Cable Lobbyists Side With MPAA On Getting Permission To Break Your TV
from the not-really-a-surprise dept
As Hollywood keeps asking for permission from the FCC to break your TV with Selectable Output Control, it's picked up an unsurprising ally. Cable companies. NCTA, the lobbying group that represents the cable industry has come out in favor of the request, claiming that it will let them offer movies earlier. This is a myth that they want regulators to believe. The MPAA and cable companies could offer up movies whenever they want. They just don't want people to record them, because they want to introduce yet another annoying window. So, they declare that they need to break your TV and DVR from recording. Hopefully, the FCC knows better than to break TVs and piss off so many people just because Hollywood is upset some people will want to record movies.
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.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: cable companies, drm, dvr, mpaa, selectable output control, soc
Companies: mpaa, ncta
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
And again more and more people are going to the internet to watch their favorite movies and shows, some legally some not so. Amazon's unbox is a great legal service, but people prefer hulu since it's free (of course the content on both are different).
This really won't work well - people will not stand for having less for more, they need to learn that their content is good, but it's not brilliantly unique or original enough to warrant people to stay with it when independent content which can rival mainstream content in entertainment and value can be devoured for free and with more liberal sanctions in terms of how it's watched and used.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
>the story, and not just the one that here seems
>to be a constant refrain.
Yep the cable companies should hang the MPAA representative as an example to the rest of those bastards. Fortunately the cable company has plenty of cables and poles for the purpose. It might even make them slightly less hated.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Windowed releases need to go the way of the dodo.
Cam rips would go away and DVD/BluRay rips would be no more common than the are today. If theaters were smart they could profit off this by selling DVD's and soundtracks right there in the lobby cause who's more likely to buy a movie than somebody who just walked out of a showing and liked it?
Sure some people would never go to the theater if they could do VoD or buy the DVD right away but its still going to be a place you can go for 3D movies and not everyone has a good home theater system to really watch and enjoy movies on. There are plenty of things theaters can do to keep people coming to them, i know of one in my area that's removed every other row of seats and put in tables and they serve food there.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Windowed releases need to go the way of the dodo.
If only movie theaters served beer ...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Windowed releases need to go the way of the dodo.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Windowed releases need to go the way of the dodo.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Why can't cable channels be priced per channel, instead of these forced tiers?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Old Tech Returns!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Old Tech Returns!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
$6.00 popcorn
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Break my DVR You better not!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I long thought someone would be fully behind advancement of the technology, but it seems the baton was actually passed to someone carrying equal political persuasion instead of the desire of someone desiring equal technological persuasion.
And instead of providing substance-based needs on their original desire to push the art and science forward, the political alternative was chosen.
Perhaps, this is akin to Rockefeller and Standard Oil. Out of which Amoco was formed, and eventually, due to leadership that desired to chase after needs of advertisers instead of needs of users, it will eventually be put to rest. I doubt that the new leadership truly understands the legacy left behind.
The Harvard Business Review reported a few years ago that it typically takes seven years for a decent succession plan. So, given the compressed timeframe and requirements, perhaps given the circumstances, it's quite possible that a third, less qualified, yet more adaptable person may ultimately be the best successor under a 2 year plan. But in the event that less than seven years has passed, a true succession plan may be moot. I just hope the new executive was smarter than him, but based on some of the current situations, I have serious doubts.
As Steve Jobs often warned, don't put the salesman in charge. However, test them.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
"California Removes Larger TVs from Energy Regulation ... For Now"
http://www.dealerscope.com/article/california-removes-larger-tvs-energy-regulation-for-now-4 12581_1.html
California wants to regulate televisions to make them more efficient but it seems like they're just regulating them to make you buy a more expensive one instead.
"The revised CEC regulations, posted early today, excludes larger - and more profitable televisions - 58 inches and up, from its proposed energy efficiency restrictions."
If this is really about making televisions more energy efficient why allow people to buy bigger televisions without such limitations?
"For televisions under 58 inches, or less than 1,400 square inches in monitor area, the CEC's regulations would require a 1 Watt maximum power usage in stand-by mode, and set limits to "on mode" power usage calculated by screen size."
It would be interesting to know if someone has a patent on this "one mode" power usage configuration.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
As an example, i really like the barrel roll of 1975 federal copyright extensions championed by california.
yay, califorina!
i've also learned to look outside of california for solutions because california seems to be a country in it's own led by mr. schwarzenegger who, after 9 months, can't seem to figure out a budget and still has ious out.
recently, someone forwarded to me an eBay list of stuff "The Terminator" was auctioning off.
but in california, they have this super nifty state-mandated recycling fee on most electronics that just doesn't make sense. this is especially true if don't have a landfill to put it in. But you know, not having a landfill for one of the most populous areas of the US isn't a problem, it's an opportunity! An opportunity to raise garbage collection rates to $75 a month.
Good work greenies. so, um, where do you think that trash goes?
it's your state's problem, not mine.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
No, because we ship it off to your state.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Pipe Dreams...
Any new drm crap released into the wild will eventually be hacked, cracked, filtered, and forgotten by the digital masses. As for the cable TV industry.. you guyz are on thin ice as it is with your customers already. There are too many OTHER ways to view televised content. So we really don't need you anyway...
;)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hurt Them In Their Large Pockets !!!!
I will just stop buying any movies or tv shows but I will download and ripoff them to get them back.
FUCK YOU MPAA !!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anyone wanna get in on a betting pool ....
Any takers?
Dibbs on Day One .... Big Ole Grin ....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: VCRs
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
FCC: Why?
Hollywood: Because its ruining our profit margin.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]