Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?

betabeat.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 94 posts

Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?

#81

Post by Bud »

brudgers wrote: post #45
illumin8 wrote: post #19

As a non-sports fan, I find it depressing that it takes this level of stupidity to get the masses angry with the cable companies. I voted with my wallet (the cable companies don't get a dime of my money) years ago. Perhaps this level of stupidity on the part of the broadcasters is what it will take to convince the average congressman that SOPA is wrong.

As a rational adult, I find the moral outrage expressed over GoDaddy's stance in regards to SOPA misplaced when one considers the willingness of so many people to write checks every month to the media companies who are behind it as part and parcel of their cable subscriptions.

Misplaced? Most people can't afford to take moral stances on issues if they have to make an untenable choice as a result. GoDaddy can be replaced by another registrar quite easily. But cable providers tend to have a monopoly.

Similarly, none of us like funding Exxon, but we still need cars.

Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?

#82

Post by brudgers »

Bud wrote: post #81
brudgers wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a rational adult, I find the moral outrage expressed over GoDaddy's stance in regards to SOPA misplaced when one considers the willingness of so many people to write checks every month to the media companies who are behind it as part and parcel of their cable subscriptions.

Misplaced? Most people can't afford to take moral stances on issues if they have to make an untenable choice as a result. GoDaddy can be replaced by another registrar quite easily. But cable providers tend to have a monopoly. Similarly, none of us like funding Exxon, but we still need cars.

Unlike Godaddy's tangential interest, the cable companies and their media partners are the force driving SOPA. In addition, the amount of money cable subscribers spend doing business with these companies each month is typically an order of magnitude greater than what Godaddy sees from a domain registration each year.

Cable TV is no more a necessity for the most vast majority of people who oppose SOPA than Godaddy. Instead, it is simply another convenience.

Moral outrage over Godaddy is convenient, but are you seriously arguing that going without cable in order to oppose SOPA would cause one too much suffering?

Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?

#83

Post by ismarc »

oflannabhra wrote: post #75
jordan0day wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're pretty much spot-on here. The one thing I would add is that while everyone is talking about the cable/media companies' business models being obsolete, we could also make the same argument for the team owners. That is, when I have a 50" big screen and digital theater sound at home, and can buy a 6-pack of beer for $8 rather than a single beer, I'm much more likely to watch the game at home for (ostensib…

I'm kind of frustrated that I can't go to a game and get as good a media experience as at home. Why can't I go to a game and get the announcer's live feed on my smartphone? Why can't I get replays on my own display? You're right in that there is value in the atmosphere and excitement of a live game, but surely the price of admission could include more than a seat. Are there any startups in this area?

There are some that provide exactly what you're asking for. At&t park (whichever baseball team they have, I can't remember) has what they call the Digital Dugout which has instant replays, including ones that can't be shown on the big screens due to MLB rules. It's only accessible from the network in the park, but supports a multitude of smartphones. For the 2011 superbowl, the cowboys stadium had an iPad app with everything from maps to player bios to live scores to replays to a live view of different cameras.

A lot of the teams/stadiums know what's wanted, but the number of companies that can set up a WiFi network that works well under the worst possible conditions is significantly lower than the number of companies offering it. And the good ones get bought by megacorp and turned into one that can't.

Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?

#84

Post by TheAmazingIdiot »

mbreese wrote: post #70
jrockway wrote: post #23

The NBA is a great example of how individual consumers are not their customer. You want to pay money to watch NBA games, but you can't. The owners want money through ticket sales, so if you live in the "home market", you don't get to watch the game on TV. But, the owners also want money from TV deals. But they don't want your $20 to watch the game on TV, they want ABC's $3 billion (or whatever) for the right to charg…

In the middle, of course, there are the middlemen, and they all want a huge cut for doing absolutely nothing. Yes, because all of that cable and fiber that was run around the city so that you could watch "some dudes passing a ball around" while you are sitting at home didn't cost anything. Or the cameras that record it, or the directors that choose the best angles, or the commentators, etc... This is a big game a chi…

I'm from the Indy region. The cable company is Bright House Networks and the channel is the local NBC affiliate.

Since they have news shows locally, they have been regularly calling brighthouse customers to call up and complain that they don't take the NBC deal. It's rather slimy, but it's worked for the last 6 years the channel has done that.

Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?

#85

Post by r00fus »

jrockway wrote: post #23

The NBA is a great example of how individual consumers are not their customer. You want to pay money to watch NBA games, but you can't. The owners want money through ticket sales, so if you live in the "home market", you don't get to watch the game on TV. But, the owners also want money from TV deals. But they don't want your $20 to watch the game on TV, they want ABC's $3 billion (or whatever) for the right to charg…

> Anti-piracy legislation is all about protecting the middlemen who realize that they do nothing and they need the government to bail them out.

Hey if it worked for the Financial Industry, then why not Big Media?

Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?

#86

Post by r00fus »

Bud wrote: post #81
brudgers wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a rational adult, I find the moral outrage expressed over GoDaddy's stance in regards to SOPA misplaced when one considers the willingness of so many people to write checks every month to the media companies who are behind it as part and parcel of their cable subscriptions.

Misplaced? Most people can't afford to take moral stances on issues if they have to make an untenable choice as a result. GoDaddy can be replaced by another registrar quite easily. But cable providers tend to have a monopoly. Similarly, none of us like funding Exxon, but we still need cars.

An example of an untenable choice is say skipping a meal a week so your kid gets to see the doctor.

Losing your cable TV is not one, especially in this day and age of Netflix and AppleTV/Roku direct sports channels.

Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?

#87

Post by astrodust »

vectorpush wrote: post #28

The Daily Show and the Colbert Report somehow manage to get all my friends to watch every single night, commercials and all. That's because they type www.thedailyshow.com and then they can instantly watch the entire week of episodes for free, with Comedy-Central's advertising revenue still intact. The way forward seems pretty clear to me.

Except Canada...

Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?

#88

Post by oflannabhra »

ismarc wrote: post #83
oflannabhra wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm kind of frustrated that I can't go to a game and get as good a media experience as at home. Why can't I go to a game and get the announcer's live feed on my smartphone? Why can't I get replays on my own display? You're right in that there is value in the atmosphere and excitement of a live game, but surely the price of admission could include more than a seat. Are there any startups in this area?

There are some that provide exactly what you're asking for. At&t park (whichever baseball team they have, I can't remember) has what they call the Digital Dugout which has instant replays, including ones that can't be shown on the big screens due to MLB rules. It's only accessible from the network in the park, but supports a multitude of smartphones. For the 2011 superbowl, the cowboys stadium had an iPad app with ev…

Awesome! I figured the major problems would be the difficulties with infrastructure, but also renegotiating broadcast contracts, as announcers are employees of broadcasters, not venues.

It reminds me of the older guys at the ballpark that wore those radio headsets for play by play. Glad to see progress is being made, however slowly.

Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?

#89

Post by Killjoy »

jdminhbg wrote: post #55

A few people here seem to be positing that the point of local blackouts online is to increase attendance at games, but it's not. It's to maximize the value of the local TV rights deal, a twenty-year version of which recently netted the LA Lakers $5 billion: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/lakers-329235-billion-new... Regional sports networks, especially those owned by local cable companies, love these deals becaus…

Two options for getting around the MLB local area blackout regulations. Both require the MLB.tv subscription, which is $25 / month for high def. (BTW, if you haven't tried MLB.tv, it's really a great product. Many PS3/BlueRay type players have an app for it, too)

1) MLB.tv experimented with a local area only package here in San Diego last year. $20 / mo for just the Padres. 2) Rather than that, I simply used one of my VPS' in another region to create an SSH tunnel through which to route the MLB.tv signal. They use your IP, not your billing address, to determine access.

Re: Blackout Forces Fred Wilson to Pirate The Knicks. What Would Congress Think?

#90

Post by Bud »

r00fus wrote: post #86
Bud wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Misplaced? Most people can't afford to take moral stances on issues if they have to make an untenable choice as a result. GoDaddy can be replaced by another registrar quite easily. But cable providers tend to have a monopoly. Similarly, none of us like funding Exxon, but we still need cars.

An example of an untenable choice is say skipping a meal a week so your kid gets to see the doctor. Losing your cable TV is not one, especially in this day and age of Netflix and AppleTV/Roku direct sports channels.

Losing your internet is, and in many areas, the only decent net access comes from the same folks providing cable TV.

I've already given up my cable TV, btw. A year ago. Because I couldn't stand Comcast's existence anymore.

Post reply on HN