Technology360

Michael Rosenblum's approach to television production

I just learned yesterday that Michael Rosenblum is keynoting the Public Media 2007 conference in Boston next month (Feb. 21-23).  Rosenblum has had great success in doing innovative television productions at lower costs and argues that with current production equipment, "The price of production is no longer the issue. Have a quality idea and you can make it."  See Michael Rosenblum's producer nation in LostRemote.com and Democratizing TV: The BBC at TVSpy.com.

Registration information for Public Media 2007 is available at IntegratedMedia.org.  --Dennis

Next digital step leads to content near you

Diane Mermigas writes:

This year, localization will emerge a powerful catalyst for transforming old media into new, forging unique online revenue streams, and generating indispensable content, all as close as consumers' own backyards.  ¶  The creative mining of the local businesses, services, resources and interests so ingrained in our everyday lives can take the personalization of digital broadband interactivity, as well as the profits of participating companies, to the next level and remind struggling newspapers, radio and TV stations of how they can more ingeniously tap what was once their exclusive domain. ...

... localization is a wild card of the user relevance that drives the Internet. It is a quiet untapped venue that smart players are beginning to embrace as a way to cater to the unique needs, interests and tastes of consumers where they live and drill down into local places where money can be spent. ...

Link:  The Hollywood Reporter.  Good stuff as usual from this perceptive writer.  And good advice for those of us in public media.  --Dennis

It's A Meteor!!!

Fred Jacobs writes:

Reminiscent of those great 1950's sci-fi films depicting a meteor headed toward earth, radio operators are facing impending ratings trouble.  And like those movies where disaster seems light years away, this one is going to catch radio by surprise.  ¶    The coming calamity involves Arbitron crediting for streaming radio broadcasts.  The good news is that more and more terrestrial operators are providing streams of their AM and FM signals.  A recent J.P. Morgan analysis shows that broadcast stations are capturing a considerably larger share of overall Internet streaming.  It suggests that more than 20% is comprised of radio streams from CBS and Clear Channel stations.  Of all terrestrial broadcast streams, Clear Channel dominates 45% of this activity. ...

Link: JacoBlog.

What the Satellite Radio Christmas Season means for you

Interesting piece on satellite radio by Mark Ramsey in which, among other things, he quotes Radio Business Report quoting a Bank of America analyst quoting NPD Group data as saying "... that retail sales of satellite radio receivers were down 46% year-over-year in December ..." (Sirius down 40%, XM down 55%).  Read the rest at Hear 2.0.  --Dennis

Netflix to Be Delivered on the Internet

Michael Liedtke writes:

Netflix Inc. will start showing movies and TV episodes over the Internet this week, providing its subscribers with more instant gratification as the DVD-by-mail service prepares for a looming technology shift threatening its survival.  ¶  The ... company plans to unveil the new "Watch Now" feature Tuesday, but only a small number of its more than 6 million subscribers will get immediate access to the service, which is being offered at no additional charge. ...

Link:  Forbes.

Mike at HackingNetflix.com has good coverage in, Netflix Launches "Watch Now" Downloads.  And he's put together a nice video demo of it at, Demo: Netflix "Watch Now" Movie Downloads .

Also see Rick Aristotle Munarriz's Netflix Finally Lives Up to Its Name.  Link: Motley Fool.

Joe Lewis offers comments in Netflix to Offer Streaming Movie Content.  Link: WebProNews.  --Dennis

The Next Step For Online Video Sites

Michael Sachoff writes:

User generated online video made up 47 percent of the total online video market in the US in 2006. By 2010 over half of all video content viewed online in the US will be user generated.  ¶   Media research analyst Screen Digest projects that online user generated video content will account for 44 billion video streams. The total revenue from the videos will make up only 15 percent of total revenues.  ¶  Screen Digest believes that ad revenue for user generated video will increase to $900 million in 2010 up from 200 million in 2006. The total video ad revenue will be $6.2 billion in 2010, up from $1.2 billion in 2006. ...

Link:  WebProNews.

HD Radio at CES and Products You'll See Later This Year

Leslie Stimson has this report at Radio World.  Also see the satellite radio notes at the end of the article. 

Update 22 Jan. 2007:
Here's more information from NAB RadioTechCheck [pdf].  --Dennis

Satellite radio and digital television

The February issue of Scientific American has a worthy pair of articles of interest to broadcasters, especially to those who don't want to admit to their chief engineers that they don't know this stuff already.  The links which follow provide only a tease, so you either need to purchase rights or buy the magazine.  The first is a short article by Mark Fischetti called Song Beams that does a particularly good job explaining the urban repeaters for Sirius and XM.  The second is a more complete article by Michael Antonoff called Digital TV At Last? which, not surprisingly, is about the transition from analog to digital television broadcasting.

I've been reading (or trying to read) this magazine for 40 years and it's been a great education.  But they sure have antediluvian ideas about DRM and linking.  --Dennis

Saving The Spectrum—An Industry Call To Arms

Published a month ago, Television Broadcast has a story by James Careless on MSTV's opposition to the FCC First Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking relating to Unlicensed Operation in the TV Broadcast Bands, about which I've posted in the past.  Link:  Television Broadcast. 

Joost enough video

The Venice Project, from Kazaa and Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, has been dubbed this week Joost (though since they're Scandinavian, I don't know if it's pronounced yoost or with the English j).  Here's a sampling of articles. 

In John Walko writes:

... The service, which combines file-sharing software and broadcast television over the Internet, is expected to launch by June and is already undergoing private trials in a number of countries and with several content providers, including companies such as Dutch TV-production group Endemol and Warner Music. Some advertisers such as T-Mobile and chewing gum maker Wrigley are already backing the venture.  ¶  The backbone of what is now called Joost is a secure P2P streaming technology that allows content owners to bring TV-quality video and ease of use to a TV audience, though Zennström and Friis stress it is not a file-sharing application or a video download service.  ¶  Like other "on-demand" services, Joost will let viewers watch a show when they like and pause and rewind programmes. According to the founders, the main aim is to improve the quality of video content viewed online on sites such as YouTube. The service will be funded through advertising once subscriber numbers have picked up. ...

Link:  EE Times.  Thanks to Ralph Hogan for the tip.

From Anders Bylund, Meet Joost: Skype founders' video service renamed and relaunched.  Link:  Ars Technica.

The Joost press release. 

Update 1/18/2007:
Also see, Is Joost The Answer for Internet TV? by Mike Sachoff.  Link:  WebProNews.  --Dennis