March 04, 2009
Research Articles
For those of you who are interested in reading the articles that I try to keep up with, please follow this link:
Posted by Martino Mingione at 04:19 PM | Comments (0)January 30, 2009
Newspapers Saw the Digital Train A-Coming
Below, is a popular YouTube clip depicting the state of online newspapers in 1981. The newspaper world saw the future -- but missed it all the same.
I love the quote: "We're not in it to make money." At least they got that correct.
Posted by Martino Mingione at 11:14 AM | Comments (0)January 02, 2009
Santa Claus Bailout Hearings
C-SPAN coverage of Santa Claus asking Congress for a financial bailout of the North Pole - Present Giving Industry. If they don’t approve his aid package, Christmas may be ruined. Happy Holidays from National Lampoon.
Posted by Martino Mingione at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)December 29, 2008
How YouTube Changes the Way We Think
Clive Thompson asks an interesting question at Wired Magazine: what is video for? His contention is that we still don’t know what it is for even after 100 years of moving pictures.
For example, a few years ago, YouTube member MadV put up a short video showing a simple message scrawled on his hand. It read, "One World." Then he urged viewers to respond -- and respond they did, generating some 2,000 replies, making it the most responded-to video in YouTube's history. Next, MadV stitched together each of the replies, creating one "long, voiceless montage" that Wired called "quite powerful."
It is a uniquely YouTube piece of art. But what exactly is it? It isn't a documentary, it isn't a conversation, and it isn't really a commentary, either. Whatever it is, Wired notes that it would have been inconceivable without the Internet, inexpensive web cams, and a site like YouTube.
In a sense, you could argue that even after 100 years of moving pictures, we still don't know what video is for. The sheer cost of creating it meant we used it for a stiflingly narrow set of purposes: news, documentaries, and instructional presentations.
Marshall McLuhan pointed out that whenever we get our hands on a new medium we tend to use it like older ones. Early TV broadcasts consisted of guys sitting around reading radio scripts because nobody had realized yet that TV could tell stories differently. It's the same with much of today's webcam video; most people still try to emulate TV and film. Only weirdos like MadV are really exploring its potential.
Posted by Martino Mingione at 08:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackOctober 03, 2007
What Price a Download?
This is an interesting side note for monetizing digital content. Recently, RadioHead allowed fans to name their own price to receive a digital download of the new album "In Rainbows." But early indications suggest that Radiohead's loyal followers are paying too much for the band's seventh disc.
According to the WSJ, "the average fan appears to be willing to pay $10 for a digital copy. Now, that may not sound like a blow out. It's the going price for most records on Apple's iTunes. And that price, in turn, looks to be about right for a digitally downloaded album."
But dig a little deeper and an interesting economic model emerges. First, the CD retails for $16 of which $6.40 goes for manufacture, distribution, and selling in a store. When comparing it to iTunes, the digital album would cost about $10 but a hefty percentage goes to Apple for distribution.
So, whatever way you look at it, the brand-named band makes much more money selling direct to a loyal fan base than through other channels. Might this cause another round of price adjustments across the board?
February 08, 2006
God, I hope we don't end up with one set top box per media company
NBC Universal has an on-demand deal with Apple Computer's iTunes and DirecTV. But now that they have caught the 'on demand religion' they may be going overboard. NBC has completed a deal that will give customers access to its movies and TV shows through a new cable set-top box.
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The deal is with Aeon Digital, a maker of digital set-top boxes, which will launch a new product this spring that will allow consumers to access NBC Universal Television Distribution shows, "Blind Date," "The 5th Wheel," and a special uncensored episode of "Jerry Springer."
NBC Universal theatrical movies will also be available -- "Ray" and "The Motorcycle Diaries," "The Skeleton Key," and "The Wedding Date," as well as upcoming premieres of "The 40-Year Old Virgin" and "The Constant Gardener."
With the new Aeon set-top box, the DV-220, consumers can also access songs, radio programming, and thousands of theatrical films. In addition, the box has a built-in DVR, a wireless router, and access to the Internet. The box also includes an electronic programming guide (EPG) to locate favorite TV programs.
February 07, 2006
Old Media's Worst Nightmare: Stars Emerging On The Internet Platform
Ronald Grover, who has covered media for Business Week for a couple of decades, sees the emergence of a "worst nightmare" scenario for traditional media: Somewhere, probably in the not-too-distant future, an Internet radio or video program is going to leap from a small, zealous audience to a huge audience, unencumbered by all the restraints of commercial radio and TV.
He focuses his piece on The Young Turks, a trio of ultra-liberal commentators who produce and host their own TV-like Webcast, which is heard by perhaps 100,000 listeners a week. But that has gotten them some advertisers, plus a deal with Sirius Satellite Radio and three local radio stations. Podcasts will soon be available for purchase for a buck per show. In sum, The Young Turks are on a roll.
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"If Big Media isn't paying attention, it ought to," writes Grover. "The Internet has a way of producing overnight sensations." Incidentally, one of the three Angelenos who constitute The Young Turks is 38-year-old Ben Mankiewicz, the son of Robert Kennedy's onetime press secretary.
January 24, 2006
Atom Entertainment to Fund Video Shorts
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Do you ever start to wonder if the hundreds of billions of dollar spent on Internet and cell phone video technology only exists to make it easier to watch reruns of Welcome Back Kotter but this time on demand? Atom Entertainment at least is doing something original.
They have begun funding programming through a new division, called AtomFilm Studios. Geared toward original content, the broadband play stands in sharp contrast to the repurposed TV programming pushed online in recent months.
Atom will fund at least five video projects in the first quarter, including a reality series based on Craigslist's Casual Encounters and a "stop-motion homage to old school videogames."
These and future video endeavors will be published to the AtomFilms site and its online and mobile entertainment partners. AtomFilms.com is supported by advertising, and revenue from distribution partnerships comes through a combination of ads and syndication fees.
The scale of the projects is much smaller than what's standard in television production, and so are the budgets.
"There will be things that are thousands of dollars, and things that are tens of thousands of dollars," said Megan O'Neill, VP of content acquisitions for Atom Entertainment. It depends on the pitch, if it's a series or just a one-off."
Earlier broadband initiatives from Atom have included exclusive relationships with JibJab Media.
December 21, 2005
CBS.com Channels the Dead
It looks like CBS is continuing its exploration of how to test new distribution of its digital media assets. The following story is from Rebecca Stropoli at Broadcasting and Cable.
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James Van Praagh is talking to dead people once again during a live one-hour séance via streaming video on CBS.com on Wednesday, Dec. 21. Beginning at 3 p.m. ET, the public will be able to contact Van Praagh, the co-executive producer of the popular CBS drama Ghost Whisperer, either by phone or through a designated chat room.
Viewers will also be able to download the séance as a podcast, and it will be archived on CBS.com. This “Ghost Whisperer Séance” is Van Praagh’s second via CBS.com; his “Ghost Whisperer Halloween Séance” streamed on Oct. 27.
December 19, 2005
JibJab is not AdMad, looking for PayDay another way
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My brother and I still rent our apartments, and we don't drive fancy cars. We're profitable because we pinch pennies.
Gregg Spiridellis, 34, one of the Spiridellis brothers who started JibJab.
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The Spiridellis brothers seem happy to try numerous approaches to build their business in a way that lets them maintain their particular brand of humor, which Evan Spiridellis, 31, describes as "a little bit naughty but never quite R-rated." They're still not quite sure how to make money from their product, according to Cnet.
Yet JibJab, which recently added its eighth employee, is not exactly a raging commercial success -- at least not yet.
And according to the Cnet article, they are not looking to advertising as a source of revenue. It's because producing online entertainment, particularly video, supported by advertising is "still a very shaky business model," and the brothers "won't risk the integrity of our brand by putting a can of soda in the foreground."
December 18, 2005
Connecting Dots ... Yahoo! and Seven Network
Earlier this year, Terry Semel said that Yahoo! aimed to become a major distribution platform rather than a production company. “Think of us as a global network,” he said. So, a recently announced partnership in Australia and New Zealand fits well into that idea.
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Yahoo! and the Seven Network will combine their online, mobile and IPTV businesses in a new equally-owned joint venture. This launch should start in late January, coinciding with coverage of the Australian Open tennis tournament and the Winter Olympic Games. New consumer offerings will ultimately be available across online, mobile and broadband television in areas such as news, sports, entertainment, television, games, music, and travel.
The Seven Network is a large television company in Australia and magazine company publishing titles including Marie Claire, Better Homes and Gardens and Men’s Health.
Yahoo! will become the key platform for the development of Seven beyond broadcast television and magazine publishing, as it builds its digital media division. Yahoo! is also the second major online portal in Australia, used by over 4.75 million Australians a month.
The rival Nine Network formed an alliance with Microsoft back in 1997, creating ninemsn, the most popular web site in Australia.
source: InformITV.com
December 17, 2005
I wonder how much they spent for the consultants?
When it comes to preparing one's company for the digital revolution, some companies just knuckle down and accomplish more than others. The six-year-old independent TV and movie company known as Lion's Gate Entertainment will now be called LionsGate Entertainment.
Phew. Rarely do I see such bold vision. Not only did they drop the space between the names, they also got rid of the apostrophe!
CEO Jon Felthimer hopes the fresh strategy provides “a new look for an integrated, unified company that is greater than the sum of its parts,” CEO Jon Felthimer said.
Lionsgate is involved in diverse businesses, which extend beyond TV and theatricals to home and family entertainment, documentary films, music publishing and video-on-demand. It has also acquired the lionsgate.com domain name as it prepares for new digital distribution platforms.
December 14, 2005
Hollywood's favorite plot lines always revolve around someone else's money.
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Forbes author Peter Kafka notes that the combined value of all Dreamworks assets totals $3.4 billion. After comparing it to the the original $2.7 billion value when the company was capitalized he notes that it produced a stunning 2% annualized return. But the founding trio only put up $33 million each -- and the Paramount deal alone will make them $170 million.
The lesson is use someone else's money. I helped create a small company for a multi-billionaire once and he also kept making that same point.
"Now Viacom will be attempting the same trick. They will lay out $1.6 billion for the DreamWorks deal, but ... [are] looking to immediately bring in private backers to pick up ... $1 billion of that, in exchange for DreamWorks' 59-film library. Viacom's pitch: The films ... will throw off around $700 million over the years. And at some point ... investors will be able to resell the asset for another $700 million or $800 million."
For any of you out there who want high-quality movies to help make your digital media business plan work, there is one approach. Maybe Les Moonves should call Brian Roberts.
"Viacom ... will be on the hook for up to $600 million of the purchase price. But it will be able to begin to see cash flow almost immediately through a distribution deal with DreamWorks Animation. Now the risk begins to look much more modest: Paramount is getting a ready-made pipeline of films, the rights to use the animation studio's output in conjunction with its powerhouse cable networks, like Nickelodeon, and Steven Spielberg's halo effect. And it only has to bet a few hundred million of its own dollars."
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Read the entire aticle. |
December 13, 2005
When life hands you lemons, make lemonade
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It is popular throughout the blogosphere to point out traditional media companies are in trouble. The most common theme is that these dinosaurs will die off; eventually replaced by online companies who 'get it.' Into that discussion, here is a little factoid to contemplate:
Of $2.7 billion spent on local online advertising last year, newspapers nabbed $1.19 billion, and TV stations got $119 million of the ad pie, according to media-research firm Borrell & Associates.
It is true that television stations and newspapers have a serious challenge and I don't mean to imply that they will prosper. But these media dinosaurs (who mostly focus on local audiences) are getting almost 50% of local online revenue. I wonder how much of the pie they will receive after they 'get it.'
December 07, 2005
Gordon Gecko updated for the 21st century: 'Tiered Pricing is Good'
The one bright spot for the music industry has been Apple's iTunes store, which has sold 600 million songs since 2003, accounting for 80 percent of legal downloads in the United States.
But what price is fair? Apple says it is 99 cents a song. Of this, Apple gets 4 cents, the music publishers snag 8 cents, and the record companies pocket most of the rest.
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Slate's Adam L. Penenberg wrote a good piece called The Right Price for Digital Music, Why 99 cents per song is too much, and too little. In it he suggests that a NASDAQ-like should exist for music downloads. I include it here because it's well written and the idea could also apply to video as well.
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Steve Jobs, who has been willing to take a few pennies per download so long as he sells bushels of iPods, calls tiered pricing "greedy." That view is shared by millions of consumers who believe the record companies have been gouging them for years. …
What we need is a system that will continue to pack the corporate coffers yet be fair to music lovers. The solution: a real-time commodities market that combines aspects of Apple's iTunes, Nasdaq, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Priceline, and eBay.
Here's how it would work: Songs would be priced strictly on demand. The more people who download the latest Eminem single, the higher the price will go. The same is true in reverse — the fewer people who buy a song, the lower the price goes. Music prices would oscillate like stocks on Nasdaq …
Since millions of tunes sit on servers waiting to be downloaded, the vast majority of them quite obscure, sellers would benefit because it would create increased demand for music that would otherwise sit unpurchased …
The big wild card here is the impact of illegal file sharing. David Blackburn ... has argued that peer-to-peer systems increase demand for less popular recordings but dampen sales of hits. If that's the case, charging extra for top sellers might just push legal downloaders back into the outlaw world of peer-to-peer file trading … A Digital Music Exchange may not be a perfect solution, but who would you prefer to set the price of music: consumers or record executives?
December 05, 2005
In his own words ...
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I really wanted to use it as a catalyst to get the company thinking more about breaking with tradition and following the consumer. Interestingly enough, nothing has done more to reignite the company than this deal. It almost has created more value for the company than the deal itself."
Robert Iger, CEO of Disney, on the most important achievements from the $1.99 per episode deal with the Apple iPod.
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Read the entire Wall Street Journal article |
August 17, 2005
Veoh: an Internet Television Peercasting Network
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Veoh Networks, a San Diego start-up, is described as an Internet Television Peercasting Network. They also completed a Series A round of financing led by Shelter Capital Partners. No where could I find how large (or small) that financing round was but Dmitry Shapiro, the company’s founder, did tell me that they are well capitalized and has what he needs to solidly move forward.
One of the impressive thing about Veoh is Dmitry Shapiro. He is a specialist in peer-to-peer networking and computer security. Veoh just announced its own protocol appropriately called VeohNet. I am not in Dmitry's league of expertise so my take is to think of it like BitTorrent (swarmcasting) but even better. For example, viewers will not have to open up ports to make it work. Also, publishers can pull back content if they need to. This should go a long way to solving legitimacy issues and ease of use.
InformITV said: "Unlike unmanaged P2P networks using software such as BitTorrent to share mainly illicit copyright video, Veoh will have a community of publishers and content will be approved by editors. The system will also integrate with Google Video and RSS, providing content producers with easy publishing to multiple video systems."
The current management team is supposed to include executives and advisers from Coco-Cola, Columbia Pictures, eBay, Gateway and Musicmatch.
I have put Veoh on my radar because there is a compelling economic logic to using the Internet as a distribution mechanism that allows content providers to connect directly with viewers. There have been many postings here on content owners who are doing exactly that. Who knows, maybe Veoh can latch onto that pin action.
From what I know about their business model it is straightforward. Publishers can use a program called VeohUploader (which is due to be released tonight). Dmitry described to me that if you can handle being a seller on EBay, you can become a publisher on Veoh. A content owner can specify whether people can watch for free or pay per viewing or work under some sort of subscription model.
Les Moonves, here is your chance to test your $1 per CSI episode and see if the market place validates that price point. But the real reason I bring that up is this: if Viacom were to do that in Veoh’s business model, they simply could start tomorrow. They would not need Comcast or Time Warner’s agreement to do so. They also would not have to invest any significant money to do so. This is why Veoh can allow people to easily become their own publishers.
Obviously, one key business driver for Veoh will be to amass an audience size to make it worth the larger network’s while. This is the classic chicken and egg scenario: well branded networks want larger audiences to make it worth their while, and larger audiences show up for high-quality content. We will see how Veoh gets past this business challenge and I for one will watch their progress.
There’s not much yet at Veoh’s web site, but you can sign up for notification when their beta is ready. Another thing is that you can enjoy their word-smithing:
It will open the world of media so that every country, established or third political party, foundation, charity, cause, company, and individual has an unrestricted voice, able to reach the farthest reaches of the world, with the capacity to alter human understanding. We will be able to stop wars, expose genocide, enlighten, entertain, educate, bring together, inspire, connect, and help find love of all kinds.
We are building the next phase of the Internet, the Self Published Video Web. Think of it as Television 2.0Posted by Martino Mingione at 04:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 13, 2005
DVD sales slow
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We recently witnessed DreamWorks Animation and Pixar Animation Studios having to adjust their earnings estimates when Shrek 2 and The Incredibles sold fewer DVDs than the companies had predicted. Their stock prices plunged on the news.
The studios have been able to bank on revenue from sales and rentals of DVDs, which have accounted for 60% of the entertainment companies’ bottom lines, compared to just 20% taken in ticket sales. Now, however, there are signs that DVD sales are starting to mirror the recent box-office slump.
Shrek 2 sold 35 million DVDs instead of the 55 million that DreamWorks executives had estimated. (The original Shrek sold 49 million DVDs.) The Incredibles is expected to sell 30 million DVDs instead of the 34 million projected.
What do you think is responsible for this news?
Lower overall quality of new movies dampens both the box office and DVD sales.
Netflix lowers the need to own the DVD.
BitTorrent file sharing steals away legitimate purchases of DVD's.
Consumers are waiting for either HD/DVD or BlueRay and do not want to buy now and then 'upgrade' later.
Newer VOD options are more convenient to watch than DVD.
The DVD upgrade cycle is finally over and people have finished upgrading their VHS collection.
Please tell me your thoughts.
Posted by Martino Mingione at 10:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackJuly 12, 2005
Time Travel: the Killer App
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Further details have emerged on BT's plans for its broadband television service, now aiming to launch by summer 2006. BT will offer a hybrid broadband and broadcast system, combining a digital terrestrial television receiver with an Ethernet network connection.
Interestingly, they promise the ability to catch up with television programs from the previous week. Industry reports suggest that it will include an electronic guide featuring programs for fourteen days in advance and seven days previous. The ability to go back in time by up to a week is seen as the killer application.
BT says it has a license to cover all BBC programs for up to seven days, while negotiations are ongoing with other channels. Whether a blanket arrangement can be negotiated remains to be seen.
I have some news for content owners: wake up and smell the BitTorrent. Your content already is available for subsequent viewing – and not just last week’s copy!
Video Networks already offers the ability to ‘catch-up’ on particular programs with its HomeChoice service in the London area. Cable operator Telewest is planning a similar service that it calls Teleport Replay. This autumn the BBC will run a public trial of its IMP web-based peer-to-peer media player, which will offer a similar seven day window to view programs after they are first broadcast.
AOL, XM, AEG form Joint Entertainment Venture
This just in: America Online, XM, and AEG have form a joint venture called Network Live that will deliver live and on-demand concerts and comedy shows via the Internet, wireless and satellite. They have named Kevin Wall as its CEO.
"We're creating the network of the future, being able to access entertainment digital content anytime, anywhere on any particular device," Wall said.
AOL recently had success in delivering seven separate feeds from the July 2 Live 8 concerts -- all without any meltdowns. Kevin Wall was in charge of that project. Some 5 million people viewed the shows online, and AOL broke its own records with a peak of 175,000 simultaneous users.
Network Live will also try to license programming for distribution on wireless, HDTV and other platforms, though AOL said no deals have been struck yet.
Revenues will come from ads and licensing fees, with no current plans to charge for shows on a pay-per-view basis, Wall said.
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Read the entire story at Yahoo News. |
In a previous post, I noted that AOL Video offers free access to search and playback for more than 15,000 licensed and originally produced video assets from Time Warner, including television programs and music videos, movie trailers from Warner Bros. and news clips from CNN, MSNBC and others.
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Read that post, including comments about Time Warner's undervaluation. |
July 08, 2005
Cables Lacks High-Def Content For VOD
(Excerpted from Videobusiness.com) )
Cable operators bemoan the fact that, "For the first time, cable is actually in the lead in deploying something," says Time Warner Cable Digital Services Director Glen Hardin, referring to HD over VOD. Nonetheless, fear of piracy and a reluctance to release films to undermine the value of the DVD window have led the studios to keep their most valuable high-def content away from VOD.
"High-def DVD hasn't come out yet. So if you're the studios, do you want to have a high- def product in the marketplace that's more convenient than DVD?" InDemand president- CEO Rob Jacobson said. "DVD has been a phenomenal product for Hollywood. They don't want cable operators to come out with a better product that isn't as profitable to them."
Jacobson predicted that studio attitudes toward a high-def VOD service would not begin to soften until a high-def DVD format is established in the market.
High-def VOD content also is caught between programmers' desire to charge a premium for high-def programming and cable operators' drive to include as much on-demand programming as possible on free or subscription VOD tiers.
Posted by Martino Mingione at 06:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackWhere oh where is our VOD content? Where oh where can it be?
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From today's Wall Street Journal in regard's to the annual Sun Valley CEO retreat:
Sumner Redstone is known for telling investors and journalists that "content is king." But something else is vying for that throne. What people watch is fast losing ground to how those people watch it. [Emphasis added since this is major theme of my blog]
... content providers seem to be falling all over themselves to do deals to distribute their programs -- or tailored versions of them -- to all sorts of new venues. Witness the push of Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN in December to target sports fans with sports content on ESPN-branded wireless phones using Sprint Corp.'s wireless network. Or efforts by News Corp.'s Fox TV network and others to distribute "mobisodes," or short versions of television programs aimed at screens on mobile phones.
Now if someone spots Sumner Redstone and Brian Roberts talking, wake me up. Maybe a VOD deal can be had!
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What the major players say about why VOD is a collection of low-demand items. |
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Newsweek had a fascinating article entitled Television Reloaded. It talked about these new forms of how people will watch TV. |
June 30, 2005
HBO scoops itself on VOD
Select quotes about its new series called Rome from Broadcasting & Cable, 6/29/2005:
"... HBO has moved the epic drama's premiere date up from September to Aug. 28 ... The move will enable the show to debut closer to a free [VOD] preview the network is offering the following weekend. The preview will include Rome’s first three episodes on HBO On Demand for all digital-cable customers."
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"As a result of the scheduling change, episode three will be available on demand before it runs on the linear network – a first for HBO. The preview weekend is Sept. 3-7; episode three debuts on the linear network Sept. 11."
HBO invested a whopping $100 million in the 12-episode season of Rome, a co-production with the BBC. The network says this campaign for viewers is the largest it has done around a new series.
To woo subs, the premium network regularly offers free preview weekends, although it does not usually schedule new show premieres to coincide with the freebies.
Posted by Martino Mingione at 01:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackJune 13, 2005
When Will Popular TV Shows be Available On-Demand?
Video on Demand advocates highlight consumer satisfaction when discussing VOD's bright future. Rarely do they point out that the most popular shows on television cannot be seen on-demand unless you record it to your DVR first. The only two alternatives are to wait for DVD releases or use a BitTorrent client to download it to your PC.
Sure, you can get HBO or Showtime on demand today, but only if you already subscribe to those packages through your cable television provider. Other than that VOD is a collection of low-demand items.
Despite that handicap, Comcast alone is expected to serve up over 1 Billion VOD streams in 2005. Sounds impressive, but consider this:
• Comcast refuses to pay directly for content and other operators feel the same way. With cable bills at an all-time high and satellite picking off price-conscious subscribers, cable operators say “We paid for this content on linear channels, and we won’t pay extra for on-demand rights.”
• Comcast has made on-demand rights part of its negotiations with networks. For example, the cable operator secured on-demand football highlights and out-of-market games in exchange for carriage of the NFL network. But without direct payments, the more popular a TV program is, the less likely it is to appear on VOD.
| "For the really good stuff that is on the sidelines to get onto the platform, there has to be an economic model that works." |
| Source: David Zaslav, President, cable division at NBC Universal |
| "Comcast is at loggerheads with networks and others who own some of the most popular television programming." |
| Source: The Wall Street Journal, 1/27/2005 |
| "[Les] Moonves would like to be selling previously-aired episodes of CSI at $1 per viewing.” Asked about CBS’ experience with Comcast’s VOD venture, Moonves says that “the results are really rather inconclusive.." |
| Source: Broadcasting & Cable, 6/6/2005 |
| "We don't want the consumer to have to subscribe to six different on-demand services. The Internet took off because it was largely free... If you had to pay per click, I don't think the explosion of consumer usage would have occurred” |
| Source: Brian Roberts, CEO of Comcast |
| “One sticking point with [talks about VOD program distribution is with] cable systems operator Comcast [is] the issue of how content providers would be compensated. Comcast envisions VOD essentially as a free service for its subscribers.” |
| Source: Bob Iger, CEO of Disney in AdAge Magazine, 6/8/2005 |
In the long-run VOD advocates will be proven correct. But in the long run we are all dead, too. So, when does it happen? Answer that question and you know when traditional television rules die.
Posted by Martino Mingione at 07:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackJune 09, 2005
Disney believes in VOD
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In an article appearing in AdAge today, Disney's new CEO says that his company needs to "leverage the great migration" of viewers to consumer-controlled media formats." Phew! That's a mouthful. Let me just abbreviate it to this: Disney believes in VOD.
I have deliberately stopped posting references to media people who feel compelled to say the obligatory words about 'consumers are in control' and 'audience fragmentation' etc., because everyone says that now. I will try to post references that only give us hints as to how each player wants to frame what comes next.
In that context, this article did give us some hints:
[Iger] sees the ESPN new-media model as a direction for other Disney media properties. "That's the profile I want to create for the whole company ... content that lives on all media platforms." ESPN provides live sportscasts and interactive games through broadband online channel ESPN 360. The company has also launched ESPN Mobile, its own branded cell phone.
Mr. Iger characterized ongoing talks with Time Warner Cable and Comcast about VOD program distribution as "pretty productive," and predicted that viewers might see such shows as early as 2006. One sticking point with cable systems operator Comcast has been the issue of how content providers would be compensated. Comcast envisions VOD essentially as a free service for its subscribers.
Note: the last sentence above is a common refrain from the content owners.
UPDATE:
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CBS would take $1 per VOD view?. |
$1 per VOD viewing for CSI?
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In an article in Broadcasting & Cable, CBS Chairman Les Moonves had some VOD comments. Here are a few excerpts:
One aspect of the TV business that will be slow to develop is video on demand. Broadcast networks have been working with cable operators on VOD, but are not willing to offer premium product, primarily scheduling shows that have little library value.
Ultimately, Moonves would like to be selling previously-aired episodes of CSI at $1 per viewing.
But asked about CBS’ experience with Comcast’s VOD venture, Moonves says that “The results are really rather inconclusive.
UPDATE:
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Disney sees ESPN as a model for VOD. |
June 08, 2005
MeeVee Launches Beta Version
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Traditional television: 500 channels and nothing to watch. The future of VOD: 500,000 streams and I don't know what to watch. You don't really want your VOD service to notify you of every new content. You probably want recommendations that are appropriate to you.
MeeVee, a start-up specializing in personalized programming search and recommendation, has launched a beta version of its service on its Web site. Membership is free.
It was very easy to sign up and it quickly found my television provider and local channel line up from only my zip code. In addition to TV Guide like functionality, it lets me search much farther into the future than my DVR does. It also has a Netflix like rating system which (presumably) will guide me to recommendations based upon my likes and dislikes. That is a service I appreciate from Netflix, so it will be interesting to see what MeeVee comes up with for me in the future.
While the web access to the service and weekly email is nice, it really would be best if MeeVee were already inside my DVR. Then, I would want it to automatically tape strong recommendations since I often go long periods of time without searching for something new to watch.
The service, which the company wants to offer on the set-top box, is based on patented metadata-generation technology. You can search real-time programming databases by keyword, program, actor or topic. It includes a search engine, a customizable listings guide, personalized recommendations, and a personal planner. Since the service is not inside my DVR, MeeVee tracks the broadcast times of the show, and emails the planner to me on a weekly basis to create what the company calls a "personal TV guide".
According to MeeVee, the technology that drives the service focuses on characteristics of TV shows, such as frequency and ratings, in order to ensure that search results are relevant to the end-user. It has advanced matching algorithms to provide recommendations based on viewing preferences. The technology also analyzes TV programs' characteristics to provide relevancy to searches and recommendations, based on data MeeVee receives directly from the networks.
MeeVee has just signed a deal with the NBC Television Network, under which the latter will provide video clips of its shows that will be made available on the MeeVee program guide. The company says that NBC is one of over 300 "strategic media partners" that are currently providing content to its service.
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MeeVee Adds Two New Execs to its Senior Management Team. |
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Gemstar Launches a Broadband TV Guide. |
Gemstar Launches a Broadband TV Guide
Gemstar-TV Guide, has launched a broadband version of its new VOD service, TV Guide Spot, on its Web site.
The service is already available to Time Warner digital cable subscribers and will be rolled out to Comcast digital cable subs in the early summer. It also shortly will be offered to TiVo subscribers with standalone TiVo service.
The service features short-form, original entertainment programming, designed to help viewers decide what to watch from the increasing array of programs at their disposal in the multichannel and VOD universe. It currently offers four shows:
"Watch This!," which Gemstar says will showcase "the most compelling programs in the week to come, including special episodes, premieres, television events and hidden gems";
"Catch Up," which will provide three-minute segments that update viewers on the plot developments to date of what Gemstar terms "television's top water-cooler shows";
"Big Movie Guide," which will showcase each month's top on-demand movies, with star interviews, movie clips, behind-the-scenes coverage and more; and
"MVids," which will showcase popular music acts, and let viewers know when those acts will appear on talk and variety shows that week.
Is it a coincidence that both TV-Guide and MeeVee launched web based services that you can access? Who knows, but I would be interested in hearing from you which approach you prefer. My bet is that MeeVee's personalized recommendations should be a more preferred approach.
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MeeVee Launches Beta Version. |
I wish to thank the folks at ITVT for the above information. To access the video, please go to TV Guide's web site.
Posted by Martino Mingione at 11:41 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackJune 07, 2005
AgileTV and SeaChange
Breaking News: Cable operators deploying SeaChange’s VOD system with Motorola set-top boxes are now able to offer cable companies the Promptu navigation service from AgileTV.
Readers of this blog read of Agile's voice activated navigation last month after they received another round of funding.
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See AgileTV's interview on CNBC. |
AgileTV was founded in April 2000 and is privately held. The company is based in Menlo Park, California. The company’s major equity holders include Valence Capital Management LP, Insight Communications, Lauder Partners and private investors.
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Two weeks ago, SeaChange announced its dynamic VOD advertising solution. |
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This press release comes after SEAC announced financial results. |
Hillcrest announced that it will compete with a different form of VOD navigation. Hillcrest, like AgileTV, is a well funded navigation company without customers and reporting that it will soon deliver product.
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Read the Hillcrest announcement. |
Hillcrest Unveils its HoME for Content Navigation
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After we have access to a bazillion things to watch on-demand, how will we find it? Here is a startup with no customers yet. I quote from their press material because they claim that "a consumer [can] browse 50,000 content choices with a few clicks of a remote control that has 90% fewer buttons than traditional remotes."
Rockville, Maryland-based start-up, Hillcrest Communications, unveiled its HoME application suite last month at the Wall Street Journal's "D: All Things Digital" conference.
The company was founded in 2001 by Dan Simpkins, who serves as its president and CEO and who previously founded Salix Technologies, which was sold to Tellabs in 1999 in a stock deal that valued it at $300 million. In January, 2004, Hillcrest completed a Series B funding round in which it raised $10 million from New Enterprise Associates, Columbia Capital and Grotech Capital Group.
According to the company, the HoME suite, which will be formally launched later this year, is designed to solve what it describes as "two critical points of pain" for service providers, consumer electronics companies and consumers: the proliferation of content choices and the proliferation of consumer devices. The heart of the application suite is dubbed "Spontaneous Navigation" which it claims "reinvents how content is presented and navigated on the television."
The main elements of the HoME application suite are:
The Loop (a remote control which features what the company describes as an "ergonomically designed interface," sporting just two buttons and a scroll wheel to control all programs and devices);
HoMEtv (an EPG that lists linear channels, VOD programming, and DVR-stored and Internet-delivered content);
HoMEmedia (a suite of applications that allows viewers to access, manipulate and display personal media, such as home movies, photos and music); and
HoMEbuilder (a software development kit that will customization of HoME's various applications).
Hillcrest says that it has filed "dozens" of patents for its technologies.
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AgileTV thinks you will navigate by voice command. |
May 27, 2005
Mobile Video Content Manager, LA
I have never posted a job lead here before. However, I saw this on craigslist. And some of you have been reading my recent entries about television and the cell phone.
We are currently seeking a Video Content Manager. This is a full-time opportunity to be part of an exciting company offering broadband delivery of video to mobile phones.
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Related: read about Nick being offered on Verizon's VCast service in the US. |
Enjoy.
Posted by Martino Mingione at 02:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackMay 19, 2005
SmartVideo offers free mobile video channel
My thanks to InformITV for this story.
SmartVideo is planning to provide an advertiser-supported video channel that will be available to mobile subscribers of all major global carriers.
SmartVideo Technologies is partnering with Digital Music Video Network to offer the service to smart phones and other devices. It claims to offer full-motion video and audio even to current 2.5G devices, and at over 24 frames per second on new 3G networks.
When the service launches in June, it will be accessible to 11 million or more devices with a WindowsMobile Media player. The service will subsequently be available across the United States to anyone with a mobile device running the Symbian or Palm operating systems in conjunction with a media player.
Users will simply access the service through the internet browser in the phone or other compatible mobile device.
The first service will feature top forty hits, but dedicated themed channels are planned in the near future. The DMV Network has a library of 40,000 music videos.
SmartVideo also offers live, streaming and video-on-demand programming from leading brands including ABC, NBC, Fox, and The Weather Channel.
Posted by Martino Mingione at 07:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackApril 30, 2005
BBC gets creative with
The BBC Creative Archive project has launched under the banner of “Find it. Rip it. Mix it. Share it.” The project web site enthusiastically proclaims: “In other words, you can rip, mix and share the BBC.”
The Creative Archive is billed as a BBC led initiative to provide access to public service audio and video archives in a way that allows the British public to find, share, watch, listen and re-use the archive as a fuel for their own creative endeavours. Whether it will be enough to keep the kids amused remains to be seen.
The BBC will initially only be making available a hundred hours of material from natural history and factual programmes, although there is a commitment to add extracts from other genres in the future.
The initiative is based on the concept of creative commons, but it looks like the BBC lawyers have got involved. The licence is limited to use within the United Kingdom, which would technically appear to preclude publication on the World Wide Web, which could prove something of a limitation for this broadband initiative. The BBC also reserves the right to change the terms of the licence at any time.
Mark Thompson, the director general of the BBC, said: “The Creative Archive Licence provides a unique solution to one of the key challenges of rights in the digital age, allowing us to increase the public value of our archives by giving people the chance to use video and audio material for their own non-commercial purposes.”
The Creative Archive has also received the enthusiastic support of none less than former film producer Lord Puttnam.
Speaking at the launch of the project, Lord Puttnam said he needed no persuading that the Creative Archive was an idea whose time has come. He admitted to having survived a switchover from the world of the fountain pen to become very comfortable with the web, and revealed that he had downloaded hundreds of tracks for this iPod.
The key to capitalizing on the online opportunity, he suggested, lay in delivering compelling content that plays to the specific strengths of the online world.
While enormous energy was being devoted to protecting intellectual property rights online, he said, the obsessive focus on the threat has continued to blind many to the opportunity.
“The commercial music industry has already paid a high price for that,” he said. “The public sector cannot afford to make the same mistake.” At stake are not just revenues, but the chance to enhance and enrich the lives of citizens.
As a former film producer, Lord Puttnam said he believed in the sanctity of the creators’ rights, but had long been interested in exploring a generous regime for sharing access to archive material as a catalyst for creative collaboration and learning.
He said that when public resources have been used to create content, then the overwhelming objective should be to maximise the benefit of that content to the people who helped pay for its creation in the first place.
The availability of the equivalent of “clip art” for video would help teach creative skills and develop “media literacy” and actually help people understand the value of intellectual property.
Quoting Thomas Edison, an inventor that understood the value of protecting his intellectual property rights, he noted that Edison had originally seen the educational possibilities of moving pictures. “I had some glowing dreams about what the camera could be made to do and ought to do in teaching the world things it needed to know - teaching it in a more vivid, direct way,” Edison had said.
Lord Puttnam ended by adding that “The principles upon which the Creative Archive is based are fundamental to our future”. The opportunity is enormous, he said. “It requires energy, vision and imagination to seize it.”
Although the venture has invoked the support of Channel 4, the Open University and the British Film Institute, the BBC is clearly keen to maintain its association with the pilot project, which has its web site hosted as subdomain of the BBC web site.
Posted by Martino Mingione at 04:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackMarch 10, 2005
CinemaNow in Reality TV Deal with Endemol
Web-based VOD service, CinemaNow, continues to expand its content line-up beyond movies-on-demand. The company, which in early February announced that it had signed an agreement to carry on-demand content from ABC News, has signed a deal with Endemol USA that will see it offering over 75 hours of the latter's reality programming for download. The deal will allow CinemaNow, among other things, to offer series of the show, "Big Brother," in their entirety.
In announcing the deal, CinemaNow argued that it is significant in that it demonstrates how production companies can use broadband VOD distribution to generate additional revenues from their shows once they go off the air.
CinemaNow customers will be able to download individual episodes of Endemol series or entire season packages on a pay-per-view basis or as part of a subscription to CinemaNow's Premium Plus SVOD service. The first title to be available as a result of the deal will be the third season of "Big Brother," which airs on CBS in the US. Other reality TV shows expected to be offered under the deal include the relationship series, "Anything for Love," which originally aired on Fox, and the family-based reality TV show, "Under One Roof," which originally aired on UPN.
Posted by Martino Mingione at 07:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackMarch 05, 2005
Shows Facing Cancellation Can Overcome Wobbly Ratings With the Lure of DVD Sales
I was reading an article in the Wall Street Journal about TV shows "on the bubble" -- industry parlance for a series facing cancellation because of wobbly ratings. The article told of a story about how fans of the show Arrested Development have done what loyal fans typically do when their show might be canceled. But then it got interesting:
"In the past, such efforts typically failed if the show's ratings didn't generate enough ad revenue to cover costs. But the cancellation calculus is starting to change. Fox's 'Family Guy,' axed in 2002, is getting another chance on the air because sales of DVD collections of the show have been so hot. Indeed, fundamental shifts in how TV companies make money are starting to complicate cancellation decisions -- and small but dedicated groups of viewers are gaining newfound clout."
"Of course, audience size still matters a lot in prime-time network television. But now other factors are influencing the cancellation decision. DVDs have become such a gold mine -- profit margins reach 50% -- that broadcasters are increasingly open to the idea of keeping a ratings-challenged show on the air, especially one with a fanatical core of fans, in order to generate more episodes to sell later on DVD. Other nascent income streams -- on-demand services, and downloadable episodes sold on the Internet like songs -- also are giving consumers more direct power in programming decisions."
This story reminds us of what many people forget: that owners want ways of monetizing their content. In the WSJ story, monetization meant DVD sales later on. This is a key point that some VOD business models must heed -- the content owners must be rewarded somehow.
There is also a note of caution for content owners: be pro-active in seeking out ways of getting value. There is already a huge amount of swapping television shows already occuring online in P2P networks. I guess video just wants to be free (as in accessible).
Posted by Martino Mingione at 03:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
