[opendtv] Re: Valve's Newell: How PCs Will Take Over the Living Room

  • From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2013 00:08:42 +0000

Craig Birkmaier wrote:

> Where we completely disagree is that attempts to create VIABLE
> alternatives to the MVPD bundles are just another "walled garden."
> IF Apple or Intel, or Jeroen, or Steve Job's ghost, or ANYONE can
> convince the media congloms to license ALL of their content for an
> ala carte service, the potential exists for a real marketplace for
> content to develop.

You seem to consider only that one issue, a la carte. To me, the CE vendors 
should stay the hell out of this content question, letting the congloms and the 
neutral OTT services duke it out among one another. Like I said many times, the 
congloms are ALREADY offering unbundled content over various OTT sites, even if 
this isn't all-encompassing. If the CE companies would pay attention to their 
*real jobs*, designing the best possible Internet-fed TVs, then the congloms 
would have an incentive to put much more of their offerings online. As would 
*any number* of other TV producer wannabes.

> Back in the Golden Age of Broadcast TV, ad revenues were sufficient.

You got sidetracked. Happens a lot with these "streams of consciousness" 
lengthy posts.

(a) OTA broadcast can and was sometimes conditional access (e.g. Marquee 
service, an OTA precursor of HBO), and (b) Internet OTT sites can easily offer 
a mix of pay or ad-supported programming. The congloms and/or OTT services have 
absolutely no problem using this Internet for any kind of distribution they 
want, without having to seek out the CE vendors.

> Why do you continue to place the blame at the feet of the people
> who are trying to BREAK UP THIS OLIGOPOLY?

Why do you continue to ignore that these people are simply re-creating their 
own tethered walled garden? Give me a freakin' useful Internet TV and I have so 
much access to TV content, actual or potential, that I could even ignore any 
conglom content. How is it you don't get this?

> I don't understand how anyone other than the congloms is subtracting
> value from the Internet.

Oh, really? So, when AppleTV doesn't allow you to get free CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, 
CW, PBS, or other online TV programs from oodles of portals I ALREADY SHOWED 
YOU, especially content that uses Flash as of now, you don't understand how 
this subtracts value? Tell me this. Do you have any other Internet or even 
telephone appliance that brags about a handful of "channels" that it offers?

Bert

 
 
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