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Re:Amazon is reportedly negotiating to acquire MGM for about... by lotsofpulp on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @10:10AM (#27194764)
My point was that we did strive for better, and I can now watch whatever I want whenever I want however I want, for 90% of things.

For the rest, like sports and some other live stuff that is stuck in the past, I simply ignore.

I would not go after legislation to prevent mergers to prevent locked down devices or restrictions on how you can watch. We already had that without the mergers, so why would that address the situation?

If the point is to keep the content flowing far and wide, then that should be addressed directly.

Re:Amazon is reportedly negotiating to acquire MGM for about... by afavour on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @10:14AM (#27194825)
It doesn't sound like we disagree. Why couldn't the FEC allow the merger with a mandate that content be available on all (or a reasonable number of) platforms?
Re:Amazon is reportedly negotiating to acquire MGM for about... by lotsofpulp on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @10:24AM (#27194974)
I think half measures can hurt more than they benefit, due to it being used politically as an excuse to not address the root issue by claiming it was already addressed.

The root issue here is excessive copyright terms. Those are the source of the monopoly. We already solved the distribution problem with the internet, now it’s a political issue of reducing copyright lengths. Any other solution will be used by politicians as an excuse to show they did something, or that nothing more needs to be done.

Who cares who buys what once the content is in the public domain. It is a cleaner, resilient, and quicker solution.

Also, it seems unfair that government would be able to dictate what Amazon can and cannot do with its content, but not others, so that is another political fight that can waste time and energy.

Re:Amazon is reportedly negotiating to acquire MGM for about... by afavour on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @10:34AM (#27195107)
> The root issue here is excessive copyright terms.

Not really. That's an issue, certainly. But the consolidation of media ownership into companies that control the entire process from production to the hardware video is played on has very little to do with how long back catalogues retain copyright protection.