[opendtv] Re: MVPD Definition

  • From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2015 00:48:14 +0000

Craig Birkmaier wrote:

http://transition.fcc.gov/Bureaus/OSEC/library/legislative_histories/1439.pdf

First, thank you for posting this link, as I have suggested that you
read it several times. I hope this means that you finally did.

You're welcome, but you apparently did not read it. You were the one who
claimed you were "confident" that "linear streams" were mentioned, but I knew
full well that they are not.

As for linear live versus VOD, please show me even one word in the
1992 Cable Act you linked to that addresses this.

I explained this many times already to you, Craig. In 1992, TV VOD from the
passively-split broadcast net was not available, so there's no issue with
differentiating the uses these "channels" are put to. It is you who have
proclaimed that they must continue to imply "linear stream," just because that
was the only option then. Your definition of VMVPD, insisting only on "linear
streams," is guaranteed to lose value over the short term. Most successful OTT
sites won't bother trying to comply.

VOD services have never been regulated by the FCC, and the program
access rules apply only to linear channels from broadcast and cable
networks.

I'm pretty sure that's false. For example, do you think that Aereo could have
stayed in business, if they only offered their DVR service for TV broadcast
networks, but not the "live" stream? How about, a DVR service that introduced
at least 3 minutes of delay, to sidestep the "linear stream" requirement? My
bet is that the broadcast nets and broadcasters would be just as upset.

Must carry has nothing to do with this.

Read the document, Craig. Must carry is certainly still in there. My point is
that the act works to guarantee that the MVPD middlemen have access to content,
on an equitable basis, but it also works to guarantee that local broadcasters
have access to these MVPDs. So it addresses the obligations of both sides, with
the goal of serving the PUBLIC.

Yes, but who cares?

Sony?

Are you a mouthpiece for Sony? Or Apple? Or old-tech MVPDs? The only people who
have any reason to support any "VMVPD" idea would be such mouthpieces, Craig.
This is why I have always wondered what motivates your arguments. Always, for
years.

The point is, the govt does not need to intrude in an open marketplace, where
competition is assured and the public good is served. As long as the govt
mandates neutral service of the still-monopolistic 2-way broadband pipe, it has
done its job. If Giant Food can't agree with Uncle Ben's to sell their rice,
for whatever reasons, you simply go to Safeway. The govt does not need to
intrude in such minutiae. The problem existed ONLY because people were tethered
to just one MVPD, with very often no other choice. That's how MVPDs are
structured.

DBS is not a local monopoly Bert.

Please cycle back and re-read that thread. I'm not going around that cycle
again.

Whether MVPD bundles are anti-competitive or not is a reasonable
issue to discuss.

It's bigger than that. The whole umbilical monopoly model is what makes MVPDs
anti-competitive. The fact that you have one gatekeeper for all the TV content
you could get. With OTT sites, that is starting to change, and there is simply
no need to re-create the old umbilical model online. Dish proved it. They did
not invoke any special privileges.

I'm sure Bert agrees with the NAB on the second paragraph.

I'm sure Craig doesn't read anything that he doesn't write, because I already
addressed that. And you're wrong.

But honestly, I can't believe the barrage of unnecessary words you felt obliged
to launch, Craig.

Bert



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