PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU/AFP/Getty Images
I kiss football. I'm crazy addicted to it. The Premier League, La Liga, Serie A. Liverpool, Valencia, AC Milan. Torres, Villa, Gattuso. And the best part: The clash of blue and red against white and black. Barcelona v. Real Madrid. El Clásico. Count four days and the biggest football game of this half of the year is going to be played at Camp Nou. The bad news? You won't get to see it.
If you haven't heard of real-time multimedia streaming.
When cable television fails, multimedia streaming becomes the Gift of the Universe. How does it work? Media is "presented" (through audio or video playback) to an end-user while being "hosted" or delivered by a streaming provider. It differs from other forms of media sharing (i.e. downloading) in that multimedia streaming begins playing after a small amount is received, and the data is not permanently stored in the destination computer. But is it illegal? Only if you access copyrighted videos from providers that do not secure the consent of the video creator.
This is where the business solution comes in. There is a demand for it, make people pay. Though I haven't actually paid to watch games, there was this time about a year ago when I was deperate to watch the Euros. A friend offered me his account with the tournament's official media partner, and I watched games for free. (Well. He paid, and I watched it for free.) Good deal, right?
We talk about how media is pervasive but we fail to see how some don't reach the audiences that demand for it. Multimedia streaming fixes this glitch. So when Sergio Ramos makes a tackle and Cristiano Ronaldo scores a goal Monday night, I'll be watching. (And so should you.) VAMOS, GALACTICOS!
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