Greedia cluelessness
Mathew Ingram comments on a story over at Cnet's news.com about a representative of Major League Baseball proposing, without irony, that users of "place-shifting" devices like Slingbox are somehow "violating the scope of the user agreements." That's lawyer speak for saying that you're a criminal if you watch a Blue Jays game in a Chicago hotel room from your laptop.
The "logic" here (and I use that term loosely) is that I am somehow stealing from the Chicago cable operator, who may have bid for local or regional broadcast rights, by accessing my home cable operator's signal and watching the game.
This is preposterous. I don't use a Slingbox, nor do I plan to in the near future, but I think this is illustrative of large media and copyright holders' serious need to get a clue.
1. It's not even a clear cut case of stealing, like downloading the Sopranos on Bit Torrent on Monday morning. These people are paying cable/sattelite subscribers, who are simply shifting where they watch their signal
2. Local broadcast rights exist because you can't get every game in every place. There's more interest in the Blue Jays in Canada. Therefore the club and MLB can cut a separate deal with broadcasters up here. I can't get a Jays game on hotel room cable in Chicago. MLB and the cable companies should be thrilled that I'm watching the Jays no matter where the hell I am. So should the club after all the lousy years they've had since the glory days. Instead, I'm a criminal.
3. I live in Toronto. It is my home. Leaving my home for a week to do business in Chicago doesn't invalidate my residency. I don't need to change my permanent address. I sure as hell don't get a break on my cable bill because I couldn't access the signal. But I'm not allowed to take the cable signal with me?
Even MLB recognizes that I have a permanent address, however, this time it works to my detriment. How so? Go to mlb.tv and check the rules for their live internet broadcast packages.
Am I in a Local Live Blackout region? Check by club: If your zip code
is on the list, you cannot watch the game live. (But you can watch the archive.)
So, I check the Blue Jays and this is what it says:
Local live blackout restrictions include all of Canada.
So if I'm reading this right, they don't do any IP filtering. They simply check the HOME address on your account, and if I live anywhere in Canada, I can't watch the Jays live. Not only that, but I can't watch them anywhere, because my permanent address is in Canada.
All of this is assinine. Something people pay for should be portable. If I use technology to create additional choices for myself, respond with a solution, not threats.
I hate cable. It sucks. You pay for 100 stations and watch 10, half of which you can get over broadcast anyway. I cut off my cable 3 years ago and don't miss it. I've used technology to create something that works for me and until the cableco's and copyright holders can respond with a better offering, they've lost me. And threats just aren't going to get me back.
