Dear BBC: We don’t want your set top box. We want your content where we want it, not where you want it.

Joshua Schnell | Wed, Dec 23, 2009

Of course everyone wants to take Television to the IP realm, but it seems like we’re about to get a rash of set-top boxes, and frankly, that really irks me.

I guess it makes sense that television networks want to control their content from end to end, but it makes very little sense to have a bazillion ugly boxes plastered across a TV stand. First it’s the Apple TV, then Boxee has teamed up to give us a set top box, and now rumours are swirling about the BBC receiving approval for its own set top box to deliver media content.

Chalk one up to “just don’t get it”

Techcrunch posted an article today about some missteps made by startups this year, and how they can be avoided in the future. It seems like the Joomla misstep can be directly applied to these set top boxes. Mike Butcher writes,

“Joost was born in a time when everything thought TV would end up porting wholesale to the Internet. The trouble was, Joost was another download in a sea of downloads. It seems amazing, but the browser – and even HD video playing inside a browser – won the day once more. No-one needed this P2P video platform and few were bothered about the rather dull content”.

On that note: Dear Television studios, we don’t need a set-top box for your crappy television station. We don’t want to pay for them, and we’re certainly not going to be lining up to buy five or six of these crappy devices just so we can watch your crappy content.

Signed, Josh

PS.

So here’s the deal. Either you get together and license your music to one box, create a set top box together, or put your content on the web so that we can get the shows any way we want. Outside of that, we won’t be happy, and you’ll just be wasting R&D funds on some hardware that’s going to flop.

I’ll willingly pay Apple, or another third party for your content, but I won’t pay each of you individually. It’s too much of a hassle, and frankly, I don’t watch that much television to begin with. If you want my dollar, or anyone else’s money, you’re going to have to make this as easy as possible. A bunch of set top boxes isn’t going to work. We don’t need another format war, and we certainly don’t want to have to choose between NBC, CBS, Fox, Showtime, BBC, or any other competitor. We just want everything in one place, heck, we’re even willing to take ads to get it.

Thanks for listening.

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9 Responses to “Dear BBC: We don’t want your set top box. We want your content where we want it, not where you want it.”

Barry Sanschagrin Says:
December 23rd, 2009 at 10:10 pm

I agree with Josh. We don’t need more boxes from these content providers. If they want to do a set top box then they should get together and do just one. But, the bigger issue is being able to access the iPlayers and the Hulus. Here in Canada we can’t even do that because of ancient copyright laws and licensing restrictions. So, even if the BBC released a box, I couldn’t purchase it anyways.

Joshua Schnell Says:
December 23rd, 2009 at 10:17 pm
That’s the one thing that makes me hate living in Canada. I can’t stand it when people tell me what I can watch on the internet. Hopefully it changes, I don’t hold my breath over it, but I certainly hope daily.

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Up_The_Dial Says:
February 13th, 2010 at 11:16 am

Onward, to greener pastures! Oh to be free of all those “vampirical” devices that keep sucking our power grid and tossing off carbon footprints like so many sloughing snake scales. But REALLY… The downer is that I agree with ALL of you, in part. As addicited to the media-enhanced lifestyle I’ve grown accustomed to, I practically feel like I’m suffering withdrawal symptoms – all because I refuse to add another freakin’ box to my TV network, which consists of the Kitchen, LR, DR, great room, 2 bedrooms, one bathroom, the basement and my workshop! (Addiction is only what we feel, compulsion is what we DO.) So yeah, send a complaint in my name as well – I’m tired of this crap. I wish I could still read, I’d give up the telly. Unfortunately I’ve been branded and brainwashed, and they know full well I’ll get the box, I HAVE to. JD

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waynedixon Says:
December 23rd, 2009 at 12:00 pm

Macgasm.net: Dear BBC: We don’t want your set top box. We want your content where we want it, not where you w… http://bit.ly/6f3Spw #fb

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Joshua Schnell Says:
December 23rd, 2009 at 12:13 pm

When are these companies going to learn that we want to access their content on a multitude of platforms, and not just some proprietary box. Blows my mind that in 2009 we’re still dealing with this crap.