PBS’s MediaShift is launching a line of ebooks, starting with titles on self-publishing and cord-cutting. Executive Mark Glaser says he plans to release 10 to 20 books this year, depending on how well the first titles do. Read more at paidContent »
PBS showed quick social media instincts on Sunday night with a tweet inviting people to ditch the “Blackout Bowl” for some British drama. Here’s how it happened. Read more at paidContent »
This week’s flap over Big Bird shows how unexpected digital media events can provide companies with amazing advertising opportunities — so long as they are nimble enough to make and buy ads in a matter of hours. Read more at paidContent »
In the first quarter of 2012 all eyes were on the screen, both big and small. Apple’s new Retina display pushed video streaming, and broadcast-TV streaming service Aereo’s launch was quickly followed with litigation. These events and more are discussed in a new quarterly report. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Fanhattan is trying to make it easier for users to discover content available on mobile, and soon connected TV devices. With that in mind, it has added videos from new content sources, including movies from Crackle and TV shows from PBS and Lifetime. Read more »
PBS will air an hour-long documentary about Apple’s iconic co-founder called Steve Jobs — One Last Thing on Nov. 2. The documentary will feature interviews with colleagues, professional and personal associates, many of whom appear in the new Walter Isaacson biography of Jobs. Read more »
Julia Child’s The French Chef is going digital for the first time: 200 episodes of the show are coming to Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) Prime Instant… Read more at paidContent »
Documentary master and father of his own iPhoto slideshow effect Ken Burns’ latest effort will debut first on the iPad and iPhone, starting Sept. 23. PBS will make the first episode of Prohibition available first through its iOS apps, over a week prior to TV broadcast. Read more »
The impact of digital technology has shattered long-established monopolies and ways of making money in the newspaper publishing industry. Today, publishers must find ways to subsidize content-creation costs directly, and this report examines a few different approaches, from more flexible paywalls to charging users directly for access and mimicking the business models of other industries, such as online gaming. Companies mentioned in this report include Ford, Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Would consumers pay to stream live, local TV channels to a Roku or other connected set-top box? And if so, how much? That’s a question that’s on the mind of Sonic.net CEO Dane Jasper, who’s doing a little bit of informal market research on the topic. Read more »
The live-stream video market is entering an upturn in the typical hockey stick growth chart. Tens of millions of desktop viewers use browser-based players to find live-streaming content on an ever-increasing number of web sites and mobile devices. Raw viewership will grow fastest in the consumer segment, where sites like Justin.tv and Qik are focused. Those like Kyte, Livestream, Ustream and BitGravity, meanwhile, primarily offer platforms to commercial content providers seeking a mass audience. And as the market grows, both in terms of viewers and of the number and type of content providers, it will support both those with a diverse, one-stop-shop approach and those who specialize in particular content and audiences. Additional companies mentioned in this report include YouTube/Google, Sony, HTC, Vivu, Facebook and Apple. To see a full list of companies and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Clearly, the accord that emerged from the Copenhagen climate negotiations has drawn criticism. President Obama has acknowledged that, saying “people are justified in being disappointed about the outcome in Copenhagen.” Read more »
NHL.com Benches Inaugural Video Player In Favor Of Sleeker, More Social Model; the NHL VideoCenter is a less-cluttered, higher quality, more social contender with expanded content. (paidContent) Search Captions on Hulu; new Hulu Labs projects searches captions for hundreds of TV shows. (Hulu Blog) Rovi Works […] Read more »
Adobe Drops Flash Support for PowerPC G3; Flash Player 10.1 will be the last to support PowerPC-based G3 computer, which was last made in 1999. (CNET) YouTube Adds PBS NewsHour; the official NewsHour YouTube channel will have reports from the NewsHour television broadcast posted the same […] Read more »
NCR Rolling Out Blockbuster Kiosks in NY; 200 DVD-rental machines heading to the Big Apple in a bid to take on Redbox. (The Wall Street Journal) VidQue Aids in Video Discovery; uses social filters to find the best videos across a variety of categories. (TechCrunch) Video […] Read more »
PBS isn’t just about Antique Roadshow anymore, PBS Interactive SVP Jason Seiken told the audience at our NewTeeVee Live conference today. But he’s the first to admit that PBS isn’t really the hippest brand around. The average age of PBS television viewers is “pushing 60,” he […] Read more »
Over the past three years, the Internet has become a major secondary distribution platform for free-to-air broadcast programming. Whether through network programmers’ own sites, such as ABC.com, or through aggregators like Hulu and TV.com, ad-supported broadcast programming today is generally available online shortly after its initial airing at no cost to the user. However, programming such as ESPN, TNT and the Discovery Channel, which originates on pay-TV platforms (i.e. cable, satellite and telco TV services) has been a different story.
Cable system operators and other multichannel video program distributors (MVPDs) are loathe to see the programming for which they are charging subscribers hefty monthly fees made available “over-the-top” without a subscription. Over time, they fear, consumers would be tempted to drop their expensive cable service if they could access their favorite programs online.
Cable networks, for their part, collect hefty fees from MVPDs for the right to retransmit their programming, from a few cents per subscriber per month, to as much as $3.75 per subscriber per month, for the most popular channels like Disney’s ESPN. In aggregate, cable networks collect about $25 billion per year in “affiliate fees” from MVPDs, about the same amount as they generate collectively from advertising sales.
As a result, much of the original programming on pay-TV networks is not currently available online, and that which is often doesn’t appear until well after its original air date. The popularity of portals like Hulu (not to mention illegal sources of TV content), however, has accustomed consumers to expect access to their favorite shows online, putting pressure on the industry to respond. Network programmers and marketers, meanwhile, are also anxious to extend their programming franchises by tapping the broad, online audience.
TV Everywhere, which aims to make subscription programming available online exclusively to current pay-TV subscribers, represents an effort to square that circle. In this report, we look at the players, potential costs, and emerging opportunities of these efforts. Read more »
PBS officially took the wraps off its aptly named PBS Video Portal today, showcasing full-length programming from the venerable TV network. The beta site will host thousands of hours of PBS programming including Nova, Frontline, Antiques Roadshow, and The News Hour with Jim Lehrer. The site […] Read more »
Do-it-all media software Boxee just got a new update that should have Apple users jumping for joy. It incorporates elements from recent test releases and is now relatively bug-free compared to early antecedents. Those elements include Hulu and Pandora integration, as well as other App Box […] Read more »
The 2008 election and online video have had a lot of special moments together: The CNN-YouTube primary debates. Obama Girl. Will.i.am‘s “Yes We Can.” Saturday Night Live’s “Fey-lin” skits. And even though those examples might lean to the left, online video isn’t just a liberal thing. […] Read more »
