So I’m trying to figure out how to watch my alma-mater the Boston College Eagles take on the University of South Florida (who?) last weekend and to my dismay, it’s only being carried by ESPN on their exclusive ESPN-U channel. Okay, even though my wife will kill me, I’ll just buy it, right? Wrong. Comcast does not offer the channel. Bummer.
Undeterred, I turned to the internet. Video’s easy now right? There has to be something out there. Came up with what I thought was nothing and then 10 pages into a Google search I see a Justin.tv link. Sure enough… seconds later I was watching the game streamed live over the web. While not great quality, it was better than good enough. The best part was the in-game chat, funny and engaging as you can see in the pic.
There’s no question that this is indeed copyright infringement, you can’t legally rebroadcast television programming for your own audience. But if it’s out there and I have no other option, I’ll watch it. This is the power of the web and maybe the cable carrier’s might want to take notice here. The work arounds will always be there unless you can offer the service yourself at a reasonable price. Take a hint from the Napsters, and Hulu’s out there, create something of value that I can buy. Until then, I’ll be watching for free on Justin.tv. BTW… BC won. GO EAGLES!
RobToole.com 