Networks Remain Off Cable Systems

Certainly not new stories, but networks continue to remain off the air of some cable and satellite providers as time goes on.  The  big story has been the loss of Viacom networks on DirecTv.  Even Jon Stewart wants Viacom to capitulate rather than see ratings continue to suffer and advertising revenue decline.  For Time Warner Cable, it is the loss of 15 Hearst broadcast networks in various markets.  And of course there is the loss of AMC Networks on Dish Network.

An interesting comment overhead is that the longer these blackouts go, the more likely the viewer is to find alternative solutions.  Whether it is switching channels and finding new favorites, or switching cable providers, or switching to different platforms like online networks, viewers adapt and ultimately change their preferences.  The longer you as a network are off the radar, the  more likely you will be replaced and forgotten.  It is a lot harder to win back loss subs then it is to grow incremental usage.

TiVo May Skip Ads, But It Also Measures Who Is Watching Them

The beauty of TiVo and other  less notable DVR technology is the  power it offers to easily copy and replay programs, whenever you are in the mood to watch.  No expiration of VOD assets to worry about; copy all the episodes of your favorite show and watch at your leisure.  Add to that the convenience of fast forwarding past the commercials and you are in control.  But surprisingly, we are sometimes too lazy to hit the button and we let the ads play through.

Ironic, but what leads to TiVo's need to take advantage of viewership data and match to the ideal profile when pushing ads to the consumer.  And in order to do it well, TiVo has found a partner.  "The television analytics company TiVo is expected to announce on Tuesday that it has acquired full ownership in TRA, a research company that has found success in recent years with a system that matches up television viewing with consumer buying habits."  With best information of household shopping preferences and show interest, ads can be targeted to the right audience in order to get the most effective reach.  And as DVR owners are not taking full advantage of the fast forward feature, they too are being reached.

Why aren't more cable operators offering TiVo technology in their cable box?  Wouldn't their local ad sales efforts be better helped with a collaboration with TiVo verse their own generic DVR?  I wait and wonder.

MSNBC.com and NBC News Split Up

If msnbc.com was a bookmarked favorite, you may want to reconsider where you get your news.  As of today, all of NBC News will be redirected to nbcnews.com while msnbc.com will be strictly about the MSNBC Cable Network.  Confused?  So will the users of the website and  the cable network.  Isn't the cable network also owned by NBC?  Yes, but the website was co-owned by Microsoft.  The challenge lies in the ownership and with it comes the revenue model as it relates to other non Microsoft owned properties.  So now NBC properties can get full value of their web based synergies with their TV brands.  Today Show info will no longer be on msnbc.com; rather, clips from the network will be on nbcnews.com.  And the result, NBC can keep 100% of the digital revenue.

So MSNBC the cable network, a left leaning political site will point to msnbc.com while NBC News, the Today Show, Rock Center and other news properties will point to nbcnews.com.  And hopefully, the web surfer will add a new bookmark and notice the change.  Otherwise, the concern will be how to recapture the lost web traffic.

One thing that I haven't seen addressed, what happens to MSNBC the cable network?  "Microsoft’s stake in the cable channel was dissolved in 2005. But NBC came to feel handcuffed by the Web arrangement; an increasing number of advertisers wanted to buy ads both on its TV newscasts and its Web sites, a strategy called cross-media sales, but it could not respond effectively because Microsoft ran the ad sales part of the business."  It seems the next step is a name change for the cable network itself, further distancing itself from MSN and embracing the NBC News brand.   I expect that a name change is sooner than later.

Nickelodeon Out, Disney Junior In At DirecTv

Does the launch of Disney Junior on DirecTv tell Viacom that they can expect a long, protracted fight for carriage of Nickelodeon and its other networks?  It certainly seems like a shot across the bow.  While Comedy Central and its other networks will be missed, DirecTv must believe that no one cries louder than children and if anything makes mom and dad switch providers, it is the loss of kid programming.  Whether Disney Junior characters like Handy Mandy and others can replace Sponge Bob and iCarly remains to be seen.  Still it appears an attempt by DirecTv to offer some substitution for their loss.

So what happens the longer this negotiation lasts?  What if DirecTv discovers that they can actually absorb a loss of subs related to the drop of a set of channels and still improve their bottom line.  If the impact of a drop proves negligible, could this be the impetus to start assessing the cost/value model of all channels to provide a better value model to the end consumer?  With the rise of alternative platforms to receive networks and shows, change is in the air.

Should Passwords Be Obsolete?

News that someone has stolen passwords and that your identity and information has been compromised have unfortunately become commonplace these days.  And the solution is always the same - change it, make it stronger, use different passwords for different sites, etc.  But most of us have a hard enough time remembering 10 different phone numbers let alone all the different passwords we are supposed to use.  So we come up with solutions; we post them on the wall in our office, we use simple passwords like "password" or we write them in a  document.  No matter what, they become compromised, either by the companies that require them or our own doing.

So why not make authorization something else, a fingerprint, voice recognition, eye scan, or some other means that identifies us without typing in a password. Is it even possible to make accounts impossible to hack without some safeguards in place?  With passwords proving more and more untrustworthy, it is clear that an alternative is needed now.

Our Future Is In Our Pocket

I believe that within 5 years, the smart phone will be formally inducted as the must-have wallet/communicator/connector in our lives.  It will be the instrument that we carry to identify who we are, update us on news, entertain us with music, text, and video, pay for all our purchases, and capture our life's moments.  Most of that is already happening today; we just will watch as it becomes the key device that we will rely on daily.

It is becoming evident that leading digital companies are finally figuring out what Apple saw five years earlier with the introduction of the iPhone.  So Google has bought Motorola Mobility in order to build its own smartphone and Microsoft is eager to get in the market as well, finally deciding that it too needs to build its own device.  And now we have learned that Amazon, a company leading the online shopping world wants to enter this competitive marketplace too.  "This news comes as several outlets including Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal are reporting that Amazon is working on a smartphone to rival the iPhone and Android phones."

Notice that each of these companies are building hardware, no one is touching the digital pipeline to connect information to and from the smartphone.  Is it that there is less money to be made by investing in a wireless industry.  Is the pipeline seen as an unsexy business, unlike the hardware side of the smartphone with its fancy touch screen, apps, and tools?  But the pipeline remains a key attribute that can make the respective device run fast or slow, connect or freeze, complete the transaction or leave us "disconnected".

As to the rise of new competitors in the smartphone industry, it clearly indicates that the movement to make the smartphone the ultimate tool for each human being, young and old, is on.  And as a connected device, it provides us with many advantages.  At the same time, it has also caused us to lose a bit of our anonymity and privacy; we are tracked  and measured, targeted and attacked with ads customized to our behavior.  If we can accept that, the smartphone is well on its way to being the wallet in our pocket, the phone for our home, and the screen to be seen.  And that is why Microsoft and Amazon and I'm sure others to follow want their hardware to rule the pocket.

Magazines Aggregate a Digital Buffet

There is something about an all-you-can-eat buffet that consumers like. Its that one price that enables you to pick and choose from a wide selection to consume from repeatedly.  Cable subscriptions have been doing it for a while although the constant rise in their monthly rates have led to subscriber cord cutting.  Phone companies too with unlimited local calls and cell companies too with their all you can use minutes.  So it is now time for the print media to offer a similar aggregated offering.

"Digital magazine joint venture Next Issue Media is finally available for the iPad, three months after it launched for Android. With the app, users can read popular magazines like People, Vogue, the New Yorker and Real Simple for a flat monthly fee."  For heavy magazine readers eager to cut costs by switching to digital, this could bring instant savings to the household.  For light readers, it may be just the right price point to encourage adding a digital subscription to get some wonderful content from well known magazine brands.  Titles are being offered by Conde Nast, Hearst, Time Inc., and Meredith. A full list is available within the article.

For me, I haven't yet gotten much out of Flipboard and would find this kind of deal worth subscribing for my iPad.  I do find it unusual that the individual companies haven't already tried this type of model just within their own list of titles; still, I believe that the larger the choice, the easier it will be to market and gain consumers to subscribe.  Of course, how it affects print subscription losses will need to be measured to assure that a time frame to adapt to a shift in preference can be effectively budgeted.  At the end of the day, this model sounds like a winner.

Programmer v. Operator - The Never Ending License Fee Battle

The dropping of networks off our cable line-ups seems to happen more and more these days.  And as typical in these negotiations, networks threaten to be dropped and eventually are dropped for a period of time from the TV line-up.  Last month U-Verse threatened and finally settled with AMC Networks right before the deadline to drop their networks.  Dish Network actually dropped the AMC channels.  Today DirecTv is threatening to drop the various Viacom Networks - MTV, VH1, Nick, and others from their service on July 11 while Time Warner Cable has already dropped the Hearst Television owned broadcast networks in its various markets.  Perhaps we as consumers have become blasé to these battles having found ourselves turning more and more to alternative platforms for our entertainment and news.

Yes programming costs naturally rise, yes license fees rise to cover those costs.  And yes, ultimately the consumer must decide whether to keep paying or not.  For some of us, we remember broadcast TV as a free medium, paid entirely by advertising; for some of us, we have grown up paying for cable to get a better signal, more channels, and access to more commercial free premium programming.  And for some, anything we choose to watch can be found online, some free and some for a subscription price.  We gravitate to a model that best serves our need and our pocketbook.  But as cost of cable television continues to rise faster than the price of inflation, households are challenged to find ways to cut back.

Thus some may welcome the loss of some channels, even some they may watch, if only to keep their cable bill from rising.  Others may use it as a reason to finally cut the cord and embrace online.  Who needs their 11pm nightly news anymore if the same information can be shared via social networking and online news sites.  Who needs their Nick anymore if the same kind of shows are found on Hulu or Netflix.  The Programmer v Operator battle only helps to continue to push viewers away.

Has Digital Download Killed The Record Album?

The iPod might have saved the overall music industry by pushing song sales at a low price, but it may not have been a boon to the whole song album.  Single sales are increasing but album sales are down.  "Year-to-date cross-format album unit sales dipped by 3.2 percent (U.S.) and 13.8 percent (UK), according to figures released this week by Nielsen SoundScan and British Phonographic Industry."

Perhaps given the nature of digital, it is time to stop selling albums and start selling a different packaging of songs, combining song with video, photo album, concert footage, and other digital pieces into a whole new type of album.  Why does an album have  to be just a collection of songs.  It is time to redefine the album concept as a means to help push up growth.