Next New Signs Deals With YouTube, TiVo

It was exciting to read the news that one of my favorite video websites, NextNewNetworks.com, has inked distribution deals designed to give a few of their channels wider distribution reach across the web, including YouTube, TiVo, blip.tv, Joost and Veoh. These initial web channels include IndyMogul, Channel Frederator; and Fast Lane Daily. On Indy Mogul, you can find BFX, Backyard Special Effects, with an inside look on how to recreate classic effects like staging a gun battle, making zombies or ripping off a limb. On Channel Frederator, you find great animation, like The Meth Minute 39, and Fast Lane Daily is the latest car news.

And while these and the other NextNewNetwork channels continue to work to find an audience, I am hopeful that either technology or a smart cable company considers ways to get this content off my little screen and onto my big TV. While FCC rules require satellite delivered networks to be sold to all distributors, cable, telco, Direct TV; these web channels could actually negotiate exclusivity deals with only one TV distributor as a unique differentiator in the fight for cable subscribers. And VOD would be a perfect place for these channels - with promotion to tout their availability. Rentrak just announced that VOD usage grew 44% during the first six months of 2007 to over 1.4 orders.

In fact, Comcast just announced its quarterly earnings and basic subscribers dropped by 65,000 homes, because of competition, primarily Verizon coming into their markets. And while pricing is always a differentiator, unique programming exclusively on a platform can be a big plus. So take a look at their shows and imagine watching them instead on a big screen TV.

Verizon Wireless Reaches Deal in Marketing Probe

Interesting to note that as we are dismayed to learn that Comcast may have affected downloads of large files, that trend may not be limited to cable. On the wireless front, Verizon, which had been advertising an unlimited usage plan, also limited high bandwidth usage of its service. ANd while they have agreed to reimburse customers for their false advertising, Verizon has not agreed to end the practice.

As consumers become more adept in their understanding of the wire and wireless space, and content owners offer larger, higher bandwidth programs and files, the communication highway will get more and more crowded. Customers want net neutrality to assure that all content can get through to them; service providers want more bandwidth to handle the content and more rights to manage the utilization of the pipeline. Can both sides co-exist? Movie downloads, HD formats, bigger files - it will only get more crowded. How the highway is managed will be a growing issue.

CondéNet Uses Facebook to Draw Users, Ads

From Media Week: "In June, CondéNet acquired from an independent developer a program called What Are You Wearing? that lets users alert friends about their daily sartorial choices. The app, which is not CondéNet-branded, has landed over 90,000 users thus far, adding 1,000 per day, according to executives."

What a great idea and one that other brands should emulate. CondéNet is attracting like-minded consumers with a common interest through Facebook and helping to increase their interest and passion. What is missing from this set up is the synergy to a CondéNet brand. Shouldn't these like-minded users be a perfect fit back to the Style.com site. They have discovered a passionate audience and their are creative ways to make them more mindful of your brand.

This tactic of using social networking sites like Facebook and My Space to grow a passionate audience harkens back to the days of building grassroot members. The web makes the process that much more efficient and effective. And other brands should seriously consider this method to reach out to its passionate audience.

When Does a Social Networking Site Know Your Not Being Social

Just wondering... What happens when you stop using a site you've registered for. You tried out your own Brightcove Channel, you posted a few photos on Flickr, you registered an avatar on second life, you built a My Space page, and then you stop visiting the site. Are you still counted as a member? Is your site still considered active for metric info or ad sales purposes? How long do you continue to exist on the web before someone or some program notices that you are inactive and finally deletes you from the web. And while all this stuff is virtual, the memory it occupies is real and could be better utilized.

And so the easy answer might be, is to be proactive. Unsubscribe from the respective sites and delete the information. But what happens if you die first, leaving so much clutter. Does your Facebook info stick around for 10 more years? Just wondering...

Comcast Blocks File Sharing

So the recent news that Comcast may be blocking the download experience should not be considered a one-time situation, or even limited to just Comcast. It is most likely a case for all ISPs. As more users stay online and continue to download large files, bandwidth issues will cause latency and error messages. While not acknowledged, ISPs must continue to grow bandwidth space while at the same time watch usage patterns on their system.

Does this give them the right to block access? No. It speaks to the heart of net neutrality and the equality of all sites to the respective user. What might concern ISPs like Comcast is that the pipeline access will eventually lead to removing them as the middleman. Why pay Comcast for access to your programming if you can stream or download them directly to your PC or TV.

In the short run, it is unlikely because these cable networks on the cable line-up receive a monthly license fee for carriage and then your cable company aggregates them and bills the cable customer for access. Cable networks like AMC, Discovery, ESPN, and all the rest do not want to give us those fees, which can add up to 30 % or even more of their revenue stream, the rest made up from advertising. That can be quite a large amount. Technology doesn't yet get you or them ideal programming placement, and these companies would try to find unique ways to make up any shortfalls if they gave up that revenue stream for direct access.

For those video networks without current access to the cable line-up (programmers like NextNewNetworks, Wallstrip, or my new favorite Wine Library TV, etc.), the license fee roadblock doesn't affect them. These new programmers need viewing eyeballs and web streaming/downloads lowers the barriers to entry to get on the PC or TV set. So the blocked access accusations do affect their opportunities and our increased viewing pleasure. Today the issue may be about large movie files on BitTorrent, but take the same issue to other types of internet traffic, and this blockage is a big concern.

HD Battle Lines are Fierce

In the fight for the customer and their pocketbook, cable has been winning the fight through the triple play and cost benefits. But while that tactic has proven successful over the last few years, the battle lines are changing again. Product differentiation, in the form and quality of High Def channels, and the number of HD channels being offered to the home, is the new key win. As the cable channels are agnostic to the platform, the operators must tout the picture quality along with most number of HD channels to attract the customer base. And so the most recent in a series of lawsuits citing false advertising and misleading ads.

But this battle can't last long as each side continues to bulk up on HD programming and quality. Sure, HDTV sets are being sold like hotcakes, and the consumer buying these TV sets wants the most channels to play on them. Still, the long term win in the marketing battle shouldn't be numbers and quality. That should be automatic; the real battle should be at service. Overserve the customer. Fix the problems quickly by over delivering support. Most customers want all the technology in their homes, but they don't know how to assemble or integrate it. Be the geek squad. Make it part of the monthly subscription. Get to the home within 24 hours, not 3 days. Connect their wireless network, demand 24/7 reliability of the connection. Stay proactive. Put the customer first.

Yes HD matters; but the winner will be the one that delivers best service!

Beyond the world of HD and DTV

So many announcements by cable, telco, and satellite touting all their HD programming. Fios TV adds A&E HD and Fox Business HD, Cablevision and others are adding TBS HD, AT&T U-Verse is offering over 30 HD channels, and now in print ads, Direct TV is boasting more than 70 HD channels. As the holidays approach, more and more people, myself included, will be shopping for the next generation HD screen, 1080p, to enjoy all this programming.

But as I have come to learn, it is more than just having the TV set. Your converter box must be HD ready, the channel you are watching must be HD, the programming on that channel has to be HD. So many consumers today are watching HD sets, but not truly watching HD TV. There is an education process to inform the viewer what truly is HD. And with any technological transition, this too will pass, as every channel finally goes HD 24/7 and non HD viewing is a thing of the pass.

And then what else is on the horizon. As the crystal ball heats up, I am interested what will TV viewing look like 20 years from today. The black & white to color TV transition is foreign to most younger audiences; others still fondly recall getting their first color TV in the house. So in 20+ years, what is next for enjoying our entertainment at home. Size of screen continues to grow and some might speculate that video walls are destined to be next. Just look at an HD control room and imagine the ability to customize a wall in your home with 1 screen or multiple screens; shots of sporting events or of the outside of your house. Others speak of the Star Trek approach. We've watched ST communicators, an imagination of Gene Roddenberry become today's mobile phone. Could the holodeck, and 3-D and interactive be a possibility?

But getting back to today, In the competitive world of cable, HD is being touted as the big fight. Which provider offers the most HD channels. But perhaps for marketing purposes, the real message should remain service. Which provider will do the best job to install, maintain, and satisfy the expectations of their customers and keep them loyal as the quantity message continues to blast us for attention.

Fox Business News Open For Business

A number of years ago, new TV channels launching on cable were being announced by the truckload. TV Macys, Horse Racing TV, Reelzchannel, and others; some have actually found space on cable line-ups, others not so lucky. And even others, like Trio, found their lights go dark. Recently, new channels are finding launches either as VOD channels or even more likely directly through broadband or IP technology.

So it is interesting to note, that what is old is now new again, as Fox Business News starts its first day of business on the cable line-up. Obviously, the financial backing of Fox is at play to get this channel a foothold on linear TV; but if their success with Fox News Channel is a guide, they understand the formula to gain viewers and build a successful business model. Who would suspect that business news would spawn the type of competition that you only expect to see for other genres, sports, movies, etc. With competition from CNBC and Bloomberg, Fox Business Channel has their work cut out for them to win over an audience and move loyalty viewing over to their product. Should CNBC and Bloomberg be concerned; yes and no. Competition splits the audience further but als raises the interest and brings in new viewers as well. Competition keeps you challenged and forward thinking. Competition will make for better TV.

And as Fox continues to grow their linear TV stable of channels, it demonstrates one other thing. That the power of the big screen is still relevant and vital and that content can still be best served by the TV screen. As Fox Business grows, it will be interesting to see how they build synergy with their online components to create a more unique and accessible viewing experience.

Is NBC for Sale

Why does GE want to sell NBC/Universal. Actually, why does GE even keep NBC. For a company whose core business is to "bring good things to life", GE does most of its business outside of media. Their investments are more likely to be found in defense, in jet engines and aircraft, in industrial and consumer manufacturing products, and in the financial arena. So as the owner of NBC, GE has never been seen as a good fit. Can you remember when David Letterman, once a staple of NBC's Late Night, when he tried to visit his new corporate owners after NBC was sold by RCA, and the GE security through David out of their building. Great TV and typical of the bad fit between GE and their new acquisition.

So now the talk is who the likely buyers of NBC might be. Two titans mentioned in the article are Time Warner and Google. I'm surprised to not hear Comcast mentioned given their run for Disney a few years ago. Certainly any one of these companies offer a better fit than GE, but is this best for NBC or the GE stockholder. Would it make sense for GE to spin NBC/Universal off as its own company? While some consolidation makes sense, I would hope that NBC and GE could be better served as separate entities and NBC have the creative freedom to grow in this new technological age without another corporate parent. And of the two possible new owners, if that is still the direction GE seeks, I hope for Google. Their business model offers more synergy while Time warner brings more overlap.