[opendtv] Re: Philips adds Net TV to new televisions
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2009 07:56:26 -0500
At 5:55 PM -0500 3/2/09, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
Maybe so. You have been saying this for many years, and the networks
have not done this yet. Imagine a situation where the networks control
their entire nationwide OTA network, in addition to having their content
on all the MVPDs. Would they have any good reason to pull their first
run episodes from their OTA network?
Absolutely!
The vast majority of their audience is watching via the MVPDs, and
giving a cable network the first run makes it possible to push for
higher subscriber fees - money that is now going to affiliates.
Aside from the fact that the networks cannot have a national
broadcast ownership footprint, there is the reality that most
consumers will stay with cable or DBS for expanded programming choice.
And then there are the content restrictions that force the networks
to censor the version that is broadcast over the air.
Bottom line, the OTA franchise is taking its "natural place" in the
content distribution food chain...
At the bottom.
2. Is it necessary to censor the content to neuter it for broadcast
TV standards.
Look back at the Janet Jackson wardrobe exercise. Did the FCC care
whether the content was viewed over cable nets or over OTA? Nope.
There's no reason whatever to assume that the rules are different,
except perhaps for premium cable channels.
What an absurd statement.
Of course the FCC cared that the content was aired over-the-air. This
is the only distribution medium over which the FCC has the authority
to exercise content control. They imposed fines on the CBS Network
and each of its affiliates ($550,000 total or about $27,000 per
offending station). Fortunately for CBS and its' affiliates, an
appeals court overturned the fines.
The Commission has rattled their sabres at the cable industry, and
suggested that cable networks should use the same standards as
broadcasters. But they have no authority to control cable content...
That would take an act of Congress.
Although you have never seen the ads, you might recall that the cable
industry has been running a campaign telling parents that they have
the ability to control which channels can be viewed using the
parental control features that are built into their set-top boxes
(this feature also exists in virtually all modern TV sets).
Content control is a very real issue. By the way it works different
in different regions of the world. A friend at Turner networks once
noted that they needed to maintain multiple versions of most
programing for their networks. For Latin America and South America,
nudity is EXPECTED, and ratings might suffer if it were censored.
Regards
Craig
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