Retransmission Saga Continues

One step forward, maybe two steps back.

One major retransmission dispute is now resolved. After nearly two months, the Madison Square Garden (MSG) channels have been turned back on for Time Warner Cable (TWC) customers. This did not happen until the New York governor and state attorney general weighed in to put public pressure on both parties to settle. One reason that make the negotiations particularly sticky is that MSG is controlled by the family of the CEO of Cablevision, which is TWC’s major competitor.

So now we can look to Rhode Island and Pensacola, Florida, where LIN TV is threatening to pull the plug on its stations from Cox in those markets unless they can come to terms. What makes this dispute particularly interesting is that LIN TV has two franchises in each of those markets. They own a Fox and a CBS affiliate in Rhode Island, and a Fox and a CW affiliate in Pensacola. Relaxed FCC rules made it possible for a company to own more than one station in a market, which gives LIN TV increased leverage in its negotiations. According to an article in FierceCable, LIN TV has seen a severe drop in ad revenues, and so appears to be turning to retransmission fees as its main source of income.

The pay-TV services are not bottomless buckets of money, as many of their subscribers are all too happy to tell you. Milking these services (and their subscribers) for ever-larger retransmission fees is a dangerous game that is likely to hasten the inevitable review of the FCC’s rules, and who knows what changes that might bring.

HDTV Almanac - HBO Arrives on Samsung Smart TVs

Nearly a year ago, Samsung and HBO announced a partnership that would let consumers stream HBO content to Samsung TVs. You would have to be an HBO subscriber to access the service, which meant that you had to be signed up with a pay-TV service.

Since then, you could get this HBO Go content on your computer, iPad, iPhone, Android smart phone, or even a Roku box. But not a Samsung TV. Until now.

Samsung has just announced that the service is available on certain models of their Smart TVs, with one additional restriction; not all pay-TV services are eligible. While Verizon FiOS, Charter, Cox, DISH Network, and DirecTV are supported on the Samsung screens, Comcast and Time Warner Cable are among the most conspicuously absent (though they do support the smart phone and iPad apps).

I continue to find it fascinating that the content providers such as HBO are being so timid about opening up streaming access to their content. The HBO Go service is free, but available only to HBO subscribers, perhaps so that HBO doesn’t anger the pay-TV services that provide the bulk of its revenues. On the other hand, this may simply be the company’s way of limiting demand for the streaming service, giving them time to test it out before rolling out in a big way.

It might well be that HBO is planning a streaming-only offering down the line with it’s own monthly fee. The same pay-TV service that currently gets subscriber dollars for the HBO channels would almost certainly be the same company that provides the broadband connection used to access the streaming service, so while this could mean less money for the pay-TV service, it’s not as though HBO would be cutting them off completely with the new service. There is no doubt that the cable, satellite, and telco services are going to have to be nimble and responsive over the next few years if they are going to survive the rapidly-changing video entertainment landscape.

Posted by Alfred Poor, February 22, 2012 5:00 AM

HDTV Expert - Dish Network Hops Over the Top, by Ken Werner

In World War I, going “over the top” of your trench into often-withering machine-gun fire took tremendous courage – and ended the lives of millions of soldiers.  The consequences are not as dire for the new management team at troubled Dish Network, and the company is light-heartedly hopping over the top with the help of two kangaroos as mascots and logos.  Still, new CEO Joe Clayton is dramatically remaking his company’s mission – and the company’s health, if not its survival, is in the balance.

As he demonstrated at his company’s press presentation at CES, Clayton is a huckster of the old school – and a brilliant one.  In keeping with the presentation’s (and Clayton’s) over-the-top style, recorded cheering and applause accompanied Clayton’s appearance with a live joey – that is, a young kangaroo.   The other half of the mascot/logo team is Hopper, an adult kangaroo.  Why?  We’ll get to that.

One of Clayton’s favorite words was “new.”  He was presenting, he said, a new Dish, with a new brand, new mascots, new management team, new CEO (him), new corporate partnerships, new logo, new products, new services and promotions, new website, and new advertising.

Dish’s transformation is striking.  Instead of being primarily a satellite TV provider that is steadily losing market share to competitor Direct TV, the company’s new focus will be to provide a whole-home set-top box (STB) fed by broadband.  Satellite services will remain, and be enhanced, for those without broadband access.

As well as being Dish’s new logo, Hopper is the name of the company’s new “whole-home” set-top box (STB), and will be the conduit for, in Clayton’s words, “more music, more movies, more magic.”  Joeys are small satellite STBs for TV sets in other rooms.  Hopper includes a 2 terabyte hard drive  and stores hundreds of hours of programs.  With “Prime Time Anytime,” which includes Sirius XM Radio, you can automatically and simultaneously record all prime-time programming from the four major networks, plus two additional programs of your choice, and you can simultaneously play back four of them to different Joey satellite STBs throughout the house, and TVs can be controlled separately as long as each one has a Joey.

Dish’s purchase of Blockbuster last year was not greeted with unanimous praise, but Dish is incorporating Blockbuster@home, and its ability to stream 10,000 different movies, into its services.  If you don’t have access to broadband, there is Blockbuster unplugged, which downloads movies via satellite to your Hopper hard drive at less than real-time rates.

Communications VP Stephanie Pence quoted research that says 87% of TV households subscribe both to pay TV and broadband, with 83% of Netflix subscribers still maintain pay TV subscriptions.  And that is the new Dish’s target.  Dish will supply something approximating a cable TV experience using just your broadband connection.  If you want a free sample, you can register on line for the “Dish Test Drive” and receive 24 hours of typical content.

Back to Joe Clayton:  “The Dish brand will start growing again in 2012.  We are re-launching our company and restoring our brand.”  The ad campaign will roll out this quarter.

This is going over the top with a vengeance and cable should be worried.  Even if Dish does not get the viewer experience and pricing quite right, somebody else will, and soon.  Once that happens, what will the much-hated cable companies have to sell?  Only the broadband pipe that carries other peoples’ content.

Ken Werner is Principal of Nutmeg Consultants, specializing in the display industry and display technology.

 

HDTV Almanac - More TV for Wii

There are almost 40 million Wii video game consoles installed in U.S. households. And now a partnership between Nintendo and Hulu has brought Hulu Plus to the Wii. For $7.99 a month, viewers can add the service that provides access to many television shows and movies, and unlike the free Hulu service (which apparently still is not available on the Wii), you are not limited to the last five episodes of many current shows.

This offers a low-cost way for viewers to experiment with making their current television a “Smart TV” and access streaming video content from the Internet. You’ll need a broadband connection, but the vast majority of American households already have this either through cable or telco service, so this should not be a limitation for most people. If the offerings on Hulu Plus are not enough, you access use your Netflix streaming subscription on the Wii as well.

Posted by Alfred Poor, February 21, 2012 5:00 AM

Alfred Poor is a well-known display industry expert, who writes the daily HDTV Almanac. He wrote for PC Magazine for more than 20 years, and now is focusing on the home entertainment and home networking markets.

The Power of Aggregated Data

What do people really watch when they watch the SuperBowl? Thanks to the new world of connected entertainment systems, TiVo has a very good idea. By monitoring an anonymous sample of 41,666 households equipped with TiVo DVRs, the company can compile a map of “live and same-day” viewing of content that was watched at “play” speed on the systems. And guess what? People really do like the SuperBowl commercials.

According to the TiVo results, the Dorito’s “Man’s Best Friend” showed the greatest increase compared with the viewing numbers for the adjacent 15 minutes. Even this was well below the numbers for Madonna’s halftime show, and the highest viewership number for the entire program was the desperation “hail mary” pass that ended the game.

The big take-away from this, however, is not about the SuperBowl. It simply demonstrates how granular our data can be now about who watches what. These “temperature” graphs showing what viewers find most interesting is going to help content producers attract sponsors both for in-line commercials and for embedded product placements in the content itself. This data is likely to become the foundation for new funding models that will make it possible to reach specific markets more effectively, which means that individual sponsors can spend more per viewer in a smaller audience, because they will know what that audience is watching and what holds their interest.

For me, the main point is that the future does not belong to the companies that can deliver the stars and blockbuster content. Instead, the winners will be those best equipped to handle Big Data and be able to match viewers with content and sponsors in a tightly-integrated system. The world of video entertainment is indeed changing.

HDTV Almanac - The Power of Aggregated Data

What do people really watch when they watch the SuperBowl? Thanks to the new world of connected entertainment systems, TiVo has a very good idea. By monitoring an anonymous sample of 41,666 households equipped with TiVo DVRs, the company can compile a map of “live and same-day” viewing of content that was watched at “play” speed on the systems. And guess what? People really do like the SuperBowl commercials.

According to the TiVo results, the Dorito’s “Man’s Best Friend” showed the greatest increase compared with the viewing numbers for the adjacent 15 minutes. Even this was well below the numbers for Madonna’s halftime show, and the highest viewership number for the entire program was the desperation “hail mary” pass that ended the game.

The big take-away from this, however, is not about the SuperBowl. It simply demonstrates how granular our data can be now about who watches what. These “temperature” graphs showing what viewers find most interesting is going to help content producers attract sponsors both for in-line commercials and for embedded product placements in the content itself. This data is likely to become the foundation for new funding models that will make it possible to reach specific markets more effectively, which means that individual sponsors can spend more per viewer in a smaller audience, because they will know what that audience is watching and what holds their interest.

For me, the main point is that the future does not belong to the companies that can deliver the stars and blockbuster content. Instead, the winners will be those best equipped to handle Big Data and be able to match viewers with content and sponsors in a tightly-integrated system. The world of video entertainment is indeed changing.

Posted by Alfred Poor, February 20, 2012 5:00 AM

HDTV Expert - March is Read an eBook Month If Youre Canadian, by Ken Werner

Award-winning Canadian eBook and print author Rita Y. Toews (Prometheus, The Centurion, and The Price of Freedom, among others), convinced the Canadian Parliament to name March 2012 as “Read an eBook Month.”

How did she do that, HDTVexpert asked in mid-February.  “The effort,” Toews said, “was two years in the making.  I researched how to go about it, and then talked to my MP [Member of Parliament].  She was polite but not enthusiastic.

“I then talked to Betty Kasischke, President of EPIC [The Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition], who helped draft a resolution.  Epic had been interested in a similar resolution for the U.S., and they wrote to [President] Obama, who never answered.”  Toews gave the resolution to her MP, who was now enthusiastic and took the prepared resolution to Parliament, where it passed quickly.

HDTVexpert:  Do you think “Read an eBook Month” will encourage additional eBook and eReader sales?

Toews:  It probably won’t have a lot of practical effect.  But it provides an umbrella for events organizations might want to organize and it provides legitimacy.

HDTVexpert:  Do you think eBooks promote reading?

Toews:  Yes.  Young people love them. I have a two year old granddaughter who is fascinated by anything that lights up, and children with autism relate to eReaders and computers better than they do to human beings

HDTVexpert:  From your perspective as both a writer and reader, what makes a good eReader?

Toews:  The perfect eReader is still coming.  Readers need a longer battery life.  I don’t find color important but I can see why some people want it.  The addition of color can make eReaders attractive for comic books, cook books, and other kinds of books that don’t work well with current eReaders.

The concept of flipping through the pages conveniently is very important.  In my reading group, what was holding people back from eReaders was the inability to flip forward and backwards.  When I sent people the KAIST link [see below], they said “Wow!   This is what we’ve been waiting for!”   The combination of the KAIST interface with flexible screens would make a really effective eReader.   Then you could run your fingers along the edge and have the feeling of flipping the pages.  Wouldn’t that be cool?

Toews maintains a well-designed Website, ebookweek.com.  One of her current links is to the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) Institute of Information Convergence smart eBook interface prototype (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rVyBwz1-AiE).   The interface really does permit intuitive book-like page flipping in both directions.  One should ask about the hardware, software, and power overheads required to make this excellent interface work.  But Moore’s Law is still working, so it should just be a matter of time before the interface can be implemented in a practical way, if it isn’t already.