Today’s Crime: Watching Top Chef On My iPhone

Um, Bravo?

I have to shake my head in utter bewilderment when it comes to how the networks are fighting to come to grips with distribution in the digital age.

While sites like Hulu and apps like Boxee are great steps, they still make it impossible to watch shows outside of a stable WiFi hotspot.  What is this great fear of portability all about?  Why can I watch the show on my computer but not my iPhone. Why can I watch it in my apartment but not on the subway.

Obviously, there is a pretty simple way for me to solve this problem: if I want to take a show with me I download it from a BitTorrent site like PirateBay.  There I can get the complete episode in an open format that I can covert easily and move to my iPhone.  I also get the episode completely commercial-free.

What leaves me baffled is why the networks don’t simply offer a downloadable version with embedded ads.  Sure, I like ad-free but I’d rather get my entertainment through approved channels if possible.  Just like I, and many others, are happy to put up with ads on Hulu in exchange for free content, the same would go for content I download.

Instead, in some vain attempt to, um, protect their DVD sales(?) they force me to go get content from a “pirate” site and lose the potential ad revenue, too.

Silly networks…

Free Anti-Piracy Advice to NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX et. al.

According to a post on NewTeeVee:

Regardless of how many ads were shown, 90 percent of ABC.com viewers continued to say they’d rather get the show for free than pay to get it without ads.

Why aren’t the TV networks releasing copies of their shows to pirate sites complete with the ads built in?  While I do love my ad-free TV torrents, I tend to watch on Boxee even with the ads since there is simply no wait.  However, I miss being able to download and watch the show on other devices or outside of a wifi hotspot.

I think most people would be perfectly ok with downloading a show with the ads built in.  Sure, one could fast-forward past them but most people don’t bother, especially if the ads are short and varied.

Not only would the networks actually get to show advertisers an ever larger pool of eyeballs but they would be putting the pirates right out of business.

Just thinking aloud…

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Kevin Kelly Gets Me Thinking About What I Own

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Kevin Kelly has a great post on the notion of moving from an ownership-based world to an access-based world.  Here’s a taste:

Very likely, in the near future, I won’t “own” any music, or books, or movies. Instead I will have immediate access to all music, all books, all movies using an always-on service, via a subscription fee or tax. I won’t buy – as in make a decision to own — any individual music or books because I can simply request to see or hear them on demand from the stream of ALL. I may pay for them in bulk but I won’t own them. The request to enjoy a work is thus separated from the more complicated choice of whether I want to “own” it. I can consume a movie, music or book without having to decide or follow up on ownership.

In many ways, a lot of us are already there.  The truth is I haven’t bought an media in a physical format in ages.  Not a CD or DVD to speak of and even my dead-tree book purchases have plummeted.

Just what has replaced all of these hard-good purchases? My NetFlix subscription, Pandora, Boxee, Stanza, ITunes and all the rest.  When it gets right down to it about the only things I really buy-to-own these days are food and alcohol and I don’t really “own” those for long.

Of course, the idea of a subscription-based life works for goods that have little-to-no scarcity factor it seems less likely that rental will replace all aspects of ownership.

Check out KK’s whole post.

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Quick Little Boxee Update

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It has now been over a month living cable-free and I am loving it.  Not only am I saving money and watching far less “bad” TV – I define “bad” TV as that stuff you watch when you are just idly flipping through the channels – but I have gotten to really experience Boxee.

While there are now all sorts of ways to watch TV on your computer, I find Boxee continues to be the most comprehensive.  Now, with the addition of the ABC web-content it is just that much better.

I think my favorite part is that I can navigate it almost entirely via my little Apple remote while sitting back in bed.

Even if you are still paying for cable, go download Boxee and get a pretty good taste of the future.  My guess is that you will quickly begin to wonder just why you are still paying for cable.

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Cutting the Cable – How I Canceled My Cable, Saved $1000/yr and Still Get TV!

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Just about two weeks ago I completely severed my Time Warner Cable TV service that was costing me right about $80/month.

This was not because I was tired of TV.  In fact, TV is part of my job and keeping up on what’s on is pretty darn important.  Also, I sort of like TV sometimes, so I was not trying to get rid of the content.

So, what have I replaced my cable with?  Here’s the rundown:

1) Boxee – Boxee is still in alpha but I love it.  It is an app that pulls all the major networks web portals into a convenient central location and is completely controlable by my tiny little Mac remote.  Boxee currently gets me access to Hulu, CBS, WB, CNN, Comedy Central and a bunch of other stuff.  Plus, with my Netflix account, the somewhat disappointing but still cool list of “watch now” films and TV shows are also a click away.

2) EyeTV – This is a TV converter that lets me run an over-the-air HD antenna right into my MacBook Pro.  Since I live in NYC this gets me access to HD versions of NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, CW, whatever UPN is called now and a few random things from Ion.

I also got a 20″ external LCD monitor for $99 at Staples and have a set of inexpensive speakers that go into the headphone jack.

This gets me a vast amount of programming for a very low cost.

The few drawbacks: Still some sports I will have to go to a bar to see – but fewer every day and more networks live-stream.  I bought a super-cheap HD antenna and think I will need to upgrade.  To get a really constant signal means a bit of moving the antenna if I change channels.  Still, the picture is great.

There are also a few shows I love that I just can’t get through any network-approved method.  In these rare instances I take advantage of BitTorrent.  While it might fall into the not-quite-legal category it seems pretty obvious how they can stop me – offer the programs online with limited commercials and I am there!

Overall, while it takes a bit more work to get up and running than just flipping on the TV, I find I am more thoughtful about what and when I watch and I also get a huge satisfaction out of the knowledge that Time Warner Cable, a crappy monopoly, is only getting my $40/month for RoadRunner.  If anyone knows a comparable service available in Manahattan please let me know.

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Dear HBO, Showtime, et. al., Your Business Model is Absurd

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It just sort of dawned on me how completely ridiculous the whole notion of a network like HBO is in today’s digital world.

Back when HBO was born, their big offering was the chance to see lots and lots of movies for a pretty low price.  Sure, you had to wait maybe a year for it to make it there from the big screen, and you had to watch it when they decided to air it and you had to want to see the movies they had licensed.

For a time, this wasn’t a bad deal.  It was a good enough deal that millions decided to pay an extra $20 or whatever for that programming. But that was before DVRs and Hulu and Boxee and NetFlix WatchNow and all the other ways I can watch all the same basic movies HBO (et. al.) offers but I can decide when I want to watch them and it’s FREE!.

Now, HBO (et. al.) are trying to convince people that, while you can see the same movies they charge you to watch for free through other methods BUT check it out, now they have original programming. Actually, they’ve had that for decades, but now it is the centerpiece, it’s what they’re asking you to pay for – and they’re asking for the same amount of money as before.

So, to review, HBO wants me to pay them a premium above and beyond my basic cable fees to watch original dramas and comedies. Isn’t that what all the basic cable channels already do? Sure, they have ads, but that’s what DVR is for.

That leaves only two things HBO (et. al.) still offer that you can’t get on basic cable – boobs and cursing.  Is that really worth $20 a month? Really?

Oh, and that HBO show you love enough to pay for, “Flight of the Conchords?”  Yeah, HBO is premiering the new season on FunnyOrDie.com. That’s a free website they bought.

Why the hell are people paying for HBO (et. al.)? Seriously? No kidding.  Leave me a comment.

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A Quick Boxee Update

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Since the powers the be at Boxee were kind enough to let me into the alpha test their cool new software I thought I’d share a few brief thoughts.

I am in the process of ending my relationship with my cable company (Time Warner Cable of NY/NJ) because it is so damn expensive and I am finding more and more of what I want to watch if available online even without the sort of “piracy” big media fears.

My first step was to replace my ancient 19″ not-flat, not-even-square, TV with an inexpensive 19″ flatscreen LCD monitor ($99 at Staples on sale).  I am also getting myself the eyeTV device from El Gato.

So, last night, I hooked up my monitor to my MacBook Pro, fired up Boxee and within minutes was watching Sunday’s episode of American Dad (underrated show, I think).  Not only that, but I was able to control the entire Boxee menu system with my tiny Apple remote!

The amount of content already available on Boxee was impressive and there is certainly more to come.  Combined with my HD-over-the-air antenna, the ABC player and a few choice grey-law pirate sites there is almost nothing left I won’t be able to watch.

So, I spent a total of $200 to save a total of $90/month!

Sweet.

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How Many Video Portals Does It Take To Screw In A Lightbulb?

Image by The Rocketeer via Flickr

The NYT has a good look at the ever-growing number of sites on the web offering you, the viewer, the chance to watch high-quality programming and wonders if they are all just a flash in the pan, much like the portals of yore:

“Now it feels like the same thing is happening with Internet video. As good television programming has become more available to online providers over the last year or two, new video sites have been popping up faster than “Law and Order” reruns. And as with the portals, big companies as well as start-ups are trying to get into the game.”

As I mentioned yesterday when I begged for an invite to Boxee (got one, too! thanks Boxee!), there is a big question as to whether or not any of these efforts will be around this time next year.

The biggest problem they all face is that they all offer the same basic content.  Now that the TV networks have decided to set a vast majority of their shows free via syndication, embedding and the like, it no longer takes a genius to find last weeks “Grey’s Anatomy” online.

Basically, everyone is just a rebroadcaster of some sort and none of them own the core product – the shows.

I think that the idea of everything on demand and on one screen is where we are headed, it’s just a question of time.

Boxee Looks So Cool… Let Me In!

Boxee is sort of a mashup of AppleTV, DVR and Sling.Box but looks so much cooler:

Vodpod videos no longer available.

There are only two problems:

1) It is still in beta and they have yet to send me an invite.

2) It feels a bit like a technological placeholder than an actual evolution.  It is one big step closer to a full integration of web and cable but it is not the final step by any stretch of the imagination.

Still, in the meantime, it looks pretty sweet.

Hey, Boxee, can I please get an invite?

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