In a move that should have surprised no one, but apparently did, Viacom (NYSE: VIA) has removed its channels-Comedy Central, MTV/VH1 and Nickelodeon, from the reach of Google (Nasdaq: GOOG). It's not surprising, of course, since Viacom and Google have been at each other's throats seemingly since the start of the century over Google division YouTube's penchant for showing Viacom clips on its site.
What's really interesting about this move is that it bares the yeoman-like lengths to which cord cutters will go to watch cable TV. In a Fortune/CNN posting by Seth Weintraub, the process is revealed.
"At the moment you can still change the User Agent in (Google) Chrome and watch full episodes (just like Fox) but it's only a matter of time until they really nail down the embargo," Weintraub writes before offering this road map to cable-free TV. "I use an old Mac Mini as a media center in my bedroom which still streams Viacom TV (as well as Hulu, CBS, ABC, etc) content just fine. I also have a(n) HDMI hookup for my laptop which also lets me watch TV on my HDTV without too much fuss (though I curse the execs making these decisions when I have to give up my laptop to watch TV.)"
For more:
- see this blog
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