FC: Another view on Replay TV and forcible-content-watching

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

---

From: "Allen Hutchison" <allen () hutchison org>
To: <declan () well com>
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/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------