[opendtv] Re: Users as Toast: The Blocking of Google TV

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2010 06:59:35 -0500

At 7:21 PM -0600 11/14/10, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
The Apples and the Google TVs of the world are trying to make it so you MUST go through their product ONLY, to access the competing TV content sources. And the content owners are saying, no need, guys. We don't want to be boxed in. We prefer to use the Internet as an open, unwalled system. So you, Sony, make sure that in the future your customers don't have to depend on this one middleman, the Google search engine, ONLY. 

Finally I think Bert has proven that he has no clue about this subject.
Other than selling the products they manufacture, I cannot find a single instance where Apple is trying to negotiate exclusive carriage of any content or app. If I want to buy a song I have multiple ways to do it:
1. Buy the CD at Walmart or Target or used CD store and import it into my iTunes library. 2. Buy the song from the iTunes store, the Amazon store, or another download service. 
3. Find a pirated copy somewhere on the Internet.
What I cannot do is download a song from the Beatles because Apple Corps. will not license the Beatles library for sale via downloads. 

If I want to watch a TV show on an Apple iOS device:
1. I can rent an episode from the iTunes store (typically 99 cents) IF the congloms chooses to let Apple rent their content. 2.I can buy an episode from the iTunes store (typically $1.99) IF the conglom chooses to let Apple sell their content. 
3. I can access TV shows from sites that offer compatible versions (read h.264)
4. I can pay for a Netflix or Hulu Plus subscription and stream TV shows.
If I want an app for my iPhone I can get it for free or for a nominal price from the App store. Developers are free to offer the same apps for any platform and sell these apps through any app store. 

Are you getting it yet Bert?
I freely choose devices that leverage the Apple ecosystem. Apple does not control what I can buy with a few exceptions like pornography. But there are some thing I cannot buy from iTunes because the content owners refuse to allow Apple to sell their stuff.
Google is even MORE open. They are just a search engine that allows you to find content then link to it directly - except that the congloms block these links while allowing the same bits to flow to other platforms.
If you do that, we retain the right to block our content from that distribution model.
If Apple of Google tried to extract value from the content that runs on their devices - e.g. they inserted additional ads into this content, the content owner would have the right to block the service. If Apple or Google charges a fee for accessing any website that is free to other browsers the content owner would have the right to block that service.
But when the content owner says - you cannot access our FREE content unless you pay us a fee to do so, it's another story. In this case it is the content owner that is acting as gatekeeper, and acting in a discriminatory manner towards certain platforms. 

Regards
Craig


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