Viacom Agrees With NBC Universal: Our Business Model Problems Need To Be Fixed By Everyone Else
from the *sigh* dept
For the last year or so, NBC Universal has been on quite the rampage, basically telling a bunch of other companies that it was their responsibility to help prop up NBC Universal's obsolete business model. It appears that Viacom's Sumner Redstone can sing that song too. In a speech in South Korea, he said that "ISPs, device manufacturers, hosting companies, and site operators" all need to be protecting his content. Yes. Either that or maybe you should just find a new business model, and stop whining about how everyone else needs to protect yours. It really is rather ridiculous to see these huge entertainment conglomerates demanding that other businesses act to protect their business models, just as more and more companies are figuring out how to embrace (not fight) the changing market.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: blame, business models, copyright, sumner redstone
Companies: nbc universal, viacom
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Same ol' misleading comments
And so it is with intellectual property in the opinion of the cognoscenti here at Techdirt. Don't depend on the law being enforced any more. High-tech thievery isn't really theft anyway, especially if it is couched as a new "business model".
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Re: Same ol' misleading comments
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I'm as sick of overpriced movies, music, etc. as much as the next guy, and I've downloaded my share of content from less than legitimate sources. That they need to adapt to the current environment if they want to survive should go without saying. But please stop with the flawed analogies comparing the content to foobars, etc., asking if someone selling it for less is stealing from another vendor. Both stores paid for the right to resell them, which doesn't apply when services make other people's content available for download.
A better analogy would be if I decided I was going to start making my own M&M's without permission from Mars, with packaging as close to identical as I could get it. Then I'd sell it to CVS, etc., and they could resell it, or even give it away with every purchase to boost their overall sales. Are you honestly going to tell me Mars should then adopt a new business model and allow both myself and CVS to continue?
But then, you probably would, because you want free candy just like the rest of us.
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Plus, if you try to pretend that you're M&Ms, you're violating trademark which is different from copyright because it protects the consumer, not the seller.
Also, it's a flawed analogy because no one out there claims to be the bands themselves; they're just sharing the music.
Finally you didn't address to "is is stealing" question. How does "buying the right to resell" have anything to do with this. I don't have the right to resell things I bought? Isn't that what the right of first sale is all about?
I'm not looking for free candy. I'm not looking for free music. I am looking to be allowed to do what I want with the things I've purchaced. It's mostly coincidence that this tends to undermine the control of content that these big labels rely on to make money.
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Re: Same ol' misleading comments
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It makers me wonder: if Target sells FooBar for $1.00 and WalMart sells FooBar for $0.50, is WalMart stealing from Target? And I stealing from target if I buy from walMart? Does it change if WalMart is giving them away for free?
What if FooBar were made of a gooey substance that could reconstitute itself, such that if you broke it in half each half would 'regrow' into a new FooBar bar. If I buy a FooBar, and then start breaking off pieces and giving away all the regrown pieces to everyone I know, am I stealing?
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FuBar
Is Target stealing from HD when they sell a product for about a quarter of the HD price? People will obtain fubars or episodes of Lost from the source that meets their need for price and convenience (and ethics), right now NBC is doing a poor job on both fronts.
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BZZT!
More to the point, the comparison between having someone steal tangible property from a private citizen bears no resemblance to the fact that the marketplace for TV entertainment is shifting from television-based and commercial subsidized to digitally distributed online content.
NBC Universal's business model was to make money from selling advertising during their TV shows. Now they're trying to get into a market of digitally distributing their TV shows. What needs to be done is to figure out how they can go from selling advertising time during TV shows (a scarce good) to selling recordings of TV shows (a non-scarce good with essentially zero marginal cost) in a way that is profitable. That's a business model problem, not a law enforcement problem.
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Re: BZZT!
But no...I guess whining is just easier.
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More importantly, no one cares about ads. That's a key problem that's often over-looked in these discussions. If you put them in the download, someone's going to take them out and provide the 'clean' version. Ads need to be made better, different. Apple did a good job of this with their "I'm a Mac" shorts, which are entertaining and informative. I don't know how or if that can work on a larger scale for guys like NBC, but they need to try SOMETHING different.
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If a file is put up on torrent it can be more accurately recorded by how many people download it.
Let me ask this. When you watch a video on NBC.com can you fast forward threw the adds? If they let you download them from a torrent you could. That's what they are afraid of.
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I disagree because what I initially wrote was obviously a joke. Well, obvious to me, at least.
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Hold Your Breath
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Responsibility of Property
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Re: Responsibility of Property
The actual economic research suggests otherwise. IP laws aren't about "fairness," it's about incentives to create -- and the evidence suggests that the laws currently do a lot more harm than good.
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