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Exploding TV

5 comments on Exploding TV

Exploding TV

: A key issue for media — news and entertainment — is being able serve consumers where, how, and when they want to be served. It’s an issue not just for TV fun; it’s an issue for any form of information and media. But we’re seeing the issue start to bubble and boil in TV. See this from EDN.com (via Rafat Ali):

As broadband gets faster, storage gets cheaper, and home-networking products get smarter and more capable, video via the Internet will morph from a clumsy PC-based process into a painless remote-control operation. Video files might accumulate in a cache according to your predefined preferences, or improved compression might make an on-demand streaming approach more palatable. A PC might orchestrate the process, or you might buy a video server of some kind. You might sign up for programming subscriptions or choose programs one by one.

The details don’t really matter. The point is that video will flow into your home at your command, and your network will deliver it when and where you want to consume it. We’re a long way from that ideal today, but the trends are undeniable….

So to the content owners out there, please realize that exclusive deals no longer make business sense. It’s shortsighted to limit the market for your high-value programming to the population served by a single delivery mechanism. Along with a few hundred million of my closest friends, I’m willing to pay a fair price for your product, so please focus on making it available to me through whatever medium I prefer.

5 responses to “Exploding TV”

  1. Matt Avatar
    Matt

    In the mean time would it be possible to get cable on a per channel basis? all I want are the news stations and the educational channels, and maybe cartoon network, you can keep the rest of that crap.

  2. shell Avatar
    shell

    That’s exactly what I want for the Olympics. I want the complete opening and closing ceremonies, sans anchors. No basketball, but all of the track and field. Every heat. Even when a medal contender isn’t up. I want to skip all the “Greek culture” bits, as well as stories about security and low ticket sales. When Maryse Turcotte comes up for weightlifting, I want to be able to pause the competition and view a bio. I want to be able to flip between different cams during gymnastics. I want a pop up window that shows an animation of the ideal dive side by side with the dive as performed.
    I hope this is ready by the next Olympics.

  3. John Dowdell Avatar
    John Dowdell

    The Olympics are a great example of how the “one-size-fits-all” broadcast model may need to morph in the future.
    Right now we’re compiling camera edits and voiceovers at the server. I’m guessing that, eventually, each camera will have its own direct-to-net feed, and we’ll be able to act upon a wide variety of edit decision lists and voiceovers (in various languages!) at viewing time, on the home display screen.
    Early binding vs late binding… a key difference in the evolution of media consumption…?
    But this year the business model for Olympics viewing still seems pretty solidly in the localized broadcast mode, with experiments made for asynchronous global access of precompiled content via the net. Early days, oui…?
    Regards,
    John Dowdell
    Macromedia Support

  4. Jenna Jameson Avatar
    Jenna Jameson

    as their VP of Sales

  5. cell phone battery Avatar
    cell phone battery

    great blog – someone text messaged my cell phone with the address