Media providers don’t seem to have a clue about the web
I’m one of those people who dropped cable a couple of years ago and pretty much haven’t looked back. I’ve found places to get movies, TV shows from every network and sports, sports, sports. Pretty much anything I want to see. It’s amazing really.
What continues to bother me is how so many of the networks who are broadcasting the content and who are always fighting with cable providers about the fees they have to pay, keep allowing the cable providers to lock away their programs behind these imaginary walls.
Today I read how ESPN is trying to keep people who don’t subscribe to a traditional cable service out of their online offerings via their phone apps.
I am able to access the ESPN 3 events through a program running on my network called PlayOn.tv. It’s a good service and one of only two that I pay for (the other being Netflix), but I don’t really even need it. For my main TV I have a laptop with a HDMI cable attached to it and so I don’t need anything else. PlayOn is just something I started using before I bought a digital TV with an HDMI input and I keep it because it’s convenient and I don’t have to buy another computer for every TV.
ESPN is generally paying the cable companies to have their shows for the cables subscribers and so I can’t figure out for the life of me why they would turn away these customers they can get for free.
I can see how it’s bad for the cable companies, but do the content providers think the cable companies would risk dropping them and totally alienating their customers? Not to mention the browser on my Android phone is now good enough that I don’t have to use their app to watch the streams. I do have to use a WiFi connection to get around their blocking my T-mobile connection, but I’m quite sure I could find another way if I had to (there’s probably an app for that).
Well, listen up gatekeepers. Keeping people from what they want to see just to try to squeeze a little more money out of them will only hurt you in the long run and if you won’t allow them to see your content how they choose, they’ll find a way to see it without your service and you probably won’t like that nearly as much.
The days of you telling people how and when they will get to use your programs are about over. No rules, no laws, and no other anti-competitive behavior will help you. Give the people what they want and you will be much better off, and so will we.
