CTAM Summit 05: Untethering Content — And Subs

Even a year ago, the question might have been “will cable go portable?” But the panel convened on the subject at CTAM was all about how and when, not if. Or, as Steve Jacobs, Sony VP-broadband alliances, put it: “The potential, the promise, the nirvana is just beyond the edge.” (Of course, the edge could be a mirage.) For some, that nirvana would be untethering content from one set-top box so it can be viewed or listened to throughout the house — something some cable operators already provide in limited areas. Providing remote access to in-home content a la Slingbox or Orb is another possibility. An ideal: Pay for your cable programming once and get it across platforms. Or make it possible for content to be moved between set-top and portable device so you literally can take the show on the road. Then there’s the cell phone, perhaps the most difficult part of the equation for MSOs. None of it is easy for programmers or operators — and DRM is only a part of the challenge.

– Connectivity issues reach beyond moving material from set-top box to portable device or, in the case of programmers, beyond repurposing or creating content for different platforms. Portable products have to work with multiple encryption systems, multiple set-top providers, technology that varies from operator to operator. I always enjoy hearing someone from Sony talk about interoperability; Jacobs was emphatic about the need to move away from walled gardens. “You really need to plug a Sony device into iTunes,” he insisted.

– The Weather Channel is already as portable as it gets, offered across multiple carriers, multiple types of partners, different applications, WAP and SMS. But Debora Wilson, president of The Weather Channel Companies, explained, in order to make that work “we literally are programming for hundreds of different applications which all have to be unique and different.” TWC has an additional challenge when it comes to portability: speed. “You can’t wait for an hour for that clip to be produced; the storm has already passed,” says Dr. Phillip Alvelda, chairman and CEO of MobiTV parent Idetic Inc.

– For MobiTV, Alvelda explained, producing a TV experience on the cell phone put it in a wrestling match between two elephants – carriers and programmers each demanding the majority of the revenue. He said since launching they’ve been able to show that a “successful value chain that has been very profitable for everyone.”

– Prompted by an audience question, the panel agreed that portability isn’t for youth only. But, Sony’s Jacobs says, remember that aging consumers have different equipment needs: “We need devices that don’t have tiny little icons, tiny little knobs รข

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