[opendtv] Re: Content Distribution Getting Cloudy (DECE UltraViolet)
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2010 15:48:35 -0500
Craig Birkmaier wrote:
> The key is that channels have SCHEDULES. Programs are offered in
> specific time slots within the linear programming day (or portion of
> a day for some networks. Most of the Over-the-top services are demand
> based; you can stream the program when you want to watch it - NO
> SCHEDULE.
As you say, rubbish, Craig. In all cases, OTA, Internet, or MVPD, the TV
content is transferred through a network, sometimes meant to be consumed in
real time, and other times meant to be consumed at the user's request.
In networks that are purely broadcast protocol (DBS, OTA, early cable), any
storage must be done on the consumer premises. In networks that offer two-way
protocols, the storage can also occur within the network core, somewhere. You
are quibbling over protocol details, and concluding some metaphysical
difference that isn't there.
> Rubbish. Yes, DVRs allow you to pull content from a channel and
> consume it at another time; but this requires active "programmng"
> by the viewer.
Rubbish. That is entirely at the discretion, and the imagination, of the guy
who writes the software for the PVR. There is no reason why a PVR with n
different tuners cannot simultaneously record n different shows from OTA or
cable broadcast streams AUTOMATICALLY, each one selected to appeal to that
user. There is simply no difference that has anything to do with "channel"
here, Craig. You may have a point that such OTA PVRs are hard to find (except
TiVo, of course), but technically the problem is straightforward. And
technically, PSIP allows any smart software person to recreate a TiVo
experience for OTA stations.
I'm not arguing that your own PVR system at home can equal the choice
ultimately available over the Internet or over a large MVPD. I am arguing that
what you believe to be a fundamental difference caused by "channels" or caused
by "schedules" is simply not there.
> Your example points to a different situation. CW is a network, but
> only programs during prime time, and is only carried by OTA
> broadcasters, who must fill in the rest of the linear programming
> schedule. In the cases you cite ThisTV movie channel is syndicated
> and can be run by any OTA broadcaster; and when they are running
> ThisTV it is likely you will see promos for movies that are SCHEDULED
> to run in the future.
Wrong, Craig. You missed it completely. ThisTV, the Retro TV Network (RTN),
France 24, Universal Sports, Al Jazeera, and a bunch of other similar examples,
are carried 24/7. This IS NOT syndicated programming carried during non-prime
time over the same channel as ABC or Fox. This programming is completely
unrelated to other programming carried by those OTA stations, at the same time
as their ABC or NBC or CBS or CW or whatever "main stream." These are all
multicasts, completely unrelated to other multicasts in that RF channel. And
they happen to be "networks" in their own right. Just like cable or DBS. The
OTA broadcaster decides what other TV "networks" it will support over their RF
channel(s), just like a DBS provider does, but on a smaller scale.
Bert
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