[opendtv] Re: 5 Reasons Why Apple TV Is (Still) Boring
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 5 Sep 2010 10:07:59 -0400
At 6:04 PM -0400 9/4/10, Albert Manfredi wrote:
What seems a much more obvious reason to me why Apple TV is
uninteresting, than the five reasons the article explains, is more
simply that it doesn't cut any cord at all. It replaces one cord for
another, even more insidious one. Where Apple counts of the
irresponsibility of the average joe to soak him even more per month
than what MVPDs do. $5.00 per movie and $1.00 per TV show, a large
percentage of which are available FOTA, and at better quality, than
what Apple offers. Just do the math. The average US TV household
will EASILY spend as much per month on this scheme, for limited
viewing, than what they spend on cable even if they let their TV run
24/7. And they still have to add the broadband charge on top of
that. What a deal!
Since I rarely watch network TV content, renting shows for a buck is
not very appealing. Renting HD movies for five bucks is a bit more
interesting. The Netflix streaming support is the most attractive
feature to me, aside from the ability to stream tot he TV from my iOS
devices (just got my iPhone 4 and I am looking forward to seeing what
the HD video looks like on the big screen.
The main issue here is unbundling content (aka ala carte) so that
REAL markets can develop for content. Clearly the congloms do not
want to allow any alternative distribution channels to disrupt the
sweet deals they have the MVPDs - i.e. subscriber and retrans consent
fees. And to a lesser extent, the buck per episode price has the
potential to compete with DVD sales of complete seasons of
programming; but you can keep the DVD, while the rentals only last a
few days, so I don't see the threat here.
So if the new Apple TV is boring it is primarily because the congloms
do not want to move to a fairly priced model for buying only the TV
shows we want. And fairly priced should be less than 50 cents,
considering they make less than this per viewer from advertising.
The article does say that an OTA antenna would be a good addition.
But hey, if they can charge you $1.00 for a single episode of House,
why would they add an OTA feature? To "help the public," as Craig
suggested on a similar topic recently? Funny.
Funny that both the article and Bert focused on the lack of an ATSC
tuner. Why in the world would Apple, or any other company for that
matter, add a tuner to a STB when that tuner is already included with
the TV? Worst case, at some point these boxes will become smart
enough to control the other TV functions, including the ability to
switch the input and select a channel.
"Dearth of content" is one of the main issues with Apple TV,
according to the author. But when I see these "wonderful ideas" that
I'm supposed to gush over, all I can think is, I already get those
shows, as many as I care to watch, and I already view them whenever
I please, and I never had a "cord" to cut. And if the cell phone
companies were a little less greedy, I'd get those same shows FOTA
as well, on the cell phone.
I guess its all about what you want to watch Bert. If you are happy
with FOTA enjoy.
For those of us who are paying through the nose to watch more
desirable content, this discussion is boring. We are at the mercy of
the congloms and the politicians, and there's nothing Mr. Jobs can do
to change those dynamics for now.
My take is that Apple TV is now cheap enough that people will embrace
it in significant numbers - i.e. more than the old "Hobby Apple TV."
But the main uses will be to leverage content on iOS devices -
photos, videos and iTunes.
Until Apple decides to build an iOS based Apple TV that runs apps and
an full web browser, I will wait.
Regards
Craig
P.S. And the author of the five reasons piece still does not
understand the nature of HD and how to deliver good HD quality. 1080i
is the watered down version of HD. There's Bly Ray for those who
think (mistakenly) that movies are about resolution...
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