Technology360

FCC’s 13th Annual Video Competition Report

The FCC is out with its annual report on video competition (news release with thanks to Bert Manfredi on the OpenDTV list).  I'll link to the full report when it's posted.  --Dennis

Here are specific findings from the news release:

• The number of TV households and the number of MVPD subscribers increased since the FCC released its last report. As of June 2006, there were 110.2 million TV households, compared to 109.6 million in June 2005. Of that number, approximately 95.8 million TV households subscribe to an MVPD service, versus 94.2 million as of June 2005.
• Section 612(g) of the Act states that: (1) “at such time as cable systems with 36 or more activated channels are available to 70 percent of households within the United States” and (2) “are subscribed to by 70 percent of the households to which such systems are available, the Commission may promulgate any additional rules necessary to provide diversity of information sources.” According to Warren Communications News, a source on which we have traditionally relied, 71.4 percent of households passed by cable systems offering 36 or more channels subscribe to these systems. However, other data sources do not demonstrate that the second prong has been met. As a result, we conclude that the only way to accurately measure the 70/70 test is to collect data directly from the cable industry.  Therefore, the Commission requires each cable operator to submit the following information for 2006 within 60 days under penalty of perjury: 1) the total number of homes the cable operator currently passes; 2) the total number of homes the cable operator currently passes with 36 or more activated channels; 3) the total number of subscribers; and 4) the total number of subscribers with 36 or more activated channels.
• Cable continues to serve the largest percentage of MVPD subscribers. The Report finds that as of June 2006, approximately 68.2 percent of MVPD subscribers received video programming from a franchised cable operator.
• DBS subscribers comprise the second largest group of MVPD households, representing 29 percent of total MVPD subscribers as of June 2006. DBS operators continue to add local-into-local broadcast television service. In approximately 175 of the 210 television markets, at least one DBS provider offers the signals of local broadcast stations.
• The number of MVPD subscribers choosing all other delivery technologies represented 2.6 percent of all subscribers in June 2006.
• The Nielsen Company estimated that, as of January 2007, 15.5 million households, or about 14 percent of all television households rely on over-the air television broadcasts for video programming.  In addition, many households that subscribe to an MVPD also rely on over-the-air signals to receive broadcast programming on some of their television sets.
• From June 30, 2005 to June 30, 2006, the number of commercial and noncommercial television stations rose from 1,747 to 1,753. As of January 2007, approximately 1,600 stations nationwide were on the air with DTV operations, including all 119 stations affiliated with the top-four network affiliates in the top 30 television markets.
• Incumbent local exchange carriers also are providing video service. At the end of 2006, Verizon reported that it offered video programming via FiOS TV to more than 2.4 million households in 200 cities in 10 states and served 207,000 subscribers. At the end of 2006, AT&T served approximately 11 cities through U-verse TV. In addition, Qwest has taken steps to provide IPTV service in its service area.
• As of June 2006, Broadband Service Providers (“BSPs”) served approximately 1.4 million subscribers, representing 1.5 percent of all MVPD households.
• Electric and gas utilities also provide MVPD and other services on a limited basis. The American Public Power Association, which represents more than 20,000 not-for-profit community and state-owned electric utilities, reports that the average subscriber penetration rate for its members offering video service was 50 percent of the homes passed by utility video services, and that 40 percent of these subscribers purchase a combination of video and high-speed Internet access service.
• The number of subscribers to private cable operator systems, also known as satellite master antenna systems, has declined to 900,000 subscribers as of 2006, a decrease of ten percent from last year’s one million subscribers.
• The number of wireless cable subscribers has declined steadily from a peak of 1.2 million in 1996 to approximately 100,000 as of June 2006, unchanged from a year earlier.
• In recent years, major commercial mobile radio service and other wireless providers have begun offering services that allow subscribers to access video programming through handheld devices, such as mobile telephones.
• The amount of web-based video provided over the Internet continues to increase significantly each year. In July 2006, 107 million Americans, three out of every five Internet users, viewed video  online. In July 2006, about 60 percent of U.S. Internet users downloaded videos. More than 7 billion videos were downloaded that month.
• Between July 2005 and June 2006, a total of 28 MVPD transactions were announced. Together these transactions were valued at approximately $5.3 billion and affected approximately 1.8 million subscribers.
• In 2006 we identified 565 satellite-delivered national programming networks, an increase of 34 networks over the 2005 total of 531 networks. Of the 565 networks, 84 (14.9 percent) were vertically integrated, or affiliated, with at least one cable operator. Five of the top seven cable operators own, in whole or in part, all of the networks that are affiliated with any cable operator.
• In 2006, we identified 101 regional networks, an increase of six over those identified in 2005. These networks provide programming of local or regional interest and are distributed to subscribers of one or more MVPDs in an area. Of these, 57 networks, or 56.4 percent, were vertically integrated with at least one multi-system cable operator (“MSO”). There are 43 regional sports networks, representing 42.6 percent of all regional networks, as compared to the 37 we reported last year. Of the 43 regional sports networks, 19, or 44.2 percent, are vertically integrated with a cable MSO.
• The sale of DTV consumer electronics continues to accelerate. The Consumer Electronics Association (“CEA”) estimates that, in 2006, digital televisions (“DTVs”) will have outsold analog televisions by 66 percent.
• The development and deployment of CableCARDs continued in 2006. CableCARDs permit the reception of secured digital cable services without the addition of a set-top box. As of December 22, 2006, more than 216,000 CableCARDs had been deployed by cable operators, up from 90,000 the previous year.
• The Report also surveyed developments in foreign markets. MVPDs in a number of countries provide programming on an a la carte basis or in mixed bundles, themed tiers, and subscriber-selected tiers. For example, in Hong Kong, consumers receive a free basic package and also can subscribe to more programming for an additional charge per channel. In Canada, the largest cable operators offer a la carte services. In the United Kingdom, consumers may select additional programming services they want, either on a subscription or pay-as-you-go basis, without first purchasing a monthly basic-tier package. In India, as of January 1, 2007, consumers in certain cities can subscribe to programming on a per channel basis.

The Broadcast Triple Play

Michael Harris, Chief Analyst for Cable Digital News, writes for those in the cable industry who don't like the FCC's recent ruling on digital must carry:

... Once again proving that the broadcast industry has the FCC in its back pocket, the commission ruled that cable operators will need to carry local broadcast TV signals in both analog and digital formats starting in 2009.  ¶  Adding insult to injury, MSOs must carry broadcasters' high-definition signals, too. In other words, cable operators are required to transmit the same TV programming in three formats. Now, that's a triple play!  And a tremendous waste of privately owned cable spectrum. ...

Link:  Light Reading. 

His colleague, Jeff Baumgartner in DTV's Broader Logic, is a little more sanguine:

Although there are some differences of opinion about how well cable's lobbying arms fared in the whole dual-must carry ruling from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) , I think they did a commendable job obtaining a compromise on a couple of important points, particularly after the pounding much of the industry took from the feds before and after the July 2007 ban on integrated security set-tops. (See Verizon & Others Get Their  Waivers and FCC Denies Comcast Again .) ...

Link:  Light Reading.  --Dennis

How TiVo Can Get Its Groove Back

Janko Roettgers has some interesting ideas on how TiVo can innovate:  open up the box, become the ultimate programming guide, get on the social Web, and unbundle cable.  Link:  NewTeeVee.  --Dennis

Cable gets a win at the FCC

Ted Hearn writes:

... After an 11-hour delay to the start of its monthly meeting, the FCC voted 5-0 at about 10 p.m. to require cable systems to distribute local TV stations that demand carriage in both analog and digital formats for a three-year period starting Feb. 18, 2009. That’s the day after all 1,756 full-power TV stations must turn off their analog signals and rely exclusively on their digital feeds. Cable systems that are all-digital are exempt from the FCC’s dual carriage mandate.  ¶  [Chairman] Martin’s [original] plan called for dual must carry without the 2012 sunset, which the FCC did reserve the right to extend. Lobbying pressure from the National Cable & Telecommunications Association forced Martin to yield not only on perpetual dual carriage but also on a second priority: Requiring cable systems to transmit “all content bits” in a digital TV signal, thereby eliminating the use of signal compression and statistical multiplexing that husband bandwidth. ...

Link:  Multichannel News.

Also see Brooks Boliek's, Analog, digital a must for cable.  Link:  The Hollywood Reporter.

Update 13 September 2007:
Here is the FCC news release.  Link:  Word  PDF.  --Dennis

Cable Ads Mark Switch to Digital TV

John Dunbar writes:

The cable television industry has launched a $200 million advertising campaign to assure customers they will still be able to watch their favorite programs after the transition to digital broadcasting.  ¶  The ad campaign includes four 30-second spots to be aired on both broadcast and cable networks. Ads began airing in the Washington, D.C., market this week.  ¶  The spots open with a graphic that reads: "By law TV stations will end analog broadcasts on February 17, 2009, and broadcast exclusively in digital." That's followed by cable customers assuring viewers that "every TV set you have that's hooked up to cable will work just fine." ...

Link:  Washington Post.  I'm trying to decide if this is good for broadcasters or not.  On the one hand, it will definitely raise viewer awareness about the transition.  On the other hand, any over-the-air viewers who move to cable because of this will be less reliant on broadcasters for their television than those who choose to stay with OTA.  And there's a potential of confusion between the cable messages and those from the upcoming NAB campaign.

Updated 7 September 2007:
Brooks Boliek has more on cable's campaign in The Hollywood Reporter.

Speaking of the NAB campaign, they've just announced the campaign will launch by the end of the month.  It appears that its timing was moved up in response to the cable effort.  See John Eggerton, NAB to Launch DTV-Education PSA Campaign This Month.  Link:  Broadcasting & Cable.  --Dennis

Digital must-carry vs. faster IP-over-cable Internet access

Michael Harris makes the following proposal:

... Not surprisingly, MSOs and cable programmers continue to cry foul over broadcast digital must-carry and the possibility of multicast carriage. They well should. (See Cable's All-Upset Over All-Digital.)  ¶  But what the cable industry has failed to articulate is an alternative plan for the use of the spectrum that would be wasted under digital must-carry requirements.  ¶  Here's a suggestion. If the FCC deep-sixes digital must-carry, MSOs pledge to use the spectrum to rollout 100-Mbit/s Internet access nationwide. Move the argument into the marketplace, and empower consumers to pressure politicians still under the spell of broadcast lobbyists. ...

Link:  Cable Digital News.  I'm not advocating a position here, but we broadcasters might think about whether having a 100 mbps pipe to consumers might be better for our business model in the long run than trying to monetize more linear channels on already over-stuffed cable systems.  --Dennis

The Bottom Line

Michael Rosenblum says that this chart "contains the inevitable seeds of the future. " Click to enlarge image.

He writes:

... Suddenly we move from 3 networks to 500 cable channels. The limitation on number of channels is now no longer the EM spectrum, but rather the capabilities of coaxial cable to carry signal. And as a result, there are a lot more channels. And a lot more channels means a demand for a lot more content.  ¶  In fact, we go from a gross demand for content of 64,000 hours in 1974, to nearly  4.5 million hours in 2003.  ¶  However, at the same time as the number of channels is expanding, the size of the audience remains the same. Now there are many more channels dividing a pie that is essentially the same size as it was in 1973. ...

Link:  Rosenblumtv.  This is important reading.  --Dennis

New Media News Digest, 5/28-6/4, 2007

Sondra Russell works for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and writes the following News Digest on a weekly basis.  I think it's a very nice piece of work, but it's distributed by email only.  So she's given me permission to quote it here so it can get RSS distribution and also be seen by people outside of public broadcasting.  Her email address is srussell [at] cpb [dot] org.  --Dennis

___________________________________________

Welcome to the New Media News Digest for the week of June 4th.  For those of you who are new, I comb and curate various new media sources on a weekly basis with an eye towards issues specifically related to new media activities within public broadcasting.  I welcome comments and feedback.  If you have received this from a friend or colleague, please email me to be added to the list of upcoming mailers.  If you would like to unsubscribe, please do the same.

Thanks,

Sondra Russell

SONDRA’S SUMMARY

> The big story this week is that Radiosophy will be offering a $60 HD Radio.  Why is this, in light of everything else going on this week, the top story?  Because commercial and public broadcasters have collectively invested hundreds of millions in HD Radio conversion, while audiences have stayed away in droves.  Surveys indicate that consumers don’t see spending $150-$200 on a special radio just to get a couple extra channels of CD quality programming, especially in light of cheaper, better alternatives such as online streaming audio and satellite radio.  However, consumers might be willing to spend $60 or, if the Radiosophy announcement is just the beginning of an industry-wide price drop, $30 or $40.

> The key theme this week is disintermediation.  Up until now, those who doubted the possibility of Internet video distribution rendering the television network obsolete could argue that, at the end of the day, people don’t want to watch television on their computer.  While there have been ways to download Internet-distributed video straight to the TV for a while now, Apple has finally made it consumer-grade with their announcement this week that YouTube will be accessible directly on the television, via AppleTV.  The first beneficiary of this move?  Possibly the audiences of Venezuela’s Radio Caracas Television, who announced this week that they will broadcast via YouTube despite having had broadcast operations shut down by President Hugo Chavez.  Students protested violently, but may get their RCT after all.

> The think piece this week is another Apple announcement – as part of a re-launched Apple Music Store, Apple has added iTunes U, a portal for universities to offer filmed lectures free online.   Many public television and radio stations already offer public service content online, such as university lectures and interviews with local political figures.  Public broadcasters’ podcasts have benefited greatly from the increased visibility and easy user interface offered by the Apple Music Store.  Could pubcasters find a way to partner with Apple to distribute these other types of public service content?

New Media News Digest, May 28th– June 4th, 2007

INTERNET

Apple Offers Free Educational Content on iTunes
From Apple: "Apple today announced the launch of iTunes U, a dedicated area within the iTunes Store (www.itunes.com) featuring free content such as course lectures, language lessons, and campus tours provided by top US colleges and universities."

Apple Launches DRM Free Music
From Apple: "Apple today launched iTunes Plus DRM-free music tracks featuring high quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio quality virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings for just $1.29 per song."

EMI Signs Deal with YouTube
From the WSJ: "EMI Music, the music division of EMI Group, will make music videos and recordings available on Google's popular online-video Web site. YouTube visitors will also be able to include EMI content in their own video postings on the site."

TELEVISION

YouTube Coming to Apple TV
From Apple: "Beginning in mid-June, Apple TV will wirelessly stream videos directly from YouTube and play them on a user’s widescreen TV."

Silenced Venezuelan TV station moves to YouTube
From CNN: "Radio Caracas Television, the station silenced by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, has found a way to continue its daily broadcasts -- on YouTube, the popular video Web site."

Hearst-Argyle, YouTube to Share Revenue From TV Video Clips
From the WSJ: "Hearst-Argyle Television Inc., one of the nation's largest operators of local TV stations, will distribute news, weather and entertainment video to Google Inc.'s YouTube in a revenue-sharing agreement."

RADIO

$60 HD Radio
From NYT: "The cost of receiving digital AM and FM signals will drop next week as Radiosophy releases its HD100 receiver for less than $60 with a rebate."

comScore Study Reveals That Males Between the Ages of 18-24 More Likely to Download Podcasts via iTunes

From ComScore: "An analysis of the iTunes podcasting audience revealed that males represented a significantly larger share of the audience than did females.  In addition, 18-24 year olds represented a substantial share of the audience." (Thanks to Dennis Haarsager)

CBS Buys Last.FM, an Online Radio Site
From the NYT: "CBS said yesterday that it had acquired Last.FM, an online radio and social-networking site, for $280 million to expand its digital offerings. The purchase is regarded as a way for CBS to grab an audience online."

Average U.S. Home Now Receives A Record 104.2 TV Channels

The Nielsen Company has issued a new report, including the following:

The number of television channels that the average U.S. home receives has now reached a record high of 104.2 TV channels. This and other television trends were released in a report from Nielsen that highlights population, television ownership and advertising trends in the United States.

Highlights from this Nielsen study include:

• In 2006, the average U.S. home received 104.2 channels, an increase of almost eight channels since 2005 and a record level.
• As the number of channels available to a household increases, so does the number of channels tuned. In 2006, the average household tuned to 15.7, or 15.1% of the 104.2 channels available for at least 10 minutes per week.
• General dramas still dominate the broadcast networks program lineups, comprising 50% (67 of 134) of the primetime programs, an increase of four programs since last year.
• The 30-second commercial is still the television advertising standard in primetime, accounting for 57% of all commercial units. ...

Link:  Nielsen Media.  Thanks to Mari Sibley at Zatz Not Funny!.  --Dennis

The future of public access cable

Dan Gillmor and Jason Crow are doing a workshop on the future of public access cable at today's Beyond Broadcast 2007 conference and engage in a pre-conference debate on Dan's blog.  Link:  Center for Citizen Media.

Martin's Must-Carry Plan

Ted Hearn writes:

In a new must-carry proposal from Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin, cable operators would be forced to carry the programming of certain “eligible entities” that had leased excess spectrum from local digital-TV stations, FCC and industry officials confirmed last week.  ¶  “The chairman wants to do all that he can to facilitate entry by small business and other eligible entities in an already-crowded field of broadcasting,” an FCC official said last Tuesday, one week after Martin and his aides began reaching out for support. ...

Link:  Multichannel News.  Follow the link for details.

He's made the executive director of the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council happy.  See Honig Cheers Martin for Bridging Multicast Must-Carry Divide.  Link: Broadcasting & Cable.  Also see FCC's Martin Floats Leased Multicast Must-Carry Proposal.  Link: Broadcasting & Cable.  Both articles by John Eggerton.  --Dennis

Changes in TV advertising to be evident at upfront

Diane Mermigas writes:

... traditional media players eventually will find a way to retain the more than $60 billion advertisers spend annually on television by leveraging their branded networks not only across many new interactive media platforms but through a new interactive television-connected media hub that Apple, Microsoft and others plan to carve out of the average American living room beginning this year.  ¶  While the continuation of the upfront ritual is assured until there is a well-constructed business model to replace it -- which most likely will take years -- the logic behind the value proposition, metric and create bets on which it is based have never appeared more suspect given the kinds of innovative and constructive advertising and consumer measurement practices emerging on the Internet and various interactive media platforms. ...

Link:  Hollywood Reporter.

Viewers Fast-Forwarding Past Ads? Not Always

Louise Story writes:

... It turns out that a lot of people with digital video recorders are not fast-forwarding and time-shifting as much as advertisers feared. According to new data released yesterday by the Nielsen Company, people who own digital video recorders, or DVRs, still watch, on average, two-thirds of the ads.  ¶  One big reason is that many people with DVRs still tune in to watch about half of their shows at the scheduled start time, meaning they must sit through commercials.  ¶  And even when people watch recorded shows later, many are not fast-forwarding through the ads. On average, Nielsen found, DVR owners watch 40 percent of commercials that they could skip over — perhaps because they like ads, don’t mind them or simply can’t be bothered. ...

Link:  New York Times.  Thanks to Michael Soper for the tip.  --Dennis

Cable's data, voice biz encroaching on video

Diane Mermigas writes:

Despite all the fuss about online video and the stampede of television and film producers into digital downloading, at least one major industry player concedes video content is not the long-term be-all and end-all of the new media age.  ¶  Comcast says that within the next several years, half of its overall cable subscribers will not be taking video services- opting, instead, for data and voice that don't pose copyright issues but present plenty of untapped opportunities. ...

Link:  The Hollywood Reporter.

How TV Will Become the Ultimate Open Content Platform

Steve Rubel writes:

Since the dawn of the medium in the 1950s, big media has had a stranglehold over what you watch on your TV. However, that's all about to change. A perfect storm is brewing. A-la-carte programming, branded entertainment and peer-created content are all coming to your TV in glorious high definition - all brought to you by the letters IPTV.  ¶  This is going to be one of the most important media trends over the next five years. The rapid pace of change will not only turn TV into an open content platform, but it will radically shift how advertising dollars are allocated and how the entire ad industry operates. ...

Link:  Micro Persuasion.

Your TV Would Like a Word With You

Lorne Manly writes:

... Grandiose promises of an interactive future circulated for decades, then seemingly died out a few years back. But today more than 25 million homes can engage with their television on something approaching their own terms. The omniscient television programmer symbolized by the opening of “The Outer Limits” — “For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear” — has been humbled.   ¶  Hard-core football fans with DirecTV can arrange for instant alerts about their favorite players. Dish Network subscribers in 12 states can wager on horse races without hauling themselves from their La-Z-Boys. And some Time Warner subscribers can vote for their favorite reality television contestant by simply pressing a button.  ¶  In the coming months, ESPN iZone will allow Dish Network subscribers to get sports news when they want, rather than waiting until “Sports Center” gets around to them. And the Disney Channel Game Zone will offer kids arcade and character-driven games. ...

Link:  New York Times.

Cable skies cloudy but rainfall still years off

Diane Mermigas writes:

The potential pitfalls in cable's too-good-to-be-true story are mounting.  ¶   From accelerating capital expenditures, service saturation and slowing subscriber growth to increased competition and the out-of-home media explosion, the cable business is facing a more fundamental change in industry dynamics than even the largest cable operators are willing to concede, though that might not be evident for several years, when emerging trends have taken hold.  ¶  While their record free cash flow and double-digit growth rates are among the best in the media industry, even dominant cable operators Comcast Corp. and Time Warner are wrestling with issues they didn't anticipate even a few years ago. Unlike their $70 billion in system rebuilds, cable operators must add bandwidth capacity and speeds to stay competitive with bundled high-speed data, digital video and Voice over Internet Protocol services being attractively priced by telephone, satellite and other rival providers. Those expenditures will noticeably chip away at their robust free cash flow in coming years. ...

Link:  The Hollywood Reporter.

Do cable and the telcos have enough bandwidth for television?

The chairman of Liberty Media, John Malone, questions whether telcos like AT&T and Verizon have enough bandwidth to compete in the television arena.  Liberty Media chief: Telecoms could take big hit in cable wars (link:  USA Today).  However, cable's capacity has been questioned as well.  Michael Harris says it's OK:  Cable's Looming Bandwidth Crisis? (link: Cable Digital News).  --Dennis

ABI Sees Concurrent VOD Streams Soaring

Alan Breznick writes:

Although traditional video-on-demand (VOD) streams may not be growing too swiftly right now, ABI Research believes that time-shifting, network digital video recorders (nDVRs), and mobile video will change all that. In a new report released earlier today, ABI predicts that these three new services will drive demand for VOD technology, pushing the number of concurrent video streams from 1.67 million last year to 163 million in 2011. ...

Link:  Cable Digital News.

Comcast VoD tops 3 billion views

Cable MSO Comcast says in a press release that it's on-demand customers have collectively downloaded 3 billion programs.  --Dennis

TV Network Affiliates Object to 'Down Conversion' Provision

Andrew Noyes writes: 

"A long list of television network affiliates warned all 100 senators and key House leaders against a plan to allow cable TV companies to degrade high-definition programming to what they called "a quality little better than analog."  ¶  The ABC, CBS, NBC and Telemundo network affiliates wrote the lawmakers to challenge language in a pending House telecommunications bill, H.R. 5252.  ¶  The letter -- which skewers multi-channel video-programming distributors, or MVPDs -- argues that millions of Americans who spent or will spend top dollar on high-definition TV sets could be shortchanged unless steps are taken to fix the bill. ...

Link:  National Journal.

FCC Lacks Multicast Muscle, Says McDowell

John Eggerton writes:

New FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell put something of an exclamation point on his regulatory independence in a briefing with reporters Tuesday, including making it clear he does not think the FCC has the authority to mandate multicast must-carry without clearer direction from Congress. ...

Link:  Broadcasting & Cable.  He would have been the deciding vote to approve multicast must-carry had he chosen to support it.  --Dennis

Wireless Spectrum Bidders Put Down Billions

Om Malik reports interestingly on who is on the FCC's list of 168 qualified bidders for the Advanced Wireless Services spectrum auction.  Link:  GigaOM.  Update:  Katie Fehrenbacher has some analysis, also at  GigaOM.  --Dennis

Why [her] cable DVR stinks

Marguerite Reardon has been having problems with her cable DVR -- DVRs, actually.  She writes:

... In March, Cablevision announced plans to test a new digital video recording service that allowed users to record and manage content through their existing set-top boxes, which would access a network-based DVR housed miles away in a Cablevision office.  ¶  The network-based DVR could save Cablevision tons of money, because company won't have to deploy and manage sophisticated devices in every subscriber's home. And subscribers wouldn't have to deal with the headache of boxes that reboot or fail altogether. But content owners quickly responded with threats of legal action, citing concerns over protecting copyright material. As a result, Cablevision put its test on hold until the digital rights management issues can be worked out, the company said. ...

Link:  CNET News.com.

Mark Schubin's memo on digital TV for 7/26/2006

Mark Schubin's frequent memo on digital television developments for July 26, 2006 has been posted to the OpenDTV list.  Link: FreeLists.  His lead story this week is TiVo starting a research division.  The story quotes the New York Times, and I'll make a separate post on it.  --Dennis

Mark Schubin's memo on digital TV for 7/17/2006

Mark Schubin's latest "Monday Memo" on digital television -- this one actually published on a Monday! -- is available on the OpenDTV list.  --Dennis

IP Video on my Set-Top Box ... It's Now!

Shelly Palmer writes:

... Both Comcast and Time Warner Cable are working quickly to deal with the reality of Web-based broadband content providers. Their solutions don't go quite as far as one would ultimately predict, but the future path is fairly obvious. Within a short period of time, people will be able to watch content from the Internet in a convenient, emotionally satisfying, "lean-backward" way. This is opposed to the "download it to something, burn it to something or route it somewhere and watch it on your computer at your desk (or on your TV if you've spent the time and energy to set up a media center PC and an A/B switch)" mode. Sure you can do it now, but most people can't. And, truth be told, even the people who can won't bother very often; it's just too time-consuming. ...

Link:  The Emmy Awards Advanced Media Committee.

Mark Schubin's memo on digital television, 7/7/2006

Mark Schubin's memo on digital television for July 7, 2006 has been posted to the OpenDTV list.  --Dennis

HD to help cable operators ward off IPTV, say execs

Loring Wirbel writes:

Cable multisystem operators needn't fear the claims of IPTV dominance by telcos, provided they are aggressive in rolling out their own switched digital video plans, cable executives agreed at panels of the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers here earlier this week.  ¶   Richard Green, president and chief executive of cable consortium CableLabs, said he sees only the Verizon FiOS topology as posing a true threat to hybrid fiber-coax architectures.  ¶  "HD channels are the ultimate weapon against IPTV, because most of the PON architectures being talked about right now can't handle multiple HD streams," Green said. "Verizon is the toughest competitor because it duplicates the cable plant." ...

Link:  EE Times.

Over-The-Top Monkey Business

Michael Harris writes:

... The new party line says Google and Yahoo are cable's real competition in video, not Verizon and AT&T. Then there's the growing cadre of Internet video upstarts like Akimbo, YouTube, and DaveTV.  ¶  The upstart crowd is doing a nice job of assembling "viral" and user-generated content. But distribution is limited to the PC screen, or in Akimbo's case, a proprietary IP set-top box. Couldn't they team with MSOs?  ¶  Of course, cable MSOs can add value to these services by providing preferential QoS treatment for video streams. But what proves far more interesting is moving these "long tail" services into cable's video-on-demand (VOD) offerings. In this model, YouTube and friends would essentially become cable programming networks -- Homey Box Office if you will -- aggregating and filtering user-generated video content for on-demand broadcast to the TV. ...

Link:  Cable Digital News.

Mark Schubin digital television memo, 6/23/06

Mark Schubin has posted another in his series of news memos on digital television to the OpenDTV list.  It contains a good collection of links on the multicast must-carry story.  --Dennis

Newest Board Member Rebuffs FCC Chief On 'Must Carry' Issue

FCC chairman Kevin Martin supports cable must carry for all DTV program streams.  With the appointment of the new commissioner, Robert McDowell, he had scheduled it for tomorrow's (6/21) agenda.  However, Drew Clark reports that McDowell apparently favors a voluntary solution and it's been pulled from that agenda.  Read the story at National Journal.  --Dennis

Mark Schubin's memo on digital TV, 6/16/2006

Mark Schubin's latest "Monday Memo" on digital television for June 16 is available on the OpenDTV list.   --Dennis

HDTV--the clincher in war between cable and phone?

Marguerite Reardon writes:

High-definition television could tip the balance between phone companies and cable operators as they compete for TV dollars.  ¶  After years of hype, HDTV, with its enhanced picture quality and superior sound, is finally becoming a reality. Consumers are starting to buy new HDTV sets in droves. Providing those people with more than one channel of HDTV programming could become a key selling point for the phone and cable providers battling to sign up TV subscribers. ...

Link:  CNET News.com.

As Verizon moves to compete with cable, it offers broad carriage to pubTV

Steve Behrens writes:

Verizon, whose fiber optic video service competes with cable TV in parts of seven states so far, has agreed to carry all freely available local public TV stations.  ¶  The deal, announced June 16 by APTS, PBS and the phone company, covers all DTV multicast channels that local stations choose to air, including Create, Explore, PBS Kids Go, PBS HD and stations' other programming. ...

Link:  Current.

Also see Verizon to Carry PBS Multicast Channels. Link:  Broadcasting & Cable. 

This deal was negotiated by the Public Broadcasting Service and the Association of Public Television Stations.  Disclosure: I'm a former PBS board member and current APTS board member, and represented the latter on the joint committee that worked on this.  --Dennis

Martin Preparing To Revisit Fight Over Carriage Of Digital TV Signals

David Hatch has a story about who's supporting and who's opposing FCC chairman Kevin Martin's plan to move forward with digital must carry. Link:  National Journal.  --Dennis

Mark Schubin digital television memo, 6/9/06

Mark Schubin's memo on digital television is back (we missed you), this one labeled "Free Friday Fragments."  This one has extensive notes from the NAB show back in mid-April.  One tidbit:

... At the PBS Technology Conference, it was noted that KQED is simultaneously carrying HD and three SD on a single DTT channel. ...

  Link:  OpenDTV at FreeLists.  --Dennis

Net neutrality fails, telecom legislation passes House

Drew Clark reports:

The House passed the telecommunications legislation of Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, just past 10 p.m. on Thursday. The final vote tally on the bill was 321-101. Among Republicans, 215 supported it, with only 8 opposed. A majority of Democrats, 108 versus 92, voted for passage. The one independent voted no. Earlier in the evening, an amendment seeking to strengthen the Barton bill's "network neutrality" provisions failed 269-152, on an amendment offered by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass. ...

Link:  DrewClark.com.  The article also contains a post-vote interview with Chairman Barton during which he repeats his opposition to digital must carry.

Updated 6/10/2006:
Also see Network neutrality killed again, but cable reform bill lives on.  Link:  Ars Technica.  --Dennis

Could Giving Voters On-Demand Content Get Them Interested?

Peter Grant writes:

Cable subscribers increasingly are using so-called on-demand technology to watch programs like "The Sopranos" or old movies whenever they want. But the technology also has great potential as a tool for making our democratic system work better.  ¶  Consider what was available on demand on Time Warner's cable system in Lincoln, Neb., just before that state's primary election earlier this month. Voters were able to watch the debates between candidates running for the state legislature, for treasurer and for secretary of state. While not the most scintillating television, voters who took their responsibility seriously were able to be informed, free of charge, before heading to the ballot box. ...

Link:  Wall Street Journal.

Back to the Future... for Broadcast TV

Robert Young writes:

... Five years from now, the TV market will no longer be segmented solely by major broadcast network vs. cable network viewership. Instead, the market will be further subdivided among viewers of linear broadcast programming vs. that of non-linear on-demand formats. Moreover, the on-demand segment will account for a steadily increasing share of total viewership. On the flip side, it’s equally important to note that the segment with traditional linear/broadcast programming (while declining) will continue to remain alive with its own significant share for quite some time. That said, within this linear/broadcast segment there will be a mini-disruption in the near term. To be specific, it is likely that most of the hundreds of channels we get today via our cable & satellite subscriptions will disappear and there will be only 10 to 20 “broadcast channels” left standing. Here’s why…

Link:  unmediated.  Interesting scenario.  --Dennis

To broadcasters, cablers: Partner up or perish

Diane Mermigas writes:

Radical notions are just what a transforming media industry has come to expect from Tom Wolzien. One such is cable operators and broadcasters cooperating rather than competing to generate greater digital fortunes and keep the Internet from sucking the lifeblood out of advertising-supported television.  ¶  The veteran Wall Street analyst and former NBC News executive, now a private consultant, recently demonstrated that he remains a voice of reason in the media wilderness. ...¶... In short, his message to both broadcasters and cable operators is: Use what you have in a cooperative basis or risk losing it to the Internet. ...

Link:  Hollywood Reporter.

Cable must draw guns for new-media battles

Diane Mermigas writes:

The cable industry is determined not to be blindsided again by unexpected competition, though that might not be possible given the barrage of new digital developments at every turn.  ¶  Last year, the rapid adoption of wireless portable devices outside the home proved a surprising and potent new competitive force just as cable operators were beginning to monetize their $80 billion digital rebuild.  ¶  This year, the explosion of digital video downloads from the Internet as an effective cable bypass is a game-changing threat. The latest example is the Walt Disney Co.'s plan to provide ad-supported hit series on its branded Web sites for free the day after their initial broadcast. ...

Link:  Hollywood Reporter.

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.

Dear FCC -Be careful what you ask for

Mark Cuban writes:  "You want a la carte, you got a la carte.  ¶  It's called the internet. Every single major cable and telephone company offers high speed access to the internet and they allow you to pick and choose the content you want to view.  ¶  The internet is the definition of ala carte program. Every type of programming imaginable. All there for you to find and choose what you want, when you want it.  Some witha price tag. Most for free.  ¶  Open up your favorite search engine and put in the name of the program you want. Or put in the type of programming you want. It's your Electronic Programming Guide. If it's there and available you can find it. ..."  Link:  Blog Maverick.

For a related commentary, see Richard Siklos', Why Can't I Have Just the Cable Channels I Want?: "... The great paradox of this debate is that it comes as the number of media options is exploding and the way they are being priced is all over the map. The much-maligned bundle will most probably prevail as the most popular business model for media, although it, too, is likely going to need an extreme makeover. ..."  Link:  New York Times.  --Dennis

IPTV Is Dead (Part 27)

Martin Geddes writes:  "... In future you’ll only want to watch stuff that’s gained a strong reputation for quality. But you won’t know it’s a quality offering until plenty of people have watched it and the data’s been passed through the collaborative filters. Furthermore, anything that isn’t live TV can be sent to your DRM’d video store awaiting the unlock key to be sent at the anointed viewing time.  ¶  Only a very small number of shows will have a reputation that precedes them. ..."  Link:  Telepocalypse.

Time Warner Cable mulls TV ad auctions

Kenneth Li writes:  "Time Warner Cable is in early discussions to create an auction place for advertising spots on video-on-demand channels, modeled after Google's AdSense system on the Internet, the company's CEO said.  ¶  The No. 2 U.S. cable operate, a unit of media conglomerate Time Warner Inc. is considering a plan much like that of Google, which allows advertisers to bid online to target ads at viewers with specific viewing habits.  ¶  For instance, automobile manufacturers or car dealerships could bid to put their ads on the television screens of viewers who spend a lot of time watching the Speed Channel.  ¶  The move is another sign of how the television industry is borrowing and improving upon some of the most lucrative practices of the Internet. ..."  Link:  Reuters.

Updated 4/16/2006:
I missed the jump on this article, but reader Paul Stackhouse (Kentucky Educational Television) says that the mention of Time Warner's "Look Back" service (called "Start Over" in the test) later in the article is even more interesting.  Viewers can start some shows from the beginning if it's still airing.  They report that 70% of its customers in the test market used the service an average of about seven times per month.  Here's more...  Time Warner: We'll Store Shows (link: Multichannel News) and Time Warner: We'll Store Shows for Playback (link: Multichannel News).  Thanks, Paul.  --Dennis

Cablevision tests 'remote storage' DVR use

David Lieberman writes:  "In a move that could ignite a major debate about consumer "fair use" of TV programming, Cablevision Systems will unveil plans to test a service that gives cable subscribers the ability to record and time-shift shows using existing digital set-top boxes.  ¶  Although it works just like TiVo and other digital video recorders (DVRs) — consumers choose in advance which shows to capture and can fast-forward through ads — the recording itself will be stored at the cable system, not on a hard drive in the consumer's home.  ¶  The technology for what Cablevision calls its 'remote storage digital video recorder' (RS-DVR) 'is here today, and in Cablevision's case, we c