Broadcast Flagged

Why the broadcast flag should go forward

To Quote: "Without proper protections, it will be increasingly difficult to show movies, television shows or even baseball games on free television".

Let's think about this. Free broadcast TV is in decline. Digital Broadcast is coming too slowly and too late. And now it will be further crippled. Unfoturnately, digital TV in the US is either equated with HDTV endeavors, or proprietary services (directTV, DishTV, Digital Cable). Standard Definition digital, which offers a better picture than analog broadcast, more choices and potentially richer content, has been sort of the poor stepchild. It is there, but there are no inexpensive TV sets (say -- $20 over the cost of a conventional analog set) that forgoes expensive HDTV, and just offers digital TV.

Having or not having the broadcast flag will matter little here, the market is already eroded.

On top of that -- the stuff that these pirates will steal off the air will be be hacked up versions of feature films -- not only with commercials added, but content deleted. I know. I recently time shifted a 3 hour made for TV movie, and ONE HOUR of the three was commercials. Don't whine to me about Tivo users blasting through commercials.

Let's talk about the NFL. It has it's own syndicated (for money) channel now. There are only a few games per week that are shown free-to-air. I seriously doubt that the NFL's revenue will be impacted whether or not the broadcast flag is in place. The few that would "illegally rebroadcast" will do so regardless of the flag or not. Internet streaming delivery is not at the point yet where you can offer a satisfactory replacment for broadcasting of sports events (high motion, high frame rate).

Arguments that DRM or Broadcast Flag will "protect the industry and the consumer" don't hold water with me. What broadcast flag will do is further cripple an industry that is struggling anyway, in the face of newer, more consumer friendly and flexible ways of distributing content. Let's be real here -- with the money that can made by selling DVD's of vintage television content, that there won't be a convincing argument to "broadcast flag" most content. Certainly, stuff like the Simpsons, old episodes of Star Trek, etc. will all be broadcast flagged, despite the rhetoric. Certainly, most of the HDTV content we recieve over the air will be broadcast flagged.

In the end, I suspect we will get the broadcast flag. Part of me feels that this is a fight that is almost a moot point, as the market these people are trying to protect is eroding underneath them. It seems that instead of driving customers to other distribution models, they would be searching for ways to remain relevant. Oh well.