[opendtv] Re: Google pulls plug on YouTube for older iPads, iPhones, smart TVs

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2015 10:27:38 -0400

On Apr 23, 2015, at 7:56 PM, Manfredi, Albert E <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:


First of all, PCs are different because they can use any number of web
browsers, for watching TV or doing anything else. The lesser devices are far
more limited.

Really?

I can run several web browsers on my iOS devices. And just about every OTT
portal has apps to access their content.

But perhaps even more to the point, the difference is that Internet TV
sources support PCs without having to be begged. Whether it's Flash, or the
media players that require their own media servers as opposed to web servers
(like WMP or Real), Internet TV sources tend to support one or more of these
options by default.

Yup. We've been there. They got Microsoft to agree to hardware and software
content management regimes to limit piracy. More important, they never
considered viewing TV on PCs a significant threat. Few people actually
dedicated a PC to the big screen in the family room. But the content owners
were frightened by cheap boxes and dongles connected. To the TV, and the shifts
in viewing behavior brought about by the iOS and Android ecosystems.

Microsoft does not need to get in bed with a TV portal, or with a conglom, in
order to have PCs able to consume those media streams.

Wrong. They were THE FIRST to get in bed with the content owners.

For example, AppleTV and Roku, and Apple and Android tablets or smartphones,
are still finding it impossible to do something PCs have been able to do for
years and years. They can't seem to stream videos from the TV networks' own
web sites, or for that matter, from the very vast majority of TV portals, or
from any TV portal that is free. They can't even stream radio from the
multiple radio stations available online.

This is mostly untrue. I can access almost everything you describe on my iPhone
and iPad. Apple TV is more limited, but with AirPlay I can access stuff on my
iPad then mirror to the TV.

You continue to ignore the fact that it is not the device makers, but the
content owners who are blocking access to some of these new devices. In my mind
this is a huge net neutrality violation.

I suspect the main driver is the fact that they can cut deals with the
manufacturers and get paid for access, especially on devices like the Roku and
Apple TV.

Whether it's because they are in bed with pay-only portals, or whether
they're holding off until they create their own walled-in portal, I don't
know. Most likely, a combination of reasons. Fact remains, the user of these
devices is confronted with a huge number of extra obstacles, and a
ridiculously tiny choice of options (considering the vastness of the
Internet), compared with any PC. The summarily dropped service to a large
number of such devices, at the drop of a hat, is hardly cause for surprise.
It's to be expected.

Amazing. All the options that matter are covered.

Sling TV
CBS All Access
Netflix
HBO Now
YouTube
Hulu and Hulu Plus
Amazon Prime and Prime Music
Spotify
Pandora
NBC
ABC
FOX

You really need to drop the PC mantra.


Regards
Craig

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