HBO to consumers: drop dead
Looks like HBO wants to make us all watch their content live. I don't think they realize that what this actually means - a drop in the raw number of people watching their content, period. From Ars Technica, HBO's new filing with the FCC asks for:
By way of refresher, the analog hole legislation breaks broadcast content into four “Technical Content Protection Responses,” each with increasingly stringent restrictions. At the bottom is No Technical Protection Applied, meaning that the programming would be treated like every other transmission today. From there we move to Copy One Generation Content and Copy Unlimited No Redistribution Content which would allow limited recording and copying. HBO’s proposal would put its programming into the category of Copy Prohibited Content, which makes copying and recording of any kind verboten.
See, here's the problem. As PVR's spread, people find that they want to watch more and more of their content through them. We now have 4 different devices recording content from TV. We've used HBO On-Demand to catch up on shows we like on HBO, but we usually run them through the ReplayTV. Why? Because the on-screen controls HBO offers are horrid, and hard to use. The replay offers a better experience, so we use that.
People who have PVR's now are not likely to drop back to live TV. Other than sports, I watch almost everything through one of our PVRs. If HBO gets their wish, I'll simply stop watching HBO content, because I can't be bothered to watch it when it's convenient for them. I doubt I'll be the only one, either.
Comments
sports
[ Alan Knight] February 13, 2006 11:07:08.442
Comment by Alan Knight
I especially watch sports through the PVR. You start watching a bit later than normal, you can skip over the commercials, you can pause to get up, but most important you can go back and see that important/controversial/whatever bit over again.