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Napstering SonicBlue
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November 9, 2001: 11:34 a.m. ET
Networks are repeating the error of their music brethren
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NEW YORK (CNNmoney) - For a business based on creativity, the entertainment industry sure spends a lot of time trying to kill new products -- especially ones that people want.
The latest? A new service from SonicBlue that would allow people to digitally record TV shows without commercials. As an added bonus, you could take those recordings and email them to your friends.
Yes, you guessed it, major broadcasters are suing SonicBlue. After all, how can they make any money if you aren't watching commercials?
This is the same logic that made the Napster battle so useless. Record companies spent more than a year trying to close down the upstart music swapping service. They eventually won the battle. But they lost the victory.
The 57 million users of the Napster service didn't run out and buy CDs when the service closed down. They went to alternate music swap sites, like Gnutella, MusicCity and Aimster.
And so the war continues, as the record companies launch lawsuits against those websites as well. They will probably win, eventually, because they do own the copyrights to the music after all. But more sites will pop up, and so more lawsuits.
Wouldn't it have been more profitable to figure out how to get the 57 million users to download from you in the first place, before all the lawsuits?
Sure the industry is trying now. Two major subscription services are in the offing as well as a plan to re-launch Napster as a pay for play service. But it is kind of late. Many people already have compiled huge libraries of music by swapping over the Internet.
What if, when downloaded music was just getting popular, individual record companies offered downloads at $1 a pop. If those 57 million users each ended up getting 20 songs to start their libraries, over $1 billion would be going to bottom lines instead of lawyers' pockets.
Okay maybe not the whole billion, because some people would still seek out the free alternatives. But face it, there's a certain amount of a hassle factor in being a pirate, especially on the Internet, not the least of which is you have to know something about what you are doing.
The point is record companies would have gained more by recognizing the popularity and possibilities of Internet delivered music, instead of trying to kill it.
Now the television industry is making the same mistake with SonicBlue.
First of all, think about how appealing the product is. Currently I try to watch four primetime shows a week -- "Survivor," "West Wing," "24," and "Enterprise." Invariably I miss most of them because the twins need dinner...a Hap Ki Do class goes long...I'm overdue for a column...you get the idea. Or I videotape them but don't catch up to them for at least a couple of weeks or more. Then I fast forward through the commercials. I don't think I'm far from the general norm.
SonicBlue's concept sounds great to me. Recording the shows without commercials would save me at least an hour a week when I finally did get to watch them. It would keep me from wearing out the fast forward button on my VCR remote as well. And, if I could email the show to myself at work, I could watch it during my lunch break in front of my computer. I'd be a more religious fan of my shows.
The networks shouldn't be focusing on preventing me from getting religion. They should be thinking about using my dedication to their advantage.
For instance, they could make commercials relate to the specific shows they are running with, so that I'd turn off the "No Commercials" function. Or show related contests. Interviews. Inside looks.
Perhaps they could offer their own commercial free versions, delivered to me via email from their own operation for a small charge. I wouldn't even have to deal with SonicBlue then.
These are just a few ideas. There are probably others. Good. It's the idea people, not the lawyers, who should be leading this charge. One of the networks suing SonicBlue intuitively knows this. NBC actually owns stock in the company -- the result of an investment drive into digital recording.
Unfortunately, the TV industry is a very closed-minded one. And at this point it is just repeating what the record companies have already said.
"Hey, here's a fledging service that looks to be pretty popular with people who like our product...Let's kill it." 
Click here to send mail to Allen Wastler
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