[opendtv] Re: AT&T to launch DirecTV Now streaming video service before 2017 - CNET
- From: Craig Birkmaier <brewmastercraig@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2016 08:07:48 -0400
On Oct 20, 2016, at 7:58 PM, Manfredi, Albert E
<albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Craig Birkmaier wrote:
There is no reason to believe that the content owners will allow the
cable MVPDs to operate outside the markets where they are licensed.
Craig missed it again. Content owners **have already done so**, with AT&T.
Nope.
They have done this with DirecTV, which is licensed to deliver their content
anywhere in the U.S.
AT&T Uverse was limited to AT&T's own broadband neighborhoods, and yet now,
they are going nationwide to any household, for the content delivery service.
Irrelevant. Those Uverse systems are not going away, and they cannot provide
service outside the areas where they are licensed.
Both stories posted yesterday make that point. The content owners are
certainly not shy to give license to companies to deliver nationwide. Because
it is in their own self-interest to do so. Reach people by offering multiple
options to them, not just that monopolistic "bundle."
Sorry Bert, but YOU missed it.
As you correctly note, content and carriage are being decoupled. The Internet
is not geographically limited, but the services that can be delivered may be.
It is clear that the industry is moving the delivery of their most important
content to the Internet. They no longer need the local head ends to get the job
done. The content can now be delivered from largely automated server farms with
some help from edge servers.
But those local head ends are still critical for carriage. And now they are
becoming entrenched monopolies thanks to Title II. It is not likely that the
content owners will allow the MSOs to compete with one another to sell content.
They still get their pound of flesh from the necessary broadband service.
It should come as no surprise that both DBS systems are being allowed to
migrate to internet distribution - they have at best a very limited future
using those satellites to deliver TV content. But they already have a national
footprint, and relationships with all of the content owners and local broadcast
stations. Creating IP streams of all of these channels is trivially easy
compared to building a national service from scratch.
Regards
Craig
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at
FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.
Other related posts:
