not seeing anyone bat an eye now they didn't then either.
Medicine is not a codec.
See also: capitalism more generally
More specifically late-stage capitalism. This is a classic example of rent-seeking by a capitalist who has cornered a market.
It's just capitalism. The fascism we're seeing is late stage capitalism.
Well it’s their developed tech and they see streaming sites raise their prices and rake money.
Existing licences are granfathered. So this seems more like a barrier to new entrants.