Sometimes it takes research to confirm what we already know, students enjoy digital over print for reading. "The majority of U.S. college students now prefer digital formats whether they’re reading textbooks or “fun” books, according to a new survey from the Pearson (NYSE: PSO) Foundation."
Technology is embraced more quickly by the younger demo and with that comfort level comes increased satisfaction in consuming more content on them. The influence of Apple and its line of mobile products continues to fill the consumers' shopping basket. Amazon and Barnes and Noble may be farther behind, but they too recognize the trend and have been pushing forward long before this analysis was conducted. With today's release of the new iPad and reduced pricing on iPad2, even more devices will be out in the marketplace with consumers ready to use them for reading and watching content. And Apple's announcement a few months ago in New York of plans to put college textbooks on the iPad is an important step to gaining an even higher percentage of users in the near future.
In a couple more years, this same study will most likely indicate that 80% or more of students prefer digital over print. The change is happening quickly especially as more and more devices are getting into student hands.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Is There Broadband Competition?
With Sprint pulling out from its partnership with LightSquared, it may signal the ultimate end of a possible competitor in the wireless and broadband arena. With the release of Apple's iPad today, the rise of OTT distribution platforms, and the consumer desire to be mobile and untethered, the choice of wireless and wired providers remains small.
We have the wireless companies, most trying to sell us usage plans that cause us to spend more for connectivity as our consumption rises. And there are the cable operators, offering wired broadband access coupled with WIFI to authenticated consumers in the communities they serve. But who else can we turn to for connectivity. It seems the FCC should be doing more to encourage more competitiveness in what is becoming a vital communication highway. But by pushing aside LightSquared and recently Dish network's wireless plans, it seems that the FCC does not want competition.
Will broadcast networks give up their portion of the airwaves for wireless or will GPS? Are there other solutions that will enable free flow of streams with bandwidth constraints? Ultimately our broadband and wireless devices will not work properly if we have a bottleneck in the flow.
We have the wireless companies, most trying to sell us usage plans that cause us to spend more for connectivity as our consumption rises. And there are the cable operators, offering wired broadband access coupled with WIFI to authenticated consumers in the communities they serve. But who else can we turn to for connectivity. It seems the FCC should be doing more to encourage more competitiveness in what is becoming a vital communication highway. But by pushing aside LightSquared and recently Dish network's wireless plans, it seems that the FCC does not want competition.
Will broadcast networks give up their portion of the airwaves for wireless or will GPS? Are there other solutions that will enable free flow of streams with bandwidth constraints? Ultimately our broadband and wireless devices will not work properly if we have a bottleneck in the flow.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Did Someone Yell Fire (ing) At Cablevision?
It seems it may take more than one hand to start and name all the top Cablevision employees that are "retiring" these days. Late last year came CEO Tom Rutledge and his right hand man John Bickham. Recently EVP of marketing, Jonathan Hargis and now EVPs of engineering and operations, Jim Blackly and Kathleen Mayo. And just to add more fuel to the firing, from their spinoff of MSG comes the Knicks Coach Mike D'Antoni. Watching the leadership of the ship all jumping overboard, one has to ask is Cablevision about to sink? What is causing this mass exodus?
Is it because they are all good soldiers, they are retreating with their captain,Tom Rutledge, away from the battle or is it that they don't believe they can prosper under the re-emergence of Jim Dolan to the day to day operations? It surely can't be because they know that Cablevision may soon be for sale. Why leave a possible financial package on the table? There must be more and my guess is that it is directly based on current leadership.
In any business, the leader sets the agenda, the tone, the culture. As much as employees try to influence cultural change from the bottom up; ultimately, top down sets the course. And based on that knowledge, I suspect that the heavy hand of Jim Dolan back into operations, replacing the style and approach of Tom Rutledge, is the cause for the exodus. Are these resignations or firings; we may not know for sure. I wouldn't be surprised to eventually here that there may have been a little push. For now leadership change is in the air at Cablevision and more resignations are likely to follow.
Is it because they are all good soldiers, they are retreating with their captain,Tom Rutledge, away from the battle or is it that they don't believe they can prosper under the re-emergence of Jim Dolan to the day to day operations? It surely can't be because they know that Cablevision may soon be for sale. Why leave a possible financial package on the table? There must be more and my guess is that it is directly based on current leadership.
In any business, the leader sets the agenda, the tone, the culture. As much as employees try to influence cultural change from the bottom up; ultimately, top down sets the course. And based on that knowledge, I suspect that the heavy hand of Jim Dolan back into operations, replacing the style and approach of Tom Rutledge, is the cause for the exodus. Are these resignations or firings; we may not know for sure. I wouldn't be surprised to eventually here that there may have been a little push. For now leadership change is in the air at Cablevision and more resignations are likely to follow.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Can Wal-Mart and UltraViolet Save The DVD Industry
The movie industry has enjoyed a long history of selling first laser disks, then VHS tapes, and DVDs to consumers seeking to build a personal library of content to watch at a moments notice. But the rise of on demand and streaming content has made the concept of ownership less necessary. Add to that the space a video library takes up on bookcases and the idea of ownership on digital devices or in the cloud becomes far more convenient with much less clutter. And as consumers, there is less of a need to buy a DVD player with the rise of digital access to video content.
When my kids were younger, we made sure our car had a DVD player with screens in the backseat to entertain during long trips. Today, that system is unnecessary. Instead, we have iPads and iPods to provide that personal entertainment platform. And they can each watch what they want.. No DVD required.
But like all of us, we tend to be reluctant to embrace change, preferring to hold onto it as long as possible till it is too decomposed to even recognize it any more. Do stores even sell VHS tapes anymore? So how much life is left in the DVD industry and is it time to quicken its death or prolong it through UltraViolet?
Companies like Netflix, Apple, and Amazon are moving forward on a digital only strategy. But Wal-Mart is still staying the course and working together with UltraViolet to push a dvd/cloud partnership. " Wal-Mart is launching a disk-to-digital service, aiming to drive adoption of Ultraviolet, and DVD purchases, rather than lower-margin rentals, and to prevent piracy." As long as consumers are expected to buy a physical DVD, I don't expect it to succeed. Why buy a disk only to immediately throw it away once the digital copy is accessed.
When my kids were younger, we made sure our car had a DVD player with screens in the backseat to entertain during long trips. Today, that system is unnecessary. Instead, we have iPads and iPods to provide that personal entertainment platform. And they can each watch what they want.. No DVD required.
But like all of us, we tend to be reluctant to embrace change, preferring to hold onto it as long as possible till it is too decomposed to even recognize it any more. Do stores even sell VHS tapes anymore? So how much life is left in the DVD industry and is it time to quicken its death or prolong it through UltraViolet?
Companies like Netflix, Apple, and Amazon are moving forward on a digital only strategy. But Wal-Mart is still staying the course and working together with UltraViolet to push a dvd/cloud partnership. " Wal-Mart is launching a disk-to-digital service, aiming to drive adoption of Ultraviolet, and DVD purchases, rather than lower-margin rentals, and to prevent piracy." As long as consumers are expected to buy a physical DVD, I don't expect it to succeed. Why buy a disk only to immediately throw it away once the digital copy is accessed.
Can UltraViolet exist post DVD? With the rise of multiple cloud services and digital being the platform of choice, the movie industry may best be served selling itself to other retailers unless it can come up with a compelling approach to make UltraViolet a better consumer choice. For now, perhaps it deserves a better brand name.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Intel Wants To Enter The Cable Distribution Field
Google wants to sell its Motorola set top box business; Cisco wants to sell its S-A set top box business as well. And Apple wants to build a TV set to manage TV content without a box. Now comes Intel with its own plan to build a box and its own web-based cable TV platform. The end of EBIF technology perhaps and the rise of web based applications.
"The entry of Intel -- with its large bankroll -- into over-the-top video would add another potentially serious competitor to traditional pay-TV services, as consumers face a growing number of options for receiving video content over broadband from the likes of Netflix, Apple, Amazon.com and others." There sure is a lot of change in the cable landscape occurring these days. But what each of these companies, Intel included, lacks, is the wireless platform to run it.
Cable built there TV business first and now the pipeline used is capable of delivering TV, internet, and phone. And customers rely on this pipeline for the web. So what broadband stream will Intel and others use to get content through their box and onto the screen? And what will the access cost be to the consumer? Because if the cost for buying access on top of the course for an Intel box is higher than traditional cable, customers may be reluctant to switch.
The other concern for Intel, Apple and others will be the cost to acquire content. Cable operators enjoy best, lowest rates because of the number of subs they cover. For start ups to traditional cable programming, their license costs per sub will most likely be higher. And that will not help them to bring a competitive offer to the consumer.
For those two reasons, lack of a broadband pipeline and higher costs for acquiring content, may be what ultimately stops them from competing effectively. The solution, for Intel and others, may be to work with cable operators, and not to compete. For now, all we can do is sit back and watch.
"The entry of Intel -- with its large bankroll -- into over-the-top video would add another potentially serious competitor to traditional pay-TV services, as consumers face a growing number of options for receiving video content over broadband from the likes of Netflix, Apple, Amazon.com and others." There sure is a lot of change in the cable landscape occurring these days. But what each of these companies, Intel included, lacks, is the wireless platform to run it.
Cable built there TV business first and now the pipeline used is capable of delivering TV, internet, and phone. And customers rely on this pipeline for the web. So what broadband stream will Intel and others use to get content through their box and onto the screen? And what will the access cost be to the consumer? Because if the cost for buying access on top of the course for an Intel box is higher than traditional cable, customers may be reluctant to switch.
The other concern for Intel, Apple and others will be the cost to acquire content. Cable operators enjoy best, lowest rates because of the number of subs they cover. For start ups to traditional cable programming, their license costs per sub will most likely be higher. And that will not help them to bring a competitive offer to the consumer.
For those two reasons, lack of a broadband pipeline and higher costs for acquiring content, may be what ultimately stops them from competing effectively. The solution, for Intel and others, may be to work with cable operators, and not to compete. For now, all we can do is sit back and watch.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Movies - Own, Rent, Subscribe, Watch With Ads - Many Choices
Theatrical films have been enormously impacted by the web. Not so long ago there were clear and easy windows in which a newly released film would exist. Start in the theater and then a year later find itself available for purchase on VHS. Wait another few months and the movie made itself to a pay service like HBO or Showtime, and then finally it hit commercial TV, with commercials finally inserted into it. Depending on how likely we wanted to watch the movie, we may have watched in the movies and then waited for its TV airing to see it again; or we missed the theatrical run, rented from Blockbuster, and enjoyed it for a week before returning it. Old favorite films like Godfather or Star Wars would capture our attention each time they returned on the air.
Today the windows are far shorter and harder to distinguish. Theatrical films can show up as DVDs just a few months later and find themselves available to rent on demand. Cable networks sometimes bid more for a film so that it bypasses Pay TV and hits the air much sooner. And the creation of digital copies and cloud ownership means that exclusivity windows become harder to enforce. "New technologies, like iCloud, are making these conflicts more obvious, pressuring traditional media businesses to rewrite their agreements. Movie studios want consumers to buy more digital-movie downloads as DVD sales shrink and digital rental and subscription services, from which studios earn less, gain traction."
Today the windows are far shorter and harder to distinguish. Theatrical films can show up as DVDs just a few months later and find themselves available to rent on demand. Cable networks sometimes bid more for a film so that it bypasses Pay TV and hits the air much sooner. And the creation of digital copies and cloud ownership means that exclusivity windows become harder to enforce. "New technologies, like iCloud, are making these conflicts more obvious, pressuring traditional media businesses to rewrite their agreements. Movie studios want consumers to buy more digital-movie downloads as DVD sales shrink and digital rental and subscription services, from which studios earn less, gain traction."
Even the notion of the cloud has gotten fuzzy. Apple has its cloud, Amazon a different cloud, and the movie studios are trying to rollout their own through UltraViolet. At the end of the day, the consumer only cares about where they can find a movie and how effortless it can be to view it. If they want to buy it, they will; if they want to rent it, they will seek out that option. If they want to watch it with commercials because it is there at the moment ready to watch, they will do that too. And while the pay channels may seem to be most affected, they have not been blindsided. They have been seeing this trend for a while and it has been their motivation ( as well as Netflix), to diversify into original programming, in order to remain competitive and ahead of the problem.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Broadcast Networks Don't Want To Be Free
Broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC, would like to have the FCC change its rules and allow cable operators to encrypt their signals. They together argue that enabling encryption will actually improve the delivery of their signals and improve innovation of digital content delivery. And for the cable operator, it would reduce bandwidth issues and improve security. But is it also good for the consumer?
"Critics of the rule change contend that putting MSOs on parity with other providers by allowing basic-tier encryption would force consumers to rent set-tops and limit choice, because they would no longer be able to receive "clear QAM" digital TV." Still, it is all about serving content to authenticated consumers. As long as broadcast networks also offer over the air, digital signals, then these channels can still be fully accessed by non cable subscribers. In an ideal world, all broadcast channels would have a web presence, enabling a live linear feed of its programming to any consumer via the internet. Content that is geographically limited, like NFL football games, may need to be blocked, but typical network programming should be accessible and available regardless of a cable subscription or not.
Should Apple Buy Barnes & Noble?
UPDATE: Former Cablevision chief financial officer Mike Huseby is the new CFO of Barnes and Noble. There has been some suggestion that his expertise is in spinning off and selling companies. He was involved with Cablesvision's spin off of MSG and AMC. Whether his role is to get the company ready for sale or for growth remains to be seen.
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The recent announcement of the new iPad from Apple and constant wondering what Apple's next steps might be, pose an interesting speculation, should Apple buy Barnes & Noble. What would Apple get? How about a retail presence on over 600 college campuses. Over 700 retail stores around the country. Additional access to content publishers, the Nook e-reader, and greater impressions and presence in the marketplace.
If Apple truly releases its own TV set, it would likely want to sell them within their own retail environment. B&N could be that retailer. And if any company could transition a book retailer into a major digital player, it is Apple. The idea may be out of box, but isn't that what Apple is known for.
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The recent announcement of the new iPad from Apple and constant wondering what Apple's next steps might be, pose an interesting speculation, should Apple buy Barnes & Noble. What would Apple get? How about a retail presence on over 600 college campuses. Over 700 retail stores around the country. Additional access to content publishers, the Nook e-reader, and greater impressions and presence in the marketplace.
If Apple truly releases its own TV set, it would likely want to sell them within their own retail environment. B&N could be that retailer. And if any company could transition a book retailer into a major digital player, it is Apple. The idea may be out of box, but isn't that what Apple is known for.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Netflix - Can't Beat Em, Then Join Em
It seems that Netflix has made a decision that TV Everywhere means also getting onto the cable platform. Now CEO Reed Hastings is going the route of being added as potentially a subscription on demand choice on the cable line-up. Similar to HBO or Showtime, but without a linear line-up attached to it. For cable consumers seeking more content, Netflix could provide a low cost addition, or simply be duplicated with what is already being offered by the cable operator. Ultimately, Netflix's differentiation, like that of its pay TV rivals, will be in the original programming it is building to offer.
Does this move help to increase the distribution of Netflix? I'd like to know what percentage of Netflix customers are also cable subscribers? Is Netflix truly missing a potential audience or is it that the consumer likes that Netflix is a la carte and not tied into a cable subscription? Pay cable subscription is already crowded with HBO, Showtime, Starz, and Epix. It is hard to imagine that there is more to gain to try and be the fifth wheel. Being outside the cable box with more maneuverability may just be the differentiating factor that keeps Netflix strong.
Does this move help to increase the distribution of Netflix? I'd like to know what percentage of Netflix customers are also cable subscribers? Is Netflix truly missing a potential audience or is it that the consumer likes that Netflix is a la carte and not tied into a cable subscription? Pay cable subscription is already crowded with HBO, Showtime, Starz, and Epix. It is hard to imagine that there is more to gain to try and be the fifth wheel. Being outside the cable box with more maneuverability may just be the differentiating factor that keeps Netflix strong.
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