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ABC, CBS Fox Join Hulu In Blocking Google TV
Welcome to the new, fractured, half-insane Internet
As we've been covering, Hulu recently thought it would be a brilliant idea to block Google TV devices (be it the Logitech Revue or GoogleTV-embedded Sony TVs) from accessing Hulu.com -- in turn blocking millions of potential ad viewers. Given Hulu has made it clear they're simply an extension of broadcaster desire, it's not too surprising to see the major networks now also blocking GoogleTV viewers from accessing their content and ads. Why fight against a natural evolution of the set top? Fear:
quote:
"Everybody knows the lock that Google has on Internet traffic in terms of advertising. If you take that model and you extend it to television, suddenly Google's power becomes enormous in the advertising space and the broadcasters don't like that idea," Baker said. Google said in a statement that its new Google TV service "enables access to all the Web content you already get today on your phone and PC, but it is ultimately the content owner's choice to restrict users from accessing their content on the platform."
Between retransmission disputes shifting into the Internet space, walled gardens, and business models that restrict what content you can see based on your ISP, things are fracturing as broadcasters and cable try to force an open Internet into their closed, gated and locked business model vision. Fortunately for consumers, any effort to block what's essentially browsers accessing Internet content is destined to fail, though the evolution away from old business models won't be pretty to watch.
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baineschile
2600 ways to live
Premium Member
join:2008-05-10
Sterling Heights, MI

baineschile

Premium Member

Eh

"As we've been covering, Hulu recently thought it would be a brilliant idea to block Google TV devices (be it the Logitech Revue or GoogleTV-embedded Sony TVs) from accessing Hulu.com -- in turn blocking millions of potential ad viewers. "

Millions? How many Google TVs have sold so far? Barely a few thousand, last I read.

Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02

Karl Bode

News Guy

Re: Eh

Potential.

MSauk
MSauk
Premium Member
join:2002-01-17
Sandy, UT

MSauk

Premium Member

Re: Eh

I just officially cancelled my Hulu Plus subscription.

nukscull
@rr.com

nukscull to baineschile

Anon

to baineschile
Yeah, if there were millions to block, no way these content providers would be blocking them. When it's only a few thousand, they can play hardball.

Because what they probably want is a licensing agreement with Google of some kind before they get to the point of millions.

buzz_4_20
join:2003-09-20
Dover, NH

1 recommendation

buzz_4_20

Member

Content Limited to ISP Choice

The Internet will bring innovation... but then companies will find a way to kill it...

woody7
Premium Member
join:2000-10-13
Torrance, CA

woody7

Premium Member

hmmmmmmmmmmm...................

blocking content and "ads" priceless.................
Expand your moderator at work

MPScan
Premium Member
join:2001-08-24
Boston, MA

MPScan

Premium Member

A for Effort

Broadcast networks today are like the RIAA in 2000. Eventually they will realize they don't control the distribution and use of the content -- we do.

Transmaster
Don't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY

Transmaster

Member

And mean While.....

In the back ground is Apple's hobby, iTV which may or may not go the iTunes route with content. Imagine being able to watch TV shows directly from the producers of such shows instead of them going through as they do now through layers and layers of distribution companies. This would cut out all of the middle men each of whom exercise content control and raise the cost. Watch out Traditional TV land there is a monster lurking in the back ground.

n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY

n2jtx

Member

Re: And mean While.....

said by Transmaster:

In the back ground is Apple's hobby, iTV which may or may not go the iTunes route with content. Imagine being able to watch TV shows directly from the producers of such shows instead of them going through as they do now through layers and layers of distribution companies.
I would be curious to see what Two-and-a-Half Men looks like if it wasn't subject to censoring by CBS. If Chuck Lorre's vanity cards are accurate, there is some funky stuff that gets dropped due to "network standards".

Transmaster
Don't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY

2 edits

Transmaster

Member

Re: And mean While.....

All you have to do is watch a current sitcom produced in the UK. Gays, of both sex's, but mostly men, transitory in context nudity, etc. The BBC, and the independent channels do have a formula for these sitcom just like in the US, but this standard is far more open. Some of these shows are so funny you have to watch them several times to see everything because you are rolling around on the floor laughing. others are just plain awful.
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd

Premium Member

Re: And mean While.....

Well the US Networks and the FCC are run by a bunch of prudes. You can bet while its ok for two women to kiss and even semi make out on network TV. if two guys shared a loving kiss in primetime the phones at the network would light up with in moments with angry bible thumping parents claiming the network was corrupting their kids.

but have no fear, detailed HD recreations of violent murders on CSI? that is fine with em.

Transmaster
Don't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY

1 edit

Transmaster

Member

Re: And mean While.....

said by Kearnstd:

Well the US Networks and the FCC are run by a bunch of prudes. You can bet while its ok for two women to kiss and even semi make out on network TV. if two guys shared a loving kiss in primetime the phones at the network would light up with in moments with angry bible thumping parents claiming the network was corrupting their kids.

but have no fear, detailed HD recreations of violent murders on CSI? that is fine with em.
This is where an iTune model for TV programing delivery would be so great, a Vodcast you could subscribe to like it is with podcasts. I presently have to bittorrent what I watch from the UK if I could subscribe to some of these shows I would do so, and pay for it. I would be happy with programing from Channel4, BBC-2, and BBC-4.
chgo_man99
join:2010-01-01
Sunnyvale, CA

chgo_man99

Member

Re: And mean While.....

Given that during 50's (altough it was worse), they were giving a hard time the sex doctor Kinsey to publish his theories, studies and research about human sexuality, it is no surprise they censor anything that seems to be off from normal.

But what he found interesting is, some couples including parents, have had extramarital affairs and not only with opposite sexes (swingers come to my mind). Of course kids not supposed to know that

In meanwhile, you could try to stream UK shows using UK VPN server. You just need one that has a dedicated connection and is fast
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

1 recommendation

Kearnstd to Transmaster

Premium Member

to Transmaster
said by Transmaster:
said by Kearnstd:

Well the US Networks and the FCC are run by a bunch of prudes. You can bet while its ok for two women to kiss and even semi make out on network TV. if two guys shared a loving kiss in primetime the phones at the network would light up with in moments with angry bible thumping parents claiming the network was corrupting their kids.

but have no fear, detailed HD recreations of violent murders on CSI? that is fine with em.
This is where an iTune model for TV programing delivery would be so great, a Vodcast you could subscribe to like it is with podcasts. I presently have to bittorrent what I watch from the UK if I could subscribe to some of these shows I would do so, and pay for it. I would be happy with programing from Channel4, BBC-2, and BBC-4.
And people from the UK and EU torrent US shows, though they do it because our anti-consumer corrupt media conglomerates have series delayed by up to a year for official broadcast channels outside of North America. which was fine up to the late 1990s but nowadays it is kind of hard to be active in a fan community when you are a season behind. Same thing can happen in the reverse direction, lots of US people Torrent Dr. Who for example rather than waiting on the broadcast here.

Funny thing is people on both sides of the Atlantic have admitted if they could legally access same day release of the media they would pay for it. so you have a waiting consumer base but dont service it and then they cry to their purchased lawmakers here in the US that piracy ruins their business but they make no effort to supply those willing to pay.

Snakeoil
Ignore Button. The coward's feature.
Premium Member
join:2000-08-05
united state

Snakeoil to Transmaster

Premium Member

to Transmaster
Screw itunes.. why soes it always have to be itunes?

Itunes censors as well.

Instead people can do what these few people have done:

This series is put directly on the web.
»www.riesetheseries.com/

Ink the movie: The producers put it out onto Bit Torrent to get the movie out to people that would enjoy it.
»www.jaminwinans.com/

The resistance:
»www.theresistanceseries. ··· m/#/home

The point I am getting at is you don't need Itunes for everything.

Transmaster
Don't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY

1 edit

Transmaster

Member

Re: And mean While.....

said by Snakeoil:

Screw iTunes.. why does it always have to be iTunes? The point I am getting at is you don't need ITunes for everything.
Ok you don't like iTunes, Apple and Steve Jobs, however iTunes is the 9000 ton gorilla in content delivery and the example to look at. iTunes already has a massive frame work up and running. iTV is just a part of this process and right now is just a long term project for Apple.

The problem is the TV and Movie industry has seen what iTunes has done to the music business. The record labels first let iTune distribute their catalogs. They thought because they held all of the rights to these recordings they had Apple by the 'nads. Too late they learned who had who. To make matters even worse for these gangsters artists realized they could directly sell their musical efforts on iTunes bypassing the studio completely. This is the real fear of the television broadcasters what happened to the recording industry will happen to them.
Expand your moderator at work
sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
Cleveland, OH

sonicmerlin to Transmaster

Member

to Transmaster
said by Transmaster:

All you have to do is watch a current sitcom produced in the UK. Gays, of both sex's, but mostly men, transitory in context nudity, etc. The BBC, and the independent channels do have a formula for these sitcom just like in the US, but this standard is far more open. Some of these shows are so funny you have to watch them several times to see everything because you are rolling around on the floor laughing. others are just plain awful.
Why aren't there gay female shows... that's so much more interesting. *cough* On a purely intellectual level.
FredIsDead
join:2010-02-24
San Antonio, TX

FredIsDead to Transmaster

Member

to Transmaster
said by Transmaster:

In the back ground is Apple's hobby, iTV which may or may not go the iTunes route with content. Imagine being able to watch TV shows directly from the producers of such shows instead of them going through as they do now through layers and layers of distribution companies. This would cut out all of the middle men each of whom exercise content control and raise the cost. Watch out Traditional TV land there is a monster lurking in the back ground.
There are only three layers - the group that funds and distributes the content, the group that creates the content, and the cable/telco/ISP that provides the network connection. So, your network, the people they pay to make the content, and the local broadcaster/cable/telco the sends it to your TV.

Plus, they don't want Google displaying ads on the TV with their content in a window. On cable side, they can do contractual limitations that control how their content is displayed. If they play with Google, they lose that control.

Google TV can go directly to the content creator to get content and bypass that normal middlemen. However, no one has been able to build a business around that direct to consumer model yet.

vpoko
Premium Member
join:2003-07-03
Boston, MA

1 edit

vpoko

Premium Member

It seems too easy to overcome technically

There's no way to know what kind of device is connecting to your website unless it tells you. I'm sure it would be trivial to hack the Google TV to make it pretend that it's Internet Explorer running on a Windows PC.
Dodge
Premium Member
join:2002-11-27

Dodge

Premium Member

Re: It seems too easy to overcome technically

said by vpoko:

There's no way to know what kind of device is connecting to your website unless it tells you. I'm sure it would be trivial to hack the Google TV to make it pretend that it's Internet Explorer running on a Windows PC.
But then they can counter with, "Oh this is IE, mind installing this activex that will make your experience so much better. Oh you can't, well so sorry, do come back when it works"

vpoko
Premium Member
join:2003-07-03
Boston, MA

vpoko

Premium Member

Re: It seems too easy to overcome technically

Yeah, they'd need to give you a choice of browsers to mimic, that way the studios could only break it if they found a critical technology supported by all major PC platforms but not Google TV.

milnoc
join:2001-03-05
Ottawa

1 recommendation

milnoc to vpoko

Member

to vpoko
Or Google TV could allow you to select which browser you wish to mimic, including the option of specifying a custom browser ID.

If it becomes this easy to break, Google TV won't have much to worry about for now.
themagicone
join:2003-08-13
Osseo, MN

themagicone

Member

How'd you like to be the person who has to implement this?

I wonder how the programmers feel when they get the memo - "Design a system to block our content from being seen on a, b and c". Personally I couldn't do it, the internet was and will hopefully still be a place that everything is open to everyone. But I know that is a pipe dream and every morning I wake up reading another story about how X company now says I can't access this because I'm not special enough or I'm not worth enough money to them.
lesf
Premium Member
join:2002-05-23
Davidsonville, MD

1 recommendation

lesf

Premium Member

Ways around it..

Yeah, In settings you change the browser agent as shown here..
»www.ehomeupgrade.com/201 ··· ng-hulu/

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList

Premium Member

Re: Ways around it..

apparently that doesn't work anymore.

read here »gadgetwhore.org/2010/10/ ··· t-works/

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5 to lesf

Premium Member

to lesf
A writeup on testing blocks:
»searchengineland.com/tou ··· tv-53606

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList

Premium Member

what OS does GoogleTV run on?

i'd imagine that it will get modded eventually and this functionality will work again.

notyet321
@verizon.net

notyet321

Anon

Imagine...

if McDonald's, Wendy's, and Hardee's et al decided to block everyone from their drive-up windows who was driving a, say, Chevy (or Ford or whatever)? (similar concept in its dumb-assery)
slckusr
Premium Member
join:2003-03-17
Greenville, SC

slckusr

Premium Member

Afraid of Google?

Why are the networks so afraid of Google, they make no tv shows, they own no broadcast networks, My TV with GoogleTV attached still plays the same commercials, i can skip them with my current DVR, I can go online to HULU with my pc hooked up to my PC.

This box offers nothing different than a pc/tv solution other than ease of use. More use = more viewers = more ad dollars.

/shrug i dont get it, all the big networks afraid of a little box.

••••••••

AlexNYC
join:2001-06-02
Edwards, CO

AlexNYC

Member

You can run, but you can't hide.

They can fight it all day long, but only 10 years from now we will look back at the days when we had to sit in front of our TV at a certain time to watch a certain show and laugh. Pretty soon everything will be VOD through a variety of digital media devices and the users will pick their own lineup. There will be no such thing as "prime-time" or "late-night". It only makes sense that we should be able to watch the programing we want, whenever we wanted on whatever devise we choose. I mean think about it, how about a Samsung refrigerator with a built in digital media device and a 9" lcd where you can watch your favorite show whenever you choose while being in the kitchen. The major networks should embrace that change and not fight it and I think whichever realizes this first and gets a head start will be the winner.

TechyDad
Premium Member
join:2001-07-13
USA

TechyDad

Premium Member

Re: You can run, but you can't hide.

I already laugh at the times of "My show is on at this time I must be home to watch it" thanks to my DVR. In 10 years, though, we might be seeing the death of the networks and cable's lock on content. You'll be able to get content right from Netflix, Google TV, iTunes and other similar services.
MartyT
join:2004-09-03
Georgetown, SC

MartyT

Member

Forget these new boxes!

Forget these new boxes. Hook up a decent HDMI equipped laptop without a display or a cracked display (probably get them cheap on eBay) and create your own HTPC. I did.

Get out your iPod/iPhone and install HippoRemote »hipporemote.com Nice virtual touchpad and keyboard (free).

Voila. No blocking of websites and you can do anything. You can install Boxee if you wish too.

Now, how to get the Google TV search experience? Oh, I guess they will block you from that . . . HA!!! A vicious circle.

j b234
@verizon.net

j b234

Anon

Re: Forget these new boxes!

One thing that has not been said is that they want to protect hulu plus. coming on roku and blue ray players. They need paid apps not free.

it's gross.

jb
sam64
join:2006-07-31
Newtown, PA

sam64 to MartyT

Member

to MartyT
Yeah, but those decent HMDI laptops with no display consume a fair amount of power, put out a nice bit of heat and have the annoying whirring sound of the fan when sitting right next to my TV/home entertainment system. Plus, it needs the user to be somewhat adept with fiddling round with codecs, plug-ins and such.

For most average people (unlike most of the readers on this forum) this is too much and they are happy with solutions like Google TV, the Boxee box, Apple TV or iTV, Roku and other such appliances. Simplicity is what sells these solutions - they may not be the best for the job but for the average user they are the most simple and elegant of solutions.
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch

Member

They aren't just worried about Google

The big programmers aren't just worried about Google; what they're afraid of is TV moving to Internet delivery. The reason is simple: the current players have the perfect walled gardens: broadcast TV, cable, and satellite. Let's say you're an independent programmer who has a great idea, and you're ready to produce and distribute it. You can produce it all right, but how will you distribute it? If you want any decent number of viewers, you have no choice but to go through the major media companies, and they take their cut, choose how your program will be delivered, and even exercise editorial control. Internet delivery would level the playing field by allowing independent producers to distribute their content without having to deal with the likes of Disney, Viacom, Fox, Comcast, etc. And that scares the hell out of the big players. Even though we have hundreds of channels, they're owned by only a handful of companies, and the barriers to entry are very high, which keeps out competition. The Internet would change all that, which is what the established players don't want.

••••

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList

Premium Member

blocked via flash user-agent

makes me wonder if running the google tv through something like Privoxy would fix this hulu block.

»www.privoxy.org/user-man ··· ER-AGENT

dumdeDUMB
@comcast.net

dumdeDUMB

Anon

*BANG!*

That's the sound of the TV networks shooting their feet off!
elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA

elray

Member

Google. Fails. Again.

Google still doesn't get it.

Reselling metadata, without being able to deliver the content, ain't gonna work. They didn't do their due diligence - didn't ink contracts with the content owners.

Google may have cornered the market on eggheads, but that doesn't make them marketing geniuses.

iTunes demonstrated that the masses, not just spendy apple devotees, will pay a premium to buy music downloads - where previous efforts died off. Jobs succeeded because he brought the five major labels to the table and (temporarily) achieved uniform pricing.

For GoogleTV to mean anything at all, not just another "Oh, well" in the list of Epic Failures, they would need to use their talents to make a pact with all the players, so all the content is available without interruption.

••••
rmdir
join:2003-03-13
Chicago, IL

rmdir

Member

Options

PlayOn serves streams quite nicely to the PS3. I debated about upgrading firmware on my PS and losing Linux, but tried PlayOn since it works with PS3 and was able to watch Netflix the other night. I'm running it across my hardwired Gigabit LAN, not wireless.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
Netgear WNDR3700v2
Zoom 5341J

KrK

Premium Member

Seems like that Piracy will be the only true option left

...

When everyone is bound and determined to not provide you anything and demand everything, I think the only option left will be to simply take it without giving them squat.

Hardly surprising, really. Of course I'm sure they'll try and give you the death penalty for daring to defy them, of course.

AllenK
@comcast.net

AllenK

Anon

Google TV and Hulu

I also just cancelled my Hulu Plus subscription.