[opendtv] Re: Google TV Gets A Cool Welcome
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2010 22:09:13 -0400
At 1:59 PM -0500 11/4/10, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
Google TV is the gatekeeper regardless of what content made
available through that site might be blocked or not blocked.
You do not access the content through the Google site. You go
directly to the conglom site:
Hulu.com
Fox.com
etc.
It is the the congloms that are blocking the device...
Clearly not. The congloms have their own web sites, which these new
Internet TVs are not providing among their single or few options.
But there is no indication whatever that, for example, NBC.com is
trying to become the portal for all of your Internet TV options. So
it makes no sense at all to claim that the congloms are, or are
trying to become, gatekeepers.
You are wrong. If I want to view content from Hulu.com on this
Powerbook there is no problem; I go to Hulu and watch. If I want to
watch the same content on Hulu.com on a TV with Google TV
hardware/software it will be blocked. The congloms do not want you to
be able to watch this content on your TV; they are forcing Google et
all to create portals in order to create contractual agreements to
access their content so that you can PAY for the same content you can
watch on a PC for free.
The congloms will let you watch their content on a P.C., but, if you
try to access the same site via Google TV they block you. They want
Google, et al, to pay a premium to watch content via their
hardware/software platforms, that they will let you watch via their
own websites on a PC for free.
There is no indication that NBC is trying to become an MVPD, although
Comcast is trying to buy them. NBC could care less about being a
portal or MVPD service. And Comcast cannot buy NBC and then refuse to
allow other MVPDs to offer NBC content.
What both want is to make consumers PAY for NBC content. IF this
content is delivered via a cable or DBS system they want you to to
pay for it. If it is delivered to an Internet TV device that lets you
see this content on a TV they want you to pay for it. If it is
delivered to a PC they are "currently" letting you watch it WITHOUT
paying for it. But Hulu+ will close this loophole.
Bottom line the congloms want you to pay for their content, with the
exception of OTA broadcasting, which is paid for with ad supported
programming. If, however, you watch the same content via an MVPD they
want you to pay for it.
Got IT?
I think Kon said it right, when he said that for the time being,
these over the top sites are only set up as augmentation of the
broadcast distribution methods (MVPDs and OTA). In the future,
though, if Internet delivered TV becomes the main course, I suggest
that reading this Internet Draft will give you a clue as to where
the ISPs are heading, totally aside from any of these gatekeeper web
sites. You only need to read the intro section to get the gist.
Explain to me how this business model is different from the MVPD model.
It IS the same business model. They want to have the ability to
monetize IP multicasts, using the network service provider to collect
the pay-per-view or subscriber fees. Looking at the names of the
companies behind this draft it is clear that NSPs are interested in
working with the congloms to extend the existing MVPD model to the
Internet.
Having said that there is NOTHING in this draft that has ANYTING to
do with the companies that provide the devices and software that can
be used to access these IP multicasts. Google is NOT an ISP and even
if the congloms can force Google to create a portal for their
content, it would be an additional layer beyond the scheme defined in
this draft.
Kon suggested that it is currently impossible for Google or Apple or
others to replicate or replace the current distribution channels used
by the congloms. At best they can cut some deals with the congloms
that will allow the platforms they are developing to have access to
that content. So for now they are trying to put some Internet window
dressing atop the content that is delivered via cable and DBS.
REgards
Craig
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