Down with the Imperialists: Royalty Issues For Chinese IPTV Operators
Sina just posted a story about China's Ministries of Information Industry draft report on how they will restructure foreign usage of codec standards - specifically for MPEG-4 and H.264. The report specifically warns Chinese IPTV companies that the new fees for using MPEG-4 and H.264 will be very expensive with future problems. Therefore, they are encouraging the use of Chinese made IPTV standard--AVS.
I am not a codex expert at all. I am a user-simplicity advocate, meaning I hate how there are so many different codexes for different players, operating systems and etc. In my dream world everyone would agree to one standard and build applications on top of that.
So I did a little of poking around, because I didn't completely understand why China would warn operators about the expensiveness of using MPEG-4 and H.264. In my selfish world it certainly would make my life easier if China would just stick with the most dominant system.
So I found another blogger, Billsdue, on my source roll who framed it in terms of China being "anti-market" and " trying to push a lot of homegrown standards these days." "Pushy" insinuates that China is being a big selfish pain in the ass by not using US codecs - which is exactly what I thought when I first learned about this. So in my confusion I asked for insight from media expert, Kenyatta Cheese, who runs Unmediated. And he responded with:
Tricia,
Traditionally, America, Japan, Korea, and Europe have set the rules as far as codecs and standards go. Standards like MPEG4 and CDMA are standards developed in the US, so anyone who makes a product that uses these standards (DVD players, cell phones and such) has to pay royalties to American companies. From their perspective, it's like they're being taxed from overseas. And we all know what that feels like. ;)
China doesn't want to be beholden to US patent holders, so they developed their own codecs (AVS) and standards (TD-SCDMA) for use in Chinese devices. They believe that they have big enough of a market that manufacturers will want to develop devices that are compatible in China, allowing them to set the rules for their own country and not the US. By placing an actual "tax" on manufacturers that make devices using the American codecs, they discourage use of the American MPEG4 and encourage the use of the Chinese AVS standard in domestic devices.
Any argument that calls this "anti-free market" rings false to me. Royalty payments to a foreign company is imperial taxation in 20th century dress. Meanwhile, we address any Western attempt to rid itself on dependence on foreign resources -- say, oil -- as a proud "self determination."
-kc.
Thanks kenyatta for that explanation. I guess I should reformulate my dream world: one standard API, creative commons, royalty free, open source -used by every living being in the universe.
Until then, I will agree to whatever new standards China deploys and I will download whatever new media player application that will support it - so where is the next AVS player?