[mythtv-users] Can MythTV do this?

[Joseph A. Caputo]

Richard Bronosky wrote:

> Joseph A. Caputo wrote:
>
>>On Monday 30 January 2006 16:03, sarvinc at fastmail.fm wrote:
>>  
>>
>>>Joseph A. Caputo wrote:>
>>>
>>>    
>>>
>>>>>You'd also need redistribution rights from the broadcasters, which
>>>>>I believe would mean that you'd need a c-band dish so you can work
>>>>>it out with them directly (since the cable company certainly won't
>>>>>give it to you).
>>>>>
>>>>>Nope, they most likley won't. Whew, yeah getting distribution
>>>>>rights is going to be good. Not all that difficult from what I
>>>>>understand, just expensive.
>>>>>        
>>>>>
>>>>I seem to recall an article posted here a year or two back about
>>>>someone in Canada who had done this, and the redistribution rights
>>>>were ridiculously cheap.  It just made me all the more annoyed with
>>>>the cable company/big content cartel.
>>>>
>>>>If I find the article I'll re-post it.
>>>>
>>>>-JAC
>>>>      
>>>>
>>>I think that's this article:
>>>
>>>http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20040930.html
>>>    
>>>
>>
>>That's it.  Here's the relevant part:
>>
>>---------------------------- Begin quoted text ------------------
>>At this point, intellectual property lawyers are supposed to start 
>>reaching for their telephones to call Canada, but it won't do any good 
>>because all this content is perfectly legal and here's how. With the 
>>exception of local channels, which come from an antenna, all of 
>>Andrew's video content comes from a C-band (big dish) satellite 
>>receiver (receivers, actually), and is fully paid for. "I buy the 
>>channels just like a cable system does or a motel that wants to offer 
>>HBO, from the National Programming Service," says Andrew. "And as a 
>>result I pay wholesale prices. People don't realize how much of a 
>>markup there in is the cable business. The Discovery Networks, for 
>>example, cost me $0.26 per customer per month. The IP laws in both the 
>>U.S. and Canada say that if I have legal access to this content I can 
>>store and use it. And the over-the-air channels, of course, are free."
>>---------------------------- End quoted text ------------------
>>
>>
>>-JAC
>>    
>>
> So let me get this straight.  If I use my Comcast cable for only about 
> 8 channels one of which is Fox.  I hear Neal Boortz say that he missed 
> 24 last night, so I burn him a copy to DVD.  (With or without the 
> commercials.  We can argue it both ways.)  And when I mail it to him, 
> I've committed a crime.  If I do the same thing using a c-band dish, 
> it is not a crime.  The difference is $0.26 per month on c-band, and 
> $80 per month divided by 8 channels for $10 per month on Comcast.
>
> Is that correct?  We need to pool so resources and turn MythTV into 
> MythIPTV.
>

I'm sure it's a *little* more complicated than that... there is, of 
course, the cost of the C-band equipment, and the servers to maintain.  
But yeah, the markup on cable television is pretty ridiculous.

-JAC