Slashdot Mirror
Canadian TV to Adopt DRM-Free BitTorrents
An anonymous reader writes "Canada's public broadcast network, CBC, is to adopt DRM free BitTorrent distribution of one of its major primetime shows, Canada's Next Great Prime Minister. The effort has already been hailed by Canadian copyright guru Michael Geist, who expects the decision to add fuel to Canada's net neutrality debate. A CBC producer behind the show told CNET that the motivation for the move was that CBC 'wanted the show to be as accessible as possible to as many Canadians as possible, in the format that they want it in.' As for DRM, she said 'I think DRM is dead, even if a lot of broadcasters don't realize it.' She added that 'if it's bad for the consumers, its bad for the company.'"
Hopefully this means that Bell and Rogers will both have to stop throttling Bittorrent downloads. Some days on rogers I would get faster downloads on dialup.
But I'm not sure I would have watched this on T.V. (if I had one), let alone downloaded it (legally or otherwise) =/
Aikon-
The best way to make money in the long term is to have happy customers. Period. Now if only some US companies would learn that...
22 Minutes and jPod would be excellent!
"better ways of doing things eventually just replace the inferior things" - Linus Torvalds 09-08-07
From healthcare to Hockey, why do the Canadiens constantly get things right where we can not. As an example, anyone who has ever gone to Niagra falls can tell you that the Canadiens are better than us at almost everything. The New York side of the falls is horriblly dirty and devoid of any decent food or lodgings, while the Canadian side is clean, has a vast number of resteraunts(including a Hard Rock cafe), and even has gambling. All this and you could eat off the streets! Why is this, does anyone even know?
Somewhere in a dark place you will find:
www.m1
Keep in mind folks.
The good 'ole CBC is a publicly funded crown corp. So yeah, if they want to cut out a revenue stream...go for it...but we're paying for it in taxes.
It's a novel experiment, and I love the idea. But I'm not sure that this exact model would work for a Private US broadcaster or private Canadian Broadcaster.
Keep in mind. PBS has had documentary downloads available forever. PBS Frontline.
Niagara falls is not a good example becase nature itself is on Canada's side. The reason the Canadian side of the falls has grown into such a tourist attraction is the horseshoe falls, which are the most dramatic portion, is best visible from the Canadian side. You can hardly see anything from the New York side.
So, over time, more and more money went to the Canadian side developing the tourist area. Think about it, if you are a developer spending $100 million on a hotel, you want it to have the best possible view - so you put it on the Canadian side.
Guys, you may think that this is the rare exceptions, but in reality this is the way the wind is blowing in Canada. We have a privacy act in Canada that many legal scollars agree that DRM violates because it requires to much information about the user of the file. The long and short of it is this. In Canada you can buy a lawnmower take it apart and make something out of it, In the US if you did that you violate the DMCA...do you see the problem here?
-Ours is the wisdom of Solomon, the magic of Merlyn, the fall of Icaris.
That's one of the things that chaps my ass about PBS. Our local stations have to pay for these shows and some of those folks are making millions on businesses related to the show - Rick Steve's Europe for one. The local station buys the show, he advertises his travel company, which by his own admission on 60 Minutes soes over $20 million in revenues. It's the same with "Sesseme St." Jim Henson's heirs are also making millions off of the merchandising from the show. Ken Burns also.
I think those shows that are pulling in the bucks via side or their primary businesses should at least give their shows to PBS.
I prefer Flambe as apposed flamebait.
there is a Canadian TV show I really like. I cannot get it here in the States.
Would that be Corner Gas?
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
"The CBC's mandate, as provided in the Broadcasting Act (http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/about/mandate.shtml), requires it to make its programming 'available throughout Canada by the most appropriate and efficient means.'"
I'm on Bell where I am and it's awful;
Bell/Sympatico internet access is awful almost everywhere. I have seen two reviews and Bell was the bottom-of-the-barrel both times (the Marketplace story was pretty entertaining if lacking in technical details).
If you can go with Shaw or Telus or Rogers you are going to be far better off. Even better than that, there are still a few independents out there that offer superior service and won't throttle your connection so badly (if at all). For example, even though it has to run over some of Telus' gear Radiant Communications offers DSL service that is superior to that Telus themselves provides.
I'm not a huge fan of most of the CBC's programming, but it is encouraging to see them act like a proper public broadcaster once in awhile, while at the same time doing something innovative in it market. Being that Bell has had its ties with the CTV network and Shaw has interests in many television network and production properties (through its association with Corus entertainment) I'd have thought they'd be more keen to expand programming on the internet. I guess, however, that would mean people wouldn't have to subscribe to their delivery services to view their content...an you know it's all about "vertical markets".
"one of its major primetime shows, Canada's Next Great Prime Minister."
Not exactly.
This isn't as big a deal as it sounds. Canada's Next Great Prime Minister isn't even a series: it is a single-episode special with an audience of mainly university students that covers a contest for aspiring young leaders which used You Tube videos as its main vehicle.
So let's not over-hype this as proof why Canada is heaven and the United States is hell.
"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face! It's just a goddamned piece of paper!" -- George W. Bush
I was a software developer on the CBC programme ZeD, and we torrented (and streamed and broadcast) our " New new media" episode almost 3 years ago (April 1st, 2005 to be exact). And while the torrent file still exists, sadly the torrent server is no longer running. I believe we used Xvid as the codec too (or was it divx?), but I am certain there was no DRM on the file. Anyway, ZeD was web 2.0 in 2002 !