[opendtv] Re: Just How Dumb Is It For CBS To Block CNET From

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 08:24:03 -0500

At 4:34 PM -0600 1/16/13, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
Everything. If all smart TVs go with GoogleTV, they become an easy target. Creativity means, wake up, quit being on the take, implement any number of possible thin client designs, and look to the content owners like any of a zillion different tablets or smartphones. Why is that difficult?
There are MANY smart TV designs as well as modules that are attached via HDMI to provide the same capabilities. The reality is that the companies operating these streaming TV sites have been trying to require evidence of an MVPD subscription in order to use the sites. The only exception seems to be PCs, which have not been shut down. It matters not, whether you are using a Google TV, Apple TV, or Roku box - these all require verification of MVPD service. Dittos for all smartphones and tablets. 


 > Are you suggesting that the CE vendors make their TVs look

 like PCs to a server to bypass the need for a username and
 password from a MVPD?


I don't even understand that question.


The expected response.
The smart TV only requires a broadband link, for its Internet interface. That broadband link may or may not come from a cable company, and it should not matter. There's no issue with bypassing any required username/password. Typically, the username/password requirement for broadband Internet access is at the broadband modem, not on the PC, tablet, smart TV, or other in-home device. At best, these Internet appliances would have to use the password to get to your WiFi access point, unless they are wired via Ethernet.
You are incorrect. Devices are routinely identified when they connect to a remote server. THis has nothing to do with the link. If I try to access ESPN3 from my smartphone, it asks for my MVPD username and password - this is true whether I am using Cox broadband at work, AT&T DSL at home, or AT&T wireless broadband when I cannot use WiFi.
This is simply a case of which devices the MVPD and congloms choose to allow to connect to their servers.
Not anymore. Among the 18-34 demographic, 24 or 25 percent do not use MVPD TV. So it is highly unlikely that the content owners would agree to shut them out. 

Can you provide a source for this info?
And even if this is true, it is only a 10% difference from other demographic groups. There IS a strong correlation in the 18-34 demographics, with reliance on wireless phones, as the number of wireline phones in the U.S. continues to decline.
A quick search indicates that many cord cutters are simply moving from one service to another to get better rates. The total number of cord cutters reported over the past two years is about 3%. In many cases people may cut the cord, then decide that the alternatives are not sufficient and re-up. My daughter and her husband did this in the past year. 

Regards
Craig


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