DISH to partner with Aereo?

Mochuf

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Feb 16, 2012
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It was a Supreme Court Ruling (Sony Betamax) that user controlled copies are not a copyright violation. I doubt that Congress would work to work around that decision.

They sure could. All they have to do is allow ota broadcasters to encrypt their signal. And since breaking drm is illegal, there's your answer. Now would congress pass a law like that? In today's environment where the FCC wants to take away even more ota bandwith, it's possible.
 

Laddyboy

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Dec 12, 2006
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They sure could. All they have to do is allow ota broadcasters to encrypt their signal. And since breaking drm is illegal, there's your answer. Now would congress pass a law like that? In today's environment where the FCC wants to take away even more ota bandwith, it's possible.

If OTA is encrypted, how the heck are any of us going to be able to receive it on our TVs?
 

Mochuf

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Feb 16, 2012
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If OTA is encrypted, how the heck are any of us going to be able to receive it on our TVs?

1) Sell you a box.
2) The government gives you a box (like they did with the digital transition) and have you pay re-trans fees to the local stations. If you're under a certain income, either the government will pay the fees or the FCC will have the stations waive the fee.
 

Bobby

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Except, the airways are public property and Congress has decreed that a transmission license for use of those airways is contingent on free reception of the signal by the public....
 

Tampa8

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This is going to be great to see unfold......... Get your snacks ready and have a seat.

:popcorn
 

Tampa8

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I agree, and under normal circumstances the Networks might not be so concerned. But they have to be stunned by the early Court ruling, and now add to that Charlie getting involved. We have to assume their lawyers will watch every step, contest every step, and want anything and everything revealed if they can do it.
 

Mochuf

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Except, the airways are public property and Congress has decreed that a transmission license for use of those airways is contingent on free reception of the signal by the public....
Except any law that congress passes can be repealed or modified. People seem to forget the fact that if a right isn't in the constitution or the Bill of Rights/amendments, it only takes a simple majority of congress to remove or change that right. Hell nowadays, laws can be altered by the executive branch (think EPA).
 

mike123abc

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Except, the airways are public property and Congress has decreed that a transmission license for use of those airways is contingent on free reception of the signal by the public....

Tell that to the airwaves carrying cell signals, Dish/DIRECTV, etc. The government allows encryption on a lot of airwaves. Most the cell phone system is sitting on former TV channels that are now encrypted and pay for use.
 

rdehaven

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Apr 29, 2004
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I believe that the broadcasters are required to have the primary channel be in MPEG2 and unencrypted. They could conceivably have the primary stream be SD and encrypt a second HD stream AND use MPEG4 if they wish.
 

Scott Greczkowski

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I believe that the broadcasters are required to have the primary channel be in MPEG2 and unencrypted. They could conceivably have the primary stream be SD and encrypt a second HD stream AND use MPEG4 if they wish.

Yup and then no one see their shows... sounds like a smart move to me. :)
 

Teehar

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I don't see how any other entity has any right to know what's being discussed.

Nor Do I.I can guarantee you,that the if the shoe was on the other foot,the broadcasters wouldn't disclose diddly squat.
 

Mochuf

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I believe that the broadcasters are required to have the primary channel be in MPEG2 and unencrypted. They could conceivably have the primary stream be SD and encrypt a second HD stream AND use MPEG4 if they wish.
What broadcasters are required to do could change pretty quickly if both the legislative and executive branches agreed to it.
 

rdehaven

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Yup and then no one see their shows... sounds like a smart move to me. :)

I'm CERTAINLY not a fan of DRM at all. But if they allowed everyone (OTA, Sat and Cable front ends) to have the SD version of the content for free, the FCC requirements for the free airwaves are met.

I can then see them selling the HD streams to the commercial users. That way every gets the value of the public airwaves and the 'business' creates a new higher value toll-booth. MVPD providers would line up to pay that toll (they already are with the recent growth in retrans fees). Aereo could be limited to lower 'value' SD content or sign up for the HD version themselves.

I am very hopeful that Aereo and Dish will prevail in all of the recent issues. I'm a huge slingbox fan and I think that start-ups that are disruptive like Aereo are simply addressing a real need from the view of today's consumers. In my opinion, the media/entertainment businesses want to squelch these technoligies only to slow down the pace of 'change' to protect the long standing business model.
 

Laddyboy

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Dec 12, 2006
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I'd guess this is blather at the moment in an attempt to try to condition the battlefield with Aereo. I don't think network OTA has a lot of time left as they are getting killed in the ratings due to diversification in programming from the providers. They no longer have the captive eyeballs they once did not so long ago. They offer their programming for free OTA as a condition of not having to pay a king's ransom for the bandwidth, but still want everyone to pay them some more. I don't blame them for wanting that, but this I'll take my ball and go home seems juvenile. There isn't a lot of programming on Fox I would miss so if they choose to go that route, it'd be interesting. I would also think the affiliates provide a cash stream they might miss if they fold up.
 

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