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Since reading the theory that Google wanted to be sued, I’ve been quite intrigued by that possibility. It does make sense. It’s a war that needed to be waged, and lord knows I’m pulling for Google. But lately, watching everything going on at CBS, I’m thinking that perhaps Viacom never intended to win.
Maybe, just maybe, Viacom knew they were entering a losing
battle, but they decided to fight it just to slow Google down enough for them
to catch up. Certainly, Viacom has been busy since they filed suit.
They’ve done they’re damndest to figure out a way to get
viewers to watch their commercials on broadcast.
They've added blogs.
They’ve gone “Widget Crazy.” They’re trying to put the “net in network”
with a strong web push.
They’re distributing their content pretty much everywhere but YouTube.
And now, they’ve put their daytime content online.
It’s all got me thinking: if they hate what YouTube does so
much, then why are they allowing others to do virtually the same thing with
their content, and more or less, trying to accomplish this “video on the web” thing successfully
themselves?
I’m no huge fan of Sumner Redstone & Co., but maybe they
did know what they what they were doing. (Though they still have a lot to learn
about consumer control.) They have to know that it is simply a fact that a
victory for them damages the Internet and would make them the biggest schmucks in the world.
This battle between Google and Viacom involves such large
players that it’s difficult to decide who’s David and who’s Goliath,
but there’s no question of who we should be cheering for: Google. Because really,
as we cheer for Google, we’re cheering for the future of the web as we know it.
Nobody wants the internet
to be a complete pay for play system, even if some think it might go that
direction. We need our free spaces. We need access. This co-opetition
and open access was what Tim Berners Lee’s
vision was all about. (Even as he continues to pursue his dream for a semantic
web,
he has made his idea available for free, never patenting or requiring
royalties.)
Tim Berners Lee has said,
“My goal for the web in 30 years is to be the platform which has led to the
building of something very new and special, which we can't imagine now.” The
only way for this to happen is Viacom losing and more people participating.
So, if Viacom just needed to play some catch up and was
willing to pay lawyers to slow Google down, then I can’t say I blame them.
Just like most media companies, they were so
far behind. Even Google will try and slow someone down in order to catch
up. But if Viacom actually wants to win and change the web experience, well, then Mr.
Hat has some choice words for you, Mr. Redstone…because I don’t think you asked him.
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