RSS
NBC Universal's Great Idea: Let's Make It Harder And More Expensive To Watch The Olympics
from the this-is-a-joke,-right? dept
During the last Olympics, we sat stunned as NBC Universal made mistake after mistake after mistake in making it incredibly difficult for fans who wanted to watch the Olympics online to do so. And then, NBC Universal executives bragged about how difficult they made it to watch, when really they just shot themselves in the foot, since even the audience who could actually watch it online watched it more on TV. In other words, everything about NBC Universal's strategy backfired... and then they talked about how great it worked. It's hard to understand how the folks involved still have jobs.
But... rather than learn from that, it looks like NBC Universal has decided to make things even worse for the next Olympics. NewTeeVee points us to the news that NBC Universal is working on a deal that will require online viewers to first prove they have a pay TV package before granting them the ability to watch buggy, limited, delayed online video of the event. Oh, and of course, this will only apply to the cable or satellite providers who first pay NBC Universal for the privilege. How a viewer will "prove" he or she is a customer is still being decided, but will likely involve an IP address if you're at home, or some other convoluted system if you're elsewhere.
This really is just an extension of the ongoing discussions between the networks and cable/satellite TV providers to lock up their content behind a paywall before online video wipes away the need for pay TV. It's like watching a trainwreck way in advance. Any attempt to limit what can be done for the sake of keeping an old business model in place has always failed miserably. It's always disappointing to see people who should know better make the same mistake over and over and over again.
But... rather than learn from that, it looks like NBC Universal has decided to make things even worse for the next Olympics. NewTeeVee points us to the news that NBC Universal is working on a deal that will require online viewers to first prove they have a pay TV package before granting them the ability to watch buggy, limited, delayed online video of the event. Oh, and of course, this will only apply to the cable or satellite providers who first pay NBC Universal for the privilege. How a viewer will "prove" he or she is a customer is still being decided, but will likely involve an IP address if you're at home, or some other convoluted system if you're elsewhere.
This really is just an extension of the ongoing discussions between the networks and cable/satellite TV providers to lock up their content behind a paywall before online video wipes away the need for pay TV. It's like watching a trainwreck way in advance. Any attempt to limit what can be done for the sake of keeping an old business model in place has always failed miserably. It's always disappointing to see people who should know better make the same mistake over and over and over again.
I’m looking for policy...
Developers On Patents: Ron Garret of Awun
Policy Resources: Software Patents
I have an idea...
Founders, Funders, Farmers, Fools, And Family
Finding Co-Founders in a Recovering Economy
I have an app...
Marketing And Monetization Strategies For Free Apps
App Developer Conversations: What Does The iPad Mini Mean For The App Economy?
Reader Comments (rss)
(Flattened / Threaded)
NBC-Olympics
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: NBC-Olympics
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
I beg to differ
I rather like it. The sooner they kill themselves off and make way for the new content businesses who use infinite supply to their advantage, the better.
Stunts like this also help push the ridiculousness of the major idiots more into the public. The more into the public, the more the public will help fight for freeing our culture from their tyranical reigns.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I beg to differ
And now, neither wooden crates nor railroads are at the height of demand.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: I beg to differ
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: I beg to differ
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Access to true scarcities, as others pointed out. False scarcity is a bad business model.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Canada
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Canada
CBC? Probably nothing.
End Cynic Alert!
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
The Olympics
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The Olympics
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: The Olympics
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
It's only the Olympics
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
/thread
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Don't worry about it...
Truly, I am looking forward to how this one plays out.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Have to second that 100%. Making it harder to watch, in any shape or form, is a bad idea.
But interesting - like Baseball, many of these 'decisions' now, may result, in the end; in a much smaller audience overall - that will never come back.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
BBC
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: BBC
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: BBC
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: BBC
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Yet another reason for ala-carte Pay TV..
Here's where -that- business model makes PAY TV more fragile and less responsive to consumers (remember, the customer?), and hence an easier target for Web Based TV Distribution.
If I had the power as a consumer to vote with my dollars for the programming (and -programmers-) by choosing which networks I pay for on a monthly (or even quarterly) basis, Jackalope brained TV execs like this twit casserole over at NBC would be out on the street already.
Mike and Carlo...Defend yourselves!
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Yet another reason for ala-carte Pay TV..
You are mistaken. We have been critics of having the FCC *FORCE* cable companies to offer a la carte. It's quite different.
We think a la carte itself is a good idea, and that it will happen naturally. We have problems with forcing cable companies to offer it.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Yet another reason for ala-carte Pay TV..
We think a la carte itself is a good idea, and that it will happen naturally. We have problems with forcing cable companies to offer it.
What natural forces are YOU seeing at work to move them toward this... cause I'm not seeing any.
On the pro-ala-carte side, there is only the lowly end consumer and the specter of Internet based competition which is currently being beaten back by broadband caps being rolled out by the Big-ISP mafia.
On the pro-Crap-Sandwich side, you have the cost of implementation (and yes it is technically feasible), on-going support and what I can only guess is a pathological aversion by the Networks to the idea that they could be "fired" by the customer for producing programming laced with dreck, political bias or too many commercials.
On the whole, I'm seeing the pendulum swinging away from ala-carte.
Please, make me more wrong.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Yet another reason for ala-carte Pay TV..
Why would it happen naturally? Cable is in its third decade and fighting tooth and nail to prevent the a la carte model. Just another example of the free market ideology blind.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Yet another reason for ala-carte Pay TV..
It's happening today. You can get a large amount of TV online "a la carte." Cable companies are going to have to learn how to compete with that. And locking itself up isn't going to work.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
And this was in 2000.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Quit Bitchin'
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
/sigh
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
olyimpics online
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
NBC executives all belong in...
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
No more Olympics for Hobbes and me
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Loons
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
NBC
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
If I want to watch delayed events, I'll bittorrent them..
As far as the opening and closing ceremonies I really hated listening to the commentators making inane statements. I happened to download a copy of the ceremony as a torrent, and found out that it was from Australia. I was pleasantly surprised to listen to their commentary, without the need to speak over every second.
During the Salt Lake Olympics I had cable, including at least one Canadian channel (I'm in Seattle) and I preferred the Canadian coverage to the NBC coverage.
NBC now tries to spread their coverage across so many properties, that it's unlikely I could find what I was interested in even if I had cable.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Add Your Comment