“Over-The-Top” Television: Circuits of Media Distribution Since the Internet

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“Over-The-Top” Television: Circuits of Media Distribution Since the Internet BEYOND “OVER-THE-TOP” TELEVISION: CIRCUITS OF MEDIA DISTRIBUTION SINCE THE INTERNET Ian Murphy A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Communication. Chapel Hill 2018 Approved by: Richard Cante Michael Palm Victoria Ekstrand Jennifer Holt Daniel Kreiss Alice Marwick Neal Thomas © 2018 Ian Murphy ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Ian Murphy: Beyond “Over-the-Top” Television: Circuits of Media Distribution Since the Internet (Under the direction of Richard Cante and Michael Palm) My dissertation analyzes the evolution of contemporary, cross-platform and international circuits of media distribution. A circuit of media distribution refers to both the circulation of media content as well as the underlying ecosystem that facilitates that circulation. In particular, I focus on the development of services for streaming television over the internet. I examine the circulation paths that either opened up or were foreclosed by companies that have been pivotal in shaping streaming economies: Aereo, Netflix, Twitter, Google, and Amazon. I identify the power brokers of contemporary media distribution, ranging from sectors of legacy television— for instance, broadcast networks, cable companies, and production studios—to a variety of new media and technology industries, including social media, e-commerce, internet search, and artificial intelligence. In addition, I analyze the ways in which these power brokers are reconfiguring content access. I highlight a series of technological, financial, geographic, and regulatory factors that authorize or facilitate access, in order to better understand how contemporary circuits of media distribution are constituted. I consider access as a regulatory issue, a foundation of business models, a design concern, and as a function of interoperability that facilitates communication amongst platforms, devices, and other systems of networked technologies. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my incredible advisors, Richard Cante and Michael Palm, who were with me from the very beginning of my time as a graduate student. I am lost without your tireless efforts, encouragement, advice, critiques, and friendship, and I am exceedingly proud to have had the opportunity to work with each of you. I would also like to thank my committee members, Victoria Ekstrand, Jennifer Holt, Daniel Kreiss, Alice Marwick, and Neal Thomas. Your feedback has been invaluable to me, and you have all been so generous with your time. I left my defense feeling so grateful to have had such an intellectually inspiring group of people evaluate my work. To my partner, my wife Jessica Adams: thank you for keeping me afloat throughout this process. We have eclipsed so many life milestones together. Here’s to one more, and to many future milestones to come. To my dog, the noble Niblet, who lay beside me as I typed each and every page, and who was always willing to stroll around the neighborhood when I needed to clear my head. Rock on, my furry little friend. iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1-1: Broadcast retransmission fees in the U.S. from 2006 to 2021....................................60 Figure 2-1: Netflix Core Strategies as listed in Form 10-K, 2007-2010.......................................69 Figure 2-2: Availability of Ultimate Beastmaster..........................................................................90 Figure 2-3: International Netflix Subscriptions Surpass U.S.........................................................96 Figure 2-4: Playstation 3..............................................................................................................100 Figure 2-5: Smart TV...................................................................................................................100 Figure 2-6: Netflix website via HP Laptop..................................................................................101 Figure 2-7: Samsung Galaxy S5 phone.......................................................................................102 Figure 2-8: iPad............................................................................................................................103 v TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………...1 Overview: Distribution from Broadcast to Broadband……………………………………1 Online Streaming and New Power Brokers of Media…………………………………….3 Reconfiguring Content Access……………………………………………………………6 Dissertation Structure…………………………………………………………………….11 INTERNET TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION AND THE LAW: THE CASE OF ABC V. AEREO....................................................................................................24 Broadcast vs. Broadband...................................................................................................24 Aereo’s History..................................................................................................................29 Retransmission Consent Fees: From 1992 Cable Act to the Present.................................33 Temporary Broadband Victories: Aereo in the Lower Courts...........................................38 Aereo and the Supreme Court............................................................................................43 From Aereo to YouTube TV: The “Broadcastification” of Internet Television................49 Conclusion.........................................................................................................................57 GLOBAL INTERNET TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION: GEOBLOCKING AND THE INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION OF NETFLIX, 2010-2016....................................................61 A Global Network in a Fragmented World: How Netflix Navigates Differential Access to Content...............................................................................................................................61 Geoblocking and Netflix’s International Expansion..........................................................67 Global Content in Local Contexts: Cultivating the Netflix Originals Brand.....................77 Reimagining the Netflix Subscriber in International Contexts..........................................94 vi Conclusion: Responses to Geoblocking and to Circumvention.......................................111 INTERNET TELEVISION GOES SOCIAL: TWITTER LIVESTREAMS THE NFL.............119 Marrying Social Media and Television............................................................................119 Reimagining Twitter from Second Screen to Livestream................................................122 The Twitter Deal with the NFL.......................................................................................129 Twitter as Gatekeeper......................................................................................................132 Assembling a Hybrid Technical Infrastructure: BAMTech, Artificial Intelligence, and Twitter’s Livestreaming System......................................................................................137 Periscope and the User-Generated Broadcast..................................................................144 Tech Infrastructures and Livestreaming at the Interface.................................................150 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................156 MOVING DISTRIBUTION FORWARD: AMAZON VS. GOOGLE AND THE BATTLE OVER “INTELLIGENT” DISTRIBUTION...............................................................................159 From Distributor to Destination.......................................................................................164 Amazon’s Alexa and the Rise of Voice-Activated Operating Systems...........................168 Internet Distribution 2.0: Blockchain and Distributed Decentralization.........................175 AFTERWORD.............................................................................................................................181 WORKS CITED..........................................................................................................................187 vii Introduction Overview: Distribution from Broadcast to Broadband My dissertation analyzes the evolution of contemporary, cross-platform and international circuits of media distribution since the internet. A circuit of media distribution refers to both the circulation of media content as well as the underlying ecosystem that facilitates that circulation. In particular, I focus on the development of services for streaming television over the internet. I examine the circulation paths that either opened up or were foreclosed by companies that have been pivotal in shaping streaming economies: Aereo, Netflix, Twitter, Google, and Amazon.1 Television—and in particular streaming television over the internet—serves as a useful point of entry for cataloguing and analyzing the levels of upheaval in post-internet circuits of distribution for popular entertainment. Television is situated between the power structures of Hollywood and Silicon Valley, and the changes inherent to internet television therefore become a testament to the level of influence that each sector has over the other. In addition, I describe and analyze the maturation of the underlying contemporary ecosystem for media distribution. Within this system, particular circuits of distribution are characterized by a convergence of legacy media sectors—in
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