I normally don't follow the Consumer
Electronics Show, but this year is different. The way in which it is
different for me is also part of the story of the show.
I've been watching coverage of
the show via the live
stream from This Week in Tech. As well as this, I have Rhythmbox
(an Audio/Video tool that supports RSS) automatically
downloading both the MP3 audio and the Video downloads for their TWiT Live @CES.
The live video stream, as well
as the video stream, has been great to watch. In fact, it makes me
dream for the day when all the content I access comes this way: over
the Internet. I really find television annoying, and want more
content on-demand where I can automatically via RSS download it ahead
of time and watch it when I have the time -- and on the devices of my
choice.
I should jump back a month to
my intervention
at the CRTC on December 9'th. The context was the
so-called "Local TV Matters" debate which has very little
to do with local television. This is a public feud between broadcast networks and broadcast undertakings (cable and satellite
companies), each claiming that the other one is responsible for the
decline in local television content. In the beginning of my
intervention I suggested that they were both wrong, and suggested my
answer to them was "a pox on all their houses".
The latter part of my
intervention focused on what I consider to be the best way to solve
longer-term problems with television, which is to abolish this
communications exception. We have other connections into our home
for a variety of utilities, with energy having a structural
separation between the content (electricity generation, natural gas)
and the distribution network. The distribution network needs to be
supplied from a fully neutral third party that is not involved in
content, with the utility model being the one that I suggest.
With this structural
separation we will finally get the competition we need to more
forward with more options on the content and communications services
side. In December I finally got rid of Bell for my home phone,
switching to TekSavvy. While this switches where my billing goes to, this service is still
based on a wholesale service from Bell. No matter who I hire for
services, there are only two communications wires into my home: one
allegedly "owned" by Bell, the other by Rogers.
I am
actively looking to do the same thing for my television (getting rid
of the BDU -- I don't want Rogers, Bell or ExpressView), as well as
my cell phone (I don't want Rogers, Bell or Telus -- I currently use
the Fido brand from Rogers). I am quite excited about the
possibility of competitive cell phone companies, such as WindMobile. One of the big announcements just before CES was Google's launch of
the Nexus
One. Turns out that Wind
is already in conversation with Google to have this phone
on their network. Will I be able to get an unlocked (all meanings
of the word: unlocked from carrier, and unlocked from the
manufacturer with a FLOSS operating system) Android Open
Source phone in Ottawa some time this year? Seems like this may
happen!
This brings me back to
Television. I also want this unlocked, where the content is not tied
to any specific brand of devices. As soon as you lock the content it
will be less valuable to me, and even if I own one of the "approved"
devices I am unlikely to purchase the content. The reality is that
there is so much content out there that it is simply not worth my
time to access content where the distributor is going out of their
way to make the content less valuable.
One of the cool devices
announced was the Boxee
Box. This is another unlocked
media device such as the Neuros
OSD device I purchased a few years back. While the OSD is
focused on being a PVR device for recording and playing back what was
recorded, Boxie is a derivative of the FLOSS XBMC media center that
is focused on getting content from the Internet onto your television. For those in the United States they actively work to ensure that Hulu works,
despite the fact that Hulu seems to be actively trying to break their
service to not work with all devices. Hopefully Hulu will grow up
and instead work with Boxee to ensure ongoing compatibility.
In Canada we're still waiting
for a similar service, given Hulu is geo-blocking on behalf of the
Canadian broadcasting monopolists rather than making arrangements
with Canadian advertisers to pay for the content. I would even be
willing to become a paid subscriber if that option were available,
but that would assume compatibility with my DRM-free devices. The
ability to download and not be dependent on the quality of the
network connection would also be far more valuable than streaming.
Some shows are made available,
but even the video
content from CBC doesn't
work on the devices that I tried. The problem is that the
broadcast networks still focused on legacy distribution channels,
adding to their legacy television service an online service that is
only tested on the historically popular legacy desktop operating
systems and browsers. They aren't looking to the future set-top boxes
which tend to be more standards-based.
While the hardware and
software is there, the traditional content isn't. Will this be the
year that I simply switch to competing content such as what the TWIT
network is building, dropping watching traditional television content
entirely? When do you think Google will be offering major studio content through some distribution service (YouTube or otherwise) that will make much of the traditional BDU sector irrelevant? What are your thoughts on the future of television, and
how those producing television seem to be going out of their way to
keep us in the past?
P.S. Two more episodes of Dollhouse,
and then I'll be buying the Season 2 DVD as soon as it is released. It is quite possible that buying DVDs is how I'll be watching TV
Drama in the future. I'll be a paying customer, but my support won't
go into the bogus statistics used to determine what shows will have
new episodes made.
---
Russell McOrmond is a self employed consultant,
policy coordinator for CLUE:
Canada's Association for Free/Libre and Open Source Software,
co-coordinator for Getting Open Source Logic INto Governments (GOSLING),
and host for Digital
Copyright Canada.
