AT&T Wants To Set Up TVs, PCs

Very few of us are tech savvy. Most VCR owners seemed incapable of programming the correct time on their machine. We rely on experts and help to advise and teach us on how things work. At the same time, technology has realized the need to build plug and play devices, suitable for the masses to master.

The rise of HDTV, wireless networks, shared devices, and for some, even downloading, can make one's head spin. Companies that work in this new media world that provide full service and true expertise build brand preference and loyalty. Circuit City touts its Firedog service, Best Buy brands its service as Geek Squad. Service matters. Service at a fair price matters more. In my own home, Comcast has been here when DVRs stop working and modems stop blinking. Sometimes getting them in a timely manner is problematic, but they have corrected the problems and have not charged for their service. When Comcast uses their own employees, rather than outsource, the results have been positive. Building on that consistency and touting service support for customers that bring new devices into the home will bring Comcast even greater brand preference and loyalty.

I say this because the article from Multichannel does a disservice to AT&T. "AT&T’s computer and home-network installation services start at $99. TV and home-theater services like flat-panel TV wall mounting and home video installation start at $149. In-home PC repair service, including parts and hardware replacement, begin at $179." Charging customers for service, especially if you are getting them to switch from a competitor to your product, seems problematic. A fee may be necessary for non-customers, but to satisfy and grow your customer base, this pricing model seems excessive.

Comcast to Slow Internet Service at Times to Its Heaviest Users

So let me understand this bit of news, Comcast is going to slow down their download speed to all customers as a cure to reduce congestion on the web. "Top Internet speeds for the heaviest users will be reduced for 10 to 20 minutes to keep service to other users flowing, said Mitch Bowling, Comcast’s senior vice president and general manager for online services." And this will make their customers happy? I think not. As downloads and internet usage soars, web speed equates to consumer satisfaction. The more times the user is exposed to latency in their on-line experience, the greater the consumer will seek out alternatives to the current situation.

As consumers, we don't tend to change our products or services if they provide adequate satisfaction. We are in fact creatures of habit who like to maintain our current way of doing things. We change when it is forced upon us, when we can experiment with new things at a low cost, or when we encounter a bad experience. Bad experience at a restaurant, don't go back. Free sample at the store, test and switch brands if we like it. Slow internet speed, switch providers. And as more consumers are finally getting a choice of providers, cable or telco, for our hi speed service, a bad experience may be the final straw to make a switch.

So it seems counter-intuitive to hurt your current users with a purposefully bad experience. And at a time when both Verizon and AT&T are knocking on the front door and offering a very competitive package; bad cable service will only push the consumer to more quickly switch. And if proved a better experience, news will spread quickly and more users will switch.

Not a smart move for Comcast. But perhaps they expect different results. "A heavy Comcast Web user being impeded would have Internet speeds equivalent to “a really good DSL experience,” Mr. Bowling said. DSL, or digital subscriber line, is an Internet service offered by telephone companies. After a slowdown ended, Comcast would return Internet service to normal." Perhaps they believe that most users won't even notice that a significant slowdown occurred. We never know if our telephone is working unless we constantly check the ring tone. When it is in the cradle, we simply assume it is still working properly. Comcast may believe that this slowdown will have similar results. Most will simply assume that their internet service is working fine. That is to say, most Comcast customers won't notice a measurable slowdown at all.

Still, this seems like a bandaid cure for Comcast. It may work in the short run but over time, more consumers will require more bandwidth for significant file downloads and sharing. A better solution is needed by Comcast to handle this inevitability. Traffic will only keep growing and an improved infrastructure may be needed.

Suburbuzz Announcement in The Item of Millburn NJ

Local women create a 'buzz' with their Web site

Check Suburbuzz out!

Wall Street Journal Goes Mobile On Your Blackberry

In what is sure to be the first of many similar announcements, that Wall Street Journal will provide free viewing of its articles and news, tying in its various websites, and monetizing it with ads. As they test the waters, they may try to find a subscription model, but competition from other news organizations may prevent that model from building. WSJ is not the first to announce a mobile relationship. "Earlier this year, The Associated Press launched an ad-supported service with more than 100 member newspapers to make news stories available on Apple Inc.'s iPhone and other mobile devices."

WIll users prefer reading their news on a blackberry screen? Will this deal be content exclusive to blackberry? Or will users start to carry other devices like the Kindle for their full reading enjoyment? Regardless of which device ends up getting the market share, the direction remains clear. Readers are switching from subscriptions to web and mobile for their news. This is where the WSJ needs to be.

No More Mike and the Mad Dog - Sirius Gets More Branded Content

Mike and the Mad Dog, sports radio fixtures for nearly 19 years, have split up. When I first heard them, I was intrigued and captivated. Their chemistry was so entertaining, it made for great radio, whatever they were discussing or frankly arguing about. Not many duos have had that kind of appeal and energy. Most people have compared them to comedy teams like Martin and Lewis and Abbott and Costello. But for me, their chemistry and banter reminded me of Siskel and Ebert. Divergent opinions on everything! And great radio, too.

But like most teams, egos and personalities don't always mesh. This "marriage" lasted far longer then most expected. They may have initially disliked each other, but they also recognized the power their relationship caused in the media and the audience that grew. It made economic sense to put aside differences for the successes that would come. At the end of the day, pocketbooks matter more.

And for that same reason, Chris Russo has decided that he should make that next financial leap by going solo. And Sirius Radio agrees with him. Sirius's strategy, branded exclusive content, is to differentiate to make the decision to purchase their product a necessity. Can the Mad Dog deliver that same impact? Martin and Lewis broke up and each found individual fame; but Abbott and Costello could not. And when Gene Siskel passed away, their film critic show with Richard Roeper as co-host was never the same. That magic in the bottle was hard to replace.

So the jury is out on how Chris Russo will do as a solo sports talk personality. It's one thing to talk New York sports, but can he do it on a national basis. And will he need to find a partner to bounce off of? "The show will run every weekday from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. and will be the first original program to air on both Sirius and XM, which combined in July." For Sirius, his acquisition makes perfect sense. Exclusive content is the way to compete against free radio and the iPod. It seemed to work when Howard Stern was brought on board, and now it is Chris's turn. It may be sad to see Mike and the Mad Dog divorce, but it was inevitable.

Unlimited Viewing Choices, Lousy Maps

The 2008 Summer Olympics are really exciting this year. For those capable of watching many hours of TV, plenty of coverage. For those more discerning in which sports they watch, finding the content is harder than it looks. NBC is reporting huge ratings for its linear coverage and claiming strong broadband and mobile views.

Some of the stats through August 15:
—31.2 million video streams delivered totaling 4.7 million hours.
-31 million unique visitors; 6.5 million daily uniques.
-Users spend approximately 13 minutes per visit.

And yet for all this success, VOD usage is not as strong. Why? Are the better events being held back to promote the DVD packaging? Last night, I saw ads for both Michael Phelps on DVD as well as the opening ceremony. Unfortunately I missed some of the opening coverage but could only find limited web coverage of highlights and nothing else. In fact, that best web coverage of the ceremony was from a non NBC site.

With so much choice being offered to us - linear, vod, broadband, mobile - we need better navigation and experts to recommend for us some things we might enjoy. Whether its buying something or simply viewing thousands of hours of Olympic coverage on many different screens, we want service, we want speed, and we want value. Putting us in a giant store and left to our own curiosity, we may or may not find what we are looking for. Perhaps that is what the numbers are really telling us.

Content vs. Distribution

Back on August 10, I wrote that Content is King. And in that analysis of content verse distribution, I noted how many are pushing to separate the two. To date, Time Warner Entertainment is spinning off its cable distribution arm; shareholders at Cablevision want them to sell their programming arm, Rainbow Media. And per a Bloomberg report, analysts are reporting that Disney may sell its owned and operated television stations to focus strictly on content. "Disney owns stations in cities including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. A sale would depend on at least those outlets in the biggest markets remaining affiliated with Disney's ABC TV network, Miller said. ABC has broadcast agreements with about 231 TV stations in the U.S., he said. ... Disney spokesman Jonathan Friedland called the report ``purely speculative'' and declined to comment."

So the chicken vs. egg question may now be settled; content is more powerful than distribution. Owning content allows more flexibility on how best to share it; by unlocking the distribution side, content creators are no longer limited to where they can place content. And yet, wasn't vertical integration once considered to be a very powerful foothold. To know confidently that you owned not only the content but also had a guaranteed distribution path to the consumer. But You Tube and the internet changed the environment that content creators work in. It eliminated the barriers to the user and opened the pathway to reach them in multiple ways. For Disney, it appears that they no longer need to own the broadcast network to distribute content.

So for Time Warner and maybe soon for Disney, the focus will be content. For Cablevision, shareholder sentiment is leading to a split. So will others follow suit? Will NBC take a similar strategic path and consider selling its O&O networks? Or must NBC first worry about whether GE wants to keep it as a business unit? That question will be settled first before any discussion of a split would occur. Still, it is fascinating to watch the entertainment landscape continue to change. Stay tuned.

Interesting news. Cablevision has just made an announcement, a quarterly dividend of $0.10 to improve its stock value. In the short term it should placate shareholders; in the long run, they still smell blood and want to further unlock the value of the company by splitting distribution from content. Will it happen? With Cablevision, you never know.

How Many Ports Does a Set-Top Box Need?

Once again the fight between Telcos and Cable centers on the interface between TV and the communications stream, the set top box. And it is why some companies, like Sony, want to bypass the box and enable their own TV set to talk to the web. The set top box, the device you love to hate, is today the device that controls what you can and what you can't receive. Tru2way has been described by the cable community as open access; Dish has agreed and is willing to work under this approach, Verizon is not.

"Most vendors, be they carriers, networking gear makers or computer manufactures, view the set-top box as the key to digital content for consumers as ports will dictate how easy it is for consumers to plug their boxes into a variety of networks without adaptors. So as the computer industry and the telecommunications companies get deeper into the digital TV and home networking market, we’ll wait to see if the FCC decides to make Ethernet ports mandatory. Even if they do, a showdown between those in favor of Ethernet and those on the side of cable’s tru2way standard is likely to ensure as each industry seeks to control the home network."

I want devices that can plug and play. Show me that multiple devices can easily talk with each other in a non-technical way, then the consumer will approve and seek out those devices. Make it consumer friendly, and you will get their vote.

Zuckervision

Fascinating article in the September issue of Portfolio on Jeff Zucker, CEO and President of Universal. Definitely worth the read. He has had some hits as well as taken some hits, but he clearly has a plan. From the acquisition of Oxygen and Weather Channel to the creation of Hulu, he has a definite vision of where he thinks NBC needs to be. And he certainly works hard at it. And the TV industry is so different today than it was just 10 years ago. Still, some would argue that while his cable strategy is sound, his broadcast strategy for NBC is not.

Can producing less pilots per year achieve better results. Financially yes, creatively hard to say. In this new world of on-demand, networks don't allow shows the time to develop as they once did. Seinfeld, Cheers and many other shows were not the ratings hits in their first years. But someone had the vision to keep them on. 30 Rock fits into that category today; luckily, a show that continues to get critical praise despite less than stellar ratings so far. Hopefully more people will find this very funny show. I feel that other shows though have been let go before their time and were not given the same time to grow and prosper. It is these tough decisions that Jeff and his team have to make to construct a successful schedule. The writers strike didn't help them, but every TV season provides the chance to have a do-over. So stay tuned for this Fall to see if the NBC magic is coming back.