--- From: "Allen Hutchison" <allenat_private> To: <declanat_private> Subject: An alternative view on the Replay TV issue... Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2002 10:20:38 -0700 Hi Declan, Here is an alternative view of the Replay TV issue, that I haven't heard presented so far. Please feel free to post this to politech if you find it interesting. Using Replay TV to skip commercials is not theft. Actually it should be completely legal, as the people of the united states have already paid for programming on the public airwaves. First, the people of the US gave the broadcast companies access to the public airwaves. This access wasn't granted so that the broadcasters could then "sell" us programming. This access was granted so that the broadcasters could present us with content. We also granted the broadcasters the right to present us with advertising to help them meet the costs of producing the content they are presenting over the public airwaves. If you accept this premise, then using a Replay TV to skip advertising is not theft in any way. The people have already paid for the content of a TV broadcast with a very valuable public resource, the RF spectrum it is broadcast on. So there really is no contract between the TV viewer and the broadcaster when it comes to advertising. In effect we have already paid our share. Let me present you with some analogies: If I attend a conference, I will generally pay a fee to go to that conference. Then I am free to attend the seminars and go to the Vendor area. If I opt not to go to the vendor area no one accuses me of stealing the content at the trade show. I already paid for it, and when I did I accepted the fact that the conference organizers will provide a place for advertising. I can choose to submit myself to that advertising if I wish to, but there is no requirement to do so. If I pay to watch a movie in the theater I can opt to arrive late and miss the 15 minutes of previews and advertisements that precede the movie. Again the movie company and the theaters don't bar me from watching the movie because I missed the advertisements. Both of these examples are very similar to television. I pay for the right to be exposed to content (conference seminars in once case, and a movie in the other). At the same time I acknowledge the fact that there will be advertising present. In both cases I have to decide to expose myself to the advertising. It is not shoved down my throat, and I am not accused of stealing the content by anyone if I choose to ignore the advertising. Television is the same kind of situation. The public has already paid for the content of TV shows. We paid for this content by bartering the use of very valuable public RF spectrum to the broadcast companies. At the same time the public acknowledged the right of the broadcasters to present advertising in the content that they are obligated to provide. There is no contract between a person and the broadcasters to watch the advertising. There is no theft if a person decides to skip the advertising presented to him. In fact people have been doing just that for years. I often wait for an advertisement so that I can use the restroom, or get a snack. I'm not stealing the content of a television broadcast when I skip an advertisement, I already paid for the content along with everyone else in the country. If the broadcast companies find that they are loosing ad revenue because a significant number of people are skipping their advertising they will have to find another way to pay for the costs of producing their content. There are many ways they can do this, but it has nothing to do with the people watching the show. Allen Hutchison www.ca.hutchison.org/allen/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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