> The solution would appear to be an official android API for streaming content from mobile devices that has resolved these issues or locked out the rights holders.
How would you lock out rights holders who hold the rights to content to create such an official streaming API? Such an official API would have to abide by all the licensing rules rights holders impose.
> I'm a bit surprised that you think Google and the streaming services are helpless here
They own about 0 rights to the content they stream.
Netflix almost collapsed when major studios pulled their content to create competing platforms. That's why they spent to the tune of 8 billion dollars a year to produce their own content and flooded the service with mediocre movies and a bunch of Korean movies and series. Also that's why you can watch the content they have rights to in every country, download it etc.
That's the same reason why AppleTV is busy creating their own content etc.
If streaming platforms dare to go against rights holders, the lawsuits will hurt even Google.
As for AI: it doesn't hurt the rights holders yet. The moment it does, you'll see lawsuits.
I will probably never stop being astounded by people who embrace enahittification rather than losing a silly thing like Netflix. At some point, the free market works this out, but I'm guessing people can stay irrational about things like this longer than they ought to.
Other than Wednesday, at this point there's nothing I want to watch on that service anymore. I truly do not miss it.
What I do miss these days is all of the wonderful summaries and presentations about AI and other research papers on YouTube that are now dominated by horrific notebookLM AI slop podcasts.
> I will probably never stop being astounded by people who embrace enahittification rather than losing a silly thing like Netflix.
I will probably never stop being astounded by people who read simple unambiguous texts and then go on having arguments with voices in their heads.
> at some point, the free market works this out
Oh, it has. You're looking at what the free market has worked out.
> Other than Wednesday, at this point there's nothing I want to watch on that service anymore.
Indeed. And literally told you why. Let me quote myself:
--- start quote ---
Netflix almost collapsed when major studios pulled their content to create competing platforms. That's why they spent to the tune of 8 billion dollars a year to produce their own content and flooded the service with mediocre movies and a bunch of Korean movies and series.
--- end quote ---
Look at how a powerful non-helpless streaming service (in your head) could do nothing against rights holders imposing their will on it (in the real world).
That's a question for lawyers to resolve. IANAL but I have great faith in their ability to impose arbitrary roadblocks to anything as needed. And even if ultimately overturned, just making the bottom line more affordable allowing casting would seem to be the "shareholder value" friendly message. Further, there was already precedent for such behavior on Netflix with some content being downloadable for later viewing and some not.
I'm a bit surprised that you think Google and the streaming services are helpless here when pretty much every foundation model effort has stolen tremendous amounts of IP to build their AI models without consequence.
Otherwise, frog.pot.boiled, no?