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YouTube Co-founder Calls For Global Access To TV Online
An anonymous reader writes "YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley says internet users should be able to legitimately watch content from anywhere in the world at any time. He says the days of national TV networks controlling the global online rights to shows has to end. 'I think the business models are breaking down and the companies that are going to win in this new world are the ones that make it as easy as possible for the consumers to consume the content wherever and whenever they want.' Hurley also says YouTube will be bidding for more online live sports."
That is the only reason I pick up cable part of the year anymore.....American College Football.
Finally, I will be able to drop cable entirely.
This is just another chapter in the old 'information wants to be free' refrain. And while I'm down with that, I don't think there is much more to be done, as I've lived on three continents, and found it trivial to find broadcast content from other regions around the world if I just made the effort. Now if they are talking about bundling it all up and creating a delivery service, let me remind how expensive and controlled cable can be in the US, so if I had my druthers, I'd be more inclined to again bring things together on my own, say in the spirit of the guy in Cuba that used a pringles can to pick up CNN from the States, back in the day :)
And really....there is a long list of countries that have strong feelings about what content is available to their citizens, from Singapore (small) to China (big). A full-on WeAreTheWorld channel isn't going to cut it, I think.
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This is a very clever post because I can't decide if it's sarcastic or not, but I'll bite.
Why shouldn't someone in rural Nebraska or Korea have the same right to an obscure band as someone who lives in NYC with access to record shops stocking obscure content? "Giving privilege to none?" Gimme a break.
Copyright is already coercion of the public. If YouTube is asking for coercion, it's asking governments to replace coercion that serves incumbent middlemen with coercion that serves the public.
users should be able to legitimately watch content from anywhere in the world at any time
Does "anywhere" include on a city bus? What I'd like to be officially able to do is queue up some 1- to 10-minute videos to watch, download them (possibly using encryption) while connected to the Internet, disconnect, and watch them. Even if offline viewing were restricted to 360p, that'd still be better than having to pay hundreds of USD per year for cellular Internet for my Nexus 7 tablet.
And both of them are horseshit.
1) The entrenched interests have invested too much in existing legacy infrastructure to let this happen. Sure, they've already seen the returns hundreds or thousands of times over, but if they can wring it out longer, they will. It will take the majority of consumers demanding IP-based TV for this to change.
2) Internet connectivity is mostly shit in North America. Either it's high bandwidth with a deprecating cap, or shitty bandwidth with no cap. Until telcos are reined in by regulation, forcing them to build out the fiber infrastructure for which billions in tax dollars were earmarked and quit this rent-seeking business model, we aren't going to have the sort of connectivity we need for universal IPTV. And let's not forget how a number of ISPs muddy the waters by running their own streaming services; again, due to piss-poor regulation.
The argument is that it would serve the public to replace the middleman that that geodiscriminates with the middleman that does not.
So if you live in Hyder, Alaska you're only expected to listen to Twangy's Good Ol' Boys (specializing in CCR cover tunes?
well if you're a goo 'ol hipster then yes.
on the other hand internet allows you to listen to twangys even if you're a finnish dolt - or new c64 remixes. the variety is through the roof in reality.. there's more sub cultures than ever, but no "new" mainstream fads. this makes it of course harder to be against mainstream and that annoys the hell out of some assholes.
you know what pop music used to be in Finland in 60's? fucking translated pop songs - seriously, a way to make a finnish hit: just take the italian/american/british song, copy it and change lyrics to stupid finnish lyrics.
ever heard a version of bowie's space man that has lyrics like "why doesn't my girl-prince* come already?" *yes, prince, not princess. fucking confusing.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
If you want everyone in the world to be the same and destroy all cultures, then, sure, go ahead and make information free.
you say that like that's a bad thing.
It won't make everybody the same but it might help bring home the realisation we are pretty similar in many respects. I don't think it'll be worldwide main stream tv which will achieve that, more the efforts of ordinary or maybe extraordinary people. talking across cultures.
I don't know what happened to slashdot polls but it would be interesting to see how many countries our friends are from. I suspect there will not be many people on this website who doesn't have friendships outside of their own nationality.
If we want to do away with some of the lousy things we do to our own species then we first must break through the barriers of our nations borders.
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