CBS Once Again Threatens To Move Content Off The Air If Aereo Wins; Why Is That A Problem?
from the give-back-the-spectrum dept
As the Supreme Court gets closer to hearing the Aereo case, CBS appears to be ramping up the crazy rhetoric, with CEO Les Moonves once again threatening to take its content off of its over-the-air CBS flagship and move it elsewhere.CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves said Tuesday that his company's namesake broadcast network could go "over the top," or be delivered via the Internet, if Aereo's model of streaming over-the-air programming is ruled legal.Of course, Moonves has made nearly identical threats in the past, promising a year ago that it might just move all its content to cable if Aereo won. Elsewhere, CBS has admitted that an Aereo victory wouldn't really harm the company, and actually might spur some innovation.
As we pointed out last time, if CBS is really so clueless that it thinks abandoning the free handout it was given by the US government in terms of a massive chunk of spectrum is the right way to respond to something like Aereo (which only increases the viewers of its free, over the air broadcasts) well, then by all means go for it. I'm sure plenty of others would leap at the opportunity of making use of that spectrum, either for broadcasting other content, or putting it to even better uses.
If you haven't seen it, you should take a quick peek at the spectrum allocation chart for the US. You'll quickly notice that there are some giant blue blocks, compared to basically the entire rest of the chart which is divided into tiny, tiny pieces. Those giant blue blocks are the spectrum that the US government handed out for free to radio and TV broadcasters, in part with the promise that those companies would broadcast content for free for the public good. Here, Moonves is more or less admitting that, despite that free handout (worth many billions of dollars if that spectrum were to be sold on the open market) and despite the requirement that content be broadcast for the public good, he's willing to throw all of that away, because a tiny startup is getting his programming to even more viewers? Really? Does he even realize how ridiculous that sounds?
Either way, as we said last time, it's time to call his bluff. If little tiny Aereo will have him deserting that spectrum, why not ask him to hurry up so that we can put that spectrum to much better use.
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Filed Under: copyright, les moonves, network television, over the air, spectrum, tv
Companies: aereo, cbs
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New FCC Unlicensed Allocation, coming from CBS band?
How many folks want to wager on how quickly CBS plays the Weather Channel "its a matter of life or death" card when they lose their bluff and have to go through with their threat.
Only thing I'll miss on CBS is Big Bang Theory...but there is always reruns on other channels.
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DO IT!
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Please with sugar on top... go ahead and be my guest and do this thing.
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CB Who?
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Bye bye
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Re: Bye bye
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Re: Bye bye
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Village Idiot
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Same ol' song
Na na na na
Na na na na
Hey Hey Hey
Goodbye.
*repeat until CBS is off the air*
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Sold?
I understand that there are auctions for such a valuable commodity, but I think it might be better thought of as leased, even if for a one time fee. As pointed out above, we can always get it back. The spectrum belongs to the people, even if big broadcasting, the telcos and others claim to own it. They merely control it for the period they continue to satisfy the corrupt oversight agencies.
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We need an artist for a meme
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For CBS to win....
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They're just pissed...
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*peek*
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I'm lost
The officers involved here are either completely and fantastically in over their heads, need huge write-offs or they're simply being manipulated.
Strong public signal good. Public win. No contest.
CBS? Let them eat cake. If I want to watch person of interest I'll read the NSA files. If I want to watch broke girls I'll cruise youtube. Elementary? Sherlock, you jest.
They're now in the Supreme Court of the United States and everyone wonders why people share. Business is booming in court and business leaders have their heads in their hands blocking their own vision.
If Aero wins or looses they've already lost and failed to recognize that regardless of outcome that CBS, broadcasters and their creators are in a brave new world and making enemies in it rapidly.
I'll take the wire and choose my own ride, but thanks.
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i DONT KNOW how THE COMPANY IS RUN
But, I have garnered a few interesting things over the years..
There are 7-8 Companies that OWN the worlds TV broadcasting comapanies. THATS about 99%. Then there are a FEW private owners.
EACH broadcasting tower sends many signals. for many stations. IF those stations CBS owns go Black..What will they do? they are PAID UP to broadcast CBS. Yes, they PAY to broadcast the CBS signal. figure at least 1000 Broadcasters Affected. They all get to SUE CBS.
(I wouldnt want to be CBS)
For all the channels, I dont think CBS is the TOP of the heap, in that group for channels. I dont have the list of WHO owns WHOM..but they arnt on the TOP.
Lets go with LOCAL advertisers..
THAT is what CBS will loose. CABLE doent do it, and neither does SAT. Those 2 can only sell NATIONAL goods. They cant advert Joe Blow mechanic, down the street.
These also will be in the Line to SUE CBS corp. And will be a WHOLESALE LOOSE to CBS and the Local broadcasters.
Dear CBS,
I think you will Loose MORE then you will gain.
Think hard about it.
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Re: i DONT KNOW how THE COMPANY IS RUN
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"I'll...I'll hold my breath until I die if you don't get Aereo out of the room."
Weak arsed bunch of bastards!
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You Missed the point
I can't say I am surprised to see you try to paint this as a black and white result, on the air or off the air. It shows perhaps how little you have really thought about this.
First, you need to look at the numbers. 85% of Americans get their TV through cable, sat, or IPtv. That number is pretty consistent, leaning a little more towards OTA right now because of better picture quality and people wanting to save money by not paying for cable. So the vast majority of the people watching CBS do it on cable.
So let's say CBS creates something called CBS Premiere. It's a cable and streaming internet channel (membership, naturally) that runs all the prime time programs first, perhaps one or two months before they go to broadcast. CBS network stays as an OTA network but clearly would be running a second run programming.
At that point, the only thing OTA stations become is a selling point for the cable channel, and a source of local news. The prime time lineup would be pretty much what's on cable, a couple of months late.
There would be no returning of spectrum, nothing like that. Why would they? The could use the famous cwf+RTB here, using the free part to sell the real limited offer only available on cable.
The real effect of Aereo will be to harm those people who depend on OTA because they truly cannot afford cable. Driving the best content away from OTA and towards cable isn't going to help them very much, will it?
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Re: You Missed the point
The less relevant CBS is in any given market, the less valuable their ad space becomes.
They might easily survive the lack of interest in their broadcast TV, but it's going to further devalue their programming and ad space.
In the grand scheme of things, they are seeking to make themselves less relevant by doing this. You act as if there's a reason to buy their network at all - if I was a cable/sat company, I'd be looking pretty seriously at the value I'm getting for my customers by carrying CBS - and starting to think of ways to reduce my costs here.
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Re: You Missed the point
But yes, they will never give up their spectrum. The FCC would have to take it from them. There may be rules already to prevent what you describe - otherwise every broadcast channel could just become a commercial for cable.
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Re: You Missed the point
Really, all CBS should ask for is for Aereo to provide them viewership numbers for free. They can then add them to their Nielsen ratings and be done with it. If that's all they really want, then ask for it.
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Re: Re: You Missed the point
All this of course with all those OTA channels to promote the products. The net effect could very well be an actual increase in revenues, not a decrease, because the channel itself would collect at least some revenue per subscriber from the cable systems for carrying it, and that money would go directly to CBS and not the local affiliates.
Taken a few steps further, CBS could even set up a system when the cable feed is actually controlled by the local affiliate (for distribution to local cable companies) and would allow them to insert the local news and such simulcast to the local news. All of the benefits of OTA, without the restrictions, bypassing those who would pay for the service otherwise.
The capper? If the online version of the service offered similar options to Aereo, then it would be a slam dunk.
Anyway, all of this just to say that you don't have to have much of an imagination to realize that CBS doesn't have to choose A or B, they can choose a blended solution that doesn't involve giving back spectrum or walking away from OTA. They only have to modify the way they do things slightly and use the cable distribution as the only place that new programming is released, and suddenly the value of Aereo's product drops dramatically. Aereo without the networks would be about meaningless.
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CBS will lose tons of ratings if they do so
Aside from some weekend shows like SNL, and Fox's Sunday night cartoon comedy shows like Family Guy/etc, I don't watch anything on TV on a regular basis.
And no CBS, airing your stuff on the Internet only won't work either for me. I tried that with Jon Stewart, didn't work out, because I prefer to multitask on my computer when watching most TV shows.
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I call their bluf and raise them millions of angry shareholders
It will be fun watching the shareholder lawsuit coverage here on Techdirt, time to stock up on popcorn!
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Freeing up the spectrum...
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This was never about Aereo...
The issue is retransmission fees. Those are worth billions to broadcasters ($4.29 billion last year alone http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-09/disney-fox-bid-to-end-web-tv-threat-nears-court-action.html ) as cable companies pay to carry the signals of CBS, etc. on their networks. If Aereo wins, those retransmission fees could go away should cable companies adopt similar systems.
Those retransmission fees, considering a vast majority of viewers watch TV through cable or satellite, are worth FAR more than the spectrum involved, the (relatively) few viewers that will be lost and any good will lost.
If Aereo wins and cable companies move to adopt Aereo-like systems, CBS would be foolish NOT to kill or scale back its over-the-air broadcasts.
The ethics of this can be argued all day, but the business sense is undeniable...
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Re: This was never about Aereo...
"because a tiny startup is getting his programming to even more viewers? Really? Does he even realize how ridiculous that sounds."
Its actually far from ridiculous. I lived in a market where the local CBS affiliate refused to renew their contract with CBS. Another channel became the affiliate and what was left? An independent channel that had strong local news coverage and the rest of the programming was syndicated shows and infomercials.
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Dear CBS
If it isn't Aereo, it will be someone else that streams your precious content, ads and all, rating increases and all, over them big evil intartubes.
Therefore, don't wait for Aereo to possibly win this case. Be proactive. Move your precious content off the air NOW! Quickly! Before it is too late. Them big evil intartubes are coming for your content!
You will receive lots of thanks for taking this action. Your executives will thank you that they can sleep well at night, knowing the content is safe. Your advertisers will thank you that unauthorized people are not seeing their ads. Nielsen and other ratings organizations will thank you that their accounting is simpler. Television viewers will thank you -- while they can no longer freely tune into your broadcast, they will feel safe knowing that all of the hoops they must jump through to register and pay to watch your content is for their own good. And finally everyone else will thank you for the spectrum that you return that can be put to better use than for endless spoon fed crap that actually makes people stupider the longer they watch.
Sincerely
Your ex viewers
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Affiliates
If CBS stops broadcasting, can the affiliates switch to another network? Does any city need 2 stations broadcasting NBC or ABC? Or would the station become independent and see its ad revenue fall since it's not showing any CBS shows?
But go ahead and make CBS an Internet-only station and show those Aero people you mean business.
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Go ahead and sink yourself MAFIAA boy !
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CBS - Aereo Fight
Let them huff and puff, but this is the biggest of huff and puff with absolutely no potential threat.
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Dear CBS
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FreeCast is the content discovery & management engine operating the largest freely available Video On-Demand & Pay-per-view library of Rabbit TV. www.rabbittvgo.com
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