[opendtv] Re: Apple in Talks with Comcast About Streaming-TV Service - WSJ.com
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2014 09:15:37 -0400
On Mar 31, 2014, at 9:30 PM, Manfredi, Albert E <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> That's disingenuous, Craig. The original idea was that any CE manufacturer
> could build its plug-and-play TV appliance WITHOUT having to go begging, hat
> in hand, to the MVPDs. Apple is instead going begging, hat in hand, to
> Comcast, for that exclusive privilege. You really don't see the difference?
That was then, this is now.
When the DTV legislation was passed in 1995 the Web was just begin born; we got
to the Internet via a modem over our POTS phone service…boing “You’ve got mail.”
The first broadcast quality non-linear editing systems were just reaching the
point where they could handle SDTV. DVD using MPEG-2 was just hitting the
market.
The assumption was that third parties would build boxes that connected to the
coax from the cable system, pulling in either the analog tier or the new
digital tiers. The cable systems would not offer broadband until 1998, after
the DOCSIS cable modem standard was approved and tested.
The stumbling block then, still today was DRM. The cable industry wanted to
maintain the hardware DRM inside their boxes and did not want to discuss third
party alternatives. They came up with cable card, which was both cumbersome and
expensive. Worse uyet, the cable systems charged a monthly fee for the card, so
you were no bewtter off than leasing their STB.
Building a plug & Play IPTV device is a different matter. Most cable system are
not using IP delivery for video content - Comcast is far ahead of the rest of
the industry in this area with their X-Finity boxes and content. And the last
mile infrastructure is not ready either. As you saw in the story about the high
rates of buffering during Internet video streaming, the systems cannot handle
the load. You say you don’t haver many problems, but you also don’t get very
good quality. With DSL service you are getting SDTV quality at best. HDTV
requires significantly higher bit rates than your service currently delivers
unless you download the content in less than real time.
Apple is asking Comcast to provide a service that Comcast may already be using
to serve its own customers - managed bandwidth. You tell us that the cable
systems own the infrastructure and can do what they damn well please with it,
as long as they do not block access to content via their ISP service. You tell
us that to solve the last mile problem, companies will need to co-locate edge
servers in cable head ends. But when Apple tries to do this, you call it
collusion.
You are the one who is disingenuous, Bert. You can’t have it both ways.
> This isn't Apple coming to the rescue, because the FCC didn't put its foot
> down. This is Apple playing along in the walled garden game.
Yup. Walled gardens are NOT going to go away. I posted a very good story this
morning that explains the release windows that Hollywood uses for movies and
television content. The walled gardens are moving to the Internet Bert. Most of
what you get today is a later release window, and you still have to pay a
subscriber fee for the better services like Netflix and Hulu Plus.
The content owners want toy move their content to the Internet, but they still
want us to pay as much or more for it as we do via the MVPD pipes. Managed
Bandwidth is a technical solution that is likely to be used for years to come,
until the cable systems are able to shut down their analog and digital
(MPEG-2TS) services and make everything IP.
It is far too late for the FCC to unbundle the boxes that use the MPEG-2TS
services. They need to look forward, understanding that IP is where we are
headed, and that the ability to access content bundles via IP is what needs to
be opened up to competition. IF they let the MVPDs have exclusive control over
the new IP boxes like the Comcast X-1, we will till be talking about unbundling
in another decade.
> Okay, I'll buy that, and to me that's an important fundamental change, and
> also signals a trend. Apple might have put some of that content on iTunes,
> but at a price point that made it unattractive for regular everyday TV
> viewing. To me, that doesn't count. That's more like buying the DVDs.
Agreed. The content owners are more than willing to sell their content, as long
as the price is right and it does not jeopardize the cash cow bundles and other
exclusive premium services.
The change is indeed fundamental. And the content owners and MVPDs are taking
advantage of it to enhance the value of their content and the bundles.
> The best is more in line with your #2. Your #1 perpetuates these monopolies.
And #2 perpetuates these monopolies, as long as the content owners refuse to
let new competitors have access to the exclusive content.
> The FCC classifies new entrants in the field, such as Netflix and Amazon, as
> MVPDs, for the purpose of forcing the content owners to offer them fair terms
> to their content (and content owners wouldn't object if they got their
> revenues anyway). And then the FCC enforces network neutrality of the
> Internet portion of ISP/MVPD nets. And then you let the market forces take
> effect.
IF the FCC did this the problem would largely be solved. Twenty years and
still counting Bert...
>
> That's what is actually happening. As people demand Internet TV, the content
> owners are already taking notice. No reason to pretend this isn't happening,
> or to reinforce a distribution model that was born in the 1960s.
Of course it is happening Bert. And the content owners are managing the
transition to reinforce a distribution model that was born in the ‘90s, when
Congress gave them the power to take control of the content delivered by the
MVPDs and milk subscribers for the second revenue stream.
Regards
Craig
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