NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Why TiVo and YouTube Terrify ISPs
Why TiVo and YouTube Terrify ISPs
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000412.html
Greetings. TiVo is in the process of introducing a direct interface
to YouTube for their Series 3 and TiVo HD units. I saw it in
operation for the first time yesterday. It is seriously slick. You
can browse YouTube on any old connected TV, watching full-screen
with surprisingly high quality, completely acceptable resolution in
most cases (apparently an H.264 codec is in use).
TiVo has a variety of other broadband content facilities, including
downloading of movies, but the availability of the vast range of
YouTube content, along with the familiar search and "more like this"
features, strikes me as something of a sea change.
Suddenly now, there's always going to be something interesting to
watch on TV. Anyone who can't find anything up their alley on
YouTube is most likely either not trying or dead.
But if viewers are reduced to counting bits by draconian bandwidth
caps, such wonders will be nipped in the bud -- and that's
apparently what the large ISPs would like to see (unless they can
get a piece of the action, of course, in addition to subscriber
fees). The sorts of convergence represented by a broadband TiVo
terrifies ISPs whose income streams depend on selling content as
well as access.
If a critical mass of viewers becomes comfortable with the concept
that "bits are bits" -- whether they're coming from ISPs' own video
services or from outside Internet sources -- the ISPs' plans to cash
in on content are seriously threatened.
It's becoming increasingly clear that bandwidth caps are being eyed
by ISPs largely as a mechanism to "kill the competition" -- to limit
the mass migration of viewers from traditional program sources to
the limitless bounds of Internet content.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com or lauren@pfir.org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
- Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com