The Glade 4.0

Something that's been bugging me as both an electronic gadget whore and media consumer.

Why can't media providers get it through their heads that the medium by which the media is consumed is irrelevant?

For example:

I possess a multitude of Samsung devices. A Galaxy S3 smartphone, a Note 10.1 tablet and a Laptop. (I didn't do this on purpose, it just worked out that way.) I wanted to watch Warehouse 13 on Hulu. Since I have a sub to Hulu plus, I figured this wouldn't be an issue. So, I whip out my tablet since its the most convenient form factor to watch TV in bed... and WH13 is not authorized on mobile devices.

Wait what?

So, I check "Request Desktop Site" and... its still blocked. Pulled out my laptop and logged in to watch WH13 on the same damn site.

I don't get why it matters what device I am consuming the media on. If I can get to the media, I should be able to consume it.

_________________

Holy shitsnacks!

Yes, you should. Digital video rights are a hideous beast, driven by the glacial pace of media companies coupled with their sheer terror at the thought that they might make one wrong move and someone might accidentally get to watch something for free (or worse, make money off of it that *gasp* of which they see none).

It just makes no logical sense.

I mean, hell. I should be able to log into directv.com with my account and watch whatever channel I want online. Come on, stream that ****! I shouldn't need a satellite converter box to watch TV. I want to be able to whoop out my tablet, click a link and BLADOW! SyFy. Or ESPN... or whatever.

I know they can do it. I watch Sunday Ticket on my tablet on Sunday over WiFi.

Trying to watch the Olympics online was painful... far more painful than it should have been.

_________________

Holy shitsnacks!

Sometimes it's because of the company and not the device. For example, Hulu blocked Google TV boxes for a long time because they didn't have a deal with Google. The companies don't care about the medium you use to watch their content with, they care about agreements they have with manufacturers, which usually ends up with someone (usually the customer) getting ****.