[opendtv] Re: Here’s Comcast’s Version of Apple TV
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:27:43 -0400
On Jun 16, 2013, at 7:43 PM, "Manfredi, Albert E"
<albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Again, you're looking at the wrong source. Who is walling up the Internet
> now, wrt TV content, are companies like Roku, Apple, the CE vendors, and all
> those who create "connected" boxes that block the super vast majority of
> what's out there on the Internet. The oligopolies at least put a lot of their
> content online, at various free or for pay OTT sites. So who is walling up
> what?
The companies that make "connected boxes" are not walling anything up. They can
ONLY offer what they can obtain the rights for.
Let's make this simple.
If you go to the ABC website using the PC connect to your TV no problem. If
you go to the ABC website using any number of smart TVs or "connected devices"
you cannot access the same content. ABC has decided which devices it will
connect to and which devices it will block. Dittos for everyone else who is
blocking these devices.
Interesting that you added "at various free or for pay OTT sites." Every device
can connect to Hulu Plus, but many deices are block for the free Hulu service.
>
>> So once again I'll ask: Who is going to bust this anti-competitive
>> trust?
>
> The FCC could go a long way, by forcing the content owners to use the same
> rules for selling content to MVPDs to sell it to OTT sites.
I hope the FCC does redefine the definition of MVPD. At least this will force
the hands of the content owners; we may finally see what a service will cost if
it is not part of a MVPD bundle.
And the lawyers will be very happy to keep this tied up in litigation for
years...
>> I'm not sure how they can make a difference if they cannot offer a
>> price advantage.
>
> Competition works, Craig. **As long as** the hardware device manufacturers
> are not in bed with OTT sites, these OTT sites compete in a way that your
> monopolistic MVPDs don’t. So for example, OTT sites can easily create bundles
> of lower cost programs, like programs from Canada or elsewhere, where your
> monopolistic MVPDs don’t need to. So this puts downward pressure on how much
> the congloms can ask. It's all a process of gradual automatic controls. The
> more people use alternative methods of getting TV, the more this inelastic
> demand for MVPD subscriptions becomes elastic.
Sorry Bert, but you keep trying to convince us that the marketplace will
provide competition where none exists today. I'm certain someone could put
together a bundle of Russian language programs. But this still will not give
you access to live sports, or other first run programming.
As long as people can ONLY access popular content via an MVPD bundle, nothing
is going to change. Most of these OTT services are replacing DVDs, not MVPDs.
>
>> The one area where things could change dramatically is making
>> everything that is now delivered in "programmed time slots" available
>> on demand. This works for the vast majority of programming on TV
>> today, EXCEPT for the live programming that is keeping the bundles
>> alive.
>
> Why do you think I called that new Comcast STB "quaint?" Back when I mostly
> used the PVR for TV viewing, I still had to worry about time slots enough to
> set up the PVR for the next day. That was it. But since then, a few years
> now, even that use of "time slots" went away. I'm amazed you think this
> hasn't already happened. I don’t even know when my favorite shows air
> anymore. At best, the OTT site shows the date of when the program aired, so
> you can get a general idea of whether it's a "rerun" or new.
The only valid point here is that it is no longer necessary to put a hard disk
in a STB. Comcast has been offering networked DVR functionality for several
years. Clearly content owners understand and are taking advantage of the
ability to access their libraries via OTT services. But only after the content
has been shown on a MVPD service. Perhaps someday the only scheduled
programming will be LIVE programming. We ain't there yet.
>
>> Truth is that HDTV has not contributed a dime to the bottom lines of
>> broadcasters; nor has it helped bring back the audience they
>> continue to lose.
>
> Like that matters, Craig. The automobile didn't contribute a dime to those
> running stables or making cart wheels and horseshoes either. Not everyone
> benefits from innovation. HDTV was so long in coming I couldn't believe it.
> Technology moves on whenever it can. And businesses affected by the
> technological change have to do whatever to stay relevant.
Some businesses thought they were safe - the music industry, the wireless phone
industry…
And some industries learned by the devastation of others. The TV guys learned
from what came before and have enough political clout to protect their
oligopoly…
Regards
Craig
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