Global TV

I realize I am a few years late to the party, but I just recently learned about Sopcast.

The idea that there is a way for a person living in the US to watch a LIVE broadcast of a Cricket match is pretty incredible. It gives me the same feeling as those early days of Napster when I first discovered that I could download Swedish Rap music that I otherwise could not purchase in America.

There is a major question as far as legality goes. Clearly there is a law being broken here, but by whom?

If a person in America is watching an English broadcast of a Cricket Test between England and Australia via a streamed video broadcast from an Indian satellite TV broadcaster, who is the plaintiff?

Can the Indian satellite company sue the person in America for stealing it’s property?

Does the International Cricket Council sue the person for illegally watching it’s property?

In any case, the viewer does appear to be liable to having broken some sort of law, since like other p2p technologies, stream viewers are rebroadcasting content as they download it from another peer.

The quality of the TV feed is certainly going to get better and better if left unchecked. Comcast, would appear to be the biggest loser in this if that happens.

One solutions they have announced today is to limit the traffic of heavy internet users. I’m sure lawsuits will soon follow.

But Comcast should use caution. Just like the RIAA can’t solve it’s CD sales issues through lawsuits, Comcast ought to focus more on how to re-organize their business in order to succeed in a changed marketplace. Those who attempt to use lawsuits to survive, seem to only be delaying their ultimate demise.

Monday June 23, 2008