2 Letters to Viacom

The love letter:

Dear Viacom,

You’ve entertained me for years whether it be Nikelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, or Paramount (didn’t even realize you owned that one). As a long time viewer, someone who respects and loves the product you put out I was saddened to hear that in your first go at Google you did not succeed in exerting your intellectual property rights.

You see, I’m an informed consumer and I respect the ownership laws granted by this country. Unfortunately, with lawmakers there is often short-sightedness in the drafting. How else could a law like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (designed to keep frivolous lawsuits from targeting internet hosts and ISPs) be utilized as a shield for a corporation that keeps illegal content on their service and servers through which they directly profit from? Sorry, I understand that it’s not Google’s fault that people upload the videos but creating the service means policing it. Google is profiting from Viacom’s content either through the additional traffic it generates (which facilitates a higher asking rate on advertising) or utilizing it in negotiations shakedowns of content holders. It’s a lot easier to bargain with someone whose content is already exposed when it comes to setting the tone of the partnership agreement.

Here’s to hoping in 5 years the Supreme Court sees things your Way Viacom.

Yours, Nick

The Hate Letter

Dear Viacom,

How is it you can be so good at creating amazing content and so terrible at serving it up to the world? I can access your content at YouTube just fine (yeah I know it shouldn’t be there). You might want to get on those take-down notices since their site doesn’t hang/ spend minutes buffering and I don’t even have to watch a commercial there.

Or better yet learn from NBC and actually post your content on Hulu ,rather than using Hulu point back to your overwhelmed site. See I don’t mind watching the commercials, I just mind the buffering time. I know Hulu is a little more appeasing than Google, who you still have that nasty back and forth legal fight with.

So in closing fix your website or I’ll just hit up YouTube.

Regards, Nick