Technology360

OTA HD demystified

Ben Drawbaugh writes:  "Everyone knows that it's possible to watch TV with an antenna, but most people today don't understand why anyone would want to. We have all read the horror stories about how difficult it can be to receive a good OTA (Over the Air) signal, especially with DTV. There are a few benefits to OTA today that we didn't have before the US started the DTV transition. Some of the best picture quality possible can be obtained with an antenna, at least until High Definition DVDs are released. It's FREE, it's recordable on some computers like Windows Media Center Edition and it works sometimes when cable and Satellite doesn't.  ¶  The first step to OTA nirvana is to research your area. Find out which stations are transmitting DTV and where the towers are located by using AntennaWeb,  the foremost authority for OTA information. You simply submit your zip code and the website will return a list of all the channels in your area. It will also list where the towers are and how far you are from them. In addition, they also provide a recommended antenna type to help you choose the correct antenna. Your success will depend on where you live and your surroundings, so this is an important step. You can also see a street level map that will help you get an idea of the tower's location, for the directionally challenged. For those who need even more help, you can head over to HDTV Magazine and use their Google maps version which provides even more information. ..."  Link:  HD Beat.  Helpful guide to OTA reception.  I checked out the AntennaWeb and HDTV Magazine data for the two markets where I manage stations and found the latter's database missing some stations (including one of mine).  The Google Maps implementation of the latter looks cool, but it's easier to figure out the RF channel (important for antenna selection) on the AntennaWeb site.  To find it at the HDTV Magazine site, you need to click on the channel number on the left (the PSIP channel number displayed) to see what the RF channel is.  --Dennis

The Home-Produced Movie Revolution

Doc Searls writes:  "... This era began to end when personal computing stripped the gears of the professional computing. It almost finished ending once the Net became ubiquitous in the world's industrial regions and dial-up became the retrograde exception for Net connection from homes. It will finish ending when professional-grade photo and video gear becomes available at consumer-grade prices, and the only distinctions that matter will be intrinsic to the gear rather than to the customer.  ¶  The next era — the one in which the bulk of producers will emerge from a mass market formerly filled only with consumers — will begin when video customers begin to realize they can produce higher-definition video than what they can get over their cable and satellite connections. That will happen quickest for customers who buy 1920 x 1080 screens to take full advantage of their new 1920 x 1080 camcorders. While spending under $2000 for both. ..."  Link:  Linux Journal.  If you're interested in the democratization of production, check out this great out-of-the-box article.  --Dennis

Study Finds Consumers Spend 13% of TV Viewing Time on VOD Content

Martino Mingione writes:  "... The latest Horowitz study also reports that more than half of the cable customers with free VOD use the service on a weekly basis, with two in 10 using it daily. Consumers with movies on demand watch an average of 1.5 movies a month and more than one-quarter watch two or more in the average month. Additionally, more than three-quarters of digital cable households have VOD service, and VOD remains a key driver to customer satisfaction. ..."  Link:  The Digital TV Weblog.

Director at XM Resigns as Costs Skyrocket

Jeff Leeds writes:  "XM Satellite Radio posted a wider than expected loss yesterday as a result of extra spending to lure subscribers and disclosed that a director had resigned in a dispute over corporate strategy.  ¶  The director, Pierce J. Roberts Jr., said in a letter to XM's chairman that he had been 'troubled about the current direction of the company' and had shared his concerns with directors and management without 'any useful effect.' Without offering specifics, Mr. Roberts, the former head of the telecom investment banking unit of Bear Stearns, said that XM faced "a significant chance of a crisis on the horizon."  ¶  He went on, 'Even absent a crisis, I believe that XM will inevitably serve its shareholders poorly without major changes now.' ..."  Link:  New York Times.

NPR's All Things Considered has a related story, Satellite Radio Rivals Report Disappointing Losses.  Link:  NPR.

Fred Jacobs has an interesting table of who has what programming, XM Crisis.  Link:  JacoBLOG. --Dennis

What's in a Municipal Network?

Glenn Fleishman has a good overview of municipal  networks at Wi-Fi Net News.  --Dennis

Funding Invention Vs. Managing Innovation

John Hagel and John Seely Brown write:  "... But if we shift our attention from invention to innovation, we begin to see a much broader horizon.  Innovation -- the ability to create and capture economic value from invention -- is what really drives both the economic prosperity of nations and the shareholder value of corporations.  ¶  Innovation isn't just confined to commercialization of new products.  It can also build upon creative new practices, processes, relationships, or business models, and even institutional innovations such as open-source computing -- invention occurs in all these domains.  And while breakthrough innovations can generate significant economic value, sustaining that value requires a capacity for continual incremental innovations. ..."  Link:  BusinessWeek.  Good article -- recommended.  --Dennis

Distribution of Short Wave/AM/FM Radios

USAID newsletter:  "... As part of a campaign to increase awareness of the year-old North-South peace agreement, USAID is distributing radios throughout Southern Sudan that will enable people to listen to broadcasts on the constitution, citizens’ rights, government accountability, and political developments. The 50,000 solar- and hand crank-powered radios are being distributed mainly to isolated and war-affected areas, specifically targeting the lower-income and marginalized people within those communities— women, youth, displaced people, and ex-combatants.  ¶  To complement the radio programming, USAID is helping to organize listening groups to give citizens the opportunity to discuss civil society issues. Regional resource centers are being set up in six areas to host the groups and provide meeting space and resources for civil society organizations. USAID is also developing radio-based educational resources, such as classes and teacher trainings, that the listening groups can access."  USAID via Sudan Man.  The Sudan Man weblog is written by my brother, Rob Haarsager, who, based in Nairobi, is co-country director (along with his wife Mary) of an NGO's food relief efforts for Sudan.  --Dennis

Time's up for the Midtown media giants

Edward Helmore writes:  "News Corporation's skyscraper on Sixth Avenue, Time Warner in the tower at Columbus Circle, NBC at 30 Rockefeller Centre - all awe-inspiring monuments that speak of the power of communication. But there is an increasing belief that they have no reason to exist other than as manifestations of their founders' ego and ambition.  ¶  When corporate raider Carl Icahn unveiled his Lazard-backed plan to break up media behemoth Time Warner last week, there was one question that hung over competing arguments as to how to raise shareholder value: do massive media companies have a compelling reason to exist in an era of media fragmentation?  ¶  The argument is simple: as global media conglomerates struggle to hold position against falling sales in publishing, a fractured TV market, music piracy and advertising migration to old fashioned billboards, what are these groups for? The market also seems tired of them. Shares in 'old' media firms have fallen 25 per cent in the past two years; Google is now equal in value to Walt Disney, News Corp and Viacom combined. ..."  Link:  Guardian Unlimited.

Thanks to Scott Karp for the tip.  Check out his commentary on this article, Is the Age of Media Giants, and Media Companies, Over?  Link:  Publishing 2.0.  --Dennis

How to Value Ratings With DVR Delay?

Stuart Elliott writes:  "... Late in December, Nielsen, part of VNU, started distributing its ratings information in three versions: live, the traditional way television is watched; live plus 24 hours, counting how many people who own DVR's played back shows within a day of recording them; and live plus seven days, counting playback within a week of recording.  ¶  For some prime-time series, like the hit drama "Grey's Anatomy" on ABC, the so-called live-plus ratings show slight but noticeable gains compared with the live-only viewership. But it is estimated that 50 percent to 70 percent of viewers playing back shows zip through the commercials, casting doubt on their worth to advertisers.  ¶  Nielsen's adoption of the new methodology was spurred by the growing use of digital video recorders, which are already estimated to be in 7 percent of the nation's 110.2 million TV households. DVR's are among the technologies that are starting to remake the way people watch television, along with video iPods, video-on-demand and broadband connections for personal computers. ..."  Link:  New York Times.

Mark Schubin digital television memo, 2/16/2006

Mark Schubin's latest memo on digital television is mirrored in the "Continued reading" area below.  Of particular interest is the item about drafting errors in the bill the President signed into law.  --Dennis

  - U.S. analog cutoff and set-top box subsidy -

          - George Bush signed the act containing the cutoff and subsidy into law on February 8:

<http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6305856.html?display=Breaking+News> ...

          - Congress could always change its mind, as it did with the previous date, but that might not even be necessary.  A number of experts on constitutional law say that, due to a clerical error, the two houses of Congress passed different versions of the bill, and, therefore, it "is not law":

<http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Dems_legal_scholars_Budget_bill_not_0214.html>

          - It's worth reading the law.  Section 3002 notes that only full-power stations need to drop analog on that date, and Section 3005 seems to indicate that if a set-top box has anything but an NTSC RF output it cannot be subsidized:

<http://tinyurl.com/ay3kl>