Ok, that might be an exaggeration. I used to enjoy pulling up the video feed from Deutsche Welle every once in a while. Recently, I got the message that the streaming video is no longer available in the United States. I had this same sort of experience with a show from the UK. I was curious, so I emailed dw-tv. Here’s the relevant part of the response:
“We understand your disappointed at no longer being able to access DWTV’s livestream, and for this we are truly sorry. This is due to the contractucal stipulations of our recent agreement with DishNetwork, who serves the entire USA via satellite.”
So, DishNetwork killed the streaming in video contractually. This is interesting from multiple standpoints. First, this is a clear collision of Internet and satellite TV. Who knew that the relatively poor quality streaming video I was getting competed with DishNetwork?
Also, this is an example of geographic boundries being enforced on the Internet. Filtering the available content via geo-IP location isn’t a perfect science, but it meets the 80/20 rule. I wonder if there was a contractual exception for universities, or if they have been forced to purchase the satellite service as well.
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Go to a Bathroom fixture showroom that carries let’s say Toto and Kohler and try to find a variety of Toto’s products on the floor! Different industry, same idea. If a vendor sells Kohler, they cannot have Toto’s sinks on their showroom floor (but they can at least sell them). It’s the free market baby, and as long as companies are willing to let big corporations jerk them around, this thing will keep happening. By the way, if you haven’t already, check out The Corporation. It fits right in.