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Fox to erect a "paywall" Aug. 15

J

Joe_Capitano

So you miss "The Simpsons," for example, and want to see it the next day on fox.com or hulu. If your TV uses the good old-fashioned tried-and-true antenna method to get your local Fox station, you're about to face a wait.

Basics: if your video provider of choice is "approved," you get next day access to full episodes. If not, there's going to be a 7-day delay.

Read and respond...

NY Times: Fox to Limit Next-Day Streaming on Hulu to Paying Cable Customers

Remember, this is the over-the-air broadcast network and not the cable/satellite outlets you do have to pay for.
 
There is nothing on Fox I would pay to see.

Wait......that's wrong.

There is nothing on Fox I will watch, pay or free.
 
Look for more of this. TV net affiliates are charging premium fees for cable and satellite carriage. In order to maintain program value, they're going to try to place cable/satellite nonsubscribers at a disadvantage for online viewing. It's nothing a DVR won't solve. And even SD broadcasts look and sound better than online.
 
I have Comcast and watch some shows On Demand. Fox and ABC have become the first providers to disable fast forward - so you can't skip commercials. Rewind still works though, in case you want to catch a scene you missed...or watch the commercials again. ;D
 
@musichead: How soon before the networks figure out a way to disable skipping commercials during DVR viewing, either casual "real time" or recorded?

Unbelievable.
 
By the way... Remember this development the next time Fox or ABC starts squabbling with your cable provider once again over carriage entitlement fees.
 
DToTheJ said:
@musichead: How soon before the networks figure out a way to disable skipping commercials during DVR viewing, either casual "real time" or recorded?

Unbelievable.
Click to expand...

I watch most shows thru DVR, partially for time-shift convenience, but primarily so I can skip commercials. I realize that this is a growing problem for commercial networks because they rely on advertising revenue. As DVRs proliferate, advertisers will not want to buy time if a significant percentage of their audience is not watching their commercials.

Nevertheless, if (when?) the day comes when they can disable fast forward, for DVRs, I'll mostly stop watching commercial shows, and stick with HBO and the internet. The problem is - most of the internet sites that stream commercial TV shows have already disabled fast forward. So far, they only run one minute of commercials per break, so it's not to obtrusive - but how long will that last?

Let's face it, they have us by the short hairs.
 
DToTheJ said:
@musichead: How soon before the networks figure out a way to disable skipping commercials during DVR viewing, either casual "real time" or recorded?

Unbelievable.
Click to expand...
Well, the DVR I linked to is one of the few standalone hard disk recorders/DVD burners. In other words, it's not linked to Tivo, a cable company or a satellite company. It might be easy for content providers to strongarm cable and satellite companies to further restrict their DVR controls, but not the few standalone units. And if they try to restrict the standalone DVRs the way they mucked with digital audio units (copycode) and media files (DRM), consumers will do what they did with music - turn to the computer and find ways around the restrictions. I would think the media companies prefer the built-in restrictions they already have in cable and satellite boxes now (no digital output, no built in disc recorders) as opposed to driving viewers toward using computer-based DVRs where all bets are off.
 
musichead1029 said:
DToTheJ said:
@musichead: How soon before the networks figure out a way to disable skipping commercials during DVR viewing, either casual "real time" or recorded?

Unbelievable.
Click to expand...
Well, the DVR I linked to is one of the few standalone hard disk recorders/DVD burners. In other words, it's not linked to Tivo, a cable company or a satellite company. It might be easy for content providers to strongarm cable and satellite companies to further restrict their DVR controls, but not the few standalone units. And if they try to restrict the standalone DVRs the way they mucked with digital audio units (copycode) and media files (DRM), consumers will do what they did with music - turn to the computer and find ways around the restrictions. I would think the media companies prefer the built-in restrictions they already have in cable and satellite boxes now (no digital output, no built in disc recorders) as opposed to driving viewers toward using computer-based DVRs where all bets are off.
Click to expand...

Unlike music, TV shows are bandwidth intensive. If you want an HD version of a sitcome it's about 550mg or about 180mb in standard def. This is going to be a lot if you have caps on your Internet service. As more and more caps are in place, the uploaders will be less as well, so torrent users will have longer times as people will restrict uploads to the bare minimum.

Also isn't there a built in flag in the ATSC standard that would prevent copying? I don't know if it's ever been activated, but I thought I read somewhere in the ATSC standard is a flag that would limit if the OTA broadcast could be recorded. I could be wrong about that though. Anyone know?
 
Except that they are capping your bandwidth on a lot of systems now. As I said, an HD sitcom of 30 minutes is about half a gig. And the same sitcom in SD is 180mb.

And a torrent systems demands you upload, so you're gonna have to spend some bandwidth in that direction as well. If you download an occasional show you missed it won't make much of a difference, but if you use it as your main source of TV, even a 250gb cap will hurt you if you DL high def.

I am thinking as the future progresses we're going to go back to the system where we will be charge by usage exclusively. Kind of like when AOL would charge you by the minutes you used, only I see it coming where you'll be charged by the bandwidth you download.
 
Mark said:
Except that they are capping your bandwidth on a lot of systems now.
Click to expand...

Hasn't happened anywhere around me yet but if it does, depending on the cost, they'll be looking at a lost customer.

The Internet is a luxury, not a necessity.
 
Ever since Fox axed 24, I don't watch anything there except for COPS (And even that show is in constant rerun/recycle mode now)

Besides, I can watch COPS either locally on the Fox affiliate and/or on cable anyway so Fox VOD going pay won't bother me one bit :D

Cheers ;)
 
Mark said:
And a torrent systems demands you upload, so you're gonna have to spend some bandwidth in that direction as well. If you download an occasional show you missed it won't make much of a difference, but if you use it as your main source of TV, even a 250gb cap will hurt you if you DL high def.
Click to expand...
250 hours of HD content a month isn't enough for you?

That's enough for you to watch all three hours of CBS primetime every day. And your wife to watch all three hours of NBC primetime every day too. With enough left over to do your surfing and contribute a few dozen GB of uploads.
 
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