[opendtv] Re: Broadcasters Cut Out of Convergence
- From: Mark Aitken <maitken@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 11:57:47 -0500
I have a googleplex of words to say in response, but there is NOT a pipe
big enough to accept either the total amount (...nor the peak rate) of
verbiage and expletives without clipping the response to a meaningless
dribble of words. So...seeing that anything less than everything would
allow a loss of meaning for many, I will remain silent in my response...
Besides, I think most of what remains unsaid by me at this time HAS been
said here before!
Mark
Junior Warrior in this (as of now apparently lost) battle...
Craig Birkmaier wrote:
>Hmmmmm...
>
>Perhaps the ball is starting to move.
>
>At least we are now seeing a major Broadcast publication tell it like it is.
>
>Broadcasters are "forcing" the content conglomerates to bypass them;
>as a result they are finally beginning to understand why they are
>watching from the sidelines...
>
>Regards
>Craig
>
>
>Broadcasters Cut Out of Convergence
>
>January 19, 2006 12:00am
>Source: Broadcasting and Cable
>
>As the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and MacWorld Expo wound down
>earlier this month, the takeaway was that the long-hyped
>"convergence" between the broadcasting, consumer-electronics and
>computer industries had finally become a reality.
>
>Hardware manufacturers at CES demonstrated a range of non-traditional
>devices for viewing television, from cellphones to portable video
>players to computers with digital-video- recording (DVR) capability.
>Internet companies, not setmakers, grabbed headlines with deals,
>including Google's plan to sell CBS programming through its new Video
>Store.
>
>Over at MacWorld Expo, Apple chief Steve Jobs announced that iTunes
>had sold 8 million music videos and TV shows since mid October and
>that NBC will sell clips from Saturday Night Live on the online
>service.
>
>What is unclear is the role broadcast stations will play in this new
>era, particularly in regard to mobile viewing. The mobile devices
>touted at CES all have a common thread: They don't rely on broadcast
>spectrum. Most of the broadcast networks' new video services aimed at
>computers or handheld devices are delivered via the Internet, usually
>through a cable company or telco, or over cellphone networks. And
>most don't offer stations a cut of the revenue pie.
>
>"I was at CES, looking at these things, and it gives one pause,"
>admits Clear Channel Television Chief Technology Officer Mike DeClue.
>"The broadcasters are definitely getting squeezed."
> CBS SHARES THE WEALTH
>
>NBC and ABC aren't offering affiliates anything from their iTunes
>deals, but CBS has taken a different tack, sharing some of the 70%
>cut it gets from Google Video Store with the network's affiliates,
>according to a person with knowledge of the deal. Google gets the
>remaining 30% of revenues from sales of CBS shows at $1.99 each. (CBS
>is also sharing revenue with owned-and-operated stations in markets
>where it is offering video-on-demand programming through Comcast.)
>
>Lynn Claudy, senior VP of science and technology for the National
>Association of Broadcasters, says broadcasters "should be
>uncomfortable" with the new focus on small screens and Internet
>video. While some stations are providing short news and sports clips
>through mobile-phone providers, and companies like Modeo and Qualcomm
>are developing systems that deliver live video to cellphones, Claudy
>thinks stations need to reach consumers directly. That may require
>broadcasting to mobile devices.
>
>"For a broadcaster, the best deal is never going to be giving your
>product to someone else to distribute to their customer," says
>Claudy. "You want to use your own infrastructure. The future of
>broadcasting is more tied to the control of getting that signal to
>consumers than getting it to a headend or central office and getting
>a check."
>
>That will be a challenge. The U.S.' Advanced Television Systems
>Committee (ATSC) digital-television standard was not originally
>designed to support mobile reception, which was one of the criticisms
>station groups like Sinclair Broadcasting leveled in the late '90s
>when they pushed for a switch to the European DVB digital television
>standard. The industry is still working to tweak the U.S.' VSB
>(Vestigial Sideband) transmission scheme to enable mobile reception,
>and a solution is several years away.
>
>STILL A WAY TO GO
>
>"In terms of reaching mobile devices with ATSC digital-television
>[DTV] signals, the short answer is, we are not there yet," says ATSC
>President Mark Richer. "The challenge is that we have to develop the
>solution with a certain level of backwards-compatibility so existing
>viewers can still get high-definition TV and other services."
>
>In 2004, ATSC approved a standard called Enhanced-VSB that is
>supposed to allow digital reception under weaker signal conditions.
>The system allows stations to lower their data rate in exchange for
>making the DTV signal easier to receive. But Enhanced-VSB has yet to
>be commercially deployed, and ATSC is pushing for further
>improvements.
>
>In addition to improvements in receiver technology and video
>compression, U.S. broadcasters might need a different transmission
>architecture to support mobile DTV applications. Richer says some
>markets may have to adopt the European approach of using multiple
>small transmitters, all broadcasting on a single frequency, to ensure
>handheld reception.
>
>Stations have already tried to make a business of transmitting
>content to computers through their digital television spectrum. In
>the late '90s, various station groups joined forces behind DTV
>"datacasting" concerns like Geocast that promised to deliver content
>to PCs, but those efforts disbanded as DTV receiver chips were slow
>to make it into PCs.
>
>CAPITOL SHIFTS ITS FOCUS
>
>Capitol Broadcasting is still testing a DTV datacasting service in
>Raleigh, N.C., but has shifted its focus to providing content through
>cellphones with its News Over Wireless service (see B&C Special
>Report, 1/2 issue). "For us, it's not an issue of 'Does digital TV
>data broadcasting work?'" says Sam Matheny, general manager of News
>Over Wireless. "It absolutely works. It's a matter of getting a
>critical mass of devices out there to receive content."
>
>ABC isn't currently involved with any efforts to support datacasting
>or other ancillary services through the digital spectrum, says Albert
>Cheng, executive VP of digital media for the Disney/ABC Television
>Group. Instead, the network is delivering content to the broadband
>and mobile-phone platforms. Part of that is technical expediency,
>because there is already a large number of PCs and cellphones ready
>to receive content. The other reason is the challenge of reaching a
>datacasting agreement with more than 200 broadcast affiliates, which
>Cheng says is "like running Congress: Everyone has a different agenda.
>
>"We want to do something national," he adds. "[But] we only own 10
>stations, so it's quite an effort to corral the different parts of
>it."
>
>One encouraging thing to come out of CES for broadcasters was the
>introduction of thumb-size DTV receivers that fit into the USB port
>of a laptop or PC. Such devices could help promote the delivery of
>DTV content to PCs. And as the downloading of Internet video becomes
>more popular, DeClue thinks it may overload existing broadband
>networks and force content distributors to look for new delivery
>channels. Who better to distribute a download of Desperate Housewives
>to 500,000 PCs in a market, DeClue asks, than broadcasters?
>
>"There is already an overlaying mechanism that can distribute content
>really seamlessly, in an encrypted fashion, in a local market," he
>says. "That is DTV."
>
><<Broadcasting and Cable -- 01/19/06>>
>
><< Copyright ©2006 Reed Business Information. All Rights Reserved. >>
>
>
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><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><>
Regards,
Mark A. Aitken
Director, Advanced Technology
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