Today, the Competition Commission decided that Kangaroo, the UK web-TV platform looking to match the success of Hulu in the US, will not be allowed to move forward. The reason being that, 'it is a threat to competition in this developing market and has to be stopped'. What can you say? The world of copyright, DRM, piracy debates and web legislation seems increasingly out-of-touch with the networked world. A few years ago I saw Doc Searls make a presentation in which he noted, 'In networked environments, the demand side supplies itself'. It’s a statement that sums up nicely what is happening in today’s TV industry - all beyond the legislators' gaze. People aren’t satisfied with what broadcasters are offering. So they use P2P systems running on free BitTorrent services such as Limewire, eMule, Pirate Bay and Mininova to create ‘services of their own design’. This allows them to watch whatever they want, whenever they wish, often with the advertising stripped out. All of which is illegal file-sharing activity of course and therefore hidden away in underground darknets. But it’s increasingly the new norm with more than one-third of broadband users admitting to downloading video content and two-thirds saying they didn’t see it as being wrong. (Try doing a quick poll in your office about Limewire and watch the shifty glances as a few honest souls slowly raise their hands). However, despite being largely invisible these systems have now reached a scale and sophistication which dwarfs the professional, mainstream broadcasters. Mininova, for instance, which launched in 2005, has served more than seven billion downloads, many of which are well-known shows. Requests for content from the file-sharing network currently runs at ten million downloads a day - almost ten times greater than the BBC's iPlayer. And while the industry wrings its hands, the Torrents continue to grow and innovate. An 'invisible' YouTube anyone? P2P video is creating a vibrant, Alice-like world which is testing the normal rules of the TV industry. But it seems that the policy wonks and lawmakers don't want to peek down the rabbit hole, in case what they see is too strange. In the meantime, P2P TV becomes curiouser and curiouser...
[Update : The Doc adds some thoughts here: "Pretty soon the 'TV' you buy will be an Internet file and stream tuner and recorder, with 'must-carry' set-top-box features, so it can still get cable, satellite and over-the-air TV 'channels'. In the world that makes, old-fashioned TV will look as antique as the telegraph".]
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