Technology360

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.