I’ve read your replies and I’m glad your lawyers are feeling solid about how you’re doing what you’re doing. That said, I hope you’ve dedicated at least two or three times your hardware/R&D budget towards lawyers because broadcasters and operators are notoriously litigious. Especially for anything that actively positions itself around ad circumvention.
But my concern wouldn’t just be for your startup. If I’m a bar or restaurant owner, I don’t want to pay for anything that could put me in violation of my carriage contract with my TV operator and unless you can assure your customers they won’t run afoul of a contract (and your lawyer will tell you you can’t. Even if you could, the answer is you cannot), that would be a tough sell.
The dynamic ad-insertion stuff is interesting — particularly if you are doing it in real time (most of the stuff that already out there like what Dish did with Hopper (and was sued over) and what Plex does for its OTA service happen post-recording), but that almost strikes me as a software offering not a hardware component. I suppose best-case scenario, you could partner/license this tech to the cable operators to sell to their business clients in exchange for an additional fee.
Best of luck — it’s an interesting idea. I just can’t get past the myriad of legal red flags.
Interesting breakdown of the legal complexities involved. Thanks.
The corner-case devil got the better of me:
Wonder how the lawyers (and the law) would treat it if they (Taiv) position custom content as channel and then just switch channels at opportune times?
It's not a question of regular law, it's a question of contracts.
To show live sports in bars you have to sign a contract, and periodically renew it. If the broadcaster notices Tavi and doesn't like it, they can simply add a no-Tavi clause during contract renewal.
But my concern wouldn’t just be for your startup. If I’m a bar or restaurant owner, I don’t want to pay for anything that could put me in violation of my carriage contract with my TV operator and unless you can assure your customers they won’t run afoul of a contract (and your lawyer will tell you you can’t. Even if you could, the answer is you cannot), that would be a tough sell.
The dynamic ad-insertion stuff is interesting — particularly if you are doing it in real time (most of the stuff that already out there like what Dish did with Hopper (and was sued over) and what Plex does for its OTA service happen post-recording), but that almost strikes me as a software offering not a hardware component. I suppose best-case scenario, you could partner/license this tech to the cable operators to sell to their business clients in exchange for an additional fee.
Best of luck — it’s an interesting idea. I just can’t get past the myriad of legal red flags.