Major League Baseball: A Dollar A Game

Wish you could watch a certain out of market baseball game, but not interested in going to a bar or buying a full season pass. Perhaps you've pseudo-watched on the web, as stats and action was announced on a diamond mock-up. Well, it seems that now you can buy just one game at a time for just a buck. What a deal. "Bob Bowman, CEO of Major League Baseball Advanced Media–pro baseball’s standalone digital media company–tells me iPhone and iPod touch users will soon be able to buy individual games. The feature will be added to the company’s existing MLB.com app and will roll out as soon as Apple (AAPL) finishes approving the update, which Bowman expects to happen within the next few days." Now this sounds pretty user friendly. So when can I buy the same game on my big screen TV for the same price. Most people won't realize they could have bought the season when they finally count the games they bought. It sounds like a great revenue enhancing idea.

Tivo Suing More Operators That Use DVRs

Suing Dish for it's DVR isn't enough for Tivo; add AT&T and Verizon to the list. "TiVo's complaints, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, claim that the telephone companies infringed upon its Multimedia Time Warping System, its System for Time Shifting Multimedia Content Streams, and its Automatic Playback Overshoot Correction System when they deployed their own DVRs." So why are the cable companies not being sued. Are their DVRs made up differently. Certainly they wouldn't sue Comcast as a distribution deal is in place, but what about the others? As the Dish lawsuit has been going on for years, these should take just as long.

More Competition for Kindle

Add another entrant into what is getting to be a more crowded space, the electronic book. Working with the Barnes and Noble e-site, Irex Technologies will be releasing its version of an e-book reader later this year. Unlike the Kindle, Irex's product "will sport an 8.1-inch touch screen and 3G wireless connectivity. The device's touch screen will be controlled with a stylus instead of a user's fingers." So now you have Irex, Kindle, Sony, and Plastic Logic, not to mention the iPhone. Will Apple come up with another product for this space too? It spells better news for Barnes and Noble who is making their store user-friendly for multiple readers and accessible to a large library of content. The real fight may not be in the reader but between Barnes and Noble and Amazon at the e-store itself.

Yahoo Radio May Not Have to Pay Royalty Fees

If the music is free to broadcast radio, why shouldn't be free to webcast radio. That may simply be the crux of the argument. And the courts have agreed. "A federal appeals court in New York ruled that a Yahoo Inc Internet radio service is not required to pay fees to copyright holders of songs it plays, a defeat for Sony Corp's BMG Music."With more broadcast radio stations simulcasting their programs over the web, it may have had implications to them as well. Ultimately it provides the same idea of convergence to radio that TV has been dealing with. The consumer wants radio; they simply want it on the device of their choosing and not limited to a radio box. Perhaps too, it can lead to more opportunity for the music publisher. With songs heard on an interactive medium, purchase behavior can be impacted instantly, enabling the consumer to move from listening to purchase in a click. Obviously, the big issue is digital rights management, but music publishers shouldn't cut off their nose to spite their face. The opportunity exists to turn the web into another growth opportunity for them as well.

Verizon Fios Pushing Convergence

First there was the triple play - wired phone, cable, and internet, now there is the quad play with the addition of wireless. And while it is nice to have one bill for all four products, it's even nicer when they work together. Well Verizon seems to agree. In one example, "Integrating the cellphone with TV, such as turning a BlackBerry into a remote control, is an advantage the competition can't easily replicate." Remote programming of the DVR is another. Accessing cable programming from your home onto your blackberry or other mobile device would be the ultimate convergence opportunity. "The New York telecommunications company lags AT&T Inc. (T), which has a headstart integrating its U-Verse TV service with the Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPhone. The two companies' TV services, however, don't compete. Verizon also unveiled a slight upgrade to its FiOS TV service, including a recommendation engine for on-demand video, targeted advertisements based on geography, portals for HBO and Showtime, and more widgets such as a football program that displays statistics alongside a game. The changes will be rolled out next month."

Convergence of all the devices seamlessly so that they all communicate effortlessly with each other seems to be the ultimate competitive game-changer. For example, place your cell phone on a device and have it automatically forward its calls to your hard wire phone. Or watch your favorite shows away from home by accessing your cable box through your PC. The ideas for convergence are endless and the providers that catch on quickly may benefit with market share.

You Tube To Show Time Warner Clips

The web can be your friend, it can promote and augment your brand. And using it to show clips and promote series in order to bring viewers to its shows can be an effective strategy. It supports their distribution partners - cable, telco, and satellite - and pushes viewership to improve its ratings. Time Warner recognizes that You Tube, the largest on-line video service, can be a partner, not a foe. it also provides Time Warner the opportunity to put full length episodes on-line, but only through authentication processes so that it is used to retain subscription services, not replace them. "The deal will place short clips from CNN, the Cartoon Network and Adult Swim animated shows, TNT’s hit dramas and Warner Brothers Television productions like “Gossip Girl” and “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” on YouTube."

And that is the biggest knock on Hulu and TV.com who may be bringing convenience to viewers who want to watch full length shows on the web, but also causing these same viewers to disconnect their cable subscription services thereby reducing subscriber revenue. In other words, Hulu and TV.com's full length episodes ultimately undermine the subscription model for cable and the license fees that networks receive each month; You Tube's short form content from networks ultimately promotes shows and uses highlights to entice viewers to go to their cable subscriber for the full show.

How Does Hulu, TV.com Jive with Authentication

Cable companies frustrate me. They scramble television channels and require each TV to add a converter box to watch them, and then they charge you extra for those cable boxes. Consequently, you are being asked to pay more for the same channels. And the box they require you to take is neither user friendly or reliable, adding more to one's frustration levels. And as cost of service rises and frustrations grow, customers seek alternatives. Some go to telco for price deals, some drop cable all together. I replaced a Tivo box with a converter box to get HD and VOD. The price rose $21 a month. In a year, I could have purchased a Tivo HD upgrade box. And while I won't get VOD, I would get a better box and HD via a CableCard. But before I make that choice, I call the cable company and, lo and behold, I fine a promotion to lower my cost to only $10 more a month. I mean I am a triple play customer who buys VOD movies and premium channels. Regardless, I will start to price compare with Fios. And then check in again with Tivo.

But I am not alone, networks are also making it easy to drop cable. With shows on Hulu and TV.com, all one needs is a broadband connection to watch a number of shows. No converter box, just an internet connection. As long as these networks embrace these free services, authentication won't mean much. It is these kinds of services that are cannibalizing cable affecting basic cable subscription. And should these same free services change to a subscription model, well hello Netflix, Blockbuster, and digital antennas.

With fingers in both cookie jars, I expect free will go away as authentication procedures can be set and subscription dollars maintained. With ad dollars declining, subscription is seen as equally as important to the bottom line.

Reader’s Digest to File for Bankruptcy

Sure Chapter 11 allows for reorganization, and not necessarily the end of the magazine, still it represents change to one of the oldest magazines and the clearest indication that things don't last forever. "The magazine was founded in 1922, summarizing articles published elsewhere, and grew quickly. The company developed other publications, and went public in 1990." The magazine will continue to print, although circulation continues to decline. And while it will come out of bankruptcy a smaller, less costly business, it still faces huge hurdles to remain viable. The world has changed and Reader's Digest must change with it; otherwise, this restructuring is simply one step closer to oblivion.

The Value Meal Comes to Media

McDonalds' must have had the right idea when it started offering meals for a buck for other fast food restaurants were quick to follow. And today we have Redbox offering DVD rentals for a $1. And while there may be lots of steam, others will most likely be quick to follow them, too. Apple did it with the $0.99 song on iTune; I still remember when Cablevision offered the Triple Play, cable, phone, internet for $99, a price unheard of in the industry. It grew in popularity that the naysayers soon followed with similar packages. Redbox, like McDonalds, Apple, and Cablevision, has set a new standard and the consumer has embraced it. Complain as they may, this new pricing model may simply become the norm.

And so what other media companies will follow this same low price model to improve their subscription. Which newspaper or magazine will come out with a $1 an issue price, well below the normal rate. In today's economy, lower pricing may be the only way to keep subscription levels high.