Tivo vs TinselTown
p2pnet.net News:- With Hollywood and the National Football League breathing down their necks, the makers of the TiVo television recorder want users to be able to watch copies of shows and movies outside of their homes.
TiVo recently said it’ll offer a new service to allow subscribers to download movies and music via Broadband. But the studios and National Football League have filed with the Federal Communications Commission saying sending programs in a digital form could lead to the violation of copyrights.
How so?
The files could turn up on the p2p networks, they claim.
“The battle is one of several being waged in federal agencies and on Capitol Hill this summer, as content companies such as the movie and music companies seek to keep control of copyrighted works that increasingly can be digitally stored, copied, manipulated and distributed by users,” says MSNBC here, going on:
“In turn, several public advocacy groups and technology companies warn that the content companies are trying to revoke long-standing consumer rights to “fair use” of artistic works.”
Although some DVRs have burners so programs can be copied, generally speaking, users can’t send the results to other systems. TiVo wants to change that.
“Sometime this fall, the company plans to roll out a system that will allow programs to be transferred from the TiVo box to a computer via a small device attached to the PC,” says MSNBC. “The program could then be sent to other devices within the home and viewed on them. Such devices, including laptops or desktop computers, would be registered with the company and would share encoding and decoding technology that prevents viewing by nonregistered devices.”
Not if senator Orrin ‘Terminator’ Hatch can help it, however, because TiVo is also among the technologies threatened by Hollywood’s INDUCE Act with Hatch on point duty.
Be that as it may, “The federal government, including the FCC, is expected to decide on this issue in the coming months,” says TVPredictions.com here.
“However, regardless of whether TiVo is proven right, the company has clearly again alienated the industry it so badly needs. Despite improving numbers – the company now has nearly two million subscribers – future subscription growth will be slow. Advertising revenue is still critical to TiVo’s future.”
In other words, if Tivo doesn’t dance to Hollywood and the NFL’s tune, they’ll use the Advertising Weapon.
