[opendtv] Re: Why Apple and Comcast Need Each Other to Reinvent TV
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 08:56:17 -0400
> On Apr 12, 2014, at 6:17 PM, Albert Manfredi <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
> And they wouldn't need to, if these boxes-borne-from-collusion were
> intelligently designed.
Again, this is your opinion.
I can access the same stuff as a PC with a Mac. I can access everything but
content encoded with the proprietary Flash codec on the iPad. I already
explained this.
> Wrong, Craig, at least, wrong for the portal available to PC users or anyone
> with Flash. Your problem is that you are dependent only on deliberately
> crippled devices. Try your Mac on the cbs.com site, after installing Flash.
IF this is true it is a recent phenomenon. My comment was based on an article
from last fall that I posted. So I just downloaded the CBS interactive app on
this iPad. Seems to work fine, but the show date availability is variable and
limited. Some shows are more than 8 days old - for example CSI Las Vegas,
offers four episodes, the latest from April 2nd. Hawaii 5'O has the episode
from last Wednesday. The most recent episode of Letterman. From Friday is
available.
Unfortunately, CBS does not allow these shows to be viewed with Apple TV -
their App des not support it. This is CBS blocking their content from Apple TV,
as they designed the App. ABC does the same with their App. So please stop
blaming Apple and the CE companies for blocking access to content.
>
>
> And you were correct last year and the year before, about CBS not necessarily
> putting ALL of their prime time shows on cbs.com. However this year I haven't
> noticed that problem.
Clearly they are making more shows available on more devices, and in some cases
sooner. But they are also blocking devices.
>
> As far as I can tell, CBS waits until ~2:00 AM the morning after the show
> aired to put it on their site, and they usually have a few weeks of the show
> available. For some shows, after one week, they hide the show inside an
> authenticated site like Amazon. You need to get unfettered Internet
> appliances, Craig.
As I said, they have different rules for different shows.
Fortunately it does not matter, as I don't watch any CBS or ABC shows...
> With IP standard authentication protocols, there is no longer any need for
> the distribution network's proprietary authentication method that
> necessitated CableCard. **UNLESS** we get into a new situation where ISPs
> start deploying non-standard IP, to perpetuate that walled garden model.
We've moved well past cable card, which was almost a big a bust as 2-way cable
card, which was intended to allow ordering of VOD programs offered by a cable
system - that never worked. Now the FCC Is at it again with the 2010 AllVid
proceeding.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-10-60A1.pdf
In essence, the FCC proposed the design and use of a device for authentication.
It would take the form of an IP dongle that would connect to cable and DBS
leased boxes, and third party devices including smart TVs. Or it could be part
of a home gateway that would then make DRM protected content available to
multiple screens in the home. The devices were to be developed by the AllVid
Tech Companiy Alliance, a consortium of intellectual property owners, not
unlike the ATSC, that would reap the benefits of another FCC mandated standard.
http://www.multichannel.com/news/policy/google-best-buy-sony-intel-and-others-still-pushing-allvid/263625
> The AllVid Tech Company Alliance, whose members include Best Buy, Google,
> Sony Electronics, Intel and TiVo, urged the FCC to establish rules forcing
> all pay-TV service providers to deliver video to third-party devices via a
> standard IP interface -- rather than allowing a "short-term," cable-specific
> exemption to the commission's basic-tier encryption ban.
>
> The Federal Communications Commission issued the AllVid proposed rulemaking
> in April 2010 as a successor to CableCard, which all parties agree has failed
> to achieve its objectives of fostering a market for retail cable-ready TV
> devices. AllVid, as proposed, would require all pay-TV providers to conform
> to a standard technical way of making video programming available to
> third-party devices.
>
But the NCTA has slow walked AllVid and the FCC is taking fire from both sides,
once again go letting the almost 20 year effort to unbundle STBs languish. Here
are a few comments:
http://www.freestatefoundation.org/images/AllVid_Regulation_Risks_Harm_to_Next-Generation_Video_Innovation_101112.pdf
And here:
http://research.gigaom.com/2013/05/where-have-you-gone-allvid/
> In 2010 the FCC proposed a new, standardized digital video “gateway” to
> replace the CableCard called AllVid that would apply to all multichannel
> video program distributors (MVPDs) and would support broadband-delivered
> video as well as cable, satellite and IPTV. The goal was to allow hardware
> makers to create devices that would fully integrate linear and over-the-top
> video and support a full range of interactive services. Were AllVid a
> reality, there seems little doubt that Microsoft would have leveraged it for
> the Xbox One, just as Google would for Google TV, and Apple, and Roku, and
> Sony, and Boxee, and everyone else trying to figure out the connected living
> room.
>
> Once again, however, push-back from the pay-TV providers has been fierce and
> the FCC has again allowed the proceeding to languish. Operators point to
> Comcast’s and Verizon FiOS’ integration with the Xbox 360 and the Dish and
> Time Warner Cable appsavailable on Roku boxes as evidence that the industry
> is already moving toward greater integration with set-tops, making the AllVid
> mandate unnecessary.
>
>
>> What is HDMI
>
> Same thing. A standard that anyone can use, without having to collude.
So if a CE company licenses HDMI or Cable Card to include in a product that is
not collusion, just the cost of using a DRM protected interface to access
content. But when a CE company licenses an App created by CBS or ABC that's
collusion.
You are clueless about the ways that the content congloms a and MVPDs are
protecting their oligopolies.
Regards
Craig
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