[opendtv] Re: Catch-up TV
- From: Albert Manfredi <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2015 17:21:03 -0500
Craig wrote:
Looks like the BBC was
out ahead of the U.S. networks on this one.
Looks like you have not made that case convincingly.
The article tells us that CBS would work with Comcast to offer replays of
current series via in-band on demand, and that NBC would do the same with
DirecTV via a new DVR service.
So Craig has discovered that even before TV episodes were available on demand
online, they had become available on demand via proprietary cable system
techniques, not associated with IP. Something else that I pointed out on
multiple occasions, when Craig claimed that IP delivery's main contribution was
that it introduced on demand service for TV.
The article that Craig used was "updated" 11/2005, and its main point was that
the TV networks wanted to retain control over how and where their content is
distributed, when they distributed via third parties. Not surprising. And
certainly, if the congloms did not begin their own full length episodes online
until 2006, or even 2007 now, on their own web sites, that would easily fall in
the "10 years give or take a year," since congloms set up their own episode
catch-up service.
Then Hulu happened...
The Wired magazine article Craig cites says that Techcrunch readers voted calls
Hulu the "best TV startup of 2007." And certainly this too would be well before
2010, when Craig claims that online TV full length episodes were first a big
deal. Hulu "officially opened for business" Q1 2008, but it hardly seems
unlikely that the individual congloms that agreed to use Hulu had not already
done this over their own sites. After all, I never used Hulu back then, so I
was hardly waiting for them with baited breath.
How many times have trade scribes ballyhooed something as being brand new, when
it wasn't? I'll stick with "it's been 10 years, give or take year," since the
congloms independently offered TV programs online.
The delay back then seemed to be "next day" for all the major networks, so as
not to encroach on this supposed high value placed on the linear stream. Until
first Fox, and then ABC, introduced the 8 day delay much later on (for the FOTI
availability). CBS now imposes an 8 day delay, but only for the unfortunate
people who watch only using so-called "apps." Otherwise, just hours of delay.
In this article about Hulu, Peter Chernin, president (then president?) of News
Corp, was quoted as saying, "So what? You can't protect old business models
artificially." It goes on to say that the media companies have to put their
content online, or someone else will.
All points that Craig has refused to accept, even though this article was
written more than 7 years ago.
Bottom line is, it seems impossible to find exactly when the TV networks began
streaming full length episodes on their own separate sites, competing directly
with one another without a common delivery platform, much as they compete OTA.
But whatever the exact date, it's well before 2010. By 2010, I had become
convinced that it was high time to connect a PC to the TV/stereo system. And
I'm hardly an impulse buyer.
Bert
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