NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Re: WashPost on Death of TV by Internet (no mention of bandwidth caps, natch)
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This "discovery"
that TV is going to the 'Net reminds me of the mid 1990's. I'd been using email
since the 60's but the web gave everyone Internet connections and thus email. It
was remarkable to hear mere mortals using email as if it were ordinary and
within a small number of years the absence of an email address became the oddity. Having been talking about
video streams rather than "TV" for so long I feel like we're at the same
kind of inflection point. I don’t think that bandwidth caps will be an
issue because there will no longer be "TV" to be defended. That said we
still need to maintain vigilance as part of the process because otherwise it
will be yet another excuse to jack up the price of connectivity in utter
contempt of Moore's Law. We're seeing Hollywood
adapting. For example Hulu has notice saying that only the last five episodes
of the Simpsons are available online. This is an attempt to maintain "controlled
availability" as one strategy. You can buy old content on DVD and, I
presume, online for pay rather than relying on ad-sponsorship. These approaches
will continue to evolve as live experiments. Remember that we're talking
about the industry that is more about money than ideology. Even Comcast is
entering the game with their Fancast site -- remember that Hulu is NBC and not
some random startup. We do have others like Boxee entering the fray. I don't see the lack of
"broadband" as a problem -- markets easily address such issues. My
concern is just the opposite, as I'm now saying, because we attribute to "broadband"
the benefits we get from Internet-style connectivity. Thus this can reinforce
the efforts to lock us into the broadband business model in which we get high-speed
connections to a jack in the wall rather than connectivity as infrastructure. This
is exacerbated by attempts to tie premium content to the billing system of one’s
broadband provider. -----Original Message----- WashPost on Death of TV by Internet (no mention of
bandwidth caps, natch) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/14/AR2009051404522.html --Lauren-- NNSquad Moderator |