[opendtv] Re: News: The death of Cable TV

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2010 12:10:21 -0400

At 6:36 PM -0400 11/6/10, Albert Manfredi wrote:

Craig Birkmaier wrote:


 There is no Google TV site...
Okay fine. This doesn't change anything of significance here. There is Google hardware/software loaded onto TV appliances, which can be TV sets or STBs or DVD players, which becomes an intermediary for this appliance to get to Internet content. An intermediary, the thing between your box and the Internet, through which your Internet content is funnelled. Do I need to have the CE manufacturer impede my access with this intermediary? 

Yes.
You cannot access ANYTHING on the Internet without an intermediary - for more than a decade, that intermediary has primarily been a PC (hardware) running a web browser (software).
A TV - by your classic definition - cannot access the Internet. When I say classic definition I mean a display with one or more tuners that allow you to tune to a signal source and convert RF to viewable pictures and audio. You could say that tuners are intermediaries as well.
For certain, a PC running Internet Explorer IS an intermediary. Google TV is no different; it is a computer (Intel Atom processor) running a Google browser that has been optimized for use on a big screen at family room viewing distances.
One could argue whether you need multiple companies involved in the process of getting video from the Internet to the big screen. Sony has tried to do this themselves (both hardware and software) and has fallen flat in terms of consumer acceptance. So they are now turning to Google, which has a proven track record, at least with respect to the software, which the Japanese CE manufacturers seem to struggle with.
The bottom line is still the same. When content owners pick and choose which devices they will allow to connect to their Internet web portals, they are the gatekeepers. When they force Google and Apple, and NetFlix, et al to negotiate for the rights to their content, whether this is via a subscription to a portal owned by the content owners, or a separate web service such as the iTunes store, they are still the gatekeepers.
Which I already explained, going from info in an article I posted. The explanation is clear, the congloms are doing nothing particularly odd or unfair.
Any of the congloms that put their stuff on Hulu or anywhere else can decide to block their stuff from getting to the Google-impeded sets, because they intend for that stuff to only go to PCs. So the bottleneck here is Google, not the conglom.
NO. The bottleneck is the decision of the congloms to protect their walled gardens. If you want to watch most of their stuff on a big screen YOU MUST subscribe to cable or DBS. ONLY the FOTA broadcast content is accessible without a subscription; the "catch-up" stuff on Hulu is being blocked to force you to subscribe to Hulu Plus if you want to see it on the big screen.
The interesting part of all of this, for me, is that it looks like a good many of the new HP laptops have Windows 7 and HDMI outputs. So this is where I'll be doing my investigations for this year's Santa Claus wish list. Rather than let the CE companies tie my hands. 

You just screwed yourself  (and us) Bert...

Now they will start blocking these PCs too!

;-)

Regards
Craig



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