FCC seeks magic black box for video
The FCC wants to see Internet video on your TV. And a lot more.
The commission has issued a call for comments on how to make set-top boxes of the future integrate traditional cable/TV programming and the Internet.
The FCC notes that myriad devices exist for accessing Internet video, yet almost none of them also allow for access of offerings from multichannel video programming distributors (cablers, satellite TV, etc.). The goal, apparently, is to encourage development of network-agnostic television/broadband set-top boxes that are consumer friendly.
Put simply, the FCC seeks info on how to develop “plug and play” hardware capable of bringing in all forms of video from all types of providers. Sick of your local cable monopoly? Buy your programming from another state. Take that, cable guys.
“The consumer will be king,” said the senior counselor to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. “You’ll be able to get your own set-top box that does all the whiz-bang things you want it to do, and you’ll be in control,” Colin Crowell told the Los Angeles Times.
The FCC’s Dec. 3 document said: “As the popularity of (Internet) delivery of video continues to increase, we believe that new applications will emerge, Internet use will increase, consumers will have more viewing options, and more viewers will want to access Internet content on their televisions.”
“The convergence of the television and content delivered by (the Internet) makes this a critical time to promote innovation in set-top devices that could support the Commission’s effort to drive broadband adoption and utilization.”
The goal also is to achieve near-universal access to the Internet. The FCC points out that while “76 percent of U.S. households have personal computers, 99 percent have television sets.” That dovetails with the National Broadband Plan.
Have some tips for your media watchdogs? Check out the FCC video document.
Our advice? Think really, really big pipes.
Rogers boots up online vid portal in Canada
Canadian TV web watchers can’t access Hulu, but come Monday they’ll have their very own online video TV service. Assuming they subscribe to Rogers Communications cable service.
“We’re no longer in the cable TV business,” said Dave Purdy of Rogers video product management, as he unveiled the On Demand Online service. “We’re in the video entertainment business.”
The service will be ad-supported, Rogers hopes. Premium programming will be in the mix at some point, but otherwise the content comes free. Access is limited to Rogers’ cable and/or cable modem subscribers in Canada — sorry, no border hopping allowed.
Content kicks off with about 15 broadcast partners and 19 TV and specialty channels. Rogers owns several cable channels (Citytv, Sportsnet, A&E, Bio, G4 Canada), which will be included at launch.
Rogers last month cut a deal with Michael Eisner’s Vuguru online studio, giving the cabler exclusive Canadian rights to its Web productions.
Similar to YouTube’s early model, viewers have the option of standard definition and a higher-quality offering that they’re not calling HD (cheers).
Astral Media launched TMN OnLine in October, offering the Movie Channel content to consumers who get their TV via the Bell system, which competes with Rogers.
U.S. cable giant Comcast is rolling out its ballyhooed TV Everywhere service before the end of the year, using the same interface (thePlatform) as the Rogers version. Comcast owns thePlatform, which is based in Seattle.
Download update, via speedlinks
A mixed bag of video download-related news this week — let’s cram it in with some speedlinks:
Hulu, the new online video site from NBC Universal and News Corp., is operating at least somewhat in the spirit of the web. Its beta search function produces hits on shows from rival networks such as CBS, ABC and A&E. Advertising Age has the Hulu story. …
“Why are fewer viewers watching the new fall television series?” the New York Times asks. “Perhaps because they are too busy watching video online.”
More Hulu: NBC Universal vows something like 3,600 hours of Olympics coverage on its nbcolympics.com video site, most of it live. That’s the spot to check out the weird Olympic sports like badminton that no one will touch on network TV. Oh yeah, the network said, some clips might will find their way to Hulu, the New York Post reports in a story on online Olympics ads. The B-status doesn’t sound good for Hulu, Silicon Alley Insider reports.
Miro, the new open-source video player, was released midweek. TechCrunch lists the advantages over Joost thusly: “Miro is open-sourced, DRM-free, friendly to all content creators, connected to all the popular video sharing sites like YouTube and blip.tv, high definition, full of content, and BitTorrent-enabled.” Mark Hendrickson calls it a “purer” player worth checking out.
High-definition: YouTube plans to serve up HD videos in the next few months. Reel Pop says streaming HD movies would contribute significantly to the video playground’s overhead costs. Meanwhile, Vudu, the set-top box download system, is conjuring up high-definition titles from Paramount and Lionsgate. The P2P-driven player went on sale last month. Read some of the early reviews on Vudu.
AT&T’s investment in Vobile — maker of “VideoDNA” technology for tracking videos as they cross networks — could lead to the telco blocking subscribers’ dubious downloads, Silicon Alley Insider speculates. Bitstreamers could counter with a shift to VPN services, the site says. Virtual private networks keep the snoops away from your online streams — but anyone who’s wrassled with one of these pain-in-the-ass connections would seek other remedies.
What’s on the Internet tonight?
Last 100’s Daniel Langendorf asks himself: “Is the Internet the fifth major TV network?”
I figure we’ve had a powerful fifth network for years: HBO, home of “The Sopranos”
But if we’re ruling out pay cable and The CW (yes, let’s), this is a perfectly legitimate academic just-for-grins rhetorical question.
Here Daniel gets good and worked up over some pop content that’s caught fire.
I’m excited to “tune in” to an Internet “channel” like MySpace or YouTube to catch the season finales of shows like “LonelyGirl15″ and “Prom Queen,” just like I was anxious to see what happened in the network finales of “Lost” and “Heroes.” I’ve even caught myself during the day wondering, “What’s on the Internet tonight?”
All things TV eventually will be distributed via the Internet or its successor anyway, but there you have a fun concept to debate over a couple of Red Bulls. What did we talk about before the Internet, anyway?
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The television empire strikes back
“The noise and the hand-wringing that have come because of the launch of companies such as Joost, and from companies such as Google, Microsoft and Apple claiming that your PC is the next television, are wrong.” So says Michael Kokernak in MediaPost’s Video Insider column.
Kokernak points out, correctly, that the television industry is fighting back. The networks and their software-hardware allies are pouring money into redefining that medium for the digital age. Nielsen, my former employer, has been under tremendous pressure to greatly improve accountability in its performance measurements for TV advertisers. TiVo changed the TV picture forever, and each day offers previews of the type of interactive techniques we’ll be seeing for direct marketing.
Kokernak adds:
With the move to digital in 2009, along with the arrival of new technology systems that will build on the legacy of television advertising, the advantages that television on the Internet has for advertisers will evaporate. So, beyond security problems and having to pretend watching “Heroes” on a small computer monitor is just as good as watching it on an high-definition TV, new “television-killing” Internet portals have nothing that television will not be able to offer advertisers in only a short time.
