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Brian J. Murrell wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:1182601851.8528.71.camel@pc.ilinx" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">On Fri, 2007-06-22 at 16:43 -0400, Michael Thome wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Sorry - I really *really* don't want to pay much extra for information
that I'm already paying for several times over (cable schedule, OTA
backstream, newspaper, replaytv).
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
I have some really *really* good news for you then! You don't have to
pay anything if you don't want to. All you have to do is get that
information from any or all of the other sources you are already paying
for it with into your Mythbox. Don't forget to share your solution back
to the Myth community that has so graciously provided you with your free
(as in beer) DVR.
</pre>
</blockquote>
Snarky, but the point remains that the middlemen are "re-monitizing"
every path to every bit of information that is out there - as I said, I
am willing to pay something for the added value, but neither Tribune
nor anyone else getting into this space should be expecting the
majority of people to fork up fees of the same order of magnitude as
services that offer rather more for your money (e.g. Tivo). I keep
seeing people say they'd be willing to pay $5/month, but Tivo service
is currently under $9/month for 3-year prepay plans - I'd be happy to
sign up for, say, $20/year forever, but for $60/year I'd rather spend
my TV time writing screen-scrapers. Myth offers a great solution, but
absent low-cost listings, there is a net negative advantage for typical
consumers - yah I know - the readers of this list are not typical
consumers, but this issue risks killing the Free (as in speech) DVR,
IMHO. There is some point where consumers get fed-up with paying more
fees - I'm reaching that point, and I just don't think that the right
response from the Myth community is to *immediately* offer to Tivo
ourselves to Tribune the instant that they decide they've had enough.<br>
<br>
MythTV (the software) is both free and Free (largely), but the typical
MythTV-based DVR box is neither. While we control the box and the
software, we depend on external entities for content and schedules. The
content providers want us to watch their video, either because they
sell ad-space or because they want us to pay for access - in both
cases, they want the schedules in the hands of viewers. The only
missing piece is the listings service. While it was nice while it
lasted, DataDirect did kill off other listings approaches in the US -
it is too bad Tribune isn't interested in continuing it, but that's
life.<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:1182601851.8528.71.camel@pc.ilinx" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">That said, I'd be happy to:
- sell back my recording schedules
- sell back my watching schedules (for a higher fee!)
- sell the providers the opportunity to attach URLs to schedule elements
(think click-through TV show sites back to content providers)
- sell the providers a realtime clickthrough feedback services, e.g.: I
hit a button on my remote during playback and myth sends my service a
tuple of (xmtvid programid time-in-stream (x, y)). If the service
responds with a URL, my playback pauses and mythweb opens the URL.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
Let me (but not the rest of the Myth community -- need to keep suppliers
of this information down so as not to incite a price-war) know when you
have found a buyer will ya?
</pre>
</blockquote>
Snarkalicious, but again, the point is that mythtv can offer an
information stream back to listings providers that they've been trying
to get their hands on for years. An exchange of one data stream for
another is not an unreasonable bargaining point - if not for Tribune,
someone else will be interested (albeit perhaps not in the September
time frame).<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:1182601851.8528.71.camel@pc.ilinx" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Bottom line - as someone on the zap2it list said before the forums went
belly-up this afternoon, Tribune is squandering their opportunities - if
they aren't interested, I'm sure someone else is...
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
Well, if *you* set up shop providing this information for the low fee
that you would be willing to pay, as a side benefit I'm sure you'd get
your listings for free. Let me know when you are ready for a subscriber
to your low fee. I will sign on.
</pre>
</blockquote>
Plain silly, here - one need not be interested in opening a hat shop to
be interested in wearing a hat. Tribune is simply ducking out of the
end-user business. There is obvious potential here, though the chance
that anyone not already in the business would be able to make it work
is probably zero. Google is the obvious possibility - they're already
in the data aggregation and distribution business and they certainly
have the infrastructure, but someone (probably already there) would
need to pitch a plan with some hope for down-stream profitability or
value-add (see above, or many many other posts here).<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
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<font color="#808080" size="2"><b>Michael Thome</b></font><br>
<font color="#8f8fff" size="2">BBN Technologies</font> <font
color="#808080" size="2">10 Moulton St, Cambridge MA 02138 USA</font><br>
<font color="#808080" size="2">phone: +1 617 873 1853</font><br>
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