MTV vs. Firefox vs. Mac?
So last night I was watching the video music awards and noticed how MTV was SERIOUSLY pushing MTV Overdrive, their "broadband video channel."
Much to my surprise, when I tried to visit the MTV Overdrive section of the site, I received an error that said, "PC users with Netscape, Mozilla or Firefox: you need to run Internet Explorer to use MTV Overdrive."
The biggest problem I have with this is that MTV is supposed to be on the cutting edge of culture, right? And this is something I would expect from a company who has no idea of what's happening online.
Update: Well, it looks like it's not just Firefox that MTV has a problem with. They apparently have a problem with the Mac OS as well. Frances (you may know her from the AR100) sent me an email saying she got the following message:
"Unfortunately, Microsoft's Windows Media Player Plug-in for Macintosh does not support Windows DRM. If DRM support becomes available for Macintosh, MTV will develop a version of MTV Overdrive that works on a Mac."
AdPulp is having the same issue. The possible market share that MTV is alienating grows... it's in the double digits now.
Add to that Launchcast and XMRadio's online players do not work with Firefox either.
Posted by: von | August 30, 2005 at 09:21 AM
The DRM thing is an issue and one that MTV as a business can't get around. There is a hard push, at least at MTV.com and ComedyCentral.com for standards compliance and cross browser/platform synergy. This, though, has not been the case for very long.
Posted by: Evan | August 30, 2005 at 11:40 AM
I wonder what other DRM solutions are available to them? That might be more cross-compatible.
Posted by: John | August 30, 2005 at 01:59 PM