NBC/Comcast Merger & Boxee
As many people know, NBC Universal and Comcast are to become one, an event that is now being brought in front of our lovely government officials. We are all aware of the fact that more and more, such content is being viewed online. Bring in all of the drama between Hulu (which NBC has a huge stake in) and Boxee (which I firmly believe will ultimately render cable TV obsolete) concerning Hulu content being “distributed” via the Boxee platform. This little flap was brought up today, “What about Boxee?” and Boxee CEO, Avner Ronen responded appropriately via the Boxee blog. After watching the clip (which Ronen has linked to in his blog post) and then reading Ronen’s response, it begs the question: why is NBC Universal getting so upset over “distributing” via the Boxee platform? Correct me if I’m wrong, but Hulu users have the option of embedding Hulu videos -essentially distributing them- via their blogs, Twitter, FB, and half a dozen other outlets. The ad revenue generated by people watching the videos is still the same -if not more considering the videos are basically getting more exposure through directly embedding them and/or linking to them via blogs and Twitter. It’s the same concept with Boxee -except that people could actually watch the content on their televisions via the Boxee box. Boxee isn’t stealing the content -just providing another venue for accessing it.
Sometimes I think dinosaurs are running these corporations with no regard to the future -except with rather futile attempts at preserving their own (fail).
