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Does Convergence Theory Mean Subscription Theory: Consumers don't want to sit in front of their PCs for
entertainment, music, and video but they want it on their television sets and mobile devices but without having to
subscribe to numerous services and without the banner advertisements (10APR01) (WIRED)
(alt.link)
Wired in a two-(web)page news item cites RealNetworks chief operating officer Larry Jacobson as indicating, "For the service to be successful though ... it will move away from the PC. As content migrates from the den to the living room, Internet media companies will increasingly compete with traditional network television." Wired further quotes Jacobson as stating, "Within the next couple of years, we are going to see cable bringing very high-quality video to the household, and that makes it difficult for Internet companies to compete with them. There will be little pieces of video available, but the home for video delivery is going to be through the cable networks." To this, Wired quotes Forrester Research internet media analyst Eric Scheirer as stating, "There is still lots of space to become an aggregator in the cable world." -
Video Phone News: Streaming audio may hit cell phones first before streaming video, but
can you build content that people will want to pay for? (09APR01) (McommerceTimes)
(alt.link)
M-CommerceTimes quotes Digitalmill founder Ben Sawyer as stating, "The first [streaming content] will be audio, just because it does not require as much bandwidth to get the fidelity. Also, you are not going to walk around watching your cell phone as you go down the street, whereas you might get headphones and turn your phone into a Walkman.... A lot of the proponents say that once everyone in the world can walk around with Internet radio on their cell phone, the prevalence of Internet radio will be huge."
To the folks who are Gung Ho for mobile devices: Okay, maybe I'm a little too skeptical, but who's going to want to the pay the per-minute charges plus the content subscription fee to listen to internet radio on a cell phone? I've always thought it would be nice to have radio or a videogame on a cell phone. But I think it makes more sense to have a built-in AM-FM radio for free local radio on the cell phone or gameboy-like cartridges that you plug into the phone - without the need for an internet connection. Video, yes, such as for video phone calls, but listening to internet radio on a cell phone when you can use a pocket AM-FM radio or listen to a walkman-type device? -ruel -
Consumers Expect Free TV: Craig Birkmaier discusses what copy protection issues may mean for "Free TV"
(06APR01) (DigitalTV)
Although Digital TV magazine's Craig Birkmaier claims "[t]he 'Free TV' business model is no longer competitive with other options available to consumers" that does not mean "free-to-air programming should go away."
With that statement, Birkmaier makes it sound like free local broadcast TV is about to die. Local TV could experience a revolution and expansion with digital television where local TV stations gain the ability to broadcast more than one "channel." A local TV station could become a cluster of two, three, four, or more digital TV channels offering more choice for free over-the-air television programming. A local region's collection of local TV stations with their new multiple clusters of digital channels could provide more competition for cable TV's collection of channels. As a result, there could be a greater market for advertising to support the expanded market of broadcast free-to-air digital TV channels.
Of course, any possible expansion beyond a single channel may be slow, but as local TV stations put programming on new additional digital channels, a channel that may typically be found on a cable television service could be offered in a morphed format on one of a local TV station's free-to-air digital television channels. Just imagine what Disney, Viacom, and FOX could possibly do by providing broadcast versions of their various cable channels on the digital channel clusters of their respective local ABC-TV, CBS-TV (and UPN-TV), and FOX-TV affiliates in the US. -ruel -
DivX As The "MP3" Format For Downloading Movies: DivXNetworks hopes DivX will become so popular to make Hollywood
use DivX as the standard for downloading movies (09APR01) (USAToday)
- Moving From Analog TV To Digital TV: President Bush supports analog TV lease fee to promote timely transition to digital television in the US (PDF) (09APR01) (US.WhiteHouse)
In a section on user fee proposals, the "Analytical Perspectives" document for President George Bush's proposed 2002 budget for the US government states, "The Administration supports establishing a lease fee on commercial television broadcasters' use of the analog spectrum until broadcasters complete the transition to digital broadcasting and return their analog spectrum licenses to the FCC. The proposal would encourage a timely transition to digital broadcasting and have television broadcasters reimburse the public for use of this scarce resource." The fee would be called an "Analog spectrum lease fee." Note: the linked PDF file on the US government budget is 400+ kilobytes in size.- Opposition To Bush Proposal: US Congressional House Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin says he will fight against a punitive analog TV spectrum fee (09APR01) (CNET)
CNET quotes US Congressional House Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin as stating, "Penalizing America's broadcasters - who are struggling to make the transition to digital - with punitive spectrum fees is a terrible idea, and I will fight it every inch of the way."- Another Proposal: President Bush also proposes US legislation to delay auction of TV channels 60-69 to 2004 and TV channels 52-59 to 2006 since TV stations do not have to complete switchover to digital TV until 2006 or whenever the US hits the 85% digital TV penetration rate (09APR01) (US.WhiteHouse) (related.link) (related.link) (related.link) (related.link) (related.link)
In a section dealing with "spectrum auction receipts," President Bush, in chapter 21 of his Fiscal Year 2002 Budget document, proposes, shifting "the statutory deadline for the [channels] 60-69 auction from 2000 to 2004 and shift the statutory deadline for the auction of channels 52-59 ... from 2002 to 2006." In the first related link, Reuters reports, "The auction has been delayed numerous times because broadcasters do not have to move to digital signals until the end of 2006 or when the penetration rate for digital television in the United States hits 85 percent, whichever comes later."- Set-Top Forecast: Allied Business Intelligence says set-top box sales to grow from 26 million units in 2000, to 36 million in 2001, and to 94 million units by 2005 (10APR01) (PRN)
In looking at the markets for telecommunications technology, the news announcement from Allied Business Intelligence (ABI) states, "Digital set-top boxes have enjoyed tremendous growth as both satellite and cable providers move aggressively on a global basis to digitized transmissions. Set-top box sales are expected to grow from 26 million units in 2000 to at least 36 million this year, before reaching 94 million units by 2005."- Catching Up With The Rest Of The World: Allied Business Intelligence's Joshua Wise says digital TV and interactive TV are more popular outside the US because most of the world chose DVB-T as a standard while the US went blindly after HDTV without considering SDTV (link.changes) (10APR01) (ABI)
On the front page of the Allied Business Intelligence (ABI) website, ABI digital media analyst Joshua Wise writes, "There are two basic reasons why DTV, and with it iTV, has become much more popular in Europe and in Asia than it has in the US. The first is that most of the world chose a standard, Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial (DVB-T), that is fully developed and can support all of the services that broadcasters are interested in, and even some that they might not yet be ready to offer.... The second reason ... [is, in the US,] there has been a blind drive toward high definition TV (HDTV), without considering that it might be more practical to offer standard definition TV (SDTV) first and then upgrade to HDTV later."- Interactive TV Lights Up Overseas: Paul Tate discusses how Europe is creating the new wave of interactive information and entertainment services on interactive television (09APR01) (InteractiveWeek)
- TiVo Versus UltimateTV: Anchordesk's David Coursey feels better recommending UltimateTV over the long haul (10APR01) (Anchordesk)
Anchordesk executive editor David Coursey says he spent the last month testing both UltimateTV and TiVo.- TiVo And UltimateTV: David Coursey loves PVRs but hates the subscription fee (09APR01) (Anchordesk)
Anchordesk's David Coursey writes, "[T]hese are products I love, even if they come with business practices I deplore. I've already had a heart-to-heart with a Microsoft insider, who admits UltimateTV needs to do more to earn the monthly fee or find a way to stop charging it."- BBC Asks What Happened To TiVo: Forrester Analyst Tim Grimsditch says the real danger to TiVo is if the price is not brought down (09APR01) (BBC)
The BBC reports, "[S]ome believe Tivo will go the same way as Phillips Laserdisc of the 1980s, never breaking out beyond the hype." The BBC quotes Forrester Research technology analyst Tim Grimsditch as stating, "I don't think it's been a disappointment. People are very used to technology selling quickly. The real danger is if they don't get this product down in price. That's absolutely fundamental to making it work."- Tivolution Theory: Subscribers may love TiVo but you can't pause corporate reality (06APR01) (MotleyFool) (alt.link) (related.link) (related.link)
Motley Fool reports, "Gotta love that TiVo.... Unfortunately, you can't pause corporate reality. Layoffs are the programming of choice lately, and ... TiVo said 25% of its work force will be receiving the 'Thumbs Down' rating and shown the door."- More Tivolution: Net4TV's Nancy McPoland also talks about Tivolution (08APR01) (Net4TV)
Net4TV's Nancy McPoland writes if TiVo "can cut costs and increase its subscriber base with the current threats of bad publicity and competition from deep-pocketed rivals like Microsoft, perhaps it can be the 'TiVo-lution' its advertisements boast of, but at the moment the picture remains fuzzy."- TiVo News: Charles Arthur says he would swap either his VCR or his DVD player for a TiVo box that knows what's on TV (02APR01) (Independent)
- Bringing Down The Price Of Digital Radio Boxes In The UK: Digital One and Imagination Technologies seek to develop cheaper second-generation chip to bring down price of digital radio boxes from £300 to £100 within next 12 months (09APR01) (MediaGuardian)
If they can bring down the prices of digital radio boxes, how about bringing down the prices of PVRs and digital TV set-top boxes?- Expensive Webpad News: Siemens Gigaset 4600 SIMpad let's you walk around the house while surfing the web and is expected to hit the market in Fall 2001 with a $1000 pricetag (09APR01) (Forbes)
Would you buy a $1000 internet appliance device? Or would you rather buy something much less expensive? You can also click here for other news regarding Innolabs' Evita tablet PC.- Set-Tops In The UK: Carlton and Granada TV may limit ONdigital's spending on subsidized digital set-top boxes (10APR01) (MediaGuardian) (related.link) (related.link)
MediaGuardian reports, "[T]he next generation of set-top boxes, expected at the end of this year, are not expected to be subsidised at all" and analysts say ONdigital may push "the cheaper option of integrated digital TVs."- Set-Tops In China: Lydia Zajc says set-tops have yet to take off in China while she tries out the i-Guest internet-on-TV dial-up set-top box from i-ChinaNet.com in her room at the Landmark Hotel in Beijing (10APR01) (SCMP)
The South China Morning Post's Lydia Zajc writes, "The set-top box has yet to take off in China, experts say. The market needs some underlying components to mature, such as high-quality television displays, and good underlying infrastructure which most of China lacks." Zajc goes on to write, "I appreciate the idea of set-top boxes, but this trial convinced me they are not ready for mass consumption."- News From Korea: South Korea's Ministry of Information and Communication adopts five-year plan to develop webcasting industry in Korea (10APR01) (KoreaHerald)
- Datacasting News From Australia: Adam's Platform is said to achieve 1000:1 compression ratios in transmitting TV broadcast on ordinary telephone lines (10APR01) (IT)
- Sports Video Webcast News: NBA to webcast live streaming video of basketball game between the Dallas Mavericks the Sacramento Kings on April 13 (09APR01) (NBA) (alt.link) (related.link) (related.link) (related.link) (related.link) (related.link) (related.link) The news announcement states, "The webcast experiment - available to both broadband and narrowband Internet users - will be produced by NBA Entertainment and be available in both English and Spanish."
- Sports Digital TV News: San Diego Padres and Cox Communications to launch digital TV channel which is said to be the only US digital television channel featuring around-the-clock baseball coverage (03APR01) (MLB)
The news announcement states, "Cox Communications will create digital television Channel 444 - 'All Padres, All the Time' - to be launched on Opening Day 2003. Channel 444 will broadcast baseball information, classic games and extensive Padres programming 24/7/365. Channel 444 will be the only television station in the country featuring continuous baseball coverage."- Canada's JumpTV Causing NAB To Be Bent Out Of Shape: JumpTV secures licenses from TV channels in Great Britain, France, Italy, New York, and Portugal to retransmit their TV signals live on the net (09APR01) (MontrealGazette)
The Montreal Gazette quotes JumpTV founder Farrel Miller as stating the NAB is "really getting bent all out of shape worried that people in the United States are going to be able to access this. People in the United States won't, so the complaint is a moot point."- NBC Internet Presence Brought In-House: NBC to acquire and integrate NBCi subsidiary into NBC (09APR01) (NBCmv) (alt.link) (related.link) (related.link)
Although the NBCi subsidiary may soon be "dead," the high-profile brand and properties of the profit-losing NBCi subsidiary are being brought in-house to be developed by NBC. The news announcement quotes NBC chief financial officer and business development and interactive media president Mark Begor as stating, "This transaction lays the groundwork for future decisions about our online presence. This begins the next phase in the evolution of our Internet strategy as we seek to build successful models like MSNBC.com, the No. 1 news site on the Internet, and CNBC.com, the stickiest financial site on the Web."
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- Moving From Analog TV To Digital TV: President Bush supports analog TV lease fee to promote timely transition to digital television in the US (PDF) (09APR01) (US.WhiteHouse)
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