Why don't TV stations stream their programming?
February 18, 2016 3:17 PM Subscribe
For example, why can't I see the network news shows in real time on my computer? For that matter, why don't they steam their entire lineups, ads and all? They'd reach more viewers, and surely it's not that expensive. Yes, I understand that local affiliates decide what and when to broadcast. But why don't the locals just stream a mirror of their broadcasts (which don't require cable or satellite etc)?
I think the biggest, simplest reason is that they've licensed their content for over-the-air or cable broadcast, and not for internet broadcast.
But there's tons of other reasons. It's not cheap to set-up and run a video streaming site, and most TV stations probably don't have the expertise necessary to do a good job of it. They'd also need a different ad strategy when your users could be anywhere, and have access to adblock and similar things - you probably won't be able to get your local discount mattress warehouse to pay you to show their ad to someone three timezones away.
posted by aubilenon at 3:29 PM on February 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
But there's tons of other reasons. It's not cheap to set-up and run a video streaming site, and most TV stations probably don't have the expertise necessary to do a good job of it. They'd also need a different ad strategy when your users could be anywhere, and have access to adblock and similar things - you probably won't be able to get your local discount mattress warehouse to pay you to show their ad to someone three timezones away.
posted by aubilenon at 3:29 PM on February 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
As ubiquitous as streaming is, it's not free and it's actually somewhat expensive and it's a totally different technical skillset than traditional broadcasting. The price has come down a lot but until very, very recently it was either too expensive or too complex for local stations to handle independently.
Also, as others have said, it's 95% licensing.
posted by GuyZero at 3:33 PM on February 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
Also, as others have said, it's 95% licensing.
posted by GuyZero at 3:33 PM on February 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
CBS streams through CBS All Access.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 3:34 PM on February 18, 2016
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 3:34 PM on February 18, 2016
Even if the licensing wasn't an issue, there would be cost in setting up a streaming solution and then bandwidth fees per stream (it doesn't scale the way tower-based broadcasting does, you're basically going to be paying per stream --- commercial networking at that scale is not like your home connection where you probably basically pay a flat fee regardless of usage).
Their ad revenue is based on audience counts which may not include streaming, so to make additional money from streaming they'd probably have to use internet-based video advertising, which means partnering with an ad network, doing integration, etc.
I doubt it would bring in enough money to be worth it for a local station.
At the national network level, they do stream shows (cbs.com, etc) but thats a level where it makes more sense (centralized setup, etc).
posted by thefoxgod at 3:38 PM on February 18, 2016
Their ad revenue is based on audience counts which may not include streaming, so to make additional money from streaming they'd probably have to use internet-based video advertising, which means partnering with an ad network, doing integration, etc.
I doubt it would bring in enough money to be worth it for a local station.
At the national network level, they do stream shows (cbs.com, etc) but thats a level where it makes more sense (centralized setup, etc).
posted by thefoxgod at 3:38 PM on February 18, 2016
They charge the cable companies to retransmit, why would they stream for free when they can get paid?
posted by TheAdamist at 3:41 PM on February 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by TheAdamist at 3:41 PM on February 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
They may not have a license to the content that allows internet streaming. Even then the license may only cover a certain geo area, and they'd be obligated to attempt geo fencing.
Streaming has a cost per live stream - each server can support only up to x users, and each stream costs them bandwidth. It's a shame that multicast IP never really worked out as that would have made mass live streaming (but only live) much cheaper.
posted by w0mbat at 5:26 PM on February 18, 2016
Streaming has a cost per live stream - each server can support only up to x users, and each stream costs them bandwidth. It's a shame that multicast IP never really worked out as that would have made mass live streaming (but only live) much cheaper.
posted by w0mbat at 5:26 PM on February 18, 2016
Time Warner cable will let you log in and stream your cable content. it's clunky, but sometimes it's nice to stay in bed to watch the news (back when I had cable).
posted by theora55 at 6:27 PM on February 18, 2016
posted by theora55 at 6:27 PM on February 18, 2016
They do over the air (OTA).
posted by GiveUpNed at 8:08 PM on February 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by GiveUpNed at 8:08 PM on February 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
Are you talking about local newscasts or, like, episodes of the Bachelor? Local affiliates don't have the broadcast rights to air the Bachelor online; they only have the rights to broadcast on their local affiliate. They could probably stream their newscasts, but have you seen broadcast news websites? They are universally awful. I suspect they don't have the incentive or infrastructure to stream their local news online.
posted by AppleTurnover at 8:50 PM on February 18, 2016
posted by AppleTurnover at 8:50 PM on February 18, 2016
Here in the UK we can watch the BBC live online. So this isn't some universal thing.
posted by altolinguistic at 2:33 AM on February 19, 2016
posted by altolinguistic at 2:33 AM on February 19, 2016
You could get a slingbox and do just that - it streams whatever your tv is tuned to. We haven't turned our actual TV set on in ages, because it's more convenient to use our laptops (you can choose if you want to stream over the internet or restrict it to your local network.)
Limitation: if someone changes the channel, it changes for everybody on the same stream.
posted by ctmf at 8:05 PM on February 19, 2016
Limitation: if someone changes the channel, it changes for everybody on the same stream.
posted by ctmf at 8:05 PM on February 19, 2016
Even the BBC has to turn off streaming for some content, usually movies and sport events, and the TV service is geolocked to UK IP addresses.
One of the big problems is that even if the streaming rights are available they will be, like broadcast rights, set up by region - and the Internet isn't. Pre-Internet TV signals were limited by physics to coverage areas that invariably stopped at national borders (not really, but close enough) so broadcast rights could be set up to work much as licensing/distribution rights for physical media were - by region and country.
This lets lots of people make a lot more money, which is of course important to them - by charging each market what it can bear.
The Internet has thoroughly broken this model, but rights holders can and do use the law to pretend otherwise. If a broadcaster can also pretend to be forcing geographic restrictions on its IP streaming service, like the BBC does, then it gets a bit easier - but this is still an unresolved issue in general. Which is why Netflix has just - with very bad grace, because it doesn't care where in the world its revenue comes from - banned a whole set of VPN services that let people from outside the US pretend to be within it, and thus access US Netflix content.
posted by Devonian at 7:42 AM on February 20, 2016
One of the big problems is that even if the streaming rights are available they will be, like broadcast rights, set up by region - and the Internet isn't. Pre-Internet TV signals were limited by physics to coverage areas that invariably stopped at national borders (not really, but close enough) so broadcast rights could be set up to work much as licensing/distribution rights for physical media were - by region and country.
This lets lots of people make a lot more money, which is of course important to them - by charging each market what it can bear.
The Internet has thoroughly broken this model, but rights holders can and do use the law to pretend otherwise. If a broadcaster can also pretend to be forcing geographic restrictions on its IP streaming service, like the BBC does, then it gets a bit easier - but this is still an unresolved issue in general. Which is why Netflix has just - with very bad grace, because it doesn't care where in the world its revenue comes from - banned a whole set of VPN services that let people from outside the US pretend to be within it, and thus access US Netflix content.
posted by Devonian at 7:42 AM on February 20, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
Presumably there is an additional arrangement that covers local broadcasts on cable tv but it's the same sort of thing.
Many stations do stream their news programming, which they can do since it's original content that they own.
posted by noloveforned at 3:25 PM on February 18, 2016 [1 favorite]