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

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2010 07:59:28 -0500

At 5:23 PM -0600 11/15/10, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
Sorry, Craig. That doesn't fly. The content owner can distribute his content any way he pleases. He is not a "gatekeeper" if the only stuff he's distributing is his own content.
They ARE GATEKEEPERS when they allow Hulu.com content to be viewed on using the Internet Explorer browser on a PC but BLOCK the same bits to a Google TV browser on a Sony TV.
There IS NO DIFFERENCE in terms of what the viewer sees. The only difference is the SCREEN to which the browser is connected.
And it makes no difference whether he distributes it ad-supported in one instance and for pay in another. Just like a bakery can choose to give away its bread as a promo, in a mall for instance, without having some other guy trying to horn in and sell that "free" bread for a tidy profit. "Hey, you're giving that bread away at Sunshine Mall, so why can't I grab a bunch and make myself a nice profit from it, selling it across town?"
No argument here. There are and will continue to be ad supported service and paid services.
The problem is when the ad supported services are blocked for certain devices so that they can force these devices to pay. 




 I am astonished that you cannot see who the real bad guys are
 here Bert.
This is the source of your misunderstanding. You think there are good guys and bad guys in this.
From the point of view of the customers, these are all potentially bad guys. When the congloms collude with umbillical systems to create an inherently anti-competitive distribution model, then the colluding parties are both "bad guys" as far as the consumer goes. Because they get together and do the sorts of things you enjoy complaining about (e.g. bundling). Why? Because they have leverage. They control you.
As far as I'm concerned, avoiding that sort of collusion is the only way to go.
We agree that the congloms and the MVPDs are bad guys. We may even agree that the potential exists for Apple and Google to become bad guys. But for now the congloms and the MVPDs are protecting their lucrative oligopoly and doing everything within their power to extend their oligopoly to the Internet. Google and Apple are not the bad guys today. 

Regards
Craig


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