[opendtv] Re: 5 Reasons Why Apple TV Is (Still) Boring
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2010 08:30:14 -0400
At 5:48 PM -0500 9/8/10, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
The "math" of the service provider, sure. Not the "math" of the
consumer. Remember the autor's original premise. He wanted a box
that would allow him to cut the "cable." This wasn't it. He still
needed (wanted) the cable. the "math" that so heavily favors Apple
is not the "math" that he could accept for cutting cable. He did
suggest OTA capability as one improvement, and you rejected that.
I doubt the consumer cares where the data resides unless they want to
own it, or cache it to view when there is no network connection
available. For rentals, it appears that cloud based servers are
cheaper than large flash memory chips or a hard drive in the device.
Let's make this perfectly clear Bert.
The approach I favor is ala carte. Let me pay a fair price for the
channels I want.
Let me make this perfectly clear, then. Tethering yourself to that
single umbillical is what makes you vulnerable to their whims,
Craig. I'm sure that your local electrical and water utilities would
play exactly the same games, EXCEPT for the fact that they are
heavily regulated. That's why I support regulation for those
industries that must operate as monopolies. And you oppose that too,
yes?
TV is ALSO heavily regulated in the U.S. This includes all forms of
broadcasting and cable, which operates under local franchise
agreements. The 1992 Cable Act re-regulated cable allowing them to
perpetuate their walled garden advantage and for broadcasters to get
on the gravy train with re-transmission consent.
So there is no real difference here between the TV industry (an
oligopoly) and the other utilities you mentioned.
Actually there is one difference - the regulators have ALLOWED the
cable and DBS industry to popularize the content bundling business
model, and they are now protecting that model so they too can stay on
the gravy train (franchise fees, monthly taxes, etc.).
If you are so addicted to football that you must get ESPN and pay a
subscription fee, obviously you are contributing to the outrageous
salaries those mercenaries make. If you and the other 90 percent of
households would show more restraint, those salaries would become
more reasonable. Not only that, but that same consumer restraint
would force the MVPDs to provide service models more to your liking,
and would also convince ESPN to provide at least some of their
content FOTA.
This is exactly what I said Bert. The only solution is to stop
watching, and frankly, that not going to happen.
Those who want to watch sports, have little choice but to subscribe
to an MVPD to watch ESPN. Much of the best sports content is no
longer available FOTA as ESPN can easily outbid broadcasters for
rights. I will be watching the FSU Oklahoma game Saturday. It will be
carried by ABC but is branded as ESPN/ABC.
It is only a matter of time until sports will vanish from FOTA, and
when that happens we will all know that its time to pull the plug on
TV broadcasting.
Regards
Craig
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