Hello Comcast; NBC requires registration for online Olympic video

I like the Olympics. I don't like how NBC presents them and I long for less talk and more action. Talking heads are not my thing and some of their blather makes me cringe. But that is another topic. Instead, I note the article in the Washington Post indicating that NBC requires registration to its site to view the Olympics online. "Users who click on certain videos on the NBC Olympics site are asked to identify their providers and prompted to provide a username and password for their cable or satellite account. If they don't have a password, they must enter their account number. The registration is one-time only. The policy guarantees that no one will be able to bypass cable and satellite systems to watch Olympic events. The risk for NBC Universal is irritating their customers, many of whom probably don't carry their cable account numbers with them."

And this is precisely why the FCC shouldn't grant the merger of Comcast and NBC. Restriction of any form is anti-competitive. Why must a viewer be associated with cable or not. NBC is a free TV experience; it's web programming ought to be equally free; otherwise, it smells like a cable network that requires subscription. And in a less than subtle move, that subscription is to cable itself. Is this what a Comcast - NBC merger has in store for the consumer? "NBC Universal, which has said it expects to lose more than $200 million on the Vancouver Games, said the satellite and cable providers required the registration in return for helping to defray some of the cost of Olympics rights." Trying to hide this move behind a loss leader is not the consumers fault. So what that NBC payed too much for the Olympics. Broadcast has relied on an advertising only model to succeed. If it isn't working then call NBC by its true name - cable network; else, it should remain a no strings network.

Have I watched any Olympics online myself - no. I am loving the HD experience and find it comparatively much harder to watch online on a small screen. Give me a big screen, HD picture anytime. But I root for the little guy who seeks out more variety. If the only way to catch up on Curling is online, then let it be equally open to view.

Can Anyone Compete Against Facebook?

Facebook left My Space gasping on the ground and Bebo and Friendster in the dust. Now Google is announcing their plans to compete with the social space giant. It is called Buzz and will attempt to integrate with Gmail. "Facebook is a household name, and it takes a lot for a tech brand to reach that point. Google did it with search and iTunes has done it with music sales--which is why it takes massive companies like Microsoft and Amazon, respectively, to make a dent in that market share, and they've still had an uphill battle (to say the least)."

I am not a fan of Gmail although I continue to prefer Google for search. As a Facebook user, I have found it more valuable than even Twitter. Still, nothing lasts forever and Facebook will face more and perhaps better competition in the future. I believe Facebook considers this and thus continues to tweak its website to improve its social connections. And it has yet to falter. "Facebook has surpassed 400 million active members around the world, and additionally announced Wednesday that it has 100 million of those members using its mobile Web site." Pretty impressive numbers.

And unlike Twitter, it seems to do a better job of driving campaigns. Have you signed up yet to get Betty White on SNL. Over 200,000 people have so far! So good luck Google Buzz, you have a long road to go to beat the leader. And others before it itching for a share as well.

Watch Out Cable, Vudu Is Here

While I haven't used Vudu, I am intrigued by its capabilities. Too many times there is a movie that I would like to watch, but isn't found on my cable service. Not HBO or Showtime or Starz, not On Demand. And while I am not looking to rush out to Target to buy a copy of the movie, I would love quick and easy access to watch it. Hence, the appeal of Vudu, a service that seems to offer more movie titles than what is currently available through the converter box. "But if you want recent movies on demand (legally), the best bet has been Vudu, a set-top box that connects to the Internet. You can watch any of its 16,000 movies and TV episodes instantly on your TV."

In addition, the article describes the menu, search features, and other trick features of the service. The only thing it lacks is chapters to go forward more quickly. Still it seems to outpace cable's menu options and graphics by a mile. And as TV and blu-ray manufacturers bypass the cable industry to directly connect via the web, it is clear that they will very quickly get the upper hand on cable. Of course, cable companies will start to charge an arm and a leg more for higher speeds for web access. That is where competition is good. With Google talking about being an ISP provider and other companies thinking of ways to enter this market, cable subscription will erode. Hello wireless, hello Google, hello electric companies pushing broadband through its wires. Watch out cable.

Google Wants A Piece Of The ISP Market

Google wants a piece of the ISP market and could build a distribution platform that competes with cable. Or as the article speculates, it is a ploy to force cable operators to put more capital investment into their infrastructure. "Building out pipes and delivering bits is a lousy business. It's hugely capital intensive -- Verizon is spending ~$20 billion just on the first phase of its FiOS buildout -- and hugely focused on manual labor, customer service, etc. Add low margins and increased competition, and it makes no sense for Google to do this on a broad scale."

The cable platform will be replaced by IP and the financial model will be changed to take in more revenue from higher speed connections and less from cable subscription. And IP would enable more direct relationship between the content creator and consumer; the pipeline will simply follow traffic control and hopefully not turn into a toll collector.

Madison Square Garden Splits From Cablevision

The unraveling has begun; MSG is separate from Cablevision. While it helps to unlock the value to Cablevision shareholders, separating out MSG also enables the Dolan family to concentrate on sports and music and sell off the rest. And the rest means Rainbow Networks, including AMC, WE, IFC and others, and their cable system serving homes in NY, NJ, and CT.

How much value is unlocked we must wait and see. But what the Dolans do next is always a mystery. That they actually followed through on this plan to separate the two companies is amazing. Tracking stocks have been announced and withdrawn, sale rumors continue to surface intermittently. Can two companies with such an interwoven cast of characters really work independently?

Nook Arriving; iTab Says So What

With Valentine's Day in a week (wait you mean Christmas is over) Barnes & Noble has announced that their e-book reader will finally be available at their stores. "Barnes & Nobles, based in New York, said it was shipping Nook e-readers to the majority of its stores beginning this week, with devices on sale in stores as of February 10." Great, but so what. Apple has just announced it's tablet, the iPad, and the Nook and others pale by comparison. Is the Nook's thunder lost? Will consumers buy or wait and see what is the ideal choice. Or wait even more for the next generation to fix the bugs and come out cheaper anyway.

With newspaper and magazine subscriptions dropping, is anyone thinking about packaging them in with purchase. The Nook should create a deal, with every purchase get a free one year subscription to 1 newspaper and 2 magazines. Price it into the purchase price and sell the low package cost. Help out an industry and perhaps in return get extra advertising and PR back.

I look forward to the future of e-book readers when they are made of flexible materials that can be rolled up and stuffed into a pocket. Size, portability, mobility, and convenience.

The End of The Jay Leno Show

Tonight, the 10 PM experiment known as The Jay Leno Show officially ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper. Unlike Conan, no intrigue, no build up, no increase in audience. So why risk anything. "Jay Leno is expected to take a low-key approach to tonight’s finale of “The Jay Leno Show,” which is ending after five disastrous months on the air." Why bother.

Let's hope that the Tonight Show will find its audience again. The brilliant commercial with Jay, Oprah, and David Letterman, makes one wonder why give credibility back to Jay. Perhaps Dave likes a good fight, or he is simply above it all to worry. At the same time, could it have been funnier with Conan?

Get Ready For More Commercials On Web Videos

You can run but you cannot hide. That is the fate that advertising has on the consumer. We ran from broadcast TV to cable with the hope of less commercial interruptions. HBO and Showtime forced us to pay but at least the movies were uninterrupted. We ran from linear to DVR so we could fast forward through commercials. And we ran from TV to computer to watch our shows online, when we want to watch them, and with fewer commercials to put up with. But that is changing, too. "Indeed, viewing programs on Hulu, the online video site owned by NBC Universal, News Corp. and Walt Disney, means encountering significantly fewer ads than one would see watching TV. And Disney's ABC.com has met with some success by running ABC shows with just a few ads, often from a single advertiser. But many TV executives say these methods don't bring much, if any, profit -- and therefore cannot continue." Nielsen will capture viewership data and consumers will put up with more commercials. And more advertising will bring more revenue.

On Demand is better than the DVR in one respect, the consumer doesn't need to proactively decide to tape something, it is simply available. But the DVR provides an important advantage too. It enables us to fast forward through inane, and way too many commercials, to enjoy the content, and only the content. American Idol in 40 minutes, Survivor in 42 minutes, and so in. Just two shows gives me back the time to watch more or do something else. It is the only way to watch. More on demand commercials will only help Tivo and the the DVR box.

NBC - Comcast Merger - Will It Be Approved

As Comcast and NBC present their case to the FCC why the merger should occur, many speculate if it helps or hurts free TV. Both companies say publicly that it will be better, but some worry that NBC will be turned into a cable model and others that it will be anti-competitive. One recent example is that Boxee has tried to place Hulu content on its service. Hulu, an NBC partnership, has said no. Under a Comcast ownership, the worry is that Boxee competes with Comcast products and would not be in Comcast's best interest. Owning content and distribution is problematic. For years, movie houses couldn't own studios for fear that they would not allow other studio product to be seen on the big screen. The analogy holds true here, too.

I also speculate what the future looks like. I see broadcast moving from digital, over the air and cable signals to an IP delivered product. Which affiliate you want to see is based on IP address and perhaps even zip code. As they and cable move to this model, the consumer will stop purchasing cable packages. Cable companies will charge more for broadband access to overcome the loss of the other two legs of its service, cable and phone. And consumers will seek more choices for those connections to broadband - cable, wireless, perhaps even other utility companies (electric), that can bring hi-speed into the home.

If Comcast owns a broadcast network, why would they facilitate this technological change. Like they have done with TV manufacturers, cable has hidden behind shoddy technology (set top boxes, Tru2way) to limit others from entering the cable space. Just now, we are seeing companies like Netflix work to bypass the cable limitations to reach the consumer directly. Why would NBC and Universal want to support this change if it only hurt their parent company.

In Multichannel, Senator Al Franken (D-Minn) looks at NBC's own history as a judge of what is likely to happen. "He said he was very concerned about the merger. He cited NBC claims in the early 1990s when the financial interest and syndication rules were phased out that networks would not favor their own programming over independents (those rules prevented networks from taking a financial stake in the domestic syndication of prime time programming). Franken pointed out that today NBC is the biggest producer of its own programming. He said that it is now 'routine practice, and you know it,' to demand at least part ownership in a show, and that independent status affects placement on the schedule." His concern is valid.

So NBC and Comcast will say what they must to get approval but it is important to see beyond their rhetoric to what this merged entity would really mean for the entertainment landscape. I believe it is not in our economy's best interest to approve this merger. It will limit competition, squash technological innovation, and ultimately hurt the consumer.