AT&T Starts Wrist-Slapping Music Pirates, Gently. But Movie and TV Thieves Will Be a Different Story.
by Peter Kafka
Posted on March 25, 2009 at 9:37 AM PT
Late last year, the music industry announced that it was going to stop suing music pirates because it had finally gotten Internet pipe companies to help it crack down on file “sharers.” One problem: None of the big cable or telco guys would fess up to joining the plan.
Now one of them finally has–in a very limited, toe-in-the-water, we’re-just-testing-this-out way. CNET:
“At a digital music conference in Nashville, Jim Cicconi, a senior executive for AT&T told the audience that the ISP has begun issuing takedown notices to people accused of pirating music by the Recording Industry Association of America, according to one music industry insider who was present….
Cicconi told attendees of the Leadership Music Digital Summit that the notices are part of a ‘trial.’ AT&T wants to test customer reaction, he said. Whether AT&T included any warnings that repeat offenders would see their service suspended or terminated is still unclear. Music industry sources said AT&T told managers at the top labels the trial letter would include strong language about the consequences of illegal conduct, but would stop short of mentioning service interruptions.”
Can’t really say that “strong language” is going to do much to help solve the music industry’s woes. But from the labels’ perspective, it’s better than nothing, which is what the cable and telco guys have traditionally done about file-sharing for the past decade or so.
But if you want to see what the pipe guys can do about file-sharing when properly motivated, keep your eye on what they do about TV and movie piracy.
Remember that the ISPs get zilch from the music business. But they spend billions a year for the right to show TV programs and movies. And they’re going to try very hard to “disincent” you from watching whatever you want, whenever you want, without paying them for that ability.
Comments
You may be correct about the self-interest of the broadband ISPs in being more aggressive in pursuit of movie and TV show piracy than with music piracy. Essentially the providers are subsidiaries of companies in the CATV and telecom industries that get more revenue from conventional television than from Internet-Video-to-the-TV (or computer).
In our analysis, however, Verizon and AT&T would do better by concentrating on providing a truly high-speed ISP capability as compared to competing with the CATV industry with a “me too” product. Both companies have fiber facilities that the CATV operators cannot easily match. They could offer “South Korean” speeds of ISP access thereby dramatically enhancing the multimedia capabilities of their ISP subscribers.
If they offered 50 – 100 mb/s speeds they could likely get a premium monthly rate. Such access would permit consumers to use the Internet in ways that would obsolete conventional CATV and IP Telephony service. For example, subscribers could use Hulu.com and TV.com instead of CATV television. Similarly, they could use Skype instead of proprietary IP Telephony from the CATV operators. Skype even permits video calls which most IP Telephony services from the CATV operators don’t offer. They can get all of this on their TV screens merely by connecting a laptop computer to the TV.
It’s silly to attack the CATV industry with a “me too” product when you can offer something truly superior. Based upon the solicitations I am receiving for Verizon FiOS the company’s marketing expenses must be gigantic. I trust stock analysts have investigated whether the company is capitalizing such expenses.
This is Third Generation Television.
http://www.insidedigitalmedia.com
Posted by Phil Leigh at March 26th, 2009 at 7:59 am