The madmen: what causes the dictatorship of TV channels

“Our world is the best of all possible worlds!” (C) Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz (1646-1716)
"... then everything in him is a necessary evil" (c) Francis Herbert Bradley (1846-1924)

In the previous post, I promised to reveal the theme of the crisis of modern TV. So, let's start with the fact that in the current system of TV functioning your favorite TV channel can be closed.



The first reason is a conflict of interest, which never weakens. This summer, for example, AMC Networks began to quarrel with Dish Network Corp because the latter does not want to extend the contract with the first because “AMC is not very actively growing in popularity indicators” - as a result, the audience suffered, which was chopped off the broadcast of the well-known TV series “ Mad Men ”. Although this is not a very significant example.

But how do you like the war between CBS and Time Warner Cable (mostly conglomerate of the CSI series)? What they did not share? Oh yes: Time Warner wants its products not to be broadcast in conjunction with Showtime products (Dexter fans know this studio). “Why should Warner put forward such strict requirements?” You ask. And then that Warner owns HBO (mmm, "Game of Thrones", "Soprano") and wants to squeeze its main competitor from the market. And now, both companies are proving to each other and those around them who are worse (even appealed to the US Federal Telecommunications Commission). And all this will end with the loss of the audience, who will lose their favorite series simply because the leaders of the two companies prefer to build dirty tricks instead of ... um, to improve the quality of their products.
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But the matter does not end with litigation. How about idiotic rights to exclusive shows? NTV +, for example, owns the rights to exclusive broadcasts of leading sporting events. It is on NTV-PLUS that there are shows of matches of the strongest European football championships, as well as transmissions of world and European championships in many popular sports. Does this mean that people who are not satisfied with NTV + in many other ways, but who love sports, should fork over it? I was particularly hurt by a case in England that took place a couple of years ago.

Karen Murphy, who showed English football on a Greek TV channel in her pub (since it was much cheaper than native English alternatives), paid fines totaling 8,000 pounds (12.5 thousand dollars). Murphy violated the law, as the rights to broadcast matches in the UK belong exclusively to Sky Sports and ESPN. Then, however, the EU Court ruled that the ban on the use of foreign decoders is contrary to the principle of the freedom to provide services - but the residue remained.

Speaking about corporate wars and protection of intellectual rights, one cannot forget about piracy - it has become fashionable among the owners of television networks, to sigh about what pain in the ass torrents are (although progressive authors of the Game of Thrones believe that piracy only spurs interest to their product and do not take any steps to ensure that "to prohibit and not to let go" as strictly as possible). But often they themselves are the source of the problem!

Recently, CBS blocked access to its legal online content for Time Warner users, with the result that “completely unexpected for everyone” there was a surge of pirated activity . I found it hard to believe, but sometimes you can find as many fools in American business as in Russian politics.

Two evils (focus groups and television channels) add up to a reduction in the quality of TV products produced on screens. But I will tell about it next time.