Posts Categorized: Media Business

Comcast & Dreamworks: What This Means for Media Consumers

Posted | Category: Media Business.

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Image via iptvbros.com

There’s been a ton of bustle in the media industry surrounding the recent acquisition of Dreamworks by network giant, Comcast (read more here). While this may not sound scary on the surface, it will most certainly affect you, the viewer, directly.

Let’s be straight here – Comcast purchased DreamWorks to expand their content through what’s called vertical integration. A Medium article we came across describes it perfectly as “the equivalent of the mall owning the stores and also the products sold within the stores.”

The problem with big media companies getting even bigger is that they begin too push out smaller, independent media. Just last year for example, Sesame Street was purchased by HBO in the never-ending battle to bring in and satisfy more cord-cutting subscribers to their service.

“In 2009, Comcast (a cable company) bought NBCUniversal (a cable network). Within that network, you can watch numerous TV shows… And that’s just on NBC. The full range of TV shows is much larger when you factor in all of the other TV networks that are under the NBCUniversal umbrella…

By merging the cable company with cable networks, that integrates two of the three vertical segments in the cable TV marketplace. In our earlier analogy, this would include the mall and the stores within the mall.

That’s news from 2009 though. The last remaining vertical segment is the TV shows. This is where DreamWorks comes in.”

With these 3 powerhouse vertical segments in works together, Comcast is stamping their name to the front of the streaming competition. This move could prevent other services like Netflix and Hulu from accessing more TV shows and movies for their catalogs, as Comcast continues to try to attract customers away from the competition and appear more valuable overall.

While Comcast can trace their own company’s successes to the fact that they offer multiple unique services under the same umbrella, in the end the consumer still has to pay for Internet to access any of it – a service that Comcast still owns… where’s the fairness in that?

What do you think about this acquisition, and the future of online media as a whole? We’re curious to hear from you in the comments below.

YouTube April 20 Changes

Posted | Category: Applian Software, Media Business, Replay Media Catcher, Video.

There is a lot of discussion about the changes YouTube is planning on April 20, 2015, and how it may or may not affect various YouTube downloading solutions.  Besides the YouTube engineers, nobody knows for sure what effect this will have. Officially, they will be discontinuing some older APIs, but that’s all we know.

From Applian’s standpoint, we will always be able to download videos from ANY site — no matter what changes come about. There may be a few days where we scramble to come up with a downloader fix to Replay Media Catcher, but programs like Replay Video Capture will always be able to record video – no matter what.

April should be an interesting month!

GET OUT OF THE BOX: Why You Should Cut Your Cable Today

Posted | Category: Applian Software, Media Business, Replay Capture Suite, Replay Video Capture.

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Much has been said of the Golden Age of television today, and now, more than ever, more is being done to take the TV out of the box and onto your more savvy technological devices. We’ve been in this industry for a long time and there has never been a better time to unplug from TV subscriptions and go in for online media subscriptions and computer software (like us!). Here’s why:

THE CABLE COMPANY IS NOT YOUR FRIEND

It’s not difficult to notice your cable package getting more and more expensive every year. Analysts have discovered that the price of TV subscriptions have increased 32% over the last five years. At this rate, it’s already increasing faster than inflation. So, even if you’re in that steady job, you’ll need a raise every time you renew your platform to watch Judge Judy. Not to mention the Net Neutrality debacle to strangle the open playing field for Internet speed (we recommend watching this funny and honest segment by John Oliver for context) Basically, media companies are realizing that the new age of online content is happening like a tsunami and they want to tie you to the weight that is a cable package.

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MORE CONTENT FOR LESS EFFORT (AND MONEY)

There are so many great services online to find original content, television shows, and full-length movies. And, much of it involves very little heavy lifting on your end. Not only do you get to create your own “playlists” or queues of content to watch, but also you no longer get the incessant noise of near constant commercials. Here are some of our quick tips on the different sources for your “new cable”:

  • HBOGo: It’s not TV, indeed. HBO announced they are working on a subscription-only plan that doesn’t even need a cable provider, but for now, you can still access archives of award-winning television and monthly new episodes and movies online.
  • Netflix: Everyone’s favorite new media platform, Netflix has been breaking the mold with their original content and providing endless hours of syndicated TV and hundreds of great movies streaming. Additionally, they refresh their stock monthly.
  • Amazon Prime: Making news with their Golden Globe-winning “Transparent”, Amazon has been making waves in original content as well with their Instant Video subscription. Not to mention, they have a different hold on networks and studios, so they offer different options than Netflix has, and can’t get.
  • Google Chromecast: This is a pay-as-you-go service and TV plug-in device, similar to On Demand Movies (or Xbox, Apple TV, etc), wherein you pay for films you’d like to see. Many of them are recently released to theaters or just out to the public. There is also a ton of content if you synch your HULU Plus account and “cast” from there. Pretty much any computer screen can be “casted” to your television, so it makes YouTube a whole new world of entertainment.

This is just a sampling and a generalized description of the options that are open to the cord-cutters out there. Sure, some research is involved, but getting an extra $50 to $150 back in your wallet every month is definitely worth it.

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GET EVERYTHING YOU NEED

But what about live TV? With services like Pluto TV providing options for news and music channels, and more and more major networks making their primetime events streaming, for example the Super Bowl will be online for free for eleven hours (including pre and post-game coverage); it’s only fitting that the future is adapting to a whole audience of chord-cutters. In fact, geography doesn’t even matter if you integrate a VPN service to allow you to tiptoe over international restrictions to access sites like BBC.

Sure, there are now more places to find great content, but what’s the next step in storing and re-watching the media you love? Thankfully products like Replay Video Capture and our Replay Capture Suite can take all of the shows and movies you love, and keep them for “re-runs” whenever you’d like. You can also record and capture one-time streaming events or programs while you’re not around or at your computer.

 

With all of these options out there, it only makes sense to make the leap into this brave new cordless world. And, we’ll be here to guide you confidently through it!

The End of Grooveshark Recording?

Posted | Category: Media Business, Replay Music.

It looks like Grooveshark is in a heap of trouble, according to this article in Ars Technica.

A judge found that Grooveshark employees were encouraged to upload thousands of songs to the service. As far as I understand the legality, if users upload it’s OK for Grooveshark, but it’s pretty obviously a copyright violation if employees of the company are doing it – especially when directed by management. This violates the basic rule of thumb of copyright law: Don’t redistribute other people’s stuff without their permission.

There’s still a lot of great music sites out there (which Replay Media Catcher and Replay Music record from nicely). But Grooveshark is one of my favorites.

Will Google Ever Let Us Advertise? Help me Susan Wojcicki.

Posted | Category: Applian News, Media Business.

Until about five years ago, we used to be good sized advertisers on Adwords. Google abruptly changed their policies, and with very little warning banished us from Adwords and AdSense. Forever. We never really had a good explanation as to why this happened, only some vague references to “hacking and cracking” in their Terms of Service. (We are fully DMCA compliant, so this is quite puzzling – and unfair.) It was more frustrating at the time because our competitors were allowed to continue advertising. And even today, we still see Google ads for competing products. Google even subsidizes RealPlayer, which offers a basic download functionality along with the bloatware (IMO) that makes up the rest of the product. Today – I’ve finally had enough.

At Ad:Tech in San Francisco, I watched an excellent presentation by Susan Wojcicki, Google’s SVP of Advertising, on the future of online ads. After her speech, I cornered her backstage and explained to her that we never really got a fair hearing, and that Google being the #1 advertising platform has a duty to keep an open playing field. She took my card, and promised to get their Policy Team on the case. She wouldn’t give me her contact info, but I know where she works 😉

I’m not optimistic that Google will change for us. I believe the MPAA and other studios pressure Google to block downloading products. That being said, I wonder why the MPAA doesn’t raise a fuss about RealPlayer being bundled with Google Toolbar and Chrome – both of which subsidize Real’s downloads. Our tools are superior, but it’s still a competitor we have to deal with, and having exclusive access to Google’s products in our category gives them an unfair advantage.

Susan Wojcicki – I’m awaiting a reply…

Downloading Media and Copyright Trolls

Posted | Category: Media Business.

People are getting their media fix in a variety of ways these days. Some use our software to record or download for their personal use, others go to clearly illegal download sites, and some use BitTorrent. While downloading is the most convenient and fastest way to capture video or audio, it does have some inherent risks. And some unscrupulous people will try to take advantage.

Take the case of Prenda Law, documented by blogger Popehat and others here. (Read the link backwards for a good history.) In a nutshell, a few lawyers allegedly bought the rights to worthless adult movies, had them posted on BitTorrent, and then watched as other people used Torrent software to download them. They captured the IPs of the downloaders, and then subpoenaed the internet providers to get the name of the customers. Then they filed copyright actions against these alleged downloaders, in the hopes that they would settle rather than going to court to defend themselves from downloading porn. A pretty clever scheme.

This is starting to fall apart, as many bloggers and opposing lawyers claim the very same lawyers who were doing the suing also formed the company to buy the copyrights, and tried to hide this fact from the courts. Oh – and these guys apparently did some identify theft to make a CEO for these holding companies. One federal judge is particularly not amused, and has ordered all the parties to appear in his courtroom April 2. A lot of people are following this, as it’s pretty unusual for a judge to take these steps.

Nevertheless, I understand from reading articles about this that many people caught downloading have decided to pay up to $3000 instead of fighting this in court, which is the preferred outcome to begin with for these (alleged) schemers.

The moral – when you download something from a file download or torrent site, your IP address is available, and anyone motivated enough can find out who you are. Using products like ours – where the server logs look like normal use – is one way to protect yourself.

Comcasttown: Webkinz for Adults. No lie.

Posted | Category: Media Business.

If you’re interested in seeing one of the dumbest business ideas ever, have a look at the new Comcasttown.com web site. I heard an ad for it on the radio, and was thinking “Cool. Now I can stream those Comcast TV shows to my PC.” I am a subscriber, so I figured they had finally worked out some content deals to get me the TV I already pay for onto my PC.

What I got looks suspiciously like the Webkinz kids site. (My kids play on it constantly, so I know it well. And it’s great – for them.) Basically, you’re given a “room”, and you can buy virtual furniture for it with virtual cash, and there’s a Facebook connect thing where you can invite your friends to come over to your virtual room and do god knows what.

The irony is that this is a wrapper over Fancast.com. Why shouldn’t I go to Fancast (or Hulu) to watch TV on my PC. Why should I be bothered with this nonsense? Worse, it appears you only get the top 5 shows on Fancast – unless you hunt for more I guess. I ran out of patience before investigating further.

What are they going to do next – come out with a line of Comcast stuffed toys? “Commies”? I’d buy one if it was a likeness of the idiot who came up with this idea so I could stick pins in it.

Let me watch the Cable TV I pay for on my laptop so I can ditch my SlingBox! That’s what I want.

On the plus side, the ad jingle was really, really catchy. And… no, that’s it.

At Applian, we’re really good at designing cool products and marketing them well. If there’s a marketing angle here I don’t see, I’d love to be enlightened. Especially by anyone from Comcast. So, if you’re from Comcast, come defend yourself in the comments!

The “TV Everywhere” Initiative

Posted | Category: Media Business.

As online video grows in popularity, some people are considering disconnecting their Cable or Satellite TV services and consuming everything online. Services like Hulu, although owned by the big networks, are showing the promise of an online-only world of programming.

Others want a la carte Cable. They ask “why should I pay for channels I don’t watch?” KInda, sorta makes sense at first.
Most experts think this pay-as-you-go model is unlikely to happen in the near future. The NY Times had a good explanation of the economics and social benefit of bundling cable service. Mark Cuban also breaks this down nicely.
What will happen is that if you have a Cable or Satellite subscription, you will also be able to consume the same media online. Time Warner is already working towards this.

The Cable and Satellite and the Networks aren’t going to kill a very profitable business. But by enhancing it by making the content you already pay for available online, they will get more viewership and be able to serve more ads.
This seems like the best possible solution that balances the interests of consumers and the media companies.

Kindle, compatible eBooks and DMCA

Posted | Category: Media Business.

I just read in Slashdot about how Amazon Uses DMCA To Restrict Ebook Purchases. Basically, someone figured out how to get eBooks from another service onto the Kindle.

As a part of our business, we occasionally have spirited debates about the DMCA, and how it is to be applied properly. Basically, Amazon is trying to use the DMCA to shut out competing eBook formats. The DMCA does not cover interoperability – only copyright infringement – and in my opinion Amazon is clearly in the wrong in this case. No copy protection is being cracked here – a DRMed eBook remains DRMed.

As some of the commenters point out, Amazon’s business model is to make money selling the eBooks, and not the hardware. The Kindle is at best a break-even proposition for Amazon. If people are able to purchase eBooks outside of Amazon, then that destroys their business model to a certain degree.

Another comment articulates the legal position really well:

Leaving aside the issue of users’ rights, as far as I can see Amazon is just plain wrong on the law and lacks legal justification for the takedown notice. What the DMCA prohibits is the distribution of tools for overcoming technical measures for protecting copyrighted materials. The first program generates a MOBI ID from a kindle serial number. The second program rewrites a non-Amazon ebook so that it contains the id that will allow it to work on the Kindle with the given serial number. Neither program modifies or copies the Kindle’s software. Since the ebooks in question are not produced by Amazon, no material whose copyright belongs to Amazon is affected in any way. In other words, this software does not defeat any technical measure of Amazon’s for protecting copyrighted material since Amazon has no copyrighted material at stake here. The DMCA is inapplicable, and the takedown notice invalid. Indeed, it is so clear that this software does nothing to defeat protection of copyrighted material that I would say that the takedown notice was issued in bad faith.

What this software actually does is allow for interoperability, which is explicitly protected by the DMCA.

Are we really ready to cut the cable?

Posted | Category: Media Business.

According to this article in TV Week, people are indeed discontinuing Comcast, but may be moving to Satellite and IPTV services like Verizon. Online video may be making an impact amongst the digerati, but until there is a nice easy way to pull it up on your TV, online video has a ways to go. This is all in spite of the horrid economy.

Maybe that will change soon with better software – and easily available content? This should be an interesting year.

Recording Online Media Since 1997
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