[opendtv] Re: Turner Classic Movies Tees Up Fire TV App | Multichannel
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2015 09:19:57 -0400
On Sep 17, 2015, at 9:52 PM, Manfredi, Albert E
<albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Huh? It made no sense. Before local stations became available on DBS, the
installer would simply install an OTA antenna, for the network TV content.
Fine if you can receive the local stations reliably with an antenna. Many could
not, or did not want to bother.
It would have made a lot more sense to allow DBS to carry the TV network
streams directly, without involving the local stations, and then only install
the antenna for those who actually wanted to local news/weather/public
affairs programming.
In a sense they did, and still do. If you lived in an area where you could not
receive OTA reliably you could buy the network package with feeds from the east
and west coast network O&Os. Now you enter your zip code and they tell you
which stations you can get in the broadcast TV package.
This artificiality was applied to DBS, just as it had to MVPD cable nets.
There was, and still is nothing artificial about the statutory license. It
allows any MVPD to carry a broadcast station without having to license the
content the station delivers from the networks they are affiliated with, the
syndicated shows they run, and their local content.
Geez, Craig, what is this mental block? Ask the people what they really want
to receive - the network content or the local news, weather, and public
affairs programming. Over the Internet, it's really easy to distribute the
same TV network content to everyone, direct from the source (just like ESPN),
and those local programs separately. This is true for linear/live and for on
demand. There is no technical excuse for involving the OTA broadcaster in the
chain, *unless* the OTA broadcaster assumes a new Internet-critical role.
Geez Bert. This is not a technical issue. It is a political issue.
The congloms and the regulators are protecting the lucrative oligopoly they
have spent more than six decades creating and refining. You are correct that
the broadcast networks COULD go direct. I gave you the reasons that they choose
not to.
I don't understand why you can't get past the fact that distributing TV
network content required the local broadcaster, in the old days, and no
longer does.
Because it is not about the technology. It's about the money.
I watch CBS or other conglom content, without any local station involvement.
Anyone can. Just need the neutral pipe and a CDN in the chain.
You watch library content after it has aired on the linear CBS network. If you
are really motivated you can also watch the live linear streams via an antenna.
That is your choice.
But CBS is not offering live linear streams from the network; they do offer
most of this content from their O&O stations and the affiliates that have
agreed to support All Access. That is their choice.
No, Craig, you did not cover it. You merely assumed that the MVPD model was
still doing super great, which gave you the platform to recite what worked in
the past. We all know what worked in the past, and we also know why it ain't
working so well anymore.
It still works today generating tens of billions in subscriber fees for the
content owners. They cannot duplicate this by going direct.
And the NFL did an end run on that anyway, going direct to consumer. Same
thing. No need to involve old rules that applied to old technologies. The
CEOs have gotten way past that already.
The NFL offers a very expensive live package via DirecTV. The vast majority of
their games are delivered by by local broadcasters on a regional basis with
blackouts to protect the teams in each region. The only exception is Monday
Night Football on ESPN.
NFL.com is streaming a few pre-season games, but is mostly just stats and
promotion. They are working with CBS on Thursday night Football: some games
are on CBS and streamed; some only on CBS; some only on NFL.com and their
mobile app. The direct to consumer package they just announce is a SVOD service
with all games available the next day.
Fox is streaming games to cable subscribers via their mobile app, but only in
the markets where the games are on TV. Monday Night Football can be streamed
via Watch ESPN, the TV Everywhere App for MVPD subscribers.
And Verizon has the mobile rights to games in local markets and the national
games.
Bottom line, the NFL and the congloms who are paying billions for rights are
adding new ways to monetize the games, but the vast majority of consumers watch
via local broadcast affiliates and ESPN.
Even this is false. The old equipment continues to work, before the DRM over
HDMI became a requirement.
The hardware content protection in PCs predates HDMI, and the parade of content
protection schemes that have followed. Now you need a new version of HDMI to
watch 4K programming.
*And*, even today, what you say only applies to HD content. You can always
stream video over the VGA interface, with no DRM, if it's SD quality.
Yes, that was the compromise.
Neither Dell nor Microsoft have to collude with anyone. They adopted the
standards, including DRM, and that's the end of it. They didn't go TO the
content owners, with special demands, just so they could carve out their own
little walled-up ecosystem.
Correct. The content owners came to Microsoft with special demands and
Microsoft agreed.
Regards
Craig
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