BuzzMachine

The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.

Content is everywhere

5 comments on Content is everywhere

Content is everywhere
: Sirius, one of the two satellite radio companies, announced it is ready to beam TV to cars (giving the kiddies I see in the back of vans during the evening commute every night now something new to watch). But think about it: This means that cable goes portable. If they can beam to your car, they’ll be able to beam to your player or laptop or phone soon. And that takes away one more advantage broadcasters have had; it untethers their competitors, cable channels, from the wire.

Thanks to wi-fi and high-speed cell connections and now satellite, you’ll be able to get any content anywhere anytime.

Content is everywhere.[via IWantMedia]

: More on satellite radio: Steve Hall’s right. The only thing that’s going to make satellite radio really take off is the defection of Howard Stern.

: UPDATE: Terry Heaton sees the same potential — content is everywhere… content moves… content gets local — thanks to announcements of more ways to get PCs constantly connected to the net.

5 responses to “Content is everywhere”

  1. Mike G Avatar
    Mike G

    A few years ago my sister worked at the Barnes & Noble in Wichita, KS, and as I was talking to her I pointed to an absurdly large pile of Howard Stern’s books. “I know,” she said, “every store has a hundred of them. I think we’ve sold like two. What is he, some radio guy?”
    Howard Stern is one of those things that because New York has it and likes it, the media thinks the whole world knows about it and is dying for it, when actually most of America could care less and has its own version of the same.
    The same phenomenon is responsible for the idea that Hillary Clinton is a shoo-in for the presidency, I think. You know, like President Cuomo, President Rockefeller, President Lindsay, President Dewey…
    Yes, Satellite Radio could give Stern a national audience. It could just as easily give some guy in Phoenix or Provo a New York audience. Unlike Stern, they haven’t already tried and pooped out here in Chicago, to name one market…

  2. John Avatar
    John

    There’s been some debate on the New York Radio Message Board about Stern’s former NYC radio rivals, Opie and Anthony, going to Sirius (or XM) after their contract with Viacom runs out (they were yanked off the air after a stunt led two people to have sex in St. Patrick’s Cathedrial in 2002). Some people think that if O&A went to Sirius, part of their attraction would be lost, because the channel they would be on would be uncensored, so they could say virtually anything without getting into trouble with their bosses or the FCC.
    The argument is that being able to do all that would take away some of the sense of danger and would in the long run hurt the appeal of the show. Were Stern to move over there, he would of course bring a bigger audience, but the same problem could apply — a Howard Stern and crew free to say anything on Sirius would be less interesting (or at least less clever) than a Stern and crew trying to be as naughty as possible without getting Viacom honcho Mel Karmazan in hot water with advertisers and/or the federal government.

  3. Easycure Avatar
    Easycure

    How far off are we that we will be able to implant a device in our heads that can share information directly to our brains? It will be Seven of Nine in reality.
    It is closer than you think.
    I’ll be dead by then, I hope.

  4. button Avatar
    button

    I don’t want to rain on your parade, Jeff, especially because this idea of ‘information anywhere’ is so intriguing, BUT…
    I am still haunted by the first time I picked up Borders’ monthly “magazine” publication. I was so devastated by it. It had the superficial appearance at first glance of a “real” magazine. And it had impressively high production qualities. But, it was about: NUTHIN. It caused me a great deal of distress. It was basically just an adaptation of the cooperative ads thing.
    I kept thinking– I just couldn stop myself– is this really the best they could do??? It seemed so incredible.
    There may be a lot of stuff floating around out there, but it may not turn out to be real content.

  5. djspicerack Avatar
    djspicerack

    I think Sirius (which I have at home) and XM will be a much bigger deal than a lot of folks suspect – though I find one thing amusing.
    I have a good friend at Clear Channel, who went on and on at me a week ago about how they will never get too mainstream because the channels are too specialized, i.e. 80’s rock, Top 40 only, blah blah blah. I think that’s a joke, because there are A LOT of folks who only like one type of tunes, i.e. Folk or whatever, and that’s all they want to hear. She is claiming that they’ll hear the playlists over and over and turn off. I think she’s nuts – has she listened to Z100 or anything like that lately? There are songs they actually play like once an hour – and people still listen! All Day!
    She also said that since there are some commercial laden stations on the Satellite (just a few), that it will turn out like Cable was, and people will get annoyed that they are paying for it. I tend to disagree, because I don’t think that all the stations will end up that way because the satellite radio folks are advertising as a non-commercial based option, and it would be a loss of a huge selling point. I think it’ll keep gaining steam and as they add more and more content, it’ll be bigger than ever. Plus, with the NHL added to Sirius and the NFL for next year, you can have your cake and eat it too – I have DirecTV at home and get every game, and if I’m in the car, I can hear a stack of games as well. Not a bad thing, for $7.95 a month.