Thu 8 Jun 2006
SlingMedia’s “place-shifting” SlingBox has recently come under fire from both Hollywood and Major League Baseball. “Place-shifting” is the biggest TV-viewing paradigm shift since TiVo introduced “time-shifting.” As TiVo lets you watch a recorded show any time you like, SlingBox lets you view your TV anywhere you like. Simply connect the SlingBox to your TV and to the Internet and you can view and control your TV from any Internet-connected computer. While this seems like a good thing for the networks since people are likely to be watching more TV, it has been criticized by the MLB due to their local market agreements. From ars technica (Link):
For MLB, the bottom line is this. Your TV, turned on, with no one watching the game: OK. Your TV, turned on, with the game streaming to you and only you while on business in Philly: illegal.
It’s going to get harder and harder to protect media. Traditional broadcast and advertising is changing at a mile a minute and will hardly be contained. I can imagine that all content will be on-demand in the future and that could really change mass communication whether TV, radio or print. Live event broadcasting could become useless, when given the choice your own viewing time, viewing angle or given the ability to choose your own event highlights.