Technology360

Condolences to Terry Heaton

Just read in Terry Heaton's weblog that he lost is wife, Allie, in the early morning hours of Tuesday.  She was only 41 and the death was sudden and unexpected.  Although I've only met him once, Terry's wise advice for the future of the broadcasting industry has been fodder for this weblog ever since I discovered his work.  He has my sincere sympathy and I'll be thinking about him this week.  --Dennis

Disney/ABC Chairman to Affils: We Can't Cling to Old TV Models

John Higgins writes:

Disney/ABC Networks Chairman Anne Sweeney has a tough message for broadcasters as TV moves onto the Internet and other new-media platforms: Change not just the way that you regard your viewers but also what you expect from networks.  ¶  Speaking at a luncheon at the National Association of Broadcasters convention, Sweeney told TV executives that "We can't cling to old models or old ways of thinking." That includes accepting that networks will push programming to other platforms quickly, and realizing that broadcast affiliates won't always be getting a piece of the action. ...¶... While she didn't specifically address revenue splits, Sweeney's message was clear: Broadcast affiliates shouldn't expect a direct cut of the pie. As ABC sells episodes of Lost pay-per-view on itunes or sells commercials for Desperate Housewives streamed on ABC.com, stations won't participate in the revenues.

Link:  Broadcasting & Cable.

FCC Chairman Willing To Revisit 'Must Carry' Ruling

Drew Clark writes:

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin expressed a willingness to reconsider and reverse an agency decision last year that was a key setback for broadcasters in the transition to digital television. He spoke at the National Association of Broadcasters convention here.  ¶  Martin was referring to a February 2005 decision to reject broadcasters' request that cable operators carry all digital multicasting programs transmitted over the air. ...

Link:  National Journal.

The Future of the Internet: In a decade, the Net will dig deeper into our lives

Red Herring interviewed about two dozen experts about the future of the Net and the result is a long and very interesting article that provides a plausible view of the Internet in a decade.  Link:  Red Herring.  Thanks to Gens Johnson for the link.

I didn't find much with which to disagree, yet there are a couple of things that will impact the Net that aren't discussed.  One is the combined steady advancement of storage capacity and compression technology.  Since there is a direct trade-off between the two (the more you can store, the less you need to transmit), that should have a somewhat moderating impact on consumer demand for transmission capacity. 

The second is more political and relates to the right of privacy in using these advances.  Many of the advances discussed in the article (RFID, embedded speech processor, etc.) have major Big Brother implications -- even if BB in this case is a parent checking on the whereabouts of a 13 year old.  All of these things leave trails that can be monitored, subpoenaed, acted upon.  Just as network, storage, RFID, and compression technologies advance, so too will technologies that track what's been on our mind.  So I think that resistance to the intrusion of government into our attention space will likewise be a moderating influence on the adoption of these technologies.  None of this should make us Luddites -- these innovations have some extremely beneficial characteristics.  It's just a heads up that things we adopt for the best of reasons need to also spawn equally creative thought about how to handle the interest that authorities already have in following the trails we leave.  --Dennis

Mainstream News Outlets Beginning To Innovate And Invest In Online Journalism

From a Pew Charitable Trusts news release:

The mainstream news media in the last year began moving resources and people to online journalism in a significant way and for the moment may even be innovating more than the online-only companies, according to a new report on the state of journalism in America.  ¶  Yet the shift may owe more to need than bold entrepreneurship. Old media platforms continued to lose audience and in 2005 saw even more pressure than before on finances. In newspapers, for instance, what little revenue growth the industry enjoyed came almost entirely from online operations and from niche publications such as those aimed at the young. ...

Link:  Pew Charitable Trusts.  The full report is available online at www.stateofthemedia.org.  --Dennis

iPod Ownership Is Exploding and Podcasting Is Emerging as a Viable Content Medium

Fred Jacobs writes:

In the latest in our series of analysis of the Technology Poll, we found that of all of the new media tested – satellite radio, Internet streaming, text messaging, video games – the sharpest growth belongs to iPods and similar MP3 players. The iPod (and similar portable devices) has become a pop culture phenomenon, rapidly becoming a dynamic force in the way that music (and other content) is being purchased and consumed. ...

Link:  jacobsmedia.com.  Thanks to Radio And Internet Newsletter.  --Dennis

The Real Threat to Local Broadcasters

Terry Heaton has written another of his must-read (for broadcasters) essays, this one a follow-up to Investing in a Local Future.  He writes that it ...

... examines the battle for the soul of the "local" franchise for media companies.  ¶  As broadcasters gather in Las Vegas for the National Association of Broadcasters annual meeting, they do so with what I believe is a false sense of understanding about what's tearing their business model apart. The disruption isn't multiple platforms from which to sell their wares; it's the Personal Media Revolution -- as Glenn Reynolds so beautifully puts it, "The triumph of personal technology over mass technology" -- and beneath it, the increasing drain on local advertising money by outsiders. ...

Link:  The POMO Blog.

For MySpace, Making Friends Was Easy. Big Profit Is Tougher

If you're interested in the social web phenomenon, check out Saul Hansell's article of this title in the New York Times.  Then read two commentaries on it -- Scott Karp's What If Media 2.0 Is Less Profitable Than Media 1.0? (link:  Publishing 2.0), followed by Umair Haque's Edge Competencies and Media 2.0 Profit Pools (link:  Bubblegeneration).  --Dennis

Broadcasters, Pick Your Poison

Skip Pizzi writes:

"Many of the competitive concerns on broadcasters' minds today involve fear of satellite radio's further incursion into a marketplace formerly held exclusively by terrestrial AM and FM stations.  ¶  It's easy to downplay the similar threat from Internet radio, because it seems like such a different animal. Internet radio also occupies a different venue - given its predominant usage on computers today - whereas satellite radio lives primarily on a multiband (AM-FM-satellite) receiver; so its directly competitive nature to traditional radio is overt and in plain sight. Further, satellite radio is actively stealing talent and other content (such as major league sports), and even some advertising dollars, from terrestrial radio.  ¶  In its stealthy way, however, Internet radio continues to pose a threat, which ultimately could deal an even more damaging blow to the prospects of terrestrial radio in a digital world. Yet if properly managed by broadcasters, Internet radio can become an ally. ..."

Link:  Radio World.

Public Broadcasting's Platforms for Interaction

Todd Mundt has a very useful comparatiave reactions to Gather.com and Public Interactive's Public Action beta and goes beyond that to talk about requirements for social systems in public broadcasting.  Link:  Converge.  --Dennis