Redefining TV?

The world of television, and how we experience, is changing.  On one hand, we have the lumbering elephant of network broadcast TV, already beset by the dominance of multichannel distributors and their hundreds of channels of competition.  On the other hand is IPTV and all that brings - streaming video, user-generated video, social media, etc.  Add to the mix the growing prevalence of DVRs and the emergence of mobile TV in myriad forms, and pretty soon you have elephant stew.  Or maybe elephant curry.
Susan Ashworth, in a post on the TVTechnology blog, suggrested that there is an opportunity now to merge the quality content of the professional video industry with the ability to foster connectivity with viewers, and create an engaged, more reliable, and more valuable, audience.

Despite the initial wary eye that broadcasting had for what's being dubbed the "second screen," and its social media clique, broadcast networks and local stations, as well as cable and satellite, have slowly begun to embrace this phenomenon. By pairing a social media component with traditional broadcast solutions, networks are using social media to do everything anew: sensationalize the debut of a new program, exchange info with viewers, encourage speculation on upcoming programming and test their interests.

From initially viewing the Internet as a major threat, the big TV networks are beginning to embrace its potential - making its content available to viewers outside scheduled hours, and exploring the net's (and social media's) potential for promotion.  Led by local broadcasters, they're also beginning to take advantage of the available user-generated content. A group of local stations have partnered with ConnecTV to implement a system that would sync broadcast programs with second screen experiences. As ConnecTV's CEO Stacy Jolna quipped -

"There are new ways of connecting, new ways of advertising, new sways of promoting... This would really light up the TV experience for consumers."

She also notes that while harnessing social media chatter about TV is still in its infancy, broadcasters and networks are seeing the value of immediate feedback, particularly in contrast to the delays (and recent problems of) traditional ratings. 

"It used to be that the only personal connection you had with any on-air talent was if you say them at an event," the Weather Channel's Boss said. "[Social media] is a way to really communicate with and engage viewers in a conversation.

It's a changing world - take advantage of it.

Source:- Defining the TV Experience,  TVTechnology

FCC to allow some newspaper-TV cross-ownership

Part of the language of the 1996 Telecomm Act directed the FCC to regularly examine its ownership rules, with an eye towards opening things up.  One of the last areas to be addressed has been the 1970s-era ban on newspaper-TV cross-ownership in the same market.  The FCC tried a slight loosening in 2007, only to have its proposed change overturned by the courts in July because the FCC had skimped on the public comments period.
  The FCC has already permitted a few cases of newspaper-TV cross-ownership to occur in New York and Boston - in both of those cases, however, there were at least two newspapers in the home market and the TV stations did not have a significant local news presence at the time.  The new proposed rule will permit newspaper -TV cross-ownership in the top 20 markets, as long as the TV station did not operate as a duopoly (did not own or operate a second station in the market).  Final establishment of the rules will be delayed until the 45-day public comments period has lapsed.
  The newspaper-broadcast station cross-ownership bans originated in the 1960s.  At the time, local newspapers owned many of the dominant radio and television stations in its market, and the concern was that this would limit diversity in news programming and growth of broadcasting.  The ban initially pertained to any broadcast outlet, but in the 1980s, the FCC allowed local newspapers to pick up radio outlets.  With the FCC waivers in some markets, the considerable expansion of news outlets, and general deregulatory thrust of the last 20 years, I made an argument for the idea of allowing newspaper-TV cross-ownership, as long as neither was the sole media outlet of that type in the market's main city.  While there might be some concern in terms of news diversity, a strong local TV station can help subsidize a newspaper's operations (particularly a second competitive daily) while expanding news coverage opportunities for both outlets.  Considering the current state of local newspaper revenues and profitability in the top 20 markets, perhaps it's time to consider this more as a policy move to save daily newspapers and promote local journalism rather than a shrinking of news content diversity.

Source: FCC to Ease Media Rule,  Wall Street Journal

AT&T Pulls Bid for T-Mobile

When AT&T reached a deal to acquire T-Mobile about a year ago, it seemed like a reasonable deal.  AT&T gained some needed spectrum and improved its signal coverage areas.  In particular, the added spectrum and ability to repurpose some overlapping coverage areas would speed up its ability to roll out broadband 4G and broadband WiFi service.  T-Mobile subscribers would see their coverage areas expand significantly.  On the other hand, whenever you have merger and acquisition activity among the 4-6 largest firms in an industry, you have monopoly concerns.  With evil old AT&T (or at least its corporate name) involved, it also attracted a host of negativity from activists.
  This should have been of less concern in this case, as cell and wireless services are not monopoly services.  These firms face direct competition from multiple wireless and wired direct competitors in almost all markets.  Even with AT&T also a major landline telecom operator in some parts of the U.S., it's unlikely that the proposed acquisition would create any large monopoly markets, or even increase AT&T's "monopoly power" in major markets in the U. S.
  While it was anticipated that both the Justice Dept. and the FCC would look at the merger closely and investigate it's potential anti-competitive impact, it was highly unusual for both the Chairman of the FCC to publicly announce his opposition to the acquisition, and the Justice Dept. to launch an anti-trust suit against AT&T, before the results of those studies were in.  It was more like the administration opposed the purchase for political reasons and pressure from activist groups linked to the administration, rather than concern over the potential impact on public welfare.  So AT&T, reading the tea leaves, bowed to the pressure and pulled out of the deal.
  By the way, T-Mobile is still being shopped around by its current owner, Deutsche Telekom, with current rumors pointing to a deal with Sprint, which is a rung or two below AT&T in market size.  And for you non-economists, that deal is actually more likely to impact market concentration and result in increased monopoly power.  So much for the concern being driven by anti-trust concerns rather than being a result of anti-AT&T hysteria and political motivations.

Sources - AT&T Pulls $39 Billion T-Mobile Bid After Regulator Opposition, Bloomberg BusinessWeek
Activist Groups: Ding-Dong the AT&T-T-Mobile Deal is Dead, Broadcasting & Cable

IBM Predicts: 5 Transformative Innovations

The thing is, innovation just keeps on coming.  Much is incremental, but sometimes a new idea comes along that is transformative (or at least has the potential to be).  IBM's been trying to predict what's next for about a hundred years, from its earliest days as a builder of punch card readers to it's more recent habit of producing annual lists of what it thinks tech innovation will bring.  Sometimes the predictions miss, like when the 1950s era CEO predicted that total global demand for that new product of theirs, the computer, would be 5.  Other predictions, like computers could become personal devices, paid off big time.
  The most recent list makes 5 predictions about potentially game-changing innovations that could occur within the next five years:

1. Technology will be able to capture, store, and use common human movements as a significant power source.  Hybrid technology in cars is beginning to recapture power from motion changes - can technology be scaled down to capture human motions like walking or riding a bike?
2. Speech and facial recognition technologies can aid in creating unique identifiers for people, and a seamlessly interconnected network can use these instead of multiple sets of log-ins and passwords. "Each person has a unique biological identity and behind all that is data," IBM said. "Smarter systems will be able to use this information in real-time to make sure whenever someone is attempting to access your information, it matches your unique biometric profile."
3. Mind reading moves from fiction to fact.  Advances in the ability to monitor and record electrical brain activity are already revolutionizing cognitive research and aid those with spinal injuries.  As we learn to interpret the brain's signals, the human brain could become a direct input device.
4. The Digital Divide closes.  In the West, the Divide's pretty much gone, at least in terms of basic access.  Smartphones, tablets, and other connected devices will help shrink remaining gaps in use faster, and on a wider scale than relying on computers alone.
5. Junk mail becomes smart mail.  If you think of junk mail as unsolicited offers for random goods and services, then the connected net's ability to collect, store, and utilize individual preferences and behaviors allows smarter marketing.  You'll still be bombarded by unsolicited offers of goods and services, but in the future you're likely to actually be interested in them.  In addition, spam filters can also use that information to be more precise and effective, and help ensure that what you see is of at least potential interest or relevance.

Source -  5 Innovations IBM Says Will Change Your Life,  Information Week

Kindle Fire shows impact

MeFeedia, a video aggregator that draws from more than 30,000 publishers, reported that it saw a tripling of the number of installs for Android platforms after it released a Kindle-Fire native app.  The success of the Kindle version resulted in a jump to the top 100 in Amazon's app store for MeFeedia from the previous peak of 1,500 as a basic Android app.
  Frank Sinton, CEo of MeFeedia suggested the jump in use showed the importance in developing a native app for particular platforms, as they offer a better user experience and can drive greater usage.

Source - Video Publisher Sees Video Boost from Kindle Fire, VidBlog

Goin' Mobile - Content on the Move

A new report by Broadcom of a recent consumer poll suggests that the growth in mobile media devices is contributing to increased consumption of media content away from home.  Of those with mobile devices, about a third report consuming more than 10 hours of media content a week while on the go, and more than half report consuming at least 5 hours a week.  Two thirds reported they would stream TV signals to multiple wireless devices if their cable or satellite provider offered the service.
 And ownership of those devices has exploded in recent years - 22% of respondents said they had 6 or more wireless devices at home; 28% reported adding (and configuring) a new wireless device in the last month. When thinking about a new HDTV, two-thirds said they were more likely to purchase one that could connect to wireless devices and the Internet.  The desire for connectivity is extending to the car; when looking at a new vehicle's features, 52% wanted real-time access to traffic updates and other data downloads; 50% looked for easy attachment to digital music players; 43% looked for attachment points for smartphones or tablets; and 31% looked for Internet access.
  Home or away, multi-screen entertainment is on the rise - 87% of respondents claimed they consumed at least 10 hours of digital content weekly; 68% said they watch at least two videos a day, and 24% said they watched 5 or more videos daily; the survey found more than a third have said they've experienced "connectivity withdrawal" when unable to get online from a mobile device (smartphone, tablet, or laptop).  Furthermore, that's not a particularly rare occurrence, with some 30% saying it happens weekly.
  Increasing, the report concludes, consumers are demanding, and expecting, seamless and pervasive connectivity from both devices and content providers.  Consumer electronics firms are providing the enabling technology - content providers need to work on how to make their offerings available in ways that match.

Sources - Consumers Looking For Seamless, Pervasive Connectivity, MediaPost Research Brief
Broadcom press release

PolicyFail - Squeezing TV

Various proposals to recover a chunk of the broadcast spectrum reserved for television continue to be considered by various players in Washington, DC.  As noted in earlier posts, the shift to digital television was supposed to free up some spectrum, and previous channel reconfigurations have allowed the FCC to take back. About one-third of previously allocated spectrum has already been returned to the FCC for reallocation.  The current proposals would reduce local broadcast television spectrum by another 40% or so.
While the previous re-allocations were able to be accommodated with some minor shifting of channel assignments, the NAB estimates that some 40% of local TV stations operate on one of the channels proposed for reallocation, and remove much of the spectrum used by low-power TV stations and the retransmitters used to extend signals in rural areas.  As such, it's being strongly opposed by both commercial and noncommercial broadcasters, who note correctly that this reallocation would be costly, besides perhaps hampering any future local TV broadcasting expansion.
Driving the change is the need for appropriate spectrum to roll out nationwide broadband WiFi services, and a desire for the funds thought to be coming from auctioning off that spectrum.  At times, the reallocation and proposals for auction have been included as straight revenue enhancements, some proposals suggest that instead of straight revenue auctions, that potential spectrum buyers pay TV stations who agree to move (since both proposed services are local, there is no need for a broad national plan).
However, if reallocation is seen more as a revenue resource than as a beneficial shift in services allocations, I'm afraid there will be a push for a much bigger spectrum grab with little consideration given to the actual costs of making the transition, much less the social cost in terms of limiting local television options and availability.

Source: TV Channel Squeeze Proposed to Pay for Tax Cuts.  Broadcast Newsroom

10 Cool iPad Apps From Uncle Sam

'Tis the season for Top 10 lists.  This one's for fun, and a demonstration of potential.

1. Marines Magazine - a quarterly interactive multi-media publication.  Online version at http://marinesmagazine.dodlive.mil/ 
2. LeafSnap HD - in case you're wondering what kind of tree that is, snap a pic of a leaf, and they'll let you know.  They'll also let you access a lot of info about whatever it is.  (I've tried this myself).  Brought to you via the Smithsonian, Columbia University, and the University of Maryland.
3. NASA App HD - access thousands of images and videos, the NASA TV feed, and mission info.
4. Recovery.gov HD - supposedly identifies and allows tracking of all those Recovery Act projects.  Nice idea, but the data has proven to be less than reliable.
5. Federal Register app - coming from academia (U. of Central Florida) but with real-time links to the Government Printing Office, an online version of the Federal Register, which records all government actions.
6. Army Onesource Services Locater - lets you search for local U.S. Army programs, services, and resources.
7. U.S. Federal Reserve System app - you guessed it, info about the Federal Reserve banking system.
8. Set in Style - online guide to a jewelry exhibit at the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City,  Fairly typical museum app.
9. NASA Visualization Explorer - accesses some animations and simulations of geographic and astronomical phenomena.
10. Turning the Pages app - from the National Library of Medicine, accesses the digitized content of some of its holdings (digital captures of scanned pages), with some annotations and comments.

Looking over the list, there's really two I'd call innovative - the Marines Magazine (as they thought about how to make it a new experience on mobile), and LeafSnap (as the idea of really being helpful).  The two NASA apps are worth downloading because of the content available, but really just are mobile versions of online sites. The two museum apps, Set in Style and Turning the Pages, are nice in providing access to collections for those unable to visit the real thing, but are typical of what many libraries and museums are doing.  The rest are really just mobile versions of more typical online accessible databases.

I guess it's tough to come up with 10 really innovative and interesting government projects, so some padding was necessary.

Source -  10 Cool iPad Apps from Uncle Sam, Information Week

FCC orders CALM

No, this isn't a ban on negative political advertising.
Rather, it refers to the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act, which requires that TV advertisements be no louder than the programs surrounding them.  The FCCs gone through the process of setting standards and the notice of proposed rulemaking, and decided that it will leave monitoring and enforcement to be based on patterns of viewer complaints, and it will be up to stations (and multichannel video providers like cable and satellite) to ensure compliance (rather than a commercial's source).
The new rule doesn't seem to say anything about PSAs or sponsorship announcements on noncommercial stations, so I guess those can still be as loud as they want.
In any case, it should cut down on reaching for the remote to turn the volume down during commercial breaks.  At least a little.

Source:  FCC Orders CALM Over The Land, TV TechCheck

Deloitte's Tech Trends for 2012

Deloitte Consulting LLP recently released a list of what it feels will be the ten emerging technology trends with the greatest potential for impacting business innovation and how people access and use information.  There seem to be five driving forces behind these: Mobility, Social Networking, Cloud Services, Analytics and "Cyber".  They feel each of these offers the opportunity for further innovation and the potential to create new value for users and businesses.  Here's the list of the top 10 trends, along with some comments on the applicability within media and journalism.

1. Geo-Spatial Visualization takes advantage of the explosion of geographical, location-aware data.  Combining the GPS tagging of mobile with the ability of Social Networking to tag and connect, the Cloud to store and access, and new visualization techniques that allow info to be overlaid live camera feeds, this trend encompasses a wide range of new uses, from sharing recommendations to locating friends, to advertising targeted to user and location, to sending news (traffic, weather) updates or warnings to those in affected areas.
2. Digital Identities follows an effort to create unique identifiers that can follow users across the multiple devices we use.  Digital identities would benefit e-commerce and online advertising, and provide a single access point for restricted content subscriptions and services.
3. Data Goes to Work reflects the increasing ability to analyze and use the huge amounts of data generated online.  This is a trend that journalism can really benefit from, from data-based reporting, to better understanding of what online readers want, to what formatting and layout options work best.  Unlike past media measurement options, analytics can be used in real-time, and can use all responses rather than a sample.  As media continue to become more competitive, both advertisers and media firms need to pay more and better attention to audiences, and one way is to track how they actually use media.
4. Measured Innovation reflects the idea that analytics can also help focus and target your efforts to innovate, showing where the best potential for creating value lies.
5. Outside-In Architecture reflects the idea that our need to know is colliding with our need to share. Deloitte sees this in a transition from siloed, enterprise-out design to operating in rapidly evolving ecosystems.  Traditional media epitomize the siloed, enterprise-out design of the media firm delivering what they choose to a medium-specific market.  As this trend continues, media need to abandon that model and the idea that they control content and its use - they need to welcome and utilize what others create and want to share, and to be willing to share themselves.
6. Social Business.  Deloitte sees 2012 as the year that social moves from media to the business.  That's more than using social marketing - it's embracing social as a way of getting things done, leading to a fundamental reshaping of business operations.  Some news organizations are taking baby steps in this direction, soliciting contributions from readers and viewers (a very small step in that direction).
7. Hyper-Hybrid Cloud.  As Cloud applications continue to evolve, they enable a degree of integration across devices, enhance the value of mobile, and offer access to data, content, and programs to an unprecedented degree.  They also have the potential to help reshape how people view content and usage - in particular, in shifting focus from the value laying in the ownership of content, to the value coming from the ability to access content.  It also ties in well with the increased emphasis on sharing.  As this shift occurs, it will have significant implications for how content is marketed and for how intellectual property rights are framed.
8. Enterprise Mobility Unleashed - Mobility is helping many firms rethink their operations.  From a general business perspective, this means organizations "should make sure solutions are enterprise class - secure, reliable, maintainable and integrated."  For media, mobility reflects the continuing disaggregation of the mass audience - and the idea that there may be more value in allowing audiences more choice and control in their media use, than in maintaining control over a consistent media use experience.
9. Gamification - Not only are games a growing market, but aspects of gaming (simulations, game mechanics like tracking achievement, and skill-based learning) are increasingly recognized as having value in business processes.  Advertising and PR has learned the value of gaming as a means of attracting users, and as a medium for messages.  Media can also find better ways to use aspects of social networking and gaming to find new ways to engage users.
10. User empowerment - the primary source for added value these days is in consumerization, and in the customization of consumption.  In media and journalism, technology is giving users greater choice and control over what, where, how, and when media content is consumed.  Technology continues to enable new forms of competition and new sources of news, entertainment, and information.  Not only is there added value in providing consumers greater choice and control, but if media organizations can find ways to actively encourage interaction and engagement, they can build up brand image and reliance among users.  And in this new media environment, it's not just the numbers of the audience, but the level of their engagement and commitment that has value for the media organization.  Empowered users are more valuable users.

So, technology is likely to continue shaping the world generally, and I look for more significant shifts coming to media and journalism in the short term.  Many will be disruptive, but will also offer significant opportunities to those media and news organizations that try to embrace and exploit them.  At the very least, media need to be open to new ways of doing business in order to exploit the potential opportunities for value and revenues.

Source: Deloitte's Tech Trends Picks for 2012, CIO Insight

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