[opendtv] Re: Analysis: Should Apple Buy Hollywood?

  • From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:41:44 -0600

Craig Birkmaier wrote:

> You may believe it is wrong the way that Google monetized the
> search business, but in general, consumers have not objected.

GoogleTV and regular old Google search engine are not the same thing. *IF* 
GoogleTV did *NOT* attempt to pare down the offerings, or to organize them in 
some easy to browse manner under their control, then there'd be nothing there. 
Might as well use Yahoo or Webcrawler, or plain jane Google search.

> iTunes is no more a walled garden than Amazon or other online
> music retailers - it is a store that aggregates content and
> provides the consumer with the ability to easily find what they
> want and to pay ONLY for what they want.

Okay, so once again: There's nothing wrong with creating these content 
aggregation portals. Just let's not have the CE companies accepting bribes to 
make them the only choice on their receiving equipment. And let's not lull 
consumers into thinking that this is the way it has to be. (You will note that 
consumers, this time around, are not letting themselves get duped. That's what 
the article you just posted says about connected TVs.)

> The telcos wanted to control every aspect of what you could do
> with a phone and to monetize every desirable feature.

That telco unwalling actually happened several years before the mobile phone. 
It happened when the AT&T was broken up.

Ironically, instead, mobile phones took this trend backwards, in the US anyway. 
Mobile phone companies are NOT being forced to allow any and all mobile 
handsets on their networks, as the wired telcos had been required to. So, it's 
been a mixed bag.

> I can see a day in the not too distant future, where a content
> creator will be able to aggregate a large audience via direct
> Internet "sales." And I can see broadcasters negotiating with
> these new entrepreneurs for the broadcast rights to this
> content.

They already are. The major networks and small producers are already selling, 
or distributing for free, their content on the Internet. On independent, 
aggregated sites (Hulu, Hulu Plus, Netflix), and on their own sites, like 
fox.com. Some of this can be strictly a la carte (Netflix movies). Hulu already 
offers obscure movies that no one has heard of. And more than that, if small 
producers want to, they can all band together and make a small-producer site of 
their own. Just don't tie me down with silly CE-equipment-imposed restrictions, 
that's all.

> The congloms are doing exactly what you detest. They are ONLY
> providing "search results" that advantage the media oligopoly.

Really? Then how come I can watch live TV programs from obscure local stations 
in Italy, France, and the UK (not to mention oodles of other places)? I found 
them using Webcrawler. No big feat.

Bert

 
 
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