GigaOM » broadcasting

Aereo CEO: Our cheap TV wouldn’t exist without cloud computing

Jeff John Roberts — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 20:31:54 +0000

The legal controversy surrounding TV-on-the-go service AEREO is interesting — but not nearly as much as the blend of technology that gave rise to the company in the first place.

Aereo is a service that lets people watch live TV anywhere they go by renting them a personal antenna that beams shows to their phones, laptops or tablets. The service, which can be bought for $1 a day, is getting lots of attention because big broadcasters are suing try to sue it out of it existence.

Speaking in New York on Wednesday, Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia explained that the service is only possible because of a “perfect storm” of technology advances that have dramatically lowered the costs of broadcasting and subscriber acquisition.

For example, Kanojia pointed to Aereo’s “antenna farm” in Brooklyn. The site hosts thousands of mini-antennas, each about the size of a dime, that subscribers in New York can rent on a daily or monthly basis. The technology, which offers a combined TV/DVR service, is so compact that Aereo can fit 50,000 pairs of antennas in just 200 vertical square feet.

This is remarkable but perhaps more remarkable are the plunging data and transcoding costs that meant Aereo could build the site in the first place. Kanojia says the company is buying “tens of petabytes of storage” for as low as $95 a terabyte, and that the price is dropping all the time. What this means is that when (and if) Aereo clears the legal hurdles, it can scale nearly instantly in cities and towns outside New York.

“The cost structure based on the cloud is a fraction of what it was,” he said, adding that companies like Aereo can plan businesses “on the anticipation of these cost curves being driven down.”

Kanojia credits massive R&D by the giants of the tech industry with not only lowering the costs of cloud computing but also changing consumer expectations about media and TV subscriptions. He says these changes have made it possible to offer $1/day subscriptions where consumers can come and go as they wish.

“There’s no installers, no boxes, no lost equipment … they can come in and give it a try for $1.”

While Kanojia is a Steve Jobs fan, he doesn’t think the late Apple founder’s “give them one price” philosophy works for subscription services which, he says, work better with a blitz of options.

In the bigger picture, the Aereo founder says that “TV should be like Twitter” — available everywhere and backed in every application.

None of this will please the big broadcast networks whose content Aereo is rebroadcasting without permission. But Aereo-style technology now seems to be an inevitable part of the future — going back makes about as much sense as going from lightbulbs to candles.

Kanojia spoke at VideoSchmooze, an annual gathering of video insiders hosted by Will Richmond of VideoNuze.

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Connected consumer third-quarter 2012

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 06:55:33 +0000

The third quarter saw many parts of the traditional media business in flux. New digital platforms that once had confined themselves to user-generated content began to invest in creating professional-quality content. At the same time, TV programmers began to wrestle with both the threat and the opportunity presented by second-screen and social-TV platforms. The period also saw the rollout of new device-based content ecosystems, red flags and red ink for traditional consumer electronics makers, and a resurgence of consumer purchases of movies. This quarterly wrap-up discusses these developments as well as offers trends and topics to watch for the remainder of 2012 and beyond.

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Aereo’s Barry Diller sues to squash copycat BarryDriller

Jeff John Roberts — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 14:43:14 +0000

Broadcasters and Barry Diller are locked in lawsuits over Aereo, a service backed by Diller that lets subscribers watch TV on Apple products like the iPhone or iPad. The two sides appear to have found common ground, however, in their desire to shut down an Aereo competitor.

Diller, who used to run Paramount and Fox, filed a complaint this week against BarryDriller.com, a new service that offers TV-on-the-go to west coast markets. The complaint notes Diller’s fame based on works like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Grease, and accuses BarryDriller of cyber-squatting, trademark infringement and stepping on Diller’s right to publicity. Diller had initially joked about BarryDriller, telling the Wall Street Journal, “I had hoped that if they steal my name they’d do it for something more provocative.”

Diller’s suit comes on the heels of a Fox lawsuit that says BarryDriller infringes the copyright for shows like The Simpsons and Glee. BarryDriller is run by David Alki, who launched the short-lived FilmON, a TV streaming service that the entertainment industry smothered in 2010. He appears to have named the new venture BarryDriller in an effort to generate publicity and, possibly, to stick a finger in the eye of Diller.

While Fox may be on the same side as Diller against BarryDriller, it is also part of a major effort by broadcasters to shut down his Aereo business, which offers TV and DVR services for around $12 per month. Fox and other broadcasters say Aereo, like BarryDriller, infringes copyright though they have failed so far to win an injunction.

Technology advances lead to legal pile-up

New technology and changing notions of TV is what lies at the heart of the legal pile-up. Specifically, Diller’s Aereo has been relying on a legal loophole that says one-to-one transmission is not broadcasting and therefore shouldn’t be considered copyright infringement. To make the argument hold up, Aereo points to a novel technology that gives every subscriber a dime-size antenna. Each antenna relays a personalized stream of over-the-air TV signals to subscribers’ iPhones.

Aereo also says its service is the legal equivalent of remote DVR recording technology, which courts have said doesn’t infringe copyright. But the broadcasters disagree, and claim Aereo is hiding behind a technicality. They says the “one antenna one user” theory doesn’t change the fact that Aereo is retransmitting shows without permission.

The dispute is about law, but also about money of course. The broadcasters recently won a drawn-out battle to force cable companies to pay them for retransmitting their shows and now, one suspects, they want Aereo to pay too. Diller, for now, says Aereo has no obligation to pay. BarryDriller’s Alki, on the other hand, has offered to pay retransmission fees.

If they build it, will anyone watch?

The legal snafus that have greeted new services like Aereo and FilmOn are part of a long-running pattern in which incumbent broadcasting interests want to control platforms against new disrupters.

In this case, however, copyright and copycats like BarryDriller may not be Aereo’s biggest problem. Instead, there is a question of whether the service will be viable from a business perspective. Aereo, which for now is only available in New York, is experimenting with new pricing incentives to get people to try the service but for now its prospects look uncertain at best.

Dan Rayburn, an analyst with Frost & Sullivan, recently told the LA Times that Aereo was “dead in the water for multiple reasons” even if it can win its court challenge.

Part of Aereo’s problem may be that there simply may not be that many situations where people want to pay to watch broadcast TV on a mobile device.

Here’s the legal complaint, which asks the defendant to hand over the BarryDriller.com name and to pay damages to Diller:

(Ed note: an earlier headline suggested it was Aereo who filed the suit. It is Barry Diller who is suing).

Diller v BarryDriller

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Will Aereo be the next Slingbox?

Paul Sweeting — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 22:00:11 +0000

Now that streaming broadcast startup Aereo is formally launching in New York, the litigation watch is on. From an operational perspective, the closest analogy to what Aereo is doing may be Slingbox’s model. And despite occasional threats, no broadcaster or content owner has ever sued Sling Media (now owned by EchoStar), a failure that ultimately could weaken any case brought against Aereo.

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NBCU taps Google to create cross-platform audience metric for 2012 Olympics

Daniel Frankel, paidContent — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:03:44 +0000

NBCUniversal will once again use its Olympics coverage to search for what it calls the “holy grail” of audience measurement. The media conglomerate has commissioned Google and research company comScore to develop new ways to measure viewership across broadcast, cable, internet and mobile platforms. Read more at paidContent…

Photo courtesy of Flickr user [lilivanili]

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Watch Your Mouths, Brits: Media Monitoring Service Adds BBC

Janko Roettgers — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 16:00:24 +0000

Imagine this: Someone on U.K. television is mentioning your brand or product – and you automatically get an email about it right away. It’s now possible, thanks to a new cooperation between the broadcast syndication company Critical Media and the BBC that will be announced Wednesday.

Critical Media will add TV and radio content from BBC to its Critical Mention service, which already captures and indexes more than 1,000 media sources from all around the globe. Altogether, more than 30 hours of TV and radio content are being captured and indexed by Critical Media per minute. The new cooperation adds content from BBC One, BBC Three, BBC Four, BBC News, BBC World and other Beeb outlets to the mix, according to a spokesperson.

Media monitoring isn’t just about giving brands a competitive advantage; it’s also a hotly-contested market itself, with companies like TVEyes promising similar services to companies that can afford it. Add to this the growing importance of closed captioning and video indexing online, and you’ll end up with many places where one could turn to find clips mentioning a certain brand.

However, Critical Media aims to outgun the competition by making media monitoring one piece of a bigger puzzle, which also includes services it provides to broadcasters. These include Syndicaster, a service that transcodes clips for local news networks which we covered a while back.

This approach of helping both brands and broadcasters has worked well for Critical Media in the U.S., where Critical Mention now indexes content from all 210 TV markets. The company plans to expand its business offerings to U.K. brands later this year.

Image courtesy of Flickr user ell brown.

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Achieve Your Goals by Putting Them Online

Darrell Etherington — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:00:48 +0000

Nothing will motivate you to achieve your goals like making other people aware of the specifics of what you’re aiming to accomplish. At least for me, the threat of public shame is a great tool you can use to prevent yourself from giving up on your dreams. Making others aware of your plans also has the added benefit of potentially providing you with great feedback about how you might best go about carrying through with them, too. The web is a great place to publicize your professional goals, especially if that’s where you do the bulk of your work. But just tweeting your aim doesn’t mean it’ll come through. As with most things, a plan will help increase your chances of success.

Step 1: Alert the People You Trust

If you’re worried about the feasibility of your goals, bouncing them off of your closest friends and relatives is a sure way of getting some invaluable early feedback. You probably have some good friends who aren’t afraid to make you look foolish (and, in fact, might relish the opportunity), so you don’t have to worry that they’ll pull punches to spare your feelings. Conversely, if you have a good idea, they won’t summarily cut you down, like some of your more trollish online contacts might.

Your inner circle of real-life peers and confidants will also have a better idea of what you’re realistically capable of. In fact, they might be more aware of your own limitations than you yourself are. Most Internet connections, as familiar with your work as they might be, will likely judge based on the apparent difficulty of the goal in a general sense, without specific reflection on your level of talent, dedication or ability.

Step 2: Keep Your Twitter/Facebook Friends in the Loop

Once your plan has passed muster with those you trust, you can broaden the audience using Twitter and Facebook status updates. Don’t make a huge deal out of it, but do post things like “Starting work on my ABC certification today, wish me luck!” At the very least you should secure some words of encouragement.

Most likely, depending on the size and nature of your networks, there will be others among your friends and contacts who’ve tried to achieve the same or similar goals. They’ll be able to offer advice, helpful links, and possibly even prep materials or information sources, depending on what it is you want to accomplish.

Mining your social networks for support is great, but be prepared for challenges, too. Anything from doubt concerning the merits of your chosen goals, to flamebait and personal attacks is possible, but the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages, particularly if you’re thick-skinned. Hopefully, you’ve already applied the golden rule of the Internet: Never take anything personally, unless it makes you look good.

Step 3: Broadcast Beyond Your Network

While making the people you know and interact with on a regular basis aware of what you intend to do is the best way to get yourself to stick to your guns, it might not be the most effective method of garnering feedback.

Reaching out to strangers might give you a fresh perspective on what you’re doing, and how to go about doing it. It may also help when your goals are off the beaten track, and therefore less likely to be shared by other individuals in your social circles. To some degree, Twitter will broadcast your plans out to the ether if people are searching for keywords that occur in your tweets, but other alternatives are much more targeted.

MySomeday is a new web app in public beta that is designed specifically to help you share your goals with others in a community setting that will help you garner constructive criticism and words of encouragement. The concept is simple: You post a plan, and other members of the community comment on what you want to do and how you want to do it. You set up steps towards achieving your goal, and then you rate each step in terms of importance and check them off as they’re accomplished. Checking off tasks updates your progress bar, which displays the completion percentage of your overall goal.

Step 4: Stick to It

Just talking about your goals is a sure way to not accomplish what you want to do. Action is the only real solution, but sometimes the key to spurring yourself to act rests outside of yourself. Regardless of whether you draw your inspiration from yourself or others, though, the only way to achieve your goals is to persevere in your pursuit of them. Especially for web workers, using the Internet to garner encouragement might just be the extra push you need to keep your nose to the grindstone.

Does sharing your goals with your network spur you into action?

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BoinxTV Now Shipping

Matthew Bookspan — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 01:00:01 +0000

A few weeks ago I wrote about the beta of BoinxTV and provided a brief overview of the product. As a quick refresher, BoinxTV is a videocasting (video podcasting) tool designed for small production teams. It has a very flexible interface and enables you to quickly record, package and broadcast your video production. I would argue it is a great tool for those who do not have access to the resources of a major broadcasting network.

As of today, the product is shipping in two versions: a sponsored edition (SE) for $199, which inserts a five second ad into your production video or an ad-free edition for $499.

The final release also provides the ability to customize layers using the Quartz composer in OS X 10.5. And, if you need some assistance in creating a layer, Boinx is now offering services to help you do this. Just note that there is a fee for Boinx to do this — $999 per layer. Depending upon your needs, this might seem expensive or inexpensive.

You can learn more about BoinxTV 1.0 here. There is a five-day demo available as well. For all the functionality this product provides in a fairly easy-to-use interface, the value is there for your production needs.

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