by ·Comments Off on How I became internationally known

Me, in front of my largest satellite dishI’ve been putting this off because it’s a little embarrassing. But I suppose I really ought to tell you that in the back of its latest issue, the global digital TV magazine Tele-Audiovision (formerly Tele-Satellite) published a 9-page spread on me and my FTA websites.

It all started at the NAB Show last year, where I met the publisher, Alexander Weise. His magazine has had a booth at NAB and CES for years, but this was the first time I caught him sitting at it. Alexander’s a friendly, burly guy who looks a little older than his Page 3 photo. He’s got a good command of English, though it’s clear that it’s not his first language. I told him how important Tele-Satellite had been to me when I was just getting started with FTA, and we chatted about what’s going on in North America. (FTA is much more popular elsewhere.)

I gave him my card and talked about what I do here, and Alexander surprised me by suggesting that he make a stop in Denver on his way home to Germany. I had thought that Alexander was just making friendly conversation, but he called a few days later to set up a meeting. When the day came, he arrived and got to work efficiently gathering what he needed. He asked me a few questions about my work, though he might have made some notes from our NAB meeting. When he saw the dishes that I use, he got out his camera and posed me next to a couple of them. He also took a few other pictures; based on what was published, I believe that he printed every photo that he took at my place.

After lunch nearby, Alexander dropped me off and drove away, and that had been the last I had heard about it. In a previous life, I used to edit a magazine, so I know what it’s like to keep an article in inventory for a rainy day but also what it’s like when a projected article just doesn’t pan out. Months went by, and I quietly doubted that any of our visit would ever see print. At CES a couple of months ago, I dropped by the Tele-Audiovision booth a couple of times just to say hi. The folks there always said that I just missed Alexander, so I gave them my card to pass along. Did that card poke my story loose from its file cabinet? Or was Alexander just waiting until he needed something like that to fill an issue?

I forget who it was, but I heard a comedian once say that when you look back at what you were like a year ago, you curse at your mistakes. (He followed up by wondering whether that ever changes; will you complain at 97 about the dumb stuff you did when you were 96?) Sure enough, when I look at this 11-month-old moment frozen in time, I see some things that I could have done better. I know it was a warm April day, but maybe shorts weren’t the best choice if I was going to be in the photos. It was fun to talk about possibly streaming video, but the delivery method, TVU Networks, didn’t work out nearly as well as I’d hoped. The article’s title “The FTA Fan” makes it sound as if I do this all just for fun; maybe if I’d stressed the serious public service aspect he would have written something different.

So now you know the whole story. If you want to take a look at my motorized 1.2-meter dish, go for it. If you’re impressed by my easy-to-make wood platforms, let me know and I’ll write more about them. Or just go to discover a great magazine about the TV receivers we like to use. Tele-Audiovision is always worth reading, even when I’m not in it.

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illustration of a television with a sad face

© Depositphotos.com / Matthew Cole

Here at FTABlog, we’ve followed ivi.tv’s short rise to fame. We marveled at its ability to bring every over-the-air channel from its host cities to every viewer across the country. We subscribed to its monthly service when it was available. We even used it to watch Jeopardy from a faraway city. Then the big media companies with very deep pockets got the courts to agree that the very real copyright law loophole that ivi employed to justify its business plan wasn’t enough to override subsequent retransmission laws. Ivi gamely appealed its verdict, but today the Supreme Court declined to hear that appeal. It’s over.

All along, I said that the case was as if a Native American tribe had discovered an old treaty giving it ownership of what became Las Vegas, then showed it to the casinos and asked them to pay rent. I don’t care if the treaty had been notarized by President James Garfield, there’s enough money on the line that someone would find a way to invalidate it. Technically legal often isn’t enough.

And for one more metaphor, the original injunction against ivi was like a dear friend slipping into a coma. No one was optimistic about its recovery, but each further setback was still bad news. With the Supreme Court dropping the matter, it’s as though our friend has quietly passed away. Rest in peace, ivi.tv. You are missed.

Update: The fine folks at GeekWire also weighed in on this legal end-of-the-road. According to GeekWire, ivi issued a statement (where?) about the decision: “TV is broken and stifling innovation isn’t going to fix it.  There’s too much at stake to allow copyright conglomerates to ruin the opportunity to gracefully innovate to new business models rather than facing utter demise. Did they learn nothing from the music industry? This is why the FCC must step up and take action.” Go read the whole GeekWire article.

by ·Comments Off on Fox goes after another streamer – Dish Network
Dish CEO Joe Clayton announces Happy Hopper Day on February 12.

Dish CEO Joe Clayton announces Happy Hopper Day on February 12. (from the @DISHNews Twitter feed)

I’m getting tired of this.

Fox Broadcasting has asked for a preliminary injunction against Dish Network to block the new features of its Hopper with Sling receiver. “Paying Dish for a satellite television subscription does not buy anyone the right to receive Fox’s live broadcast signal over the Internet or to make copies of Fox programs to watch ‘on the go,’ because Dish does not have the right to offer these services to its subscribers in the first place,” Fox said. A hearing is set for March 22. (You can read more about it from Bloomberg or Multichannel News.)

Where to begin? None of these features are new, they’re just more convenient. I’ve been watching Fox over-the-air broadcasts (among others) remotely through my older Dish receiver for a couple of years now. I’ve been recording Fox shows on various DVRs for over a decade. (There are times I still miss my TiVo.) While watching those shows on my DVR, I’ve skipped past commercials. And for a few special occasions, I’ve recorded those shows to my computer and transferred them to a mobile device. All of these actions are legal, fair use for my private viewing.

And how did Fox get those programs to me? By broadcasting over the public airwaves that it is licensed to use, for which it paid next to nothing. In exchange for serving us, the viewers, who own those airwaves. If some new technology allows more in-market viewers the opportunity to watch more of an OTA station’s programming, I would expect that the broadcaster would be all for it. Instead, we have a system where anyone who doesn’t watch with an OTA antenna is expected to pay for the privilege, money that goes to enrich the broadcaster’s shareholders.

The good news, if there is any here, is that Dish Network may be the least court-averse company in the USA, and it has extremely deep pockets. I expect that Dish will fight this as far as it can go, and if we’re all very lucky, Dish might be able to establish a legal precedent to show that watching TV from your own OTA antenna is always okay, even when it’s on a smartphone in another city. Then broadcasters might be forced to remember that they need to serve viewers as well as shareholders.

 

by ·Comments Off on FilmOn provides reasons not to subscribe

FilmOn viewer screen shotYesterday, I said I’d tell you why I probably won’t renew my FilmOn subscription when it expires later this month. Let me start with some background.

Early in 2012, I took the plunge and paid for a year’s worth of FilmOn. It had an interesting set of channels, it included a USB over-the-air antenna to supplement them, and it wasn’t much more than $100. That’s a pretty good deal, but it got better. A couple of weeks later, as I was poking around to see what other channel packages were offered, FilmOn presented me with the option to add its British set for no added cost. Cool! I jumped on that, and I’ve been enjoying BBC, ITV and the rest ever since. I presume it was some database glitch that let me subscribe from the states, but I certainly didn’t complain.

On top of all that, as I wrote a couple of months ago, FilmOn added some New York over-the-air channels. The availability of those New York channels has been spotty, and I only see them on my internet browser; I can’t see them from my Android phone, iPhone, or Windows standalone player. But hey, I always love out-of-market over-the-air stations. And just within the last week or two, FilmOn also added my local Denver ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates, though still no Fox.

Quick aside: There’s an old joke that says the moon is more important than the sun because the moon lights our way when it’s dark, but the sun only shines when it’s already bright outside. That’s the way I feel about TV stations; I can get the major networks anywhere, but the little networks on local sub-channels and low-powered stations are often harder to find. Ivi.tv always carried every channel from each of its markets, and Aereo apparently carries every New York channel. I wish FilmOn would follow suit.

In addition to the local channels, FilmOn has added a ton of video podcasts. At first, they were all mixed in with the regular 24/7 channels, but now they’re labeled On Demand. Unfortunately, it appears that the podcast feeds don’t always update often; I’ve been seeing the same edition of the Onion News Network, from October 2012, every time I check.

In another change, FilmOn has positioned a great set of channels as free for anyone. The free channels include four from the UK (Yesterday, Challenge, 4 Music, and Sky News), any available local broadcast channels, and the majority of FilmOn’s regular networks. That makes a purchase decision more difficult, because I’d no longer be buying all the channels, I’d only be paying for the subset that I couldn’t otherwise watch for free. (FilmOn also offers a large, hoary set of movies on demand for subscribers only, but that’s not that appealing to this Netflix household.)

So now that renewal time draws near, I don’t see any offer that’s nearly as good as what I chose a year ago. Now the full package of channels is $199 per year. The New York locals are $99 per year, and if I thought I could rely on them, I’d be interested. And if I could somehow be certain that I’d keep my current full set of British channels for another year, I’d be interested. But in general, FilmOn changes so frequently that it’s hard to imagine what it will look like a year from now. Once (if?) FilmOn settles down, it’ll be easier for a prospective subscriber to judge just how much it’s worth.

by ·Comments Off on FilmOn expands to six cities, sues Aereo

Filmon LA logoIn a remarkable press release, FilmOn and its owner, Alki David, announced that the service now streams affiliates of the four major broadcast networks to seven markets. After suspending its major network feeds from Los Angeles and San Francisco (more on that in a moment), FilmOn offers the big four in New York, Dallas, Chicago, Miami, Washington, and Denver, and says it will add nine other cities in the next two weeks.

Way down in the 12th paragraph of the release, it finally mentions what the release’s headline screams, that David is suing Aereo for trademark infringement, saying that it’s too close to FilmOn’s over-the-air computer plugin, called the Aero. Now that’s burying the lede!

You really need to check out this rambling, oddly punctuated release. Here’s one paragraph, copied and pasted verbatim:

Personally I blame the lawyers said Mr. David. If it were not for their insatiable desire to create billable controversy we would not be in the situation where I have to spend my time and resources to punish them.

And it wraps up with a quoted assertion that “FilmOn.com has more content than Aero(sic) and Netflix combined”. Sure.

For a more impartial view of these events, check out Eriq Gardner’s story in today’s The Hollywood Reporter. According to Gardner, “The lawsuit represents a specialty of the eccentric David: revenge litigation. After he was sued by the broadcasters, for instance, he turned around and filed a lawsuit against CBS for facilitating piracy.” Gardner also notes that FilmOn lost an injunction, but it’s effective only in the area served by the Ninth Circuit of the US Court of Appeals. Which is why those California stations aren’t streaming.

Personally, my FilmOn subscription expires this month, and I probably won’t renew it. I’ll write more about why, including FilmOn’s recent content changes, tomorrow.