Odd That TV Networks Would Block Their Own Ads From Being Shown To Users Who Want To Watch

There have been all these stories lately about how the various TV networks are "blocking Google TV." But, that's getting the story backwards. What the networks are doing is not blocking Google TV -- which is basically just a browser -- but they're blocking their own, freely available content and advertisements from being accessible via a particular browser. It's difficult to see how this makes any sense at all. It's really a move from an industry that appears to (a) not fully understand Google TV (which could be Google's fault in how it was presented) and (b) be so hell-bent on "protecting" a part of its business, that it refuses to recognize the opportunities for embracing the internet (i.e., getting more people to see its advertisements). Of course, part of the "problem" is that the networks have been getting fat, happy and stupid on retransmission dollars, but that's a temporary blip, only possible due to the technology which hasn't totally broken down the walls yet. But that technology is coming one way or another (and it's not just Google). The networks would be smart to notice what happened to the music industry when it refused to work with the "legitimate" players early on: driving traffic and interest to underground players who had no interest whatsoever in working with them. It's a shame that the TV networks now appear to want to do the same exact thing.

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Source: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101112/07440411832/odd-that-tv-networks-would-block-their-own-ads-from-being-shown-to-users-who-want-to-watch.shtml

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