Public service broadcasters demanding account login

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Rikkitic

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Topic # 205581 18-Nov-2016 15:32

First BBC iPlayer and now SBS and maybe others have announced that they will soon be requiring account logins to view their on-demand catalogues. It is painless to register and easy to use non-localised email and the reasons they give are the usual 'to improve our service to you' line but naturally I have to wonder if that is all there is to it. What do others think about this? Is it a step to something else?

I reject your reality and substitute my own. - Adam Savage

gzt

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Reply # 1673692 18-Nov-2016 15:57

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Is that different to TVNZ on demand?

ubergeeknz

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Vocus

Reply # 1673694 18-Nov-2016 15:59

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As I see it this play is twofold:

1. They can remember your preferences and show you relevant content (benefits you)

2. They can track your preferences and show you relevant advertisements (benefits them and their advertisers)

Rikkitic

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Reply # 1673696 18-Nov-2016 16:02

gzt: Is that different to TVNZ on demand?

I don't know. I guess that is my question. The point is they have been operating for a long time without doing this, and now suddenly at least two have decided to start doing it at around the same time. I'm just wondering why.

I reject your reality and substitute my own. - Adam Savage

wellygary

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Reply # 1673712 18-Nov-2016 16:31

I am guessing that they are wanting to have better info on who is watching their "product" ie return visitors etc,

both are ostensibly taxpayer funded, and I suspect they would like some good ammunition to be able to defend themselves from politicians and the "what do we get for our$$$" questions to are often levelled at public Broadcasters......

Rikkitic

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Reply # 1673725 18-Nov-2016 16:57

Good points.

I reject your reality and substitute my own. - Adam Savage

MikeB4

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Reply # 1673726 18-Nov-2016 16:57

I don't see an issue with it.

Mike
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The views stated in my posts are my personal views and not that of any other organisation.

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mattwnz

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Reply # 1673727 18-Nov-2016 16:57

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It also allows them to switch on some form of paywall easily. eg. So you pay for content that doesn't have ads, or for paid content. That is really the only reason I see for it, apart from collecting information about you to give to their advertisers. Advertisers do want to know the people who are watching their adverts.

chevrolux

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Reply # 1673737 18-Nov-2016 17:34

I personally really like logging in to the on-demand services. Mainly because I never remember what episode I was up to...

Also 3Now do the thing where you can pause on one device and resume on another - awesome! Ive been doing that with movies on XBMC/Kodi for a long time now so about time they caught up.

mattwnz

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Reply # 1673741 18-Nov-2016 17:41

chevrolux:

I personally really like logging in to the on-demand services. Mainly because I never remember what episode I was up to...

Also 3Now do the thing where you can pause on one device and resume on another - awesome! Ive been doing that with movies on XBMC/Kodi for a long time now so about time they caught up.

I don;t because I can never remember the password it used. Many people just use the same password on every website, but their is a big risk if one of them gets hacked, and the chances are quite high these days it seems

chevrolux

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Reply # 1673748 18-Nov-2016 17:51

mattwnz:

chevrolux:

I personally really like logging in to the on-demand services. Mainly because I never remember what episode I was up to...

Also 3Now do the thing where you can pause on one device and resume on another - awesome! Ive been doing that with movies on XBMC/Kodi for a long time now so about time they caught up.

I don;t because I can never remember the password it used. Many people just use the same password on every website, but their is a big risk if one of them gets hacked, and the chances are quite high these days it seems

Password vaults are your friend =)

I personally use Keepass (which had a Chrome plugin). But i think lastpass is the one most people recommend as they have got all platforms covered.

If I'm completely honest though, I have the same password on both tv3 and tvnz so i can remember it for mobile devices. But its not shared with any other accounts so frankly don't care if someone finds it out....

....or actually maybe I would because then they would see I watched all the Mysteries of Laura....

mattwnz

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Reply # 1673756 18-Nov-2016 18:30

chevrolux:

Password vaults are your friend =)

I use lastpass myself. However the app doesn't seem to work in other apps, just in the web browser on tablets. Maybe it does now, I don't know. But in someways I don't trust lastpass being installed on a tablet as much as I do a PC, especially on devices that don't get regular operating system updates. I probably wouldn't trust it on a jailbroken device which has a custom rom on it.

richms

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Reply # 1673939 19-Nov-2016 01:58

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It's just streaming video. I make my passwords for them with ease of entry on TV on-screen keyboard rather than security in mind.

Richard rich.ms