Category: tv

I think it’s time for broadcasters to consider VOD through VidCasting (aka podcasting). I know that recently Cringely described his vision for how his employer PBS would be able to offer an on demand selection of 10,0000 titles. I agree though don’t know it needs to be built entirely through affiliate stations though that might help defray some distribution / bandwidth costs.

While PBS certainly has a nice selection of content, much of it would not be watched yet… as much as I believe in the Long Tail. Yes that’s a key point of the Long Tail notion, but I think initially we’ll need to see some popular downloads and availability in addition to simply providing deep catalog access.

There are a few key audiences for this… Business Travelers, Technology Early Adopters, and Parents with young kids. I think the last group (of which I am a part) is actually the most important for mass adoption. You’ll always have the first two groups buy in at some level for new technologies, either “because they can” or because it makes travel easier and more fun. Parents though have different needs and making content available and portable would be a fantastic opportunity.

In many way ways children programming is ideal for on-demand options as well as portable players. If you’ve watched any program recently, you’ve probably noticed that there are few if any commercials (perhaps a sponsor spot at the beginning and end and then just pure 20+ minutes of programming. Noggin does a great job packaging their shows in this way and even includes a few “extras” to fill the half-hour slot with a song or activity (not a commercial) making it pretty likely that even in the age of the DVR you don’t really fast forward that much as their is not much to skip.

We’ve noticed already how Hannah (our just about 17 month old daughter) understands that things can be queued on demand from the DVR or from our DVD archive. She totally gets that we can rewind or fast forward to a favorite song with Barney and Blue or skip over a part on Sesame Street. Hannah actually asks that we skip or rewind… Growing up, we did not have a VCR when I was Hannah’s age, let alone cable TV. All that came later… kids today have very different expectations for how their edutainment is delivered…

In my perfect world, the content would be available to either come directly to a DVR or a computer in my choice of format so that it could be taken on the road for family car trips (always an adventure). I see DRM-Free MPEG-2 coming through my cable box (much more than is currently available through the on-demand selection of Time Warner) and an option of formats (MPEG-2 or MPEG-4) for my computer so that shows could easily be taken on the road by portable DVD player or portable media player.

I think this could go through a podcasting (RSS with Enclosures) system, utilizing Bit Torrent to properly credit speed back to those households sharing back to make it easy and accessible for more people. You’d simply subscribe to a show and let RSS deliver the goods to your torrent system.

This does not have to be laden with DRM as there is currently not much of an illegal supply of kids programming online… There’s a reason for this. Parents don’t want to rip off the providers of good stuff for their kids. Make it available, make it easy. There’s no need for us to edit the commercials (as there are none), just deliver it in the current form.

Amazing news for Tivo as they fight back up the stock market… Next year will be a big year for Tivo for sure. They’ll have a dual-tuner HDTV cable card box and installs in Comcast’s vast network. If they can successfully embed the service within the existing dual-tuner hardware as this news notes through a software download, it should be a major home run for consumers as well as for both Tivo and Comcast.

NEW YORK (AP) – TiVo Inc. (TIVO), the struggling pioneer of digital video recorders, will make a customized version for Comcast cable subscribers, the two companies announced Tuesday. TiVo’s share price soared.

The move will increase TiVo’s presence in American homes as it faces competition from generic DVRs offered directly by leading cable companies. Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) expects to begin marketing the new DVRs, which will carry the TiVo brand, by mid- to late 2006.

“The strong TiVo brand, the clear track record of customer loyalty it has and its cutting-edge features make this a terrific partnership and exciting new product for Comcast,” Steve Burke, Comcast Cable president, said in a statement.

The deal calls for TiVo to adapt its software to work on Comcast’s existing DVR platform, and it allows TiVo to extend to Comcast subscribers the advertising it sells in the form of interactive video clips that automatically appear in the TiVo menu. [My Way]

The WSJ (sub required) has an interesting piece of the pending board meeting of Cablevision and the future status of Voom. While Voom is the clear leader in HD content, it has yet to attract enough customers to make it a viable business risk for the Cablevision parent. It’s actually pretty amazing they still only have 26,000 customers.

Charles Dolan, founder and chairman of Cablevision, wants the company to keep funding Voom, which launched service about a year ago but had only 26,000 subscribers at the end of the third quarter. Other board members, including James Dolan, Cablevision’s chief executive and Charles Dolan’s son, favor shutting it down or selling it at a discount if necessary.

A majority of the 14-member board sides with James Dolan, according to people familiar with the matter. “There is a significant disagreement between Chuck and everybody else over the Voom project,” one person said.

The dispute could lead to a shakeup of board members, according to people familiar with the matter. The Dolan family through its voting stock appoints eight of the directors. Among the eight seats the family controls are several members of the Dolan family, including both Charles and James Dolan. It is unclear whether Charles Dolan controls enough of the family interest to remove directors who oppose him. However, as the founder and family patriarch, Charles Dolan likely has the influence to have his way. His son, James Dolan, likely has less influence than his father over the rest of the family.

Cablevision chief operating officer Thomas Rutledge and Victor Oristano, a member of the board, declined to comment. Charles and James Dolan couldn’t be reached. People familiar with the matter said it was uncertain whether today’s board meeting will lead to any decisions or public announcements. “This is a very fluid situation,” one person added.

The battle represents one of the most dramatic disputes to surface within the Dolan family, which has built Cablevision into the country’s sixth-largest cable operator with about three million subscribers in the New York City region. But public spats aren’t unusual for the Dolans. Currently, James Dolan is engaged in a high profile fight against New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg over whether the city should help build a new stadium on Manhattan’s West Side. James Dolan argues, among other things, that a new stadium would hurt Madison Square Garden, another Cablevision property.

The satellite business has long been a dream of Charles Dolan, one of the pioneers of the cable industry who founded, among other things, Home Box Office. He has long believed that satellite is a more efficient means of delivering television than cable systems. Charles Dolan also believes a satellite business would give Cablevision a way of selling the cable networks it owns, like AMC and Independent Film Channel, directly to households without having to go through the middlemen of other cable or satellite companies. [WSJ]