Technology360

Digital Culture: Videos

John Jurgensen writes:  "It was a recent hit in office cubicles around the world: a 3½-minute Internet video of two art students from China lip-synching a Backstreet Boys song. Now, some TV companies are hoping that the grainy clips zapped around the Internet can be something more: a cheap source of content, preapproved by a Web audience of millions.  ¶  Two channels have recently created 21st-century equivalents of 'America's Funniest Home Videos.' The new shows, on cable channels VH1 and Bravo, compile so-called "viral" videos that circulate on the Web. At a time when networks are moving to make TV shows more available on the Internet (this week, episodes of two CBS sitcoms went up on Yahoo), it's an illustration of the reverse phenomenon of the Web's inroads into TV. ..."  Link:  Wall Street Journal.

Digital confusion frustrates TV buyers

Paul Davidson writes:  "Consumers snapped up millions of high-definition TV sets this holiday season. Now if they can only figure out how to use the darn things. More than half of HDTV owners lack the knowledge or gear to actually watch digital high-definition on their new sets, recent surveys show. ...¶... But up to 56% of HD-equipped homes haven't obtained extra gear needed to watch in HD: a special set-top box from their cable or satellite service, a cable card or an over-the-air digital tuner, surveys by Leichtman and gear maker Scientific-Atlanta say.  ¶  Why? About 28% say the picture already is better on an HD set; 23% think the logo labeling broadcasts "available in HD" means they're watching HD. 'It's like buying a sports car and never driving more than 50 miles an hour,' Leichtman President Bruce Leichtman says. ..."  Link:  USA Today.

Halfway Between Product Placement And A Commercial

Mike writes:  "While TV execs are worried about TV commercials and TV writers and actors are worried about product placement, it appears that one TV show in Japan is experimenting with something that appears to be halfway between a commercial and product placement. ..."  Link:  techdirt.

The Daily Newspaper of Tomorrow

I don't normally post much about newspapers, but Jon Fine's article of this title in BusinessWeek has a lot to say to the local electronic media as well.  In his related weblog post, Fine points to an article by Jeff Jarvis that's also worth reading.  --Dennis

Women are catching up to men in most measures of online life

"A wide-ranging look at the way American women and men use the internet shows that men continue to pursue many internet activities more intensively than women, and that men are still first out of the blocks in trying the latest technologies. At the same time, there are trends showing that women are catching up in overall use and are framing their online experience with a greater emphasis on deepening connections with people.  ¶  A new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project shows how men’s and women’s use of the internet has changed over time. ..."  Link:  Pew Internet press release.

Starz: 70% of Net's VOD Users Forgo Rentals

Anthony Crupi writes:  "... According to a recent study commissioned by Starz Entertainment Group, 70 percent of TV viewers who use the Starz on Demand VOD service said that they no longer go to the video store to rent movies. Likewise, 72 percent of Starz subscribers reported that they rented DVDs less frequently than before they signed on for the VOD service. ..."  Link:  Mediaweek.

Fate of high-def DVD may lie with Microsoft

Junko Yoshida writes:  "... Several industry sources last week told EE Times that Microsoft is muscling into the optical-disk fray by leveraging its operating-system clout to bundle HD-DVD within Vista, the company's next-generation OS. There is also talk that the software giant may be planning to offer cash incentives — in the form "coupons" — to system vendors or retailers if they agree to support HD-DVD. Such coupons would provide "credits" or "memos" for each PC that is sold with HD-DVD inside. ..."  Link:  EE Times via Digital TV Design Line.

See also HP gets cold feet, endorses HD-DVD.  Link:  EE Times via Digital TV Design Line.  --Dennis

XM to Broadcast in Surround Sound

Nino Marchetti writes:  "... XM HD Surround, said the satellite radio company, will become available on new home audio systems from the likes of Denon, Onkyo, Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc., and Yamaha in March 2006. The initial channels XM will broadcast in 5.1 surround sound, which the company says is a first for 24 hour a day stations, include free-form music channel Fine Tuning (XM Channel 76) and the classical pops music channel XM Pops (XM Channel 113) in XM HD Surround. XM will also broadcast a variety of special shows and live music performances at the XM studios in surround sound. ..."  Link:  DesignTechnica.

The Net Is a Boon for Indie Labels

Jeff Leeds writes:  "Even as the recording industry staggers through another year of declining sales over all, there are new signs that a democratization of music made possible by the Internet is shifting the industry's balance of power.  ¶  Exploiting online message boards, music blogs and social networks, independent music companies are making big advances at the expense of the four global music conglomerates, whose established business model of blockbuster hits promoted through radio airplay now looks increasingly outdated.  ¶   CD and digital album sales so far this year are down 8 percent compared with the same period a year ago... And while sales of digital tracks through services like iTunes have risen 150 percent ... that rise is not enough to offset the plunge in album sales. Overall sales are down less than 5 percent if the digital singles are bundled into units of 10 and counted as albums, according to estimates by Billboard magazine.  ¶  Still, despite the slide, dozens of independent labels are faring well with steady-selling releases ...  Independent labels account for more than 18 percent of album sales this year - their biggest share of the market in at least five years, according to Nielsen SoundScan data. (If several big independent companies whose music is marketed by the major music labels  distribution units are included, the figure xceeds 27 percent.) ..."  Link:  New York Times.

TV Stardom on $20 a Day

Robert Mackey writes:  "Amanda Congdon is a big star on really small screens - like the 4½- inch window she appears in on computer monitors every weekday morning or the 2½ inches she has to work with on the new video iPod. Ms. Congdon, you see, is the anchor of a daily, three-minute, mock TV news report shot on a camcorder, edited on a laptop and posted on a blog called Rocketboom, which now reaches more than 100,000 fans a day. ...¶... In case you're wondering, it has occurred to Mr. Baron and Ms. Congdon that they just might be sitting on a gold mine. At a cost of about $20 an episode, they reach an audience that some days is roughly comparable in size to that of, say, CNN's late, unlamented "Crossfire" political debate show. They have no background in business, but Jeff Jarvis, who tracks developments in technology and culture on his blog, BuzzMachine.com ..., pointed out to them that they might be able to charge $8,000 for an interactive ad at the end of the show, which would bring in about $2 million annually. ..."  Link:  New York Times.