Steal This Show

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Reply-To: <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2005 23:56:28 -0800
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Steal This Show

January 30, 2005

Steal This Show
  By LORNE MANLY and JOHN MARKOFF
   
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/30/arts/television/30manl.html?
ex=1264741200&en=e82b9db497df2928&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland>

ISAAC RICHARDS didn't think of himself as a rebel, or a shock to the
well-lubricated system of the television industry. He was merely
unhappy with the cable box provided by his local operator.

  Dismayed by the sluggish channel-changing capability and the sparsely
informative program guide, he decided to build a better cable box from
scratch. Today, nearly three years since Mr. Richards, a 26-year-old
computer software programmer in Willoughby, Ohio, embarked on his
quest, hundreds of thousands of do-it-yourself television viewers are
using the free software program he wrote, MythTV, to turn desktop
personal computers into customized cable boxes, complete with the
ability to record shows, surf the Web and strip out unwanted
commercials.

  The members of the MythTV community, who now do not have to pay
monthly fees to rent set-top boxes or digital video recorders, have
plenty of more mischievous company in trying to outwit the television
industry. Millions of viewers are now watching illegal copies of
television programs - even full seasons copied from popular DVD's -
that are flitting about the Internet, thanks to other new programs that
allow users to upload and download the large files quickly. And
entrepreneurial souls are busily concocting even newer applications,
including one that searches the Internet for illegal copies of any
television shows you may desire and automatically downloads them to
your computer.

  These high-tech tricks address desires that have become standard in an
age of instant media gratification: the desire to watch what you want,
when and how you want it. And they're turning television -
traditionally beamed into homes at the convenience of the broadcast and
cable networks - into something more flexible, highly portable and
commercial free.

Not surprisingly, the repercussions - particularly the rapidly growing
number of shows available for the plucking online - terrify industry
executives, who remember only too well what Napster and other
file-sharing programs did to the music industry. They fret that if
unchecked, rampant trading of files will threaten the riches of the
relatively new and surprisingly lucrative television DVD business. It
could endanger sales of television shows to international markets and
into syndication. And it could further endanger what for the past 50
years has been television's economic linchpin: the 30-second
commercial.

  Hollywood has gotten a lot of headlines in recent months for fighting
the online traffic in feature films. But behind the scenes, the studios
and networks are just as focused on the proliferation of television
shows being downloaded. Even more quietly, the conglomerates that
produce the vast majority of television shows are scrambling to beat
the downloaders by offering viewers a slew of attractive new gewgaws,
from video-on-demand offerings that could let viewers order up an
episode of "CSI" any time they like to a device that allows viewers who
tune into the middle of a live TV broadcast to restart the program
instantly.

"We have to try as an industry to get ahead of this and give the
audience an attractive model before the illegal file-sharer providers
meet their needs," said David F. Poltrack, CBS Television's executive
vice president for research and planning.

"The clock is ticking on this," he added.

[snip]


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