[opendtv] C-SPAN Moving To Authenticated TV Streaming | Multichannel
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 14:56:57 -0400
Figure this one out...
C-SPAN is testing authenticated streaming. Apparently they receive subscriber
fees, but as a non-commercial public affairs broadcaster it seems a bit strange
that they are actively working to stay within the MVPD walled gardens...
Regards
Craig
http://www.multichannel.com/news/programming/c-span-moving-authenticated-tv-streaming/382785
C-SPAN Moving To Authenticated TV Streaming
C-SPAN is launching a beta test of its migration of live online feeds of its TV
channels -- C-SPANs 1, 2 and 3 -- to an authentication model starting today
(July 28), employing the TV Everywhere model of the multichannel video
programming distributors that support the public-affairs programmer.
C-SPAN added a note on its Web site that "Online access to these three TV
channels will soon require registration. Learn more." Authentication, or
verification, won't be required right away, but will be an option so folks can
start getting used to the idea and be signed-up and ready for the switch.
The "soon" is sometime in late summer. The "more" is that "online, live access
to C-SPAN's three television channels will be available only to verified
customers of C-SPAN's cable and satellite TV affiliates," says Susan Swain,
C-SPAN co-CEO in a video explaining the change.
(http://www.c-span.org/about/TVeverywhere/).
C-SPAN will continue to provide on the Web site live coverage, free, ad-free,
and in the clear of House and Senate floor proceedings, committee meetings,
White House press conferences, the courts, elections, and coverage of agency
proceedings -- FCC meetings, for example -- and other government activities.
In addition, C-SPAN-produced programing on those TV channels will also be
available to all Web users on demand in the C-SPAN video library of over
200,000 hours of content and growing. Essentially all the programming will
still be available free online to everyone, just not aggregated in the form of
the live, linear TV channels.
What is beginning Monday is that those who want to stream the live feeds of the
TV channels will be asked to enter their cable or satellite provider
credentials to access that stream. For the transition period, until later in
the summer, the channels will still be available even without that sign-in, but
authenticated users will get it at a better bit rate as C-SPAN transitions
those channels.
"We wanted to increase the bit rate for the TV channels so that those
authenticated viewers could have a more TV-like experience," said co-CEO Rob
Kennedy, while continuing to stream the channels in parallel at the current bit
rate during the transition, which will allow those users time to transition, he
added.
And why authenticate? Swain points out that while C-SPAN covers the government,
it is not government-sponsored. It is a private nonprofit whose ability to
deliver that content depends on license fees from its cable and satellite
affiliate partners.
"Reserving online access to our three television channels to cable and
satellite customers reflects the dynamic changes you can see going on in video
distribution today," she says, and important to preserving the business model
for the future.
"Requiring verification for the live feeds of our three cable channels reserves
these channels for customers who are supporting them through their monthly
cable or satellite bills," says the Web site in an FAQ. "Over time, this policy
will enhance what we can provide the general public overall, and helps preserve
the important public service mission which guides all C-SPAN operations."
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