[opendtv] Re: MVPD Definition

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2015 09:33:30 -0400

On Aug 20, 2015, at 7:19 PM, Manfredi, Albert E
<albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Craig Birkmaier wrote:

According to the Delloitt report you linked to, linear is still
71% of TV viewing. Stop cherry picking stats

You misread. Not only did you misread, but even you own "find" showed 41%
viewed online (UK and US identical, supposedly). Which gives you absolutely
NO EXCUSE to hang onto one statistic that you misinterpreted, without
questioning it. None, Craig.

I reported a FACT Bert. I provided the proof.

That being said, I put no more faith in the Deliott survey than any other at
this point in time. Viewing behavior is fragmenting with so many options across
every screen that it is nearly impossible to measure everything accurately. And
then there is the minor fact that TV ratings have always been a crude attempt
to measure audiences.

But take heart. Thanks to the Internet we are entering an era where real
viewing data can be captured by the same servers that deliver the bits. Soon,
the industry will know exactly who is watching what, IF they can get their
hands on the data. The problem is getting to the data. Netflix knows exactly
who is watching what - but they do not share that data. Google knows most
everything we do, and shares TOO MUCH.

It is still a MVPD service, delivered over the Internet.

Okay, so are Hulu and Amazon Prime, then.

Please provide even one example of a source of linear appointment TV streams
offered by Hulu or Amazon.

Just like you, Craig, they aren't going far enough. And "far enough" means,
abolish the whole concept.

Who appointed you Chairman of the FCC?

You are certainly entitled to your opinion. But the last time I checked,
Congress had not instructed the FCC to stop enforcing the laws it passed
requiring the FCC to regulate MVPDs and enforce the program access rules.

Think beyond your old-school world of walled gardens. When technology
mandated use of walled gardens, i.e. one-way broadcast nets with clearly
defined (and controlled) content gatekeeper head ends, the FCC had to create
rules that would essentially guarantee all communities have access to any and
all TV sources.

Not exactly.

The rules are related to only two things:

- protection of the market based Broadcast TV system in the U.S.
- regulation of MVPDs that provide multiple linear streams of TV content from
the content owners. This includes the program access rules added as competitors
to the cable monopoly began to offer consumers a choice of MVPD provider.

The dilemma is that there is a new competitor in town. It is now possible to
deliver the same linear stream MVPD services over a network that is not owned
and operated by the MVPD service.

Now, with the Internet, that no longer holds true. Anyone can access any
source. So, drop the angst, FCC. We have seen that the TV content CEOs
couldn't care less about artificial govt rules, to make deals with different
OTT companies, or to set up their own.

That is a big generalization. Why not just close the FCC and and recover all of
the broadcast spectrum? Let the marketplace fight it out!

By the way, I would support this, and then use our anti trust laws to break up
the monopolies.


Linear streams are what the FCC has the authority to regulate.

I'd like you to prove this. Whatever the answer is, though, as I said, the
whole notion is obsolete. The FCC got up with the times enough to see that
exclusivity rules can be dropped, so they need to go that extra step.

Read the 1992 Cable Act Bert. Read the 1995 updates to the Communications Act
of 1934. This is not to say that the FCC always does exactly what Congress
tells them to do. The 1995 legislation required the FCC to unbundle MVPD set
top boxes - two decades later this still has not happened.

We agree on more than you think. I believe in free markets. Unfortunately, our
politicians believe in "crony" capitalism.

Regards
Craig


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