Well it looks like IceTV has finally had things go it’s way with a landmark win in the Australian High Court today! The High Court ruled that IceTV’s electronic programme guide did not breach Nine’s copyright.
IceTV subscribers have been actively providing financial support to keep IceTV going during these past periods of court action. Subscriptions prices have been high and product development fairly low (I mean an iPhone application doesn’t really cater for the vast majority of subscribers) with most existing services not evolving over the past 12 months.
Hopefully IceTV will recoupe the majority of court costs brought about by Nine’s actions, allowing them to really start to deliver some value for their $99-$156/year subscription.
When you step back and look at it, is a reliable TV programme information (date, time and description) really worth a whopping $99/year? “No!”. Now obviously there is some cost involved generating the data, but after the EPG is compiled it’s just data … Data that can be replicated in an instant and distributed very cheaply over the wonderful free network we all know as the Internet. With a well designed system, there should be very little logistical cost difference between servicing 1000, 2000 or even 10000 subscribers, so in theory prices should get cheaper with more subscribers!
Why don’t we see massive price drops in IceTV’s subscription rates as they start to accumulate a bigger subscription base? Well it’s probably because there hasn’t been any commercial competition to help drive prices down … And you know IceTV’s prices can go lower … We’ve all seen their 50% off subscription offers around Christmas and High Court trial dates. Kinda like the Angus & Cootes when they have their “50% off gold, diamond and jewellery sale” and you realise they’ve been fleecing you every other day of the year except for sale day … And they’re still making 5-10% markup during the sale! 
I’d like to see, if possible, IceTV’s prices come down further by offering different subscription levels for data and services. Really let the average user pay for the services they want to use, not the services the *might* use (i.e. iPhone app.).
For instance, I’d be interested in the MXF/XMLTV and native Windows Media Center services (and maybe even the desktop widget), but I’m not that interested in paying for the IceTV Interactive remote scheduling and iPhone features that I’d never use. As an example:
[*] MXF/XMLTV Guide Gateway – Base $25/yr
[X] Windows Media Center Guide Gateway :: Add $10/yr
[X] Windows Desktop Widget :: Free
[ ] Mac Desktop Widget :: Free
[ ] Windows Interactive + Web Portal :: Add $10/yr
[ ] Mobile Interactive + Web Portal :: Add $5/yr
[ ] iPhone Interactive + Web Portal :: Add $5/yr
So in the above example, I’d be willing to hand over $35/year for a basic Windows Media Center guide service with no frills attached. Hopefully IceTV will reduce their prices soon otherwise you might see other EPG peddlers start to open their doors for cheap $$$ business … Heck, there is no reason why the EPG can’t be outsourced to India even!
Hmmm … epgStream.net could even outsource their EPG generation to India for $5/year per subscriber …
You can read more on the court summary here or Peter Vogel’s personal comments on the ruling here.
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#1 by Television Watcher on April 23rd, 2009 - 12:35 pm
Hasn’t anybody noticed that you do not have to pay $99 per year to get an electronic guide service?
Free Australian EPG services such as “www.oztivo.net” and “www.epgstream.net” let users load the TV guides into any number of computer devices.
There are many free or cheap services, but for some reason people think paying $99 per year is “normal”! Funny that …
#2 by Andrew H on April 23rd, 2009 - 3:53 pm
I for one have major issues with paying for a service that should be a right of all tv viewers to receive. I would however be more than willing to make another $$ contribution to a worhtwhile community setup that allowed me to import my guide into Windows 7 ( hint,hint, Bannger) that would allow the entire community to benefit.
#3 by banger@epgstream on April 23rd, 2009 - 4:41 pm
@Andrew H – In reality there should be a “TV Network Sponsored” guide resource that allows programme guide data to be freely available for non-commercial use. This model seems to have worked well overseas, but is lacking in Australia due to our own TV Network’s resistance to publishing this information for free use on digital recording devices.
IceTV, in this case, have stepped in to fill a functional void, but what most people don’t realise is why they do it. I get the impression that people believe IceTV are fighting the TV networks “for the good of the people”, but the truth is even simpler … MONEY, and lots of it if then can free their hands of Nine’s copyright restrictions.
Australian EPG subscribers do not put enough pressure on IceTV to lower their prices and so we continue to feed the beast that is all $$$ consuming. Without this pressure, IceTV subscribers are perpetuating a vicious cycle of perceiving payment for an EPG as “normal”, rather than it being a free commodity as in other countries.
I find it hard to believe that people do not recognise the inflated dollar value IceTV have placed on their data. A $99-$156/year is better off going to community charity or to invest in the start-up of a not-for-profit epg service in the absence of a TV Network provided one.
Windows 7 MXF Compiler – I know, I know … I think about it everyday, but there isn’t enough time in the day with my current work commitments. I’ll complete the last few bits and pieces in time for the Windows 7 official release.
How’s Niall’s solution going?
#4 by William on April 29th, 2009 - 7:04 pm
@banger@epgstream
Windows 7 official release? You mean it won’t be good for the RC due this/next week?
#5 by Dan on May 6th, 2009 - 12:59 am
It would be nice to see some examples of this, from everything I have read this is not available in any country. Even in the US where a commercial guide aggregator had a free for non-commercial service like this available in the past it was stopped and now only a subscription based service is available.
Most situations a royalty fee is payed by PVR and Set Top Box manufacturers (per units sold) to allow access to the guide data.
#6 by banger@epgstream on May 6th, 2009 - 7:12 pm
@Dan – In the US and a few other countries where Pay TV reigns supreme over FTA, there is usually an aggregation of EPG data. You can see a richness of data when you setup Windows Media Center and select the United States as your country and a valid postcode (e.g. 90210). I think I know which US commercial provider you are taking about (can’t remember the name) … But that was a non-Microsoft hosted guide service.
Microsoft are usually able to provide some assurances to the TV or Cable Networks, but in Australia there seems to be some confusion over why the Networks refuse to provide this data for Windows Media Center users. It could be that the networks are worried about “advert skipping”, but to be honest I personally sit through most of the 2-3 minute ads simply because I’m too lazy to fast forward … I only usually fast forward if it’s the show that’s boring.
The other reason could be the networks are afraid that using Media Center to record and keep shows indefinetly promotes piracy by automating the process of recording TV shows (and giving it to your friends). Microsoft do provide a level of DRM in Windows 7, but the networks have to believe that their broadcast content will be safe. I’m sure the TV networks would be happy if Microsoft could guarantee that only specific types of shows could be recorded, viewed in “real-time” only (no ad-skipping) or even if recorded content could automatically expire after a few days or hours … but Microsoft can’t.
#7 by banger@epgstream on May 6th, 2009 - 7:17 pm
@william – No, we don’t have time to prepare it for the upcoming RC release … Who knows there just might be an RC2 & RC3 coming!