Technology360

HD Radio vs. Internet Radio - Which is Radio's Future? - report from Bridge Ratings

Bridge Ratings has a new report on HD Radio and Internet Radio.  The answer to its title question is already Internet Radio, but that's not to say that HD Radio won't be important.  With the latter, we're only in the first inning, and if you can predict from that how the game will end from that, you're a better prognosticator than I.  My personal view is that HD Radio's future success depends on innovations that tie it more to Internet Radio than terrestrial radio -- such as putting them in the same box and seamlessly tuning from one to another. [click to enlarge images]

Back to the Bridge Ratings study.  About three in four respondents have heard of HD Radio, but that's higher in the 25-54 demo than in the 12-24 or 55+ demos.  The 12-24 demo is more interested in having an HD Radio (23%) than either the 25-54 (13%) or 55+ (2%) demos.  Not such good news for those of us in public radio and another indicator for the need to develop programming for pre-Boomers.

Link:  Bridge Ratings.  --Dennis

The New Influentials - report from Bridge Ratings

Bridge Ratings head Dave Van Dyke has a good blog to which I subscribe via RSS and from which I occasionally quote, but I can't find such a feed for the company's main site.  That's too bad, because on those occasions when I remember to check it, I usually find something helpful, such as the subject of this post.  Add a feed, please.

From the press release (click for larger image):

... It is no longer a world of mass media but rather it is a world of communities of customers and consumers. In an attempt to keep up with the changing world that the Internet has brought, the media world has embraced such things as websites to reach their customers, but it isn't enough. Consumers have gravitated to social media and that is where Influence is finding a significant home.  ¶  Influencers or Influentials are a group of very active consumers involved in "conversation marketing" where word-of-mouth is becoming a significant power in spreading dialog with customers, listeners and viewers. It means creating a conversation with your consumers in which useful information is exchanged so that both parties benefit from the relationship. ...

... In the face of technology and a changing consumer experience, the term "radio" now covers not only traditional radio (AM/FM) but also all those digital audio entertainment media that compete with terrestrial radio: Satellite radio, Internet radio, Podcasting, digital music players - even cell phones.  ¶  And because the landscape is changing so quickly and shifting in ways never before expected, radio of all colors and those that advertise on those platforms, must address the problem of audience "scatter" (See Bridge Ratings study #755), i.e. audiences are moving in multiple media dimensions and capturing their attention requires more skill than ever before.  ¶  This is where the Influentials come in. This is the subset of consumer experience which radio must attract. ...

... Among the questions, we asked about the role of traditional radio in their futures. 46% thought it was "Very important" for traditional radio to change with more relatable content. Adding "Somewhat Important" brought the score to 77%.  ¶  Only 11% thought it was "Very Important" for traditional radio to remain the same as it is today. An additional 18% thought it was "Somewhat Important". By this panel of Influentials of all ages, traditional radio has some work to do if it is to remain relevant in the near future. ...

Link:  Bridge Ratings.  --Dennis

 

Consumers Give Low Marks to Video Downloading

From a Parks Associates press release: 

A new survey from market research firm Parks Associates has found that few consumers in the U.S. are satisfied with the videos they download from the Internet. Just 16% say the selection of videos available online is good, and only 13% say video downloads are sold at a reasonable price. Most tellingly, fewer than one in five consumers downloading video say they plan to download videos again in the future.  ¶  Consumers generally download video from one of two sources: peer-to-peer networks that offer unauthorized copies of TV programs and films, or licensed online services like iTunes. Low satisfaction levels might be expected for consumers using unlicensed sources because their quality and reliability are generally low—a consequence of being an unlicensed service. Yet even consumers who exclusively use legitimate services are unhappy with the experience ...

Link:  Parks Associates.  Thanks to Om Malik at  NewTeeVee.

Om's colleague Liz Gannes has part of the answer in, Survey Says: Poor Video Quality Drives Watchers Away, writing:

... Forty-three percent of people who watch online video at least once a week said they would switch to a competitor if the quality of a site’s video was poor, according to the study, conducted by Jupiter Research on Akamai’s behalf and available for a free download if you cough up your contact info.  ¶ That finding is out of line with the commonly accepted wisdom at NewTeeVee that people prefer availability of content to quality of content — a conclusion drawn from the enormous popularity of YouTube and P2P file-sharing.  However, many, like our fearless leader Om, are eagerly awaiting the day when video quality gets “an HD upgrade,” as he called it last week.

Link:  NewTeeVee.  --Dennis

IntraNets vs InterNets

Mark Cuban is in the HDTV business, among other things,  and recently wrote a provocative piece in his blog about "why the best days of the Internet are behind it."  He writes:

... What is the increase in your broadband speed THROUGHPUT over the past 1,2,5 or 10 years ? I went from about 200k in 1997 to about 800k (on a 3mbs advertised number) today. An increase of only 600k. True, its cheaper now than then, but 600k is only 600k. Most people think the throughput TO THE INTERNET of our home broadband connections will increase significantly over the next few years. It wont. Other than dropping fiber in the last mile, not much has changed in the last few years and unless you have fiber to your home, not much will change in the next 5 or more years. Face it folks, the Internet as a platform has stagnated. Its dead as a growth platform. Its like Microsoft windows. From about 1985 to 1995 it was a great platform and there was new software coming out continuously. When was the last time you got excited about a new piece of consumer software written for Windows ? Its a stagnant consumer platform. We switched to browsers for most of our PC activity. We are getting to the point where the browser on the net as a platform is becoming stagnant. ...

Link:  Blog Maverick.  Thanks to Stephen Hill.  --Dennis

New Digital Radio Rules Effective Sept. 14th

Brendan Holland has a summary of the new FCC rules concerning "HD Radio."  He writes:

• FM stations may commence digital operations without prior authority from the FCC and may use separate antennas for the digital and analog signals without the need for an STA.
     
• Stations may operate in extended digital hybrid mode, permitting additional capacity.
     
• AM stations may operate during nighttime hours.
     
• FM translators, boosters, and LPFM stations may operate digitally.

These new operational rules will become effective on September 14, and along with them the following rules regarding policy issues will also go into effect:

• Stations that chose to broadcast in digital must provide a free digital stream that simulcasts the programming of the analog channel.
     
• Stations have the flexibility to provide multiple programming streams, provide data services, or provide the highest quality audio service.
     
• Stations may lease the unused portion of their radio spectrum to third parties.
     
• The existing rules, such as EAS, political, sponsorship ID, and station identification, are extended to all the free streams of programming provided by a station. ...
  

Link:  Broadcast Law Blog.  --Dennis

The Stupidity of Spectrum Auctions in a World of SDR

The television industry is ending some 80 years of analog broadcasting in February 2009 so that spectrum it's vacating (digital television channels can be more tightly packed) can be auctioned off to help pay for all those wonderful benefits our federal government provides.  The impending spectrum auction has broadband providers and associated businesses salivating and others like incumbent broadcasters and major sports operators asserting some of their devices will cause interference (see here and here).

But some people make the case that the whole notion of spectrum is outmoded and wasteful.  Consultant Gordon Cook makes the case in a post of this title.  He writes:

... It is now possible to build software defined radios that can listen for other spectrum users in the neighborhood and fine tune their behavior sufficiently enough to stay out of each other’s way and hence not interfere.  ¶  The problem was that, even if the Republican FCC were not controlled by the duopolists, whom it pretends to regulate, we would still be shackled by the analogue based presumption of spectrum scarcity.  In a mindless effort to raise revenues for the federal government these private equity based non public good companies have paid for exclusive right to use spectrum where it was formerly thought that only a single person could ever talk in the space in a “single time slot” or frequency. ...

Link:  Cook's Collaborative Edge.  --Dennis

Microsoft says failed interference test due to bad component

Earlier this month, I posted a story about an FCC report (see FCC OET report supports claims of interference by unlicensed devices) that supported claims of interference to DTV reception by proposed unlicensed wireless broadband devices.  Microsoft now says it was due to a bad component in the prototype device.  Bloomberg News reports:

... Microsoft said it discovered the broken component during meetings last week with FCC engineers. The company then conducted the same signal tests, in the presence of FCC engineers, on a spare device and found it worked properly, Krumholtz said. ...

Link:  Boston Globe.

Also see Glen Dickson's, NAB Issues Preemptive Strike Against Microsoft In White Spaces Battle.  Link:  Broadcasting & Cable.

Update 14 Aug. 2007:
Two more.  Nate Anderson, Microsoft: FCC tested broken white spaces device, neglected backup unit.  Link:  Ars Technica.  Kim Hart,  Microsoft Disputes FCC's Rejection of Web Devices That Use TV Airwaves.  Link:  Washington Post.  --Dennis

Remixes and mashups in education

Brian Lamb of the University of British Columbia has an article in the current issue of EDUCAUSE Review which provides a very useful philosophical and practical overview of repurposing digital content and the application of this in education.  By way of introduction, he writes:

... mashups involve the reuse, or remixing, of works of art, of content, and/or of data for purposes that usually were not intended or even imagined by the original creators. Although the historical roots of remix and mashup culture are deep, the properties of digital media are what have given ordinary individuals the power to reshape works on an unprecedented scale. In recent years, with the emergence of Web 2.0, the ability to copy, to combine, and to remix has been extended. Increasingly, it's not just works of art that are appropriated and remixed but the functionalities of online applications as well.  ¶  For educators and policy-makers, already struggling with the many cultural and logistical challenges posed by digital technologies, mashups complicate the picture even while offering tremendous promise. What, exactly, constitutes a valid, original work? What are the implications for how we assess and reward creativity? Can a college or university tap the same sources of innovative talent and energy as Google or Flickr? What are the risks of permitting or opening up to this activity? ...

and further,

... Remix is the reworking or adaptation of an existing work. The remix may be subtle, or it may completely redefine how the work comes across. It may add elements from other works, but generally efforts are focused on creating an alternate version of the original. A mashup, on the other hand, involves the combination of two or more works that may be very different from one another. In this article, I will apply these terms both to content remixes and mashups, which originated as a music form but now could describe the mixing of any number of digital media sources, and to data mashups, which combine the data and functionalities of two or more Web applications. ...

Link:  EDUCAUSE Review [PDF version]  --Dennis

People had 3 min./day more of a life in '06

The media investment company, Veronis Suhler Stevenson is out with a new report and forecast which, among other things says that the aggregate time people spend with media of all types dropped 0.5% in 2006 for the first time in a decade to an annual total of 3,530 hours (by comparison, the average person's work year is just over 2,000 hours).  From the press release:

... The drop in consumer media usage was driven by the continued migration of consumers to digital alternatives for news, information and entertainment, which require less time investment than their traditional media counterparts. For example, consumers typically watch broadcast or cable television at least 30 minutes per session while they spend as little as five to seven minutes viewing consumer-generated video clips online.  VSS expects consumer media usage to stabilize in 2007 and increase slightly through 2011, as out-of-home media and videogames will be the only major segments to achieve accelerating growth in the forecast period compared with the 2001-2006 timeframe. Overall consumer time spent with media will increase at a CAGR of 0.5% from 2006 to 2011, compared with 0.8% in the previous five-year period. ...

The forecast also notes:

... consumers are also migrating away from advertising-supported media, such as broadcast TV and newspapers, to consumer-supported platforms, such as cable TV and videogames. Time spent with consumer-supported media grew at a CAGR of 19.8 percent from 2001 to 2006, while time spent with ad-supported media declined 6.3 percent in the period. ...

And spending patterns are shifting dramatically:

... The alternative advertising and marketing segments produced the strongest gains in the 2001-2006 period, as intensified competition for consumers’ time and attention amid a dizzying array of media choices prompted major brands to ratchet up their use of alternative media strategies. Spending on alternative advertising – including Internet, mobile, videogames and digital out-of-home, among others – grew 36.6 percent to $26.53 billion in 2006 and posted a CAGR of 23.9 percent from 2001 to 2006. Traditional advertising spending, however, grew only 2.4 percent to $183.21 billion in 2006 while producing a CAGR of 2.8 percent in the five-year period, hindered by slow growth in print-based newspapers, yellow pages and consumer magazines. Meanwhile, spending on alternative marketing – including branded entertainment, interactive marketing and e-custom publishing – increased 17.3 percent to $61.67 billion in 2006, and experienced a CAGR of 15.3 percent from 2001 to 2006. In contrast, spending on traditional marketing, such as direct mail and promotions, grew only 5.0 percent to $192.34 billion in 2006 and climbed at a CAGR of 4.5 percent from 2001 to 2006, according to the VSS Forecast. ...

Link  Veronis Suhler Stevenson press release.

Seth Sutel has the story on this forecast for the Associated Press.  See Study: More Time Spent With Paid Media.  Link:  Washington Post. 

What did you do with your three minutes?  --Dennis

The importance of "local"

In a post titled Jarvis Is A Local Yokel, Stowe Boyd takes on the received wisdom about local media content.  He writes:

... I think one reason the local newspapers are falling by the wayside, in a time of increased mobility and generations of growing mobility behind us is that people have less connections to the specific turf that they sleep in or work in. The social capital in the neighborhood continues to dwindle.  ¶  In its place is -- for some -- an increased sense of involvement with those most local in our non-geographic social networks.  ¶  Locality is changing. It is coming to mean those that we are close to, no matter where they reside, no matter their mother tongue, no matter where they lay their heads. ...

Link:  /Message.  --Dennis