Slashdot Mirror
Live Streaming Network TV Online - in Canada
ecampbel writes "News.com is running a story about a company called iCraveTV.com offering live streaming network TV feeds for Canadian Internet users (an area code is required to view the streams). Most of the stations offered are Canadian, but a few Buffalo, NY stations are offered as well. This is obviously the logical conclusion of streaming media, and is scaring the pants off the local network affiliates."
1. Watch TV from work.
2. If in Southern Ontario (where the channels originate), drop basic cable.
3. Watch on your computer and not spend $100 for a converter.
4. Watch on your computer without the need for a cable splitter/bunny ears.
5. Hey its free and cool. Why not impress your friends?
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
I can watch local Buffalo news!! MORE FIRES IN CHEEKTAVEGAS!! :)
;)
Cool! Now you can play the "Buffalo House Fire Home Game"! Watch the local news. Try to guess which part of town tonight's house fire is in (eastside, southside, etc.) Bonus points for guessing the specific neighborhood/street ("An Allentown couple is homeless tonight after a two-alarm...")
Don't forget the basic format: if two or more people died, it's the lead story; otherwise, it'll be the first story after the first break.
I always thought that they should shoot for some sort of promotional tie-in - e.g., "Tonight's fire is brought to you by "First Alert" brand Smoke detectors..." or Diamond-brand matches, or...use your imagination! Think of the ad bucks!
BTW, you aren't a true Don Cherry fan until you own and wear the entire Don Cherry ready-to-wear collection
ABSURDITY, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.
Hey! :->)
There's a whole other province in that area code!
You have to watch out for these mainlanders
Ummm... The area code prompt is not likely meant as a means to prevent them pesky Americans from invading the site and watching Canadian TV. More than likely, the company is using it as a quick way to gather demographic information about who is watching from where.
:), except that the PBS station is WNED, not WNEB. Anyway, why the hell would you all want to watch "AM Buffalo"?
Well, yes it probably does that, but rather than prevent pesky americans from watching Canadian TV, it's to prevent pesky Americans from watching AMERICAN TV. Network affiliates have broadcast exclusivity agreements in the areas they serve, and the NBC (for example) affiliates in Chicago, Miami, Dallas, etc., would be rather upset to learn that people were watching "E.R." on WGRZ Buffalo instead of their local stations.
Living here in Buffalo, I'm probably safe--these are the channels I see anyway
ABSURDITY, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.
Free as in beer = gratis; no price tag
Free as in speech = unencumbered; open
Free TV is free as in beer, but not free as in speech... i.e. I don't have to pay for it, but I can't put my own show on it unless I kiss some big-wig's ass or shell out big bucks.
The Internet is free as in speech, but not free as in beer... i.e. I can put up my own page that can be accessed just as easily as anyone else's (the Internet's most important quality), but I have to pay for access.
+++
NO CARRIER
NewVR- very regional station, not so good
CBC- some good shows (This Hour has 22 Minutes, Hockey Night in Canada, etc), good news source, generally neutral in political stance
Global- a canadian chanel that only shows the better american shows like Xfiles, Simpsons and Futurama. They make their own stuff, but it sucks. Eg: "Traders", best described as a drama about the exciting world of investment banking... ROTFLMAO.
ABC- american channel, crap mostly
CTV- canadian channel wanting to be like an american channel, crap mostly, they used to make a couple of good shows like "Due South" and John Woo's "Once a theif", but they killed it 'em off.
OnTV- A regional station, I beleive for Hamilton... not so good
PBS- American public TV, lots of good stuff there, like Nova, etc.
TVO- Ontario public TV, similar to PBS, but much further off to the left so lots of documentaries about the disadvantaged
SRC- French channel, I beleive. I don't watch it so I can't say if it is good.
CTS- Can't say I know this channel...
CFMT- Toronto based multicultural channel, the first in the world, I beleive. Good if you like to watch indo/asian, italian, latin, etc shows.
WB- Warner Bros? If so, VERY CRAPPY american channel.
CITY- The single most progressive network in existence in the world. City TV is based in Toronto and is run by people who "get it" when it comes to culture, music, and city life. Their approach to television has been sold and copied by other countries all over the world. Amazing stuff like "Fashion Television", "Media Television" and "Sex Television" comes out of this station. If you can only watch one station, watch this one. I don't work there, I just miss it... I just moved from Toronto to Vancouver and all I can say is THANK GOD for the internet!
>No Voyager and no Dilbert!
Sounds more like a blessing than a curse.
Nice to do. When I checked it, I simply did a google search for Canadian Restaurants and got a list and went to a site and used their phone number's area code.
I did restaurants cause they rarely have 800 numbers which screws it all up.
Or maybe 800 is taken as *?
And folks who criticize this guy for missing a few- sheesh, relax folks. He was being helpful, not slighting anyone. A lot of you \. readers could really use a case of those chill-pills. Or maybe they stopped production in 1994.
Kinda like Moe, but just a little more Kool
Finally, a way I can get my Hockey Night In Canada fix down here. The Hockey coverage on US TV really stinks. Sure there's lots of games, but the announcers, camera work and all the friggin graphics make it impossible to follow the game. Watch the old CBC and CTV feeds of Stanley Cup and Canada Cup games on ESPN Classic to see how Hockey was meant to be covered...
You'd be suprised just how much better. Shows like Kids In The Hall got away with more nudity and 'bad' language on their 9pm national broadcast than in their full length movie. That's what makes me laugh hardest about America. There's nothing like a country founded by Puritans, kill whoever you want but if you show a nipple or swear on TV, oh, the horror! I was glad to see that the South Park Movie made this point as well ;)
Did anyone else notice in the latest TLC video Unpretty that when the breast implant is being removed from that woman that they actaully blurred the nipple? Watch closely and make sure to have pillows on the floor to soften the blow when you hit it laughing.
If aspects of American culture like this weren't doing such a good job of seeping into our own, I wouldn't be so worried. But as it is, I'm terrified that the merchants to the south are going to totally supplant all world culture with their own. Hell, Disney owns the Mounties. And let's not talk about what's been done to hockey in the last 10 years alone.
As for uncensored news coverage, how about non-sensational relavent news coverage? I'm continually impressed by the quality of the CBC newsgroup to report national and international matters that matter. If I see one more ABC/CBS/NBC news report confirming that the people on board the Egypt Air flight are STILL all dead, I'll scream. Why do they seem to think we need to know EVERY detail about something like this?
And having watched MTV/VH1, I pitty you. MuchMusic actually plays _music videos_ on a regular basis! Imagine that! Anyway, I'm just passing on my own opinon and a little bit of experience having lived both on the border and away form it. If I wanted to really go hammer and tongs at the whole US-Canadian situation, I'd be here all day.
Yes, we're kinda quiet, but you'd be supprised just what the average Canadian thinks about America. Yeah Canadian TV!
DataSquid.net, a little about me.
>> I wonder how this will fare, given how well the satellite TV industry has done against Congress.
> I think you're missing the point that this company is Canadian, not from the USA. The US congress has no say in the matter.
That's never slowed the US Congress down much before. They'll pass the American Freedom Of Broadcasting Act (ever notice how all these laws have titles exactly the opposite of the intention?) making it a crime for US ISPs to allows the sites to be accessed. The fact that this is technically absurd will never enter into thier thinking...
I canceled my cable a while ago, as there just wasn't enough on to justify the cost - currently my TV is pretty much a game console/DVD terminal.
But, I have an ADSL connection - I just tried this out and most of the stations were very watchable. For the few times when I might want to watch something, this is good enough. In fact, all of the stations seem to me of better quality than my local TV reception.
What I'm really looking forward to is other nations offering TV - think of how great this would be for learning other languages, if you could watch regional TV shows. I'm really looking forward to watching Japanese TV someday...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Now that I'm back in Newfoundland (sadly), I don't get Global, but get most of my TV from the Comedy Network (American: Dennis Miller Live, John Stewart, Ben Stein, WKRP(!!), Canadian: Tom Green, Kevin Spencer ("he's a chain smoking, alcoholic, sociopath"), Butch Patterson: Private Dick ("Give me another drink or I'll slap you around like my prison lover"), Mike Bullard) and Teletoon (who, unfortunately, do not play "Late Night Anime" anymore, but still play Duckman, Spawn every Halloween, and the Canadian "Ned's Newt" (with jokes like, "Who's the man who's a machine to all the chicks" (It *is* a kid's show after all, they had to clean up that reference), and "That's brilliant, you're way too smart for the army, you're fired") and, of course, Splat!).
Wow, I've got to give up with those damn parenthesis, I've been programming a little too long.
I guess I'll go watch Win Ben Stein's Money, now...
Thanks for clearing things up ... I seriously feared that you might become a victim of corporate execs who will see people like you and then try to wipe you out and monopolize access to their content.
It's actually very easy to do...
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
I think that this is a good step ahead for people to be able to acess things like TV for free (witch it should be anyways). My only major worry about this is what limits that the CRTC will eventually put to this. We know how involved governments get into things that they shouldn't be involved in. And what about Telcos getting into the TV battle. Eventually NBTel is getting into the TV way of business by sending TV over the phone line. Chech out ImagicTV for more information on that.
If I'm in New York and the Giants or Jets game is blacked out but I can pick up the game in Hartford, CT, there is nothing that CBS or Fox can do about it. There is no law against watching an out of town station (and locally blacked-out programs thereon).
BTW, the 4 major networks are now available on some of the small satellite dishes, effective 12/1/99 (your own local affiliate, of course).
Prince Edward Island, aka "THE Island" also uses 902.
The percentage of revenue we're setting aside is being put into an account until the appropriate copyright bodies decide how payments of this nature should be made. When the decision is made, the funds will be released to the appropriate parties.
----
Andrew McCallum / Technology Wrangler, iCraveTV.com
----
http://mentalfloss.ca - Free music that doesn't suck
I decided that I didn't want to spend the $30/mo for cable, instead I got ADSL. I was left with 2 fuzzy channels I would get with an antenna here in Waterloo.
Now for no extra cost, I have the selection of basic cable with the same quality I had before.
the problem isn't the streams, but the fact that the same stream is being borodcasted several times to the indivdual clients that wastes the bandwidth, that's what multicast aims to fix unfortunately multicast isn't available in most areas and the protocols are still being established.
Basically though you're sending one stream to a 224.0.0.0 netmask and any client that wishes to retrive the stream simply adds that to it's multicast (or older cards go into promiscuous mode and use software to filter packets).
Yes, you're still wasting bandwidth, but you're wasting less bandwidth.
- MbM
- MbM
...that doesn't suck.
Seriously, the current client is awful. On the same machine under WinNT the difference is astounding -- the Linux client is buggy, slow and just awful. Hopefully, Real will throw a little more money or open up the development of it a bit
On the other hand, the Mac client is terrible, too. I guess that pretty much tells us that Win32 is their target market. :)
It would be nice if someone (Apple) were to port QuickTime to Linux. They've already open-sourced the server to a degree, pity we can't get the client. I guess the copyright issues with some of the codecs are a problem, though.
--srj/mmv
Let's put it this way... you'll see "Eyes Wide Shut" on the CBC before you'll see it on the four US networks or it would be less censored on CBC.
I hear that some of the French Canadian networks tend to be more liberal, but I don't watch them.
CBC news tends to be less sensational than American news and less biased, though not unbiased by any means. You'll probably notice that the CBC is more critical of Canada than the four US networks or CNN is critical of the US. I also think the CBC aims a little higher than the US networks or CNN, but CBC is subsidized so they can afford to. I don't know about comparing the private Canadian news with American news.
Actually, I'm a little suprised they didn't rebroadcast a few more of the French stations. I'm sure they'd garner a larger audience if "Bleu Nuit" was available daily. :)
Either that, or their servers would get thoroughly tooled by the number of hits they'd get.
--srj/mmv
New $5,000 Multimedia Computer System
Downloads Real-Time TV Programs,
Displays Them On Monitor
The highly touted "Internet Revolution" took
another major step forward Monday, when Compaq unveiled the
breakthrough Compaq Presario 6000, a $4,995 multimedia
computer system that enables users to download files containing
network-television programs and display them on a computer
monitor.
"Imagine watching TV at the click of a mouse, instead of a
remote control," Compaq director of product development Bill
Welborne said. "With the Compaq Presario 6000 and a few
reasonably priced add-ons, you'll never have to watch TV on a
television again."
Who am I? Subscribe and find out
Kudos to iCraveTV.com for this most excellent site.
The CRTC (Canadian TV/Radio regulator) has stated that it will take a hands off approach to the Internet. More info can likely be found at http://www.crtc.gc.ca
I have heard this a lot of times in here. Free as in beer? What the hell does that means? Last time I checked beer was not free. Maybe there is a country where it is. Do any of you know which country so I can move there? Why pay for destroying my liver when I can do it for free?
Where do you get your inspiration for words like "fagbag" and "sodacock"?
Pfft. Why bother with the VC? Just go public. :)
-- Ever notice that fast-burning fuse looks exactly the same as slow-burning fuse? I didn't... (Edgar Montrose)
I checked out the web site, and saw references to multicasting. I've heard of it before, but I know virtually nothing about it. Can some kindly soul provide me with information or useful thinks.
Thankyaverramuchinadvance
Powers&8^]
This system is quite primitive compared to what's possible, but I'm going to have to use this as an opportunity to plug our site about the service we offer.
:)
http://www.kitv.co.uk
If you live in Hull in the UK you can have it today but if you live in some backwater, you'll have to wait
Kingston Interactive TV is delivered as IP over ADSL, it includes Interactive & Digital TV, Real Video on Demand, High speed Internet Access and a Local Link. This tech is amazing.
You sure seem to be having a gay old time. Something in particular on your mind?
Anyhoo, I think the real disappointment is that Buffalo doesn't have a UPN station. No Voyager and no Dilbert! =(
Powers&8^]
Powers&8^]
1. Canadian stations, except perhaps the specialty channels and the CBC, tend to broadcast most of the popular American programs. For example, ITV (Alberta) broadcasts many of the popular programs from FOX, ABC, NBC and CBS. NTV (Newfoundland) does the same. That's one of the good things about TV in Canada.
2. If I'm not mistaken, the Canadian digital satellite services Bell ExpressVu (BEV) and StarChoice (SC) carry some of the local networks and anybody can get them and they're not blocking them out regionally, except in cases such as sports blackouts, etc. The Canadian digital satellite companies had to play catch up to the American companies for so long and needed any little thing so they could say, "Look, all these channels!". First when BEV and SC started, they basically offered cable-like service with the incentive of forcing their customers to purchase a dish first! Now they're getting better, in terms of their channel offering.
3. The site in question, www.ICraveTV.com, also has PBS, FOX, NBC, ABC and CBS.
Now if only we could do something about that cursed simulcasting (not on ICraveTV, but with cable)...
I believe (but am not sure) that the regulation is different for Canadian-produced shows and American-produced shows.
I don't mean to be critical, but I have to ask one question: Do you read much about relations between Canada and the US?
>Don't forget the basic format: if two or more people died, it's the lead story; otherwise, it'll be the first >story after the first break
:)
In my house we've been playing for years... my parents didn't call Channel 7 "Blood and Guts" for nothing! I've always been a Channel 4 guy myself... dunno why...
I guess I'm not a true Cherry fan then... Suits that don't allow me to sit down aren't my thing
I think Powers would agree with me, Rochester news just doesnt have the same cheezy charm that the Buffalo newscasts do, they're way too bland... (Except R News, I watch that just for entertainment!)
Nothing is any good if other people like it.
Instead of complaining about this, local broadcasters need to be jumping on this chance. If they have a good format, people are going to watch them. If people watch them, then they have more viewers. If they have more viewers, then they get more advertisers. More advertisers means more money. The only real losers in this are the stations with poor formats and the cable company monopolies.
There shouldn't even be a fear that the big broadcasting companies (ABC, CBS, Fox, et al) will steal viewers and revenue away from local stations. The local stations will still have the best base for running local news, sports, and any other local information that people will always want to see.
This is also a much better way to see how many viewers are REALLY watching a particular show. Statistics are still statistics, and will always be open to interpretation and corruption, but checking the number of unique IP addresses that hit a show is much more likely to be accurate than a randum pole.
Of course, the technology isn't prefect, and bandwidth sucks.. but every technology has to start somewhere.
"Anyone who can't laugh at himself is not taking life seriously enough." - Larry Wall
Earlier today I crossed the Canadian border (into lower Ontario which uses the 519 area code) and checked out this site and I must say I'm very impressed. I suggested that they could pick up two more US affiliates (UPN and PAX) by setting up remote receivers in Windsor (across the Detroit R. from Detroit).
h tml
I'd also like to note that the G2 player is available for Linux at the following site:
http://proforma.real.com/real/player/linuxplayer.
The picture is more reasonable if you select the double size option.
*shrug*
Powers&8^]
Powers&8^]
I'm pretty sure that Live Streaming Network Television has been commonplace for about 60 years.
Do they have uncensored news reports?
How about full frontal nudity on broadcast?
I can't think of anything else that would be
worthwhile to watch.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
Something I just don't understand here. Why should the networks care about the rebroadcast? They make money off of advertising; as a result, if their viewer base increases (and they have some way to monitor it), then their ad revenues should increase. If they could get iCraveTV to send them viewership numbers (to forward to their advertisers), then it seems to me this would be a *good* deal.
This reminds me of something my hometown radio station did... they started webcasting a few months ago, but introduced a 45 second delay so that people wouldn't be able to call in on the contests. Why not? Isn't the purpose of the contest to get more people to listen in? And since they know how many people are listening to the webcast (and can pass it on to their advertisers, same story as above), isn't that all good for them?
``This, too, shall pass.'' ---Eastern proverb
Got a press release at 12:45 today from the Canadian Association of Broadcasters saying that if the site is still running at 5pm on Monday, Dec. 6, the lawyers will swing into action. Surprise, surprise.
Ah, so infomercials are illegal... /me gets a lawyer
Very useful. BTW, add 613 on there for Ottawa's area code.
:)
Hrm... I have realplayer in my netscape prefs, or 'realplay' anyway- whats the variable to pass the file labelled as?
Come on all you netscape 4.7 linux users.... someone look in your application prefs.
You'll eat it and you'll like it.
Yeah, why the hell would we want to watch FOX, channel 29 (area code 519). It's from the US. Shitty US TV...
I'm sure those folks don't give a rat's ass as
to whether or not we watch their TV. The problems
they have are the mother fuckers in Ottawa and
Washington who can't get to an agreement on
US and Canadian culture content.
The CRTC and FCC prohibits us from watching
each other's TV.
I asked a few days ago to dish if they plan
on providing us the French lineup of ExpressVU
and I was told that the FCC prohibits them from
doing so. They would love to sell me the service
but they can't legally do it. You can still
subscribe to expressvu if you have an address
in Canada and are billed there but if they
ever find out that you actually live in the US
they cut you off. Not that they would not want
to sell you the service but because the
governments forbid it.
In this case, the arguments about the local
stations don't hold water as there are no
French language stations in the USA.
Dish would provide me with one French station
(TV5, international TV) for the price of all
of the Canadian French language network at
expressvu.
They are on the net, accessible in the US in
case that you wouldn't know.
The FCC does prohibit us from receiving
Canadian TV except what we could get off the
air.
I think it has a lot to do with getting back
at Canadian cable TV who steals signals from
the USA and black out the US commercials to
put canadian commercials.
The internet may force the two groups of morons
in Ottawa and Washington to remove the stupid
border in the TV industry.
The Canadian gov't, you see, has recently begun efforts to make Canada more high-tech, and iCrave is a very firm response to these efforts. Since our legal system has so much power, and since most of our judges favour the current government and its stances, there's a good chance that, even if iCrave does get sued, it'll survive.
Hopefully, this will start a trend, or rather reverse the current one; Canada's been bleeding technology companies for a few years now, and the ones that remain are looking at nicer tax regimes (i.e. Nortel, interviewed in National Post as saying that Canadian taxes are driving them out).
I would wager that iCrave, if they play their cards right, will survive and thrive. I hope so, mainly for my sake. I've been missing my Air Farce and This Hour for far too long now, and I don't want to have to give them up again.
"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock." - Will Rogers
Remember the "Big Dish" ? There gonna go apeSh@t over the same things that killed TVRO.
705 is Peterbough
I could be wrong, but I think as long as network TV remains completely free (as in beer), it'll stick around for a while.
Online streaming media still requires an internet connection.
+++
NO CARRIER
I'm always curious to see what the pop culture is in another country.
:-)
And there are some really wacky game shows out there...
Where I live we get a whole range of Canadian stations on cable (BCTV (Vancouver), ITV (Edmonton), CTV (Toronto), and NTV (Newfoundland)): what's nice about that is because of the wide timezone spread (-3:30 to -8:00 from GMT) we have the ability to watch Star Trek (or B5 for you Babylonians) at virtually any hour of the day...
--
I am quite civilized, and I should be brought a beer immediately. -- Bruce Sterling
Wow! I'll never be able to defeat this by saying I'm from area code 604 (Vancouver), 250 (BC), 403 (Alberta), 306 (Saskatchewan), 204 (Manitoba), 807, 905, 705 (Ontario), 519 (London), 416 (Toronto), 613 (Ottawa), 514 (Montreal), 819, 418 (Quebec), 709 (Newfoundland) or 506 (New Brunswick). Man, I'll never crack this one...
The site requires area codes to watch from east to west candaian area codes are:
506 418 819 450 514 705 807 204 306 403 780 250 604 403
What are the regulatory issues associated with this?
Any thoughts on how this relates with Video on Demand?
I've been watching it for a couple of days and I don't see that the networks have anything serious to worry about. As the article states the picture quality is not very good, its a small area of real estate on your screen, and it cuts in and out every few minutes when there is network congestion.
Having said that I do find it useful to keep a news broadcast going in the corner but actually watching my favourite sitcom is out of the question. The TV is here to stay for awhile I would think until streaming media catches up in quality.
Someone should invent something that would transform these signals to analouge and then transmit them using a wireless mechanism and RF Modulation.
Then cheap, monitor like boxes could be built with the wireless networking gear built into them, and the cost of the service to consumers could be paid for by advertising.
Of course, we might have a problem with competing standards - maybe the W3C could come up with something..
Hmmm... I might just seek some VC finance..
Hmmmm... now wait a moment.. I remember something like that from back when I was young..
;-)
I almost feel like a warez kiddy...
Some Canadian Area codes are:
450,416,250,604,709,905,613
Don't break the law. *grin*
------
If a tree falls on an anonymous coward yelling 'first post' in the forest, does anybody hear?
Their security sucks big time!
:)
Goto their page: http://www.iCraveTV.com/tv/watch.html
Click on a link. Look at the url, should look like this:
http://www.iCraveTV.com/tv/c1.php3 ?u=T41ciii.ram
Change that to:
http://www.iCraveTV.com/tv/T41ciii.ram
Voila! Live TV
Just what I've always wanted! Small, grainy, low-resolution images designed for a TV audience. Way to stick it to The Man! We'll get our low-brow entertainment whether we own a TV or not.
Gates' Law: Every 18 months, the speed of software halves.
Their security sucks big time!
:)
Goto their page: http://www.iCraveTV.com/tv/watch.html
Click on a link. Look at the url, should look like this: http://www.iCraveTV.com/tv/c1.php3 ?u=T41ciii.ram
Change that to: http://www.iCraveTV.com/tv/T41ciii.ram
Voila! Live TV
C'mon you're telling me you're going to runaway because of the current performance for web video. Hello? Every new technology has to catch up with the old especially when the basis of that tecvhnology is extremely widespread and heavily tapped to such an extent that all new technologies have an uphill battle.
I mean c'mon, do you watch TV for content or do you flip channels to find the clearest one. Or to put thiungs into perspective. How many people here buy linux/bsd for the install routine as opposed to using it. Raise your hands (journalists put your hands down unless you use it not install at home.)
The message on the other side of this sig is false.
The only advantage I see here is the ability to pull in foreign networks, and the vast majority of people simply aren't going to be interested in that. If people (like me) really want to watch TV feeds on their computers, they're going to spend the ~$100 bucks and buy a TV Tuner. Think about it...the full range of channels, a scaleable image without loss, no intermittent feed interruptions, and you're not wasting any bandwidth. I just can't see the mass market appeal here...
There is nothing so pathetic as seeing a beautiful young theory roughed up by a tough gang of facts.
Is that all you yanks can now see how awesome Hockey Night in Canada (on CBC) really is.
Tune in at 7:00 eastern on Saturday night for the Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Pittsburgh Penguins from Toronto, and at 10:00 eastern for the Vancouver Canucks at the Edmonton Oilers.
Like the t-shirt says: Hockey is Life.
------
If a tree falls on an anonymous coward yelling 'first post' in the forest, does anybody hear?
Otherwise i'd be able to watch champions league soccer on TSN from work instead of settling for a java superticker :)
Since your UID is smaller than mine, I can only conclude that you're trolling. -s20451 (410424)
IIRC, there's a law somewhere (maybe just a CRTC regulation), that you cannot have any more than 15 minutes worth of advertisement in an hour.
Your post could have been sarcastic, but if it was, I didn't pick it up.
"Evil will always triumph over good, because good is dumb." - Dark Helmet (Spaceballs)
[Note: this is speculative fiction]
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC), a has obtained an injunction against Ontario, Canada-based iCraveTV, in Canadian court, which forces a temporary end to iCraveTV's practice of rebroadcasting ABC television feeds.
In addition, ABC Networks is suing iCrateTV for $400 million in damages, calculated by the estimated loss in profits caused by millions of users viewing ABC Network broadcasts over the Internet for free. iABC, the video-over-ip service inaugurated in June 2000 by ABC, charges $25 per month for accounts by which registered viewers can watch video feeds online.
The damage estimate may in fact be raised, as ABC Networks has issued a subpoena for iCraveTV's access logs, which are said to indicate that at least 10 million people were using their service, per month, by August.
NBC and CBS are also following suit against iCraveTV, but the whole issue may already be moot. iCraveTV's network has been overwhelmed by the vast numbers of users attempting to connect to their network for free. The cost of providing the video-over-ip service has exceeded the profits gained by over 100 advertisers, and with the legal action from ABC Networks, iCraveTV's stock has lost $12 3/4 shares, down from $23 3/4 to $11 per share as of Tuesday.
With the apparent fall of iCraveTV, ABC Networks says iABC has secured the right to sole distribution of ABC content over the internet. The decision against iCraveTV is also being hailed as the fall of the last barrier to phasing out dependency upon some local TV stations.
Also, the fee increase for iABC accounts, from $25 to $35, originally announced in December, will take effect in February.
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
In the article, they say they could rebroadcast for free any "PUBLIC" tv stations.
So anything that you can receive on an antenna is OK. Cable only channel are not.
Anyway, I should not complain 'cause I have a TV tuner.
Allowed? What happened to the free internet? Give me a break...
If anything, go after the online porn companies first. Unless you didn't mention it because you visit them so often...
Maybe you should turn off the images. You are just visiting those sites for the articles, right?
did they move the link?
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
Firstly, it's amazing to see this pop up on Slashdot. I knew it was going to be big, but to actually see it realized is quite amazing. I actually tried to plug Slashdot a bit during our press conference by bringing it up on the screens while I demonstrated how the player worked. Dunno if it got on any stations, but I thought it would give some a chuckle. :) Omitted from some press reports, but included in others, is the fact that from revenue dollar one, iCraveTV is paying segregated funds, a percentage of revenue, to be distributed to all rights holders by industry-approved copyright collectives. Also, it should be noted that iCraveTV has repeatedly stated its intentions to work with content providers of video, ecommerce, etc. Broadcasters have been loosing market to the Internet for the past 5 years, and not only is iCraveTV helping them to recover some of the market to the benefit of program producers and advertisers as well as broadcasters, it is also creating a significant new market for all manner of content creators. Let's give this convergence thing a Terrance and Phillip-style kick in the ass, eh.
----
Andrew McCallum / Technology Wrangler, iCraveTV.com
----
http://mentalfloss.ca - Free music that doesn't suck
709
Just to add another one.
I don't see why anyone would be upset over the rebroadcasting. They are keeping the commercials so it's just an added bonus for the broadcasters. It's more advertising market for their clients. As to people abandoning "regular" TV, 80k is alot of bandwidth for such a fuzzy picture. I'd be more worried if something like the video from www.mobydark.com went online with multiple channels.
newsworld.cbc.ca is carrying a story saying that Canadian private broadcasters are trying to shut this site down.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I have yet to find a version of real player g2 for Solaris (what I am running at work), or linux(which I am running at home). I do have a copy of Winblows 98 at home, but the 56k connection there will probably leave something to be desired in the quality department.
file:
I am a Canadian who lives in the states. I grew up in the Toronto area. I miss not only Hockey Night in Canada with Don Cherry but I also miss City TV (my top pick of the channels available) and I miss some of the stupid commercials which only make sense to to the locals. I was stunned to be able to watch my home TV over the internet in relativly good quality (internet wise). I was just checking out late great movies on city. They were playing something about mary. I didn't want to the movie over realplayer due to the poor quality but I would gladly watch/LISTEN to hockey and the commercials for local flavour. I doubt this is something that will take the world by storm but it will allow people to watch/listen to their favorite (home) stuff no matter where they are. This is great! Oops did I break a law?! ;-)
no sig.
I live in Toronto so I compared the streaming CityTV to the real thing on the TV across the room from my comp. Besides a delay of about a minute, and the fact that it's 1/8 the size of my TV, the quality isn't too bad(on ADSL connection). It'll be nice to have when I'm living in residence again in January and no longer have access to a TV. And remember - ST:TNG reruns every day at 11:00AM! It's just what we've always dreamed of - Star Trek available wherever you are!
hoser: Slashdot reader since 1987.
I'd like to believe that, too, but we should never underestimate the power of stupidity. If only we could harness it, we'd have an incredible free energy source!
Demonstrant's Open Source Tools
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Belgium HyperBanner
http://belgium.hyperbanner.net
Linux hosting for $2.50/mo
National Post general story
NFL tells iCraveTV to back off
[ReidNews]
Excuse me my sarcasm. It's just that inspite that the bandwith is growing, the connections are getting slower - at least where I work. Getting short, simple pages from US lasts longer and longer. It's the same phenomenon that makes each new version of Windows slower in spite of more powerfull computers. Quality does not improve: only the number of gadgets. I'd rather see quick loading of a page without even pictures than a java-live-video-audio-whatever-overloaded page which takes two hours to load.
When I think about it... it's like with buying a new back-pack. You had one which had 60 liters, and it was too small. Then you buy one with 100 liters, and it's still too small - but much heavier then the first one. The same goes for cars. And apartments. And benches in a lab. And money. Woah, I think it's a hardwired feature! I wouldn't be amazed if they found it on the 22 chromosome...
Regards,
January
P.S. It's not a flame. It's a joke.
"If you sat there and looked at this full frame, I think you ought to be put in an asylum," Craig said, noting that the picture quality is nowhere near a regular TV signal. "But if you sit and look at it at a small size, then it's very watchable."
:) I still have no urge to watch TV, even streamed to my computer, but I figure if the broadcaster providing the feed to the site doesn't have a problem with their content being rebroadcast, then the industry in general should just stay out of it. Hell, you'd think that they would support it... "And not only will your ad run during the widely acclaimed TV show, Another Bunch Of Teens in a House, but it will be seen by thousands more bored netheads tuning into Rebroadcast.com!"
Bwahaha! Too bad the proceedings that determine whether US companies can do the same thing aren't jury trials; I figure this one quote would go a long way towards getting approval passed.
Deosyne
Here are some links for those of you who don't like area codes and don't like license agreements. Obviously, people from countries other than Canada are going to view these streams, regardless of anything anyone posts, so you might as well be able to do it easily:
NBC
NewVR
CBC
Global
ABC
CTV
OnTV
PBS
TVO
SRC
CTS
CFMT
WB
CITY
I must say that watching people argue on some crazy talk show in French is rather humorous.
Or does Canadian TV *seem* to have even more commercials than the 35-min-show-that-lasts-an-hour US?
;)
Just an observation
Seriously, though, I tried this out, and it's pretty cool. Low-quality video, but what do you expect from RealVideo? Obviously it's no competition for "real" TV yet, but it's kinda nice to be able to run on a machine that doesn't have a TV card, but does have a cable modem.
I've been connected for about 20 min now without a hiccup - then again, it's not 8am EST yet either...the real test will be to see how it runs from the flaky LAN at work.
I'd much rather have a TV card, or even better a TV within viewing distance of the comp - but this is pretty cool nonetheless.
Serves them right for keeping me (and many others) from getting network access via C-Band. These small stations need to realize that it's Darwinian. Spend the bucks to keep up or get out of the business.
I just had a look at the site, and was shocked that they don't include YTV in their lineup. They show great stuff on that channel, (Reboot, Shadow Raiders, Dragon Ball Z, etc). It is the only reason that I bother to pay for cable.
Mark
------- Mark
The author of the original piece thought that this is the logical conclusion for streaming media, however I disagree with that. I feel that this is just the start of a new kind of broadcast service, that in the not to distant future will fuse together with other net technoligies and form the greatest evolutionary change to TV since the cathode ray tube. Soon, TV will no longer be a flat, 2 dimensional, one way medium, it will have the community spirit of the web along with the interaction to keep people's attention.....I can't wait :-)
This junk should be seperated. A couple of years ago people got upset by the first streaming video's, like Iguana TV. Is anyone else still outraged? The average US house has a TV blaring in the conner that no one really watches. People just have it to keep themselvs company. I don't want that kind of junk slowing down legitimate content and hope it can be kept off.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
You apparently aren't aware of the bill that was passed last week that allows the satellite companies (DirecTV and Dish at least) to carry offer local networks to residents in select cities. For instance, DirecTV now offers the New York networks to New York customers over their DirecTV receiver and LA networks to LA customers. More cities are on the way and Dish is offering a similar service. It doesn't do much for people is smaller cities whose networks DirecTV and Dish won't be carrying since you still can't legally receive a network from another city if you are in the Grade B countour. It also allows people outside of the Grade B countour to receive the national network feed from NY or LA, depending on time zone.
I think you're missing the point that this company is Canadian, not from the USA. The US congress has no say in the matter.
Demonstrant's Open Source Tools
I get internet through cable.
I then get TV through internet at a much lower quality.
Therefore I get TV the normal way through cable, but at a much lower quality.
Also, this way it can never match the quality of normal TV because it is using less of the cable from further away, in a stranger way.
Also, what is with that WebTV? Do people get internet through cable on their TVs?
"I ran a virus check on my computer and it removed Windows"
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.1 GCS/M/Sd?s-:a---->?c++UL+++P++++L++++ E+++W+++N+K-w---M-PSY+t+5?XtvbDI++
"If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port
And the bus is interrupted and the interrupts not caught
Than the socket packet pocket has an error to report"
Traditional programmer's nursery rhyme
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.1 GCS/M/Sd?s-:a---->?c++UL+++P++++L++++ E+++W+++N+K-w---M-PSY+t+5?XtvbDI++
Thus when showing US material something has to be added to cover the missing US commercial spots - the most famous filler being "Bob & Doug MacKenzie" which got started this way.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
" Computers have really changed the world,
In the past people would tar and feather
Now they tar and zip "
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.1 GCS/M/Sd?s-:a---->?c++UL+++P++++L++++ E+++W+++N+K-w---M-PSY+t+5?XtvbDI++
If I am at home, I would much prefer to watch a real TV ... But this is quite nice for when I am at work (with our T1), trying to finish up some stuff, but I want to catch a show ...
:-7
Unfortunately, daytime TV pretty much sucks no matter where you watch it (unless you are a fan of children's programming or those trashy talk shows)! Actually, now that I think about it, that is probably a Good Thing - I don't really need another distraction during my work day!
YS
"Arrr! The laws of science be a harsh mistress." -- Bender
For those of you who don't own sat dishes, here's the deal in brief: In the Good Old Days, the owner of a C-Band dish (big dish, not the little mini dishes like Primestar) could subscribe to stations like the Denver 5, and receive NBC/CBS/ABC via sat. Nice clean picture, the best you're going to get via NTSC. Also, if you lived in a time zone other than the origionating station, you gained another chance to watch your favorite show.
Then the cable cabal and the networks banded together, and managed to push the Satellite Home Viewers Act through. Now, if you are in what the FCC calls the "Grade B contour" (read: crappy, ghost-ridden image 80% of the time, nothing 20% of the time) of a local station, you are forbidden by law to receive network programming from satellite unless your local station provides you with a wavier. Yeah, and Mr. Gates will let vendors install Linux next to Win-98.
Given this, I wonder how long the networks will allow Webcasting to go on before they push for an amendment to the SHVA to cover this.
Just like Microsoft and NSI, the networks don't want to see their monopoly end, and just as assuredly, end it must due to technology.
www.eFax.com are spammers
Hmm, now we'll have the TV industry wake up to the same threat the music industry is facing now. Not that the concept is not obvious (after all, at a low level everything is just a stream of 0s and 1s), but this must be a red flag in their face.
... if nothing else, this means that as an independant producer you will be able to distribute your films to anyone who's on the internet. Wether anyone will care to watch your stuff is of course an entirely different matter.
Much as we needed the recording industry over the past 50 years to press those damn CDs/Records and distribute them, we're currently relying on the TV studios and networks to make/distribute their products. Also witness the current TV climate: much as the recording industry creates their own hypes and ignores non-conventional artists, the TV (and movie) industry is falling victim of their own success. Their desire to standardize everything and make it 'safe' for (their) ideal targe audience (families with kids, etc) results in a product which excells in conformity and blandness.
Given this, advances in technology which make it possible to distribute (and eventually produce) decent quality TV programs at low costs, will lead to the proliferation of 'independant' studios. With their monopoly on creation/distribution of movies vanishing in internet time, the TV studios will eventually face the same tide the music industry is facing now: We don't really like them, we don't really need them anymore; let's move to a medium we can control and just ignore the studios. Looking at the sad state of the (currently +- 30) TV stations I get via cable, this may just be good
if you thought the a/v stream was slow b4, wait until it gets 10 gazillion hits from /.'rs