[NTLUG:Discuss] OT (waaay OT): BitTorrent and TV shows

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Thu, 2004-12-02 at 13:27, tr_data1 wrote:
> And our tax dollars didn't/don't contribute anything?

No, they did not.  Other than during political campaigns, which are then
still done partisan (i.e., individually or as a private group, and not
the operating government itself), the funding of private media by the
government goes _against_ the _strict_ separation of government and
media.  The US is probably the landmark in this category, especially on
sheer dollar amounts.

If you go outside the US, you'll note the commercials are far, far
fewer.  As a colleague of mine from Britain noted, "I never understood
why American sitcoms were so much shorter for their alloted time until I
moved here."

> Ever? I doubt that.  Sure, commercials contribute to the "free" aspect.

"Contribute"?  I can only assume you are from another country, because
the concept of American media is largely mis-understood until someone is
actually here for awhile.  Private sector advertisements basically the
_only_ funding of _all_ networks, major and minor, as well as
independents.  About the only subsidies the government provides are
those of the "public access/network."

In the famous words of a British colleague of mine, "I never realized
why American sitcoms ended 10 minutes sooner than British shows."

During the recent recession, Disney, GE and many others took _massive_
losses for their ownership of ABC, NBC, etc...  _Everyone_ here at
Disney (again, I'm in Orlando, and I and many colleagues have or do work
at Disney in "white collar" positions -- including their IT/Finance
departments**) was well aware of the heat Eisner took for buying ABC and
the "hemoraging" they suffered as a result.

[ **NOTE:  My statements, of course, are not on behalf of Disney.  I'm
merely stating fact, and stuff anyone associated with Disney, GE and
other, large companies with ownership in TV Entertainment are regularly
exposed too that is "common knowledge." ]

Those local channels of major networks, along with select, popular
independents or smaller affiliates can broadcast for free based
_entirely_ on the profit of their commercials.  In fact, prior to the
Cable bill of 1998 (was that the year?), cable companies were _free_ to
rebroadcast local channels that did local broadcasts with_out_ a
license.

Otherwise, most dedicated cable/satellite networks/channels use a mix of
their subscriptions/licensing and commercials.  A few independents
(e.g., WGN/Chicago, WWOR/NY, etc...) that are very popular license to
cable/satellite companies as well.

> But, people VCR fast-forward and Tivo-through commercials all the time.

Correct.  But TiVO does _not_ market this.  They used to, very briefly,
but you _never_ see them say so.  When you get a TiVO, you have to
enable the "hidden" feature of a 30 second skip.

> If it's such a big deal in not having the commercials... then the
> local stations could offer a FREE download of the shows -- with the
> commercials in tack.

Sigh.  I think you're _really_ starting to miss the point.

There's the further point of "broadcast" v. "unicast" (or even
"multicast") -- the latter being the packet-switched Internet, the
former being dedicated radio, cable, satellite channels.  Limited
broadcast mediums, the latter, are still the _best_ price/performance
for A/V.

I mean, do you _really_ think full-motion TV could survive in an unicast
environment?  It's about 100x the cost to reach the same, advertising
audience!  It works fine for print news, maybe even some audio, but
definitely _not_ for A/V.  It's not going to change anytime soon either.

> Then they could even have ratings based on nbr of downloads.

The Internet already has, and they are now part of Nielsen.  I know,
Nielsen runs largely Linux-Solaris and are located near Tampa, FL (I've
interviewed with them).

> It's no lost $ from me -- I fast-forward through commercials anyway.

Sigh, you're bouncing around.  No offense, but at this point, it becomes
pointless to even discuss this with someone like yourself.  Numbers
don't lie.  Companies are in the market the way they are because they
can make the most money via those mediums.

And all private endeavors, which is about 99% of the channels, are based
almost _entirely_ on private advertising and/or subscription (via
cable/satellite).

> Again, I specifically defined it as recently broadcasted OTA. I am
> not trying to get "entire collection of ST NG" not currently being
> broadcast OTA right now. I just want to "time-shift" OTH "FREE"
> TV shows -- like I do with the VCR on non-HDTV broadcasts.

And TiVO does this brilliantly.  They really "hit it out of the park" in
one of the very first "killer apps" for a Linux appliance.  TiVO was the
poster child for embedded Linux in the late '90s.

> But, I agree with what someone recently said: poor use of bandwidth.

Again, it points back to 100x the _cost_ for the TV station to provide.

> If I recorded a PPV or a program off of HBO, etc -- I agree. BUT, I am
> wanting to record/get a TV program that EVERYONE already can
> readily get FREE (assuming they have an HDTV obviously) and knows
> how to use the FF button. It is in no way similar to RENTING a movie
> and showing it to a bunch of friends. 

Hey, I don't like some of the things "Big Media" is doing, especially
under federal mandate.  IMHO, the government does _not_ need to be
mandating _anything_ to the consumer to protect "Big Media."

Unfortunately, the best institution that protects us from the government
is the media, so when its a conflict of interest where media is
involved, the government doesn't get the pressure.  So we get such
legislation.

We'll see how the "Broadcast Flag" gets used/abused.



-- 
Bryan J. Smith                                    b.j.smith at ieee.org 
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