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Broadcasters have two options: - forego carriage fees in exchange for cable companies being forced to carry the channel - withhold their feed in exchange for

Broadcasters have two options: - forego carriage fees in exchange for cable companies being forced to carry the channel - withhold their feed in exchange for negotiated carriage fees The big broadcast networks, at least in the US, have desirable content, so they demand payment for access to their feeds. Advertising is almost a secondary business at this point. Actual broadcast usage is on the rise, but is a dying business from the networks' point of view.

m-p-3 5y ago
IMO there should be something done so that OTA broadcasts should also be made available online and free of charge, without DRMs, through a standardised protocol (including the tv guide whenever possible). It would be nice to have the option to map all these signals through a unified IPTV app.
- zinekeller 5y ago
  It's more disappointing to think that, for example, the Whole of Europe (regardless if you're sitting in London, Amsterdam, or Moscow) has figured that if you're providing a free over-the-air service it's a good bother to set up an IP version of the thing you're broadcasting. Moreover, the UK has a FreeSat service so for a one-time payment, you can watch television live even in areas where their already-excellent FreeView service doesn't cover (or you want HD versions of some channels because having a license to broadcast (BBC, ITV plc and STV plc, Channel 4 Television Corporation, S4C Authority, Channel 5 Ltd., and others) and the operations of broadcasting (Arqiva) are totally separate). But maybe there's actually an indirect recurring fee in the form of TV licenses, so at the same time I dunno.
- toomuchtodo 5y ago
  Contact your representative and propose statute to do so. Same style as cable networks having to carry public access programming. I consulted at a broadcaster once, and I can assure you they already have the capability to stream their OTA content over the net without DRM using an open standard (part of my responsibility was streaming and reflector infra).
hakfoo 5y ago
I've heard claims that some broadcasters don't want to run ads for the as-seen-on-TV antenna products. It's literally no longer in their interest to encourage cord-cutting. They make $x per customer per year on carriage fees, and it's difficult to argue that you can make more than $x by saying "we can reach the cord-cutters better than other media products" and using that to goose your ad rates. I guess their goal would be to eventually subsume into being a cable channel entirely, so you don't have to run all the transmitter infrastructure. Of course, then they no longer have a privileged position when negotiating with cable/satellite providers.

m-p-3 5y ago

IMO there should be something done so that OTA broadcasts should also be made available online and free of charge, without DRMs, through a standardised protocol (including the tv guide whenever possible). It would be nice to have the option to map all these signals through a unified IPTV app.

zinekeller 5y ago
It's more disappointing to think that, for example, the Whole of Europe (regardless if you're sitting in London, Amsterdam, or Moscow) has figured that if you're providing a free over-the-air service it's a good bother to set up an IP version of the thing you're broadcasting. Moreover, the UK has a FreeSat service so for a one-time payment, you can watch television live even in areas where their already-excellent FreeView service doesn't cover (or you want HD versions of some channels because having a license to broadcast (BBC, ITV plc and STV plc, Channel 4 Television Corporation, S4C Authority, Channel 5 Ltd., and others) and the operations of broadcasting (Arqiva) are totally separate). But maybe there's actually an indirect recurring fee in the form of TV licenses, so at the same time I dunno.
toomuchtodo 5y ago
Contact your representative and propose statute to do so. Same style as cable networks having to carry public access programming. I consulted at a broadcaster once, and I can assure you they already have the capability to stream their OTA content over the net without DRM using an open standard (part of my responsibility was streaming and reflector infra).

hakfoo 5y ago

I've heard claims that some broadcasters don't want to run ads for the as-seen-on-TV antenna products. It's literally no longer in their interest to encourage cord-cutting. They make $x per customer per year on carriage fees, and it's difficult to argue that you can make more than $x by saying "we can reach the cord-cutters better than other media products" and using that to goose your ad rates. I guess their goal would be to eventually subsume into being a cable channel entirely, so you don't have to run all the transmitter infrastructure. Of course, then they no longer have a privileged position when negotiating with cable/satellite providers.