TV
Can Hunt’s local TV plans defy history?
A thriving local television landscape has long been on the wish list of UK politicians but, over the years, success has been elusive. Numerous providers tried and failed to make a go of local TV using cable networks or analog spectrum through so-called restricted services licenses (RSLs). Back in the 1990s two big media groups – the owners of the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror national newspapers – tried to make a splash in local television on cable with their respective Channel One and L!ve TV ventures. Despite pioneering concepts – video journalists (Channel One), topless darts (L!ve TV) – both channels flopped. Read more »
Google plan highlights rather than closes gaps between web and TV
Google’s plans for its Smart TV product are finally out of the box. Some of the things it announced for truly lived up to the considerable pre-launch hype, and it was certainly the shot in the arm for TV that it promised to be. Read more »
What is a coalition likely to mean for UK media policy?
Media policy was never likely to feature particularly highly on the new government’s “to do” list and the emergence this week of the UK’s first coalition government since the Second World War is unlikely to lead to its being given any greater priority. Indeed, it does not feature at all (bar pledges to review libel laws and the ending of storage of Internet and e-mail records without good reason) in the seven-page coalition agreement published yesterday. Read more »
BT and Verizon: Worlds apart in terms of IPTV
The keynote speeches by BT and Verizon at IPTV World Forum yesterday couldn’t have been more different. Terry Denson, vice-president of programming and marketing, for Verizon’s FiOS TV service gave a slick presentation featuring slides boasting impressive subscriber numbers and aims to maximise average revenue per user (ARPU). Richard Young, director of business development for BT’s Vision choose to preface his talk with a speculative video about the future of TV, but went PowerPoint-free otherwise. Now I welcome a break from PowerPoint as much as the next person, but there was a distinct sense of style winning over content about BT’s presentation, in more ways than one. Read more »
IPTV: A gentle whiff of desperation in the air?
In 1967 Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys was working on his album Smile. Paul McCartney visited him and played some tracks from Sgt Pepper, warning him “You’d better hurry up, we’re almost finished.” This was too much for Brian, who realised his project had stagnated and he’d been overtaken. Shortly after he was playing in a sandpit and having a nervous breakdown.
Walking around the IPTV World Forum today, I was struck that many of the conversations I was having were very similar to those I’d had five years ago. What is the best business model? Are open standards the way to go? Should there be greater investment in network upgrades? The success of IPTV is still very much subject to overcoming the same issues described five years earlier.
But, while many of the topics were similar, the big difference this year was the tone of the conversations. Five years ago there was a relaxed confidence surrounding IPTV. The feeling was of a technology on the cusp of something big and the world being its oyster. Today there was a slight whiff of desperation. Instead of looking forward, there was a tendency for delegates to look over their shoulder at who or what may be about to overtake them.
In his presentation at the conference, Paul Bristow of ADB summed up IPTV’s report card to date in a single word: “disappointing”. Save for a handful of positive examples, that’s a difficult summary to argue with. So does this stagnation mean IPTV is headed for a Brian Wilson style meltdown, as something ‘better’ overtakes it?
Thankfully, I think we are a long way from that, but some signs of significant progress in the near future would be very welcome. Consumers are still waiting for an ultra-compelling service that offers them easy access to the multitude of content choices available to them. It had better hurry up, but IPTV could still evolve into that service, so there’s no need to jump into the sandpit quite yet.
China’s online-video players face tough task in going ‘straight’
The decision by China’s leading online-video players, such as Tudou.com and Youku.com, to move toward a more orthodox business model by signing licensing deals with content providers and even beginning to produce some of their own content seems like good news for everyone. But there is a long way to go before any of the country’s online players can really claim to have “gone straight.” Read more »
German public broadcasters face flak over HD picture quality
They have only been broadcasting in HD for a week, but German public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF are already facing hefty criticism for their HD picture quality.
Read more »
Online video could be key factor as ITV’s new chief ponders pay TV
A week after ITV announced that former Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier would be its new chief executive – and with variations on the “now he’s got the post, can he deliver?” joke beginning to run thin – ideas about what Crozier needs to do to turn around the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster are starting to be fine-tuned.
Sky 3D: The verdict
Last weekend, I donned a pair of 3D glasses and settled down to watch the world’s first live broadcast of a sports event in 3D.
With around a hundred other guests invited by BSkyB to a central London pub we watched the Arsenal vs Manchester United Premier League match played out in full 3D. And how did it look? Read more »
Over-the-top TV needs fine-tuning to truly court couch potatoes
Early adopters put up with a lot. They risked crippling back injuries to tote the first portable laptop computers. They paid over the odds for broadband for the pleasure of being “always on,” albeit at 512Kbps. They overlooked the many failings of numerous generations of smartphones to access the Internet on the move. So it should come as no surprise that the latest trend to sweep the telecoms and media markets should prove to be a bit of a disappointment. Read more »
Quick Links
© 2010 Informa Telecoms & Media. All rights reserved.
