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TV Everywhere Looks Like A Mess So Far
No consensus, no legal agreements, no standards...

Back in March, Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes announced that Time Warner and Comcast would be taking the traditional TV model and putting it online -- offering TV content for free to existing subscribers. The idea offers two functions: it hopes to differentiate the companies from satellite and telcoTV competitors, while preventing cord cutters who want to lower bills by just watching Internet video. Many think the idea of walled video gardens is destined to fail, and that failure may get some help from the cable industry.

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Even the guy paid to cheerlead for the initiative seems to have his doubts. CBS Interactive president Quincy Smith this week proclaimed that there's no unified standard among cable companies for the project, and dozens of companies are all approaching back-end technology differently. There's also no real consensus between cable companies on how to proceed. One result? Users not having a central resource for video content:
quote:
Bowman suggested that projects like TV Everywhere may not yield a single site that will contain content from dozens of programmers. Instead, the authentication system the industry develops may be used to point pay-TV subscribers to several different sites to view their pay-TV content online.
No standards, no consensus, and no legal agreements -- no problem?
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duder
@rr.com

duder

Anon

right

sure till you get the bill for bandwidth use just give me speed keep your tv
gorehound
join:2009-06-19
Portland, ME

gorehound

Member

Re: right

bandwidth caps will destroy this and all other forms of watching/downloading TV Shows.Wait to see your vastly inflated bills when the capping time comes and most of us will not be doing much at all due to our wallets.

I use TV Anywhere...........................
P2P Bittorent

sivran
Vive Vivaldi
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Irving, TX

sivran

Premium Member

Re: right

Oh, but of course the cableco's own video site would be "meter free" ...which is (part of) why they're so against net neutrality. How can they kill Hulu, curb torrent piracy, and boost their own revenues otherwise?
matrix3D
join:2006-09-27
Middletown, CT

matrix3D

Member

Hulu?

Um... doesn't Hulu pretty much take care of this already? Plus, it's probably much better than anything the cable or telco companies could cook up.

syslock
Premium Member
join:2007-02-03
La La Land

syslock

Premium Member

We Already Have A Central Resource.

>>no real consensus between cable companies on how to
>>proceed. One result? Users not having a central
>>resource for video content:

I already have a central resource for all my video content.
Its called a SageTV PVR.

I can watch shows when I want to and how I choose to.
If I want to watch live TV or recorded content at home, or on the go,
I decide. If I want to load up my Sandisk player with
recorded content, I decide.
Not using some locked down DVR box from the cable co.

We are not waiting years for the cable co's to figure it out.
Its all about choice. I choose to use something different.
I choose to use it NOW. Not 10 years from now.

sivran
Vive Vivaldi
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Irving, TX

sivran to matrix3D

Premium Member

to matrix3D

Re: Hulu?

A cable internet user doesn't have to subscribe to cable tv to get Hulu. That's not what ablecos want.The cablecos want their own Hulus.. funded by people who actually pay for the content--by subscribing to both tv and internet.

dddane
join:2002-01-10
Chicago, IL

dddane to matrix3D

Member

to matrix3D
the goal of tv everywhere really is to get the same thing on your computer as you might have on your tv. in some cases, that literally means a simulcast of the network online, so as long as they know you're a paying subscriber.

hulu's business model leaves a lot to be desired and right now is akin to the .coms driven who were giving away free product in hopes their ad revenue would cover them... guess what happened there? eventually hulu investors are going to want a return on their investment beyond the "proof of concept" it is now. actually i was reading this morning about how murdoch (news corp is one of the investors in hulu) was already ready to announce a subscription model for hulu.

also, the amount of content available on hulu is minimal comparatively.
=
amungus
Premium Member
join:2004-11-26
America

amungus

Premium Member

One thing they could do right

Is not use Silverlight.

Was forced to use that w/Netflix last night and am sorely disappointed.

So sad how "pirates" are light years ahead of the "mainstream" when it comes to this stuff. There are already established ways to do things, but big businesses seem to afraid to ride the wave.

Put everything online, in high quality, and be done with it.

Nobody should be screwing around with crappy flash like almost-video; just use a format that doesn't suck terribly. If it must be encrypted, then just freaking encrypt it and sell a copy if it's "premium" type content (PPV, movie on demand, etc.).
binded2
join:2009-08-11
Providence, RI

binded2

Member

Re: One thing they could do right

said by amungus:

Is not use Silverlight.

Was forced to use that w/Netflix last night and am sorely disappointed.

So sad how "pirates" are light years ahead of the "mainstream" when it comes to this stuff. There are already established ways to do things, but big businesses seem to afraid to ride the wave.

Put everything online, in high quality, and be done with it.

Nobody should be screwing around with crappy flash like almost-video; just use a format that doesn't suck terribly. If it must be encrypted, then just freaking encrypt it and sell a copy if it's "premium" type content (PPV, movie on demand, etc.).
there not afraid there trying to figure out how they can get a cut of the pie and control it all at the same time they want you to pay to use it then charge for ads

and force you to watch that as well
so there trying to double and in some cases even tripple dip
33358088 (banned)
join:2008-09-23

33358088 (banned)

Member

60GB BELL CAIP accounts

aka this would be useless in canada

Mari
@verizon.net

Mari

Anon

Not what I took away from the event

I was at this event and didn't come away with the same sense of impending disaster. Even though everyone is trying a lot of different things, it's more along the lines of experimentation to get the right final product. Yes, there are some massive challenges, but the fact that there are trials already in place suggest that those problems are being worked out. And the technology guy on the panel - VP from thePlatform - was the one convinced we'll have mass deployments of TV Everywhere before the end of next year.

Also, MLB.com's Bowman suggesting that there may not be a single site of aggregated content was actually meant to be a good thing. In other words, even with Comcast starting out by directing subscribers to their own Fancast portal, the consensus yesterday was that ultimately consumers would be able to get content from whatever site they wanted.
i2Fuzzy
join:2009-02-25
Garland, TX

i2Fuzzy

Member

The best thing to do...

If a company can come up with something similar to Hulu but with more content and available as soon as it airs, I would pay for that and drop my ridiculous Charter cable. True on-demand, no need for DVR, TV as it should be.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Woudln't the following be ideal:

If you're a cable customer:

1. Go to TVAnywhere.com (or whatever)
2. Put in your cable email address and password
3. Get a program guide based on the channels you're signed up for on your regular cable package
4. Click on any program to stream it in flash, either 360p, 480p or 720p. Some programs may not be available except while they're being aired.
5. On the program page there can be an option to download in SD and HD in a protected format. Due to Apple's iTunes-centric DRM this will probably be windows only.
6. Make sites for smartphones.

I'd think that the above would be a nice way to do TV Everywhere.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9

Premium Member

Re: Woudln't the following be ideal:

Or if the content owners/distributors really want to lean forward:

2. Subscribe to "TVAnywhere.com" and channels or tier of channels you're interested in.

5. Establish an open standard for DRM that all content providers can subscribe to and all media players are capable of playing. Allow subscribers to download content in SD or HD based on the channels or tiers that they've subscribed to.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Woudln't the following be ideal:

I'd absolutely love that, but there's no "you must have cable TV" requirement so it's not gonna hapen from the CATV providers.

Would be nice though if someone came out with a full-fledged IPTV box that just required, say, a 5 Mbps internet connection to run on. Sorta like SkyAngel but with more channels and HD support. That'd be progress...
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9

Premium Member

Re: Woudln't the following be ideal:

said by iansltx:

I'd absolutely love that, but there's no "you must have cable TV" requirement so it's not gonna hapen from the CATV providers.
I understand that, but a "no CATV service required" option allows cable TV providers to expand their market share and step outside of their current regulated and confined space (of course, that's also a good reason why they don't want it). Additionally, it could help the likes of Comcast sidestep that pesky "30%" rule.
said by iansltx:

Would be nice though if someone came out with a full-fledged IPTV box that just required, say, a 5 Mbps internet connection to run on. Sorta like SkyAngel but with more channels and HD support. That'd be progress...
It wouldn't do much good without the content owners/distributors being on board.
sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
Cleveland, OH

sonicmerlin to iansltx

Member

to iansltx
Recent technology has enabled truly high-quality HD On 6 Mbps connections. I'm thinking with overhead and the obvious inability to reach peak bandwidth, you'd want a minimum connection of 8-10 Mbps.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Woudln't the following be ideal:

I reach peak bandwidth on my 8 Mbps connection all the time. You only don't reach peak bandwidth if you're on a provider who doesn't give you what they advertise (for example provisioning DSL at rated speed but using ATM).

Anyhow, depending on how much quality you want, you can get HD streams pretty compactly.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536 to iansltx

Premium Member

to iansltx
said by iansltx:

If you're a cable customer:

1. Go to TVAnywhere.com (or whatever)
2. Put in your cable email address and password
3. Get a program guide based on the channels you're signed up for on your regular cable package
4. Click on any program to stream it in flash, either 360p, 480p or 720p. Some programs may not be available except while they're being aired.
5. On the program page there can be an option to download in SD and HD in a protected format. Due to Apple's iTunes-centric DRM this will probably be windows only.
6. Make sites for smartphones.

I'd think that the above would be a nice way to do TV Everywhere.
DRM: no!
DRM usually means a proprietary viewer or IE only. NO!
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Woudln't the following be ideal:

1. I hate IE more than you do. I promise. Especially since I can't run it 80% of the time (yay OS X).
2. Content providers are scared stiff about letting video out onto the intertubes. They aren't going to see a single bit of content go out to consumers as a downloadable non-DRMed file.
3. Streaming on the other hand is fine, apparently. Though you *can* usually grab the stream as an FLV or H.264 file and have the download completed.
4. Unlike (apparently) most people on DSLR, I understand that some companies aren't comfortable just laying their content "out there" without DRM. Done right, DRM doesn't get in anyone's way. As long as I don't "own" the content, I as the consumer don't care whether it's DRMed or not.
5. Access to TV Everywhere is predicated on being a CATV subscriber. Guess what decides whether you can play a video or not based n that? Yup, DRM.
6. The only IE-only things I've seen recently are tired old office-related apps that frankly anyone in their right mind shouldn't be using. Media folks have realized that media-savvy consumers are using browsers other than IE and OSes other than Windows. Hence the availability of Hulu Desktop for Mac and Windows, and hence nearly every video site being based on Flash rather than Silverlight.
7. In case I didn't make it clear before, if I *own* a piece of content I don't want it DRMed and will do everything in my power to skirt around any DRM placed on it. OTOH if I receive said content as a subscription, ad-supported or value-added service, DRM away.
8. If you don't like DRM on video in 2009, I may have a few private tracker invites left. Seriously...

Packeteers
Premium Member
join:2005-06-18
Forest Hills, NY
Asus RT-AC3100
(Software) Asuswrt-Merlin

Packeteers

Premium Member

TV Everywhere is inevitable

consumers are not idiots.
they know "triple plays"
are $40 worth of ISP service
with $70 of pure profits.

I already use the net for ISP and Phone,
it's just a matter of time till I can pay
$20/month for all the TV content I want.

in the mean time,
I'll just keep stealing
it on hulu and torrent...
manfrommars2
Premium Member
join:2003-04-05
Niles, MI

manfrommars2

Premium Member

Cable not only ones with this planned

The idea offers two functions: it hopes to differentiate the companies from satellite and telcoTV competitors, while preventing cord cutters who want to lower bills by just watching Internet video.

Actually this is no longer true as Directv has announced they will be doing the same thing.

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»newteevee.com/2009/08/07 ··· -chorus/