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NBC and Time Warner Continue to Back Flash Over HTML5

Fellow apple fanboys we should all get together and boycott these networks!

How dare they not drink the apple koolaid?! Do they not know that our messiah Steve Jobs has already foreseen the future?!

[bows down to the steve jobs poster on the wall]

steve jobs was smart enough to know there only can be one resource hog and that's iTunes. (zing!)
 
Well NBC is right on the fact that it would cost them a lot of money to re format everything for HTML5. You have the entire mess of a codec trying to be forced into the HTML5 standard. The problem with going HTML5 now is there is a risk of having to reformat everything yet again to support some random Codec.

Right now if a site goes HTML5 only they seem to use h.264 codec which blocks around 30% of all web users. You have WebM providing it can get off the ground will only block a entire 5% of the market.

Remember going HTML5 is a risk of having to spend millions not only to convert everything but might have to spend millions only to do it yet again in a few years.
 
"Sources said” that NBC flat-out will not make an iPad app, despite ABC, CBS and other having iPad solutions? Hard to imagine even a private, internal decision being so final. I’m skeptical. Has a game of telephone been played here with these mysterious “sources” passing on something that’s not 100% accurate? A far more likely and reasonable decision: “we’re not working on anything right now.” Or “we’d like an iPad app rather than HTML5.”

Flash may dominate the web, but as a personal video player, an iPad dominates a computer—and sales are strong as we know.

Also, NBC is part of Hulu, so I hope rumors of an iPad Hulu app are still true. In which case, it would be weird for NBC not to allow their content on it.

Anyway, if this is truly what they “told Apple,” then that’s likely more a negotiating tactic than a decision handed down to consumers. Maybe they think that can convince Apple to allow Flash in Safari, saving them some work on a new player :p
 
pvfan6450 said:
As Microsoft is a co-owner of NBC, I'm not surprised by their position on the use of Flash. Time-Warner's reaction is a little puzzling. One would think that going forward they may change their tune. Especially if they want to enter into the subscription market.
Click to expand...

Time Warner uses DVR software that is 10 years old, it's no surprise to me that they aren't "moving forward". Every time I watch TV at my mom's house, I feel like it's Y2K all over again....
 
Really, I'm not surprised.

The number of iPad owners is *tiny* compared to the existing amount of users that can currently use Flash. It doesn't make sense at this time to start expensive conversion of media to satisfy the few users that have the iPad.

I expect this decision to change once HTML5 usage becomes more mainstream.
 
Winni said:
They've already embraced the current de facto standard that's accessible to one BILLION people. The one million iPad users aren't really that important in comparison.

The solution is awfully simple: Steve Jobs just has to get his head out of his butt and let his developers work together with Adobe to get Flash on the iPhone OS. That's a 100% win for everybody.

The world does not evolve around Apple or its iGadgets. It's time that Cupertino wakes up to reality.
Click to expand...

Yeah just like all those other cell phones that support flash...

Oh, wait. That list is still terribly short, isn't it?

So why is it that Apple keeps getting the brunt of this, I wonder? You might say it's because Steve wrote that letter but the letter came out because everyone was bugging them about it in the first place.

Yeah yeah...everyone else SAYS they'll add Flash...someday...

I'll believe it when I see it.
 
I don't have an iPad but when I was playing around with one recently I went to NBC.com and it linked me to the iPhone page. It looked terrible and was zoomed in like 700%. Does this still happen? It's ridiculous.
 
Rojo said:
Very disappointed in this (especially since Time Warner is the parent company of the place I work at). Just seems like they're shooting themselves in the foot by not embracing the future of web technology.
Click to expand...

Blame the idiots at Apple for not supporting the current standard. Props to NBC for telling Apple to shove it. Cue the Apple fanboys with their inevitable "NBC sucks anyway" crap.
 
pvfan6450 said:
As Microsoft is a co-owner of NBC, I'm not surprised by their position on the use of Flash. Time-Warner's reaction is a little puzzling. One would think that going forward they may change their tune. Especially if they want to enter into the subscription market.
Click to expand...

Microsoft is not a co-owner of NBC. Comcast bought NBC. It hasn't gone through yet but still.
NBC is part owner of MSNBC and that's it.

NBC Universal is currently owned by General Electric.
 
They did simple math...

Android 2.2 and above will feature on huge number of mobile, portable and TV devices and will very soon indeed dominate this markets...

Flash works fine on all those devices even in beta stage :)

Why bother!?
 
Sad reality

I want Flash to die as fast as everyone else, but unfortunately simply playing video in HTML5 is not enough to satisfy these content producers... They need to be able to track what is viewed, what ads are watched, prevent content from being stolen, etc. Until someone can reliably do this in javascript (and this is all definitely doable, it just hasn't been done yet) then they'll stick with what works for them (makes sense since they've already invested in doing these things in Flash)... Now, if they were smart and implemented all the tracking and delivery methods with web services, then it might not be so bad but I highly doubt that's the case.
 
GFLPraxis said:
Look at history.

If Apple had supported Flash, companies wouldn't see any pressing need to update to HTML5, and we'd still have Flash EVERYWHERE.
Click to expand...

Look at the present reality. Even Apple's own browser does not yet fully support HTML5 and the bundle of technologies that come with it. There is not even a standard for video in the HTML5 bundle yet.

If you follow Apple, all you currently do is LOSE features, functionality and options. You will give up a working de facto standard - which is Flash - for not getting a working and supported alternative at all.

The HTML5 bundle -might- one day become a commonly used standard, but right now, and for a quite foreseeable future, HTML5 is just unsupported vaporware.
 
kutsushita said:
I see the iPad as a start to not only the end of flash but a start to Apple ending flash support for their products.
Click to expand...

Wait, what?

Flash is a plugin. Mac OS X doesn't have an app store- Apple can remove Flash from the OS X default install, but nothing prevents the user from installing the Flash plugin, or installing Chrome+Flash or FireFox+Flash.
 
They MIGHT just be waiting out the Apple-Google battle. Maybe they are planning to move to the new Google codec and such.

Maybe they believe the analysts who are saying that iPhone/iPad is doomed by Android because of Apple's many restrictions. They might just be right, too. I don't know. Partly it depends on the patent battle.
 
anthonyjr said:
Do they not realize that it isn't about the iPad anymore? Almost every major browser is adding in full HTML5 support.
Click to expand...

Of course, from their point of view, they might say: "while true, every major browser already supports Flash TODAY... not some time in the future.

anthonyjr said:
It's more about moving to a new standard that will work across multiple platforms and won't require another engine to decode the information.
Click to expand...
Flash is an old standard that already works across multiple platforms. I'm pretty confident it would work on iDevices too if Apple wouldn't forbid it.

No argument about Flash having room for lots of optimization and evolutionary improvements, but these companies- like many others- are choosing a standard that works now... for the vast majority of computers in the world, not switching to a draft standard that does NOT work now for the vast majority of computers in the world.

Their business is selling content and advertising. They make more money by reaching more people. They make less money by reaching less people. Why are we surprised that they would choose to reach as many people and platforms as they can? It's not like they are saying they'll never develop an app or switch to h.264 when the opportunities look right (for their own business).
 
I can watch NBC shows on my iPhone

I have a web based iPhone app on and have had it for quite a while. It lets me watch NBC shows on my iPhone.

Those are not Flash. Must be HTML5.

So this is a bit puzzling.
 
So Hulu, NBC, and Time Wagner saying that they want Flash are totally wrong, and all of you teenager fanboys sitting in your bedrooms judging are all right. :rolleyes:

HA! :p

I still want Flash on my iPad.

Tony
 
-=XX=-Nephilim said:
They did simple math...

Android 2.2 and above will feature on huge number of mobile, portable and TV devices and will very soon indeed dominate this markets...

Flash works fine on all those devices even in beta stage :)

Why bother!?
Click to expand...

No, it doesn't. It slows down the entire device, sucks battery power, scrolls very choppily...

lipnorth said:
I have a web based iPhone app on and have had it for quite a while. It lets me watch NBC shows on my iPhone.

Those are not Flash. Must be HTML5.

So this is a bit puzzling.
Click to expand...


If it's an iPhone app, it's not using Flash OR HTML5. Flash and HTML5 are ways to deliver video through a web browser, and are separate from the format of the video itself. In your case, the video is being delivered through an app, not Flash, nor HTML5.
 
HTML5 is (going to eventually, when it is mature be) fine for basic video display, but Flash adds interactive elements not easily duplicated.

Makes sense to me.
 
Get rid of the old men!

As usual, the old farts running media companies are still living in the dinosaur age. Mandatory retirement should be 30 years old!
 
NBC and TW know that the iPad is a toy and nobody will buy it. No sense spending to change for a device that won't make it.

Or

They are short sighted idiots.

:D
 
+1 for NBC being a poorly managed company.

It's too bad because I really do like a lot of NBC's programming. They are lucky enough to get themselves some amazing content (The Office!) yet they either destroy it (Conan!) or just prevent people from watching it.

Hey NBC, you're the number 4 network, remember?
 
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