2013年7月1日
By Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen 会议主席，流媒体和CMO, id3as
编者按

Cord-Cutters Find No Easy Solution to Replacing Cable

多年来, cable and satellite subscribers have been complaining about the lack of a la carte options. 如果你想要ABC, 哥伦比亚广播公司, 美国全国广播公司, 狐狸, ESPN, 喜剧中心, 和BBC美国频道, you’ve got to pay for a package that includes dozens or even hundreds of additional channels that you might never watch -- or certainly wouldn’t watch frequently enough for you to voluntarily pay for them.

在典型的有线电视或卫星电视场景中, the first four channels listed in the previous paragraph would be part of a basic service tier, while the next two would be part of an expanded package, and the last one would be available only with a top-of-the-line subscription, which may or may not include premium channels such as HBO and Showtime. So consumers frequently find themselves paying $50 or more a month just to get the one or two channels that they want beyond basic service. 不喜欢? 艰难的.

In recent years, of course, things have begun to change. Consumers are able to build something approximating the kind of a la carte viewing experience that they want -- provided they’re willing to combine over-the-air or basic cable with a few select subscription over-the-top services such as Netflix and Hulu, along with the occasional rental or purchase from a service such as iTunes or Amazon. They can only do that if they have the right combination of a smart TV, 机顶盒, 或者移动设备. Oh, and they have to be willing to settle for the occasional drop in video quality, inability to watch what they want on the device they prefer, or even the dreaded “iTunes is not currently available” message.

2012年，Aereo, Inc. emerged in New York City with the promise of delivering live broadcast television over the internet. 不足为奇的是, the service was immediately met with lawsuits from broadcasters that claimed that Aereo’s streams were essentially public performances of copyrighted work. 撰写本文时, 法院站在了Aereo这边, and the service is planning to roll out in 22 more cities, including not only top 10 markets but also smaller markets such as Madison, 威斯康星州.和北卡罗来纳州罗利-达勒姆.C.

部分原因是Aereo的威胁, ABC recently became the first network to make its live-on-air broadcasts available over the top, though initially only in New York City and Philadelphia, and even then only to consumers who could authenticate that they were current subscribers to a cable or satellite service. Authentication is a tried-and-true strategy for cable-only networks such as ESPN, but this is the first time a broadcaster has tried it. 因此,如果, 像我这样的, 你把电缆完全切断了, you won’t be able to access ABC’s live feed online, even if you’re currently receiving it for free via a digital over-the-air antenna. 我也是Hulu +的用户, but ABC announced that it will be reducing the amount of programming it makes available there and on ABC.com.

Setting aside for the moment the fact that I really have no interest in any ABC programming, this move illustrates just how far we have to go until over-the-top delivery comes anywhere near replacing, 或者提供一个可行的替代方案, 有线和卫星电视的现状. 在我们家, 我们有三台电视机, 包括带有谷歌电视的索尼机型, 外加一个Roku盒子, 一个TiVo, 和苹果电视. Most of our “television” viewing is done by my kids on my 27" iMac, 紧随其后的是Netflix的合并, iTunes, Hulu +, 通过Roku box和Apple TV进入亚马逊, with DVR’d episodes of The Voice and The Brady Bunch reruns through the TiVo a distant third. You should see the instructions we have to leave for babysitters.

如果这就是点单观影的样子, you can bet that most consumers will keep doing what they’ve done for decades: Pony up a hundred dollars or more a month just to get a dozen channels that they want and 10 times that many channels that they never watch. You might even think that’s just the way broadcasters and studios want it.

This article appears in the June/July 2013 issue of 流媒体 magazine as "Be Careful What You Ask For."