Cisco's New Router — Trouble For Hollywood

Shakrai writes "Time Magazine has published an article about the impact of Cisco's new CRS-3 router on the business practices of the MAFIAA. This new router was previously mentioned here on Slashdot and is expected to alleviate internet bottlenecks that currently impede steaming video-on-demand services. Some of the highlights from the article: 'The ability to download albums and films in a matter of seconds is a harbinger of deep trouble for the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which would prefer to turn the clock back, way back. ... The hard fact is that the latest developments at Cisco, Google and elsewhere may do more than kill the DVD and CD and further upset entertainment-business models that have changed little since the Mesozoic Era. With superfast streaming and downloading, indie filmmakers will soon be able to effectively distribute feature films online and promote them using social media such as Facebook and Twitter. ... Meanwhile, both the MPAA and the RIAA continue to fight emerging technologies like peer-to-peer file sharing with costly court battles rather than figuring out how to appeal to the next generation of movie enthusiasts and still make a buck."

Comments

sweet

[ldconfig]

THANK YOU CISCO!!!

Re:sweet

[courteaudotbiz]

But hey, before this actually results in having 1080p videos streamed directly to your computer, the price per downloaded Gb will have to lower a lot. At least here in Canada. You imagine, I am currently capped at 25Gb per month with my current ISP, and it costs me 65$ per month for my Internet access.

So I still rather go at the Blockbuster to rent a BluRay than download or stream the movie.

Re:sweet

[keefus_a]

Feel free to mod the parent up.

The odds that your residential broadband is limited by the technical limitations of your carriers backbone routers is slim to none. If you've seen the FiOS or uVerse trucks in your neighborhood, you've likely had the opportunity to increase bandwidth substantially. That would be because the "last mile" is why you can't get more than a few megs for a reasonable price. So unless that new backplane somehow mysteriously allows you to squeeze more juice through an infrastructure that is simply incapable, they've still got you by the balls.

Look around (I don't have time to find a citation, sorry) and you'll find plenty of examples of carriers (AT&T is a major offender) suing to prevent anyone else from fixing that piece. And as long as the courts say you can't fix it yourself, it won't get fixed.

If we allow municipalities to build out the updated infrastructure (last mile) and manage it like a utility, then there is the opportunity for competition to affect availability and rates. Let's make the LECs deal with US like the CLEC's had to deal with them.

Time does blow hot air sometimes

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't buy the more bandwidth equals more piracy angle at all. We already have enough bandwidth to destroy Hollywood if we wanted or if that was even possible.

The one thing that has changed more that any new pipe size is that world governments are finally taking command and control of the internet. They will shutdown the whole thing at Hollywood's request. They will require the ISPs to provide point-and-click shutdown just like they enable point-and-click spying. Hell, they will require they build anti-piracy into the CRS-3, if they don't already. And internet anonymity will be made illegal and anyone who provides such services will be shutdown or walled off the internet.

No this doesn't stop them

[garcia]

What stops them is my 10000/1000 connection that I pay $100/month to get and the additional fees (like $10/month to Netflix) to get a small selection of movies on top of that because the MPAA refuses to allow direct competition with new DVD releases.

I guarantee you that if someone did some digging they'd find serious collusion with Blockbuster and the MPAA over Redbox and thus why Redbox isn't allowed to get the cheap new release DVDs it once did. God forbid we have cheap access to movies right away. If you have to pay $6/rental for them you'll think they're worth so much more money than $1/day.

Oh nevermind, this is why I no longer go to the movies either. If it's not on Redbox for $1 or Hulu for free I'm not going to watch it. Now if only I could get the rest of the world to do that too maybe the MPAA would really be worried.

Re:They are not worried

[BeardedChimp]

Oh didn't you know? The real reason the US broadband lags so far behind the rest of the developed world is because they don't have the latest and greatest cisco routers!

It's not like Sweden has been able to offer 100mbit connections for years without these new very expensive routers or anything...

Slanted Wording

[RAMMS EIN]

Dear editors,

I have been reading and posting on Slashdot for years. The reason I have stuck around for so long is that I appreciate Slashdot as a place where interesting discussions take place. There are many sites on the World Wide Web where everyone is free to comment, but Slashdot stands out from the crowds by making interesting and well-worded messages visible amid the quagmire of nonsense, insults, spam, and other noise people are bound to post to public fora.

The summary posted for this story, unfortunately, is full of slanted wording. Without wanting to defend the RIAA and the MPAA or their business practices, I will simply note that calling them "MAFIAA" or claiming their business models "have changed little since the Mesozoic Era" is not very conductive to having a civilized discussion. Since having or witnessing such a discussion is what I come to Slashdot for, summaries such as the present one are not up to the standards I like Slashdot to aspire to.

Let's have discussions based on rational arguments, so that we may all benefit from what everybody has to say. Insults buy us nothing. Moderators mod down comments that consult them, and I would like for the editors to not post summaries that contain them. If the story is interesting, someone can submit a summary without such or other noise.

Thank you for your consideration, and please keep Slashdot above the level of other fora.

Sincerely,

A Faithful Slashdotter