Tag: heads-you-lose

Remote Control

Thursday, July 16th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments

Boxee has finally launched a version of its internet video to TV software for PCs and the product is maturing well.

Last week I installed a tiny Dell desktop PC at home and linked it up with my LCD TV using a HDMI cable. The sound chip on the PC supports HDMI audio, but I diverted this through the MP3 amp I have to improve the quality and.. hey presto I have full screen video on my TV.
Easy enough, but there are a number of issues:
The first thing I did was build a web page that loads as default that has links to all of the web pages where I watch video and set it as my home page (Boxee’s selection of content in the UK is still very limited); what I want is a unified EPG where I can browse between the cable content and the internet content.
Secondly, there’s no remote control, and the snazzy mini wireless keyboard I have isn’t quite the same; Boxee does have a remote app for iPhones, but not for my Android.
There’s no ‘record’ option on many web video clips so I load them into Real Player which enables me to download them for future viewing.
But it does annoy me that Virgin still haven’t got around to merging the delivery of cable TV and internet TV on their platform. It was an area where they had a clear lead over Sky, but it looks like Sky and their ‘tv everywhere’-like approach are taking the lead in the provisioning of cross platform content, but perhaps it’s ironic that users like myself are having to rig together the television service we want.
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Happy Returns

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments

Today I cross a metaphorical bridge into a new world. I have moved from the 35 – 44 socio-demographic group to, well, the 45 – 65 group.

I raise this issue not because I am in need of pity (nor birthday ecards), but because it shows how false measures, which were instrumental in building the media world we lived in, are still so prevalent.

Forty years ago I lived in a house with no carpet on the stairs and an old black and white telly with three channels (and RTE).

Now I have, to coin a phrase, TV everywhere.

But the world is full of parallel universes, some of which move slower than others.

In my youth 45 was, like, very, very old. Now it seems like my ideas have only just begun to take fruit, they remain youthful. And the notion that I am best categorised by my age, my salary and postcode are, frankly, insulting.

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Deja Vu All Over Again

Monday, July 6th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments

The fall being reported in DVD sales in the UK and the US shows how finite the market for video consumption is. The majority of this viewing is though to have been ‘lost’ to video hire companies like CinemaNow and Netflix and to video on demand services. Cinema and online TV have also played their parts.

Content owners are rapidly having to revisit their business models since DVDs are hugely lucrative, providing four times the profits of video one demand, and twice that of a cinema ticket.
The problem is that the digital distribution market is highly fragmented and managing distribution has become a more complex – and more costly – task.
So, margins are going down, costs are going up and piracy remains an issue. Seems eerily familiar from the music industry. Now we’ll find out what the major labels learnt from those experiences.
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Deja Vu All Over Again

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Fine Definitions

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments

Definitions are fine things. By ‘fine’ I don’t mean good – rather I mean marginal.

A single definition can be worth billions under the law, and nowhere is this more obvious than in the rights industry.
This became apparent with the final ruling on the ‘Cablevision DVR‘ case which handed a massive win to cable operators and content distributors.
You see, the problem with running a cable TV or IPTV service is that you have to build, install and maintain complicated and expensive boxes that are these days a bit like PCs; these boxes need to run 24 x 7 x 365 and you need to update them regularly.
All of the intelligence of the cable industry is currently transferred to the living room before the viewer can benefit from it.
Broadly speaking the Cablevision DVR ruling states that there is no difference between a viewer recording something locally or recording something remotely.
So, as we move into a world where all ‘TV sets’ will have a broadband connection and a processor, the cablecos are now free to get rid of these pesky boxes. If you want to ‘record’ something in reality all the cableco/IPTV service has to do is to tag this on a server. When you play your ‘recording’ all the tag does is call the video file. Much cheaper and much easier – and frees a lot of the cable capacity.
But back to definitions – what’s the difference between a ‘tagged PVR recording’ and a ‘video on demand’. As far as I can tell, and as far as the US Courts seem concerned, there is none.
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Heads You Lose, Tails They Win

Saturday, June 20th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments

Sport has been the making and breaking of most contemporary television services, from ITV Digital’s disastrous purchase of the minor league rights in UK soccer to the current woes facing Setanta. In the meantime BSkyB has marched on regardless seeing huge success on the back of massive gambles in buying top end sports rights.

The problem with sports right is one that is reflected in many rights markets: the long tail isn’t a linear projection, rather, it is a hockey stick where the value of the ‘head’ is massively disproportionate to the ‘tail’.

Television has been, and remains a generalist medium based on aggregating large audiences; this is very slowly changing with the advent of narrowcast channels.
But the real problem in traditional television is that sports rights are a double edged sword; they are often bought by initiatives without widespread distribution to build audiences – a strategy that has worked for BSkyB, but not for ITV Digital and Setanta.
But markets have a way of finding a level and the current fallout from Setanta’s demise (and I still hope that they will be rescued since British television needs another sports operator), along with other development such as the posturing around F1.
More and more sports are going to find themselves dropping down the long tail, but it’s also likely that other sports will see greater success – cricket, lacrosse and hockey have all seen their rights situations improving.
Gradually, the ubiquity of distribution that’s available via IP will start to level out the long tail, but at the moment it’s more difficult than ever to see anyone challenging the might of BSkyB in the UK
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