White House Unsure of Challenging Media Ownership Rulings

One of the apparent concerns may be that in trying to frame an argument for the Supreme Court to consider reversing the 3rd Circuit decision which overturned the FCC broadcast ownership dereg rules, it could open the door to an even broader questioning of the core underpinning of federal authority to regulate broadcasting--spectrum scarcity.

If that kind of question gets asked, the answers may fundamentally alter the means and manner of government communications policies and rules (maybe even the rationale for must-carry)..

Time Warner in Quadruple Bundling Offer

Time Warner "sprints" to head of bundling pack with this deal...this where MSOs are heading and DBS wishes it could go...

Televising Executions

TV/media critic, Howard Rosenberg, raises a question that was raised and discussed years ago at Court TV. Few at the time, and certainly not Steve Brill, were advocates, and all the issues of taste, appropriateness, value and purpose were discussed.

Long before the appearance of hostage murders in Iraq showed on the internet, the idea of having some kind of secure webcast was considered. If as many people are in favor of the death penalty as reported, it is a valid question to ask: should those in favor have the opportunity to see what the ultimate penalty is like? The death penalty represents society's judgment that the value of deterrence/revenge/closure is appropriate and justified. If the Supreme Court holds that, unless specific other other circumstances exist, the death penalty is not "cruel and unusual; punishment", then perhaps society should have some means of access. If its too repugnant or difficult to view, except for those closest to the case and victim, then perhaps there are deeper questions to consider.

Cell-Phone Video: Self Censoring

Mobile phone distribution of video is heating up, but the content may not be as 'hot"...while the market is still speculative, many content owners are entering and exploring the possibilities...Playboy (for example), need not apply..at least for now...

Cable Systems Move to Digital Simulcast

Even with the industry challenging the FCC's thinking regarding the eventual prohibition of integrated set-top box issue and digital multicast must-carry still open, MSOs are moving to take back bandwidth now for HD and more digital tiering uses...though not quite full conversion to digital delivery in these systems, it does show where cable distribution is moving one way or the other...over time, the distinction between analog and digital in terms of technical delivery will disappear and all services will be delivered digitally from head-end to home and a networks channel and tier placement will be everything..

Cable Companies Take the Fiber Highway to Change

This is how MSOs fully morph into telecommunications companies and seek to maintain significant edge over DBS...telcos need to spend big-time capital on upgrading to fiber fr the "last mile" and from curb to the home...with major MSOs expanding ownership of fiber, this is how all that bandwidth for HD, VOD, telephony, etc., will be carried...one of those odd businesses I discovered in this business long ago was the latent value in dark fiber; lines already in place and just waiting for use..now, dark fiber may well become more of a historical memory,although all that capacity still needs users and buyers for the services..

AOL Deals Time Warner Free to Deal But Under Watch

Time Warner settled the AOL inquiries but the requirements made part of the deal place AOL (and Time Warner) in a position of continued vigilance, self-reporting of irregularities and imposes an outside monitor on the business unit...AOL will co-operate in ongoing criminal investigations and there will be indictments to come fro those AOL execs who created and approved these deals built on imputed vapor and the kind of imaginative value that blew up the internet bubble and then pushed it to bursting. like a dream red shift universe breaking free of physical laws...

Verizon "Discovers" New Video Territory with Discovery Deal

The video competition begins to heat up with the announcement of this deal, allowing Verizon to enter the bundled services arena with video...even though the current number of fiber Verizon homes are relatively small now, as it continues to grow Verizon (and its former sister RBOCs) will try and do what DBS has so successfully done--take subs from cable..

Anime Network Finds Way From VOD To Linear

Anime, with its natural ties to gaming and a global following, may be more likely than other formats to move from VOD to linear, but it does show the possibilities...the key will be what will be the next nets to travel the same road..how long, how many and at what cost to make the trip..

FCC Finally Says "No"

FCC reaffirms precedent in stating that a pay service like Sirius in not subject to broadcast rules on indecency...

You don't want to listen to or watch something? Change channels, read a book, talk to your kids..or yourself..

Of course Congress, finding its favorite place for government regulation and intrusion, could change the law and then we'd need to rely on the Supreme Court...

I think I'll pray...

Online File Sharing Movie Piracy

Protecting copyright in the digital/broadband market isn't easy, but whether music or video it must be done...

Cable-Telco Competition: What Is Fair?

Seeing video competition coming from telcos, the NCTA argues that the FCC and Congress should not allow telcos to "redline" communities and only offer video services to middle and upper income households. If cable is under franchise rules requiring the wiring of the entire community, then telcos should not be allowed to decide which segments of the community to serve.

On this, I agree. Competition is a good thing. Regulatory skewed and fractured competition is a bad thing. Cable and telcos and DBS and wireless and other delivery mediums should compete on as level a field as possible. Telcos don't need OVS type rules or regulatory exemptions from franchising rules to fairly compete. Telcos have the money, the means and only lack the will and corporate culture to succeed. Maybe its time to revisit franchising requirements, although there is a reasonable fear that some communities will be de facto redlined or placed way down a list for service.

A question that needs to be looked at and considered.

Broadcasters See VOD As New Revenue Stream

With broadcasters beginning to look at VOD of its best as new revenue streams, maybe even folks like Comcast will have to listen to ways to create a revenue model for VOD that works for content providers and distributors...having done a deal with Your Choice while at Court TV, I remember how too early for the market that time-shifted service seemed, and proved, to be...

Good Look at How Cable Companies See 2005

When you're still trying to sell in programming, its good to know what the buyers are thinking and where you fit--even if it feel like a tough fit that takes more work than it ever has before...and the Street still is cautious...

Regional Bells look for FCC Win

Regional Bell companies looking for FCC victory in expected ruling that would allow the Bells to charge higher prices to competitors for leasing acess to key Bell switches and interconnection points...to date, competitors had right to expect regulated access charges thereby controlling the competitor's operating costs....if Bells get the ruling they expect, it could help them in their move into offering more competitive bundled services...

New network's Family Ties

Want to be a new network with a chance? Helps to be born into a nice big, rich and powerful family....make that Fox Family..

TV One With Free VOD Move

With Comcast in ownership, and TV One needing to increase sampling, creating and offering a FVOD platform makes sense....

Feeling Wired? or Wireles? You Will Be...

A good look at how connected we and our homes could be as the digital/broadband/wireless evolution revolution continues...

HBO and "Creative" Product Placement

Pay Service HBO says it has not, and will not, accept money for product placements, yet scripted shows contain many references to and appearances of products which can be very valuable exposure...competing nets which do accept direct placement deals wonder how HBO can seem pure and above this commercial fray, yet allow the creative environment to present such valuable exposure...

DBS Continues to Grow At Cable's Expense

The message of VOD, DVR and bundling has yet to staunch the loss of cable subs to DBS...MSOs have spoken about DBS bottom-feeding and not taking away the high-end RGU rich households, but this kind of ongoing subscriber loss has to hurt he bottom-line and potential for up-selling to a diminishing base...seems like basic issues of service and cost still have a lot of sway as more cable subs go away...

How We Watch and What We Do While Watching

More watch alone, while ad skipping, reading, talking, imagining new destinies...at least the former Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine is on...

Internet Phone Growth for Cable's Big 2

The focus on internet based telephony looks like its beginning to pay off for the Big 2..and serves as notice where the business growth and attention will be as MSOs evolve into full service communication and telecommunications companies..

NBC Returns to Web Based Selling In Bigger/Interactive Way

NBC has tried this before with a shopping type website, but this effort is more interactive and broad in scope...if this begins to work, expect to see more and more, especially with all the concerns over ad skipping and DVR impact on traditional tv based selling..

Technology, Innovation, Disruption

Maybe more than any other industry, the media business knows how central technological innovation is to growth, productivity and new market creation. With those opportunities, however, comes job change, job elimination and the requirement of new skill sets. No business is immune from such change and the impact on America's economic present and future is seen every day. For some, it is a Darwinian time of survival and adaptation, for others swift extinction. Happy Holidays..and God bless us, everyone.

'Tis the Trademark Season To Have Priority

Ahh..the American melting pot, simmering with diversity, spirituality and commercial exploitation....please light a candle for all of us..

Congress Decides on Digital Transition "Resolution"

Looks like Congress will (i) pass a resolution urging complete broadcast transfer from analog to digital by end of '06 and (ii) dropping Senate provision requiring FCC to decide on digital multicast must-carry by end of this month.

With FCC Chairman Powell looking to back-off from any end-date requirement and Congress moving to resolution rather than statute, the deadline (end of '08, end of ;09) may yet be more open-ended than some would like. But the myriad issues of costs, multi-casting, etc., are real enough and can't be resolved solely through government mandate.

BellSouth Looks to Wire Up

Faster speeds, better DSL, more competitive services to sell...another example of the marketplace heating up for broadband..and more...

Ads Continue Move to Cable and New Media

The continuing shifts in media viewing, use of DVRs and growth in broadband is reflected in where the ad money is going....cable programming looking stronger by comparison with broadcast but more money is shifting from both to new more direct forms of connection with viewers...as is often the case, automotive spending leads the way...

First the Series and Now New Media

First the Series...now Boston area tech companies show some interesting possibilities in how we will communicate, share info, entertainment and maybe a few new ideas thrown up into the ether and captured by the unseen web that is beginning to encompass us all...

The Changing Face of MTVN

Ahh..the joys of multiple network ownership and the means to play in new media and newly discovered demographics...online, wireless, Hispanic....MTVN has come to represent far more than the "I want my MTV" days and even MTV isn't MTV anymore...programmatic evolution creates opportunities both in the changing and the fields left open by the changing..

Put Down That Star! Watch TV Instead!

Why waste your time on the check-out line trying to figure out which extraterrestrial slept with which Hilton sister...there's a TV right there while you're waiting for the guy ahead of you to decide if he really wants that Coors Light Multi-Pack...and if there's any impulse buying, its not he programmer's fault...

VOD View From Comcast VOD Point Person

What the Comcast point person (or, at least one of them) thinks about VOD is crucial information. As Comcast goes with developing VOD content and models, so will go the market; at least in large measure for a while. With new content ideas being seen almost exclusively through the VOD prism of distribution, anyone thinking of offering America a new channel will most likely need to begin walking down this VOD road, brick by brick, with Comcast.

Movie Ads..No,The Other Kind

Products have been increasingly showing up in films (and, of course have been a pre-movie endurance for too long) and here is an article on how this business is going....from domestic to foreign markets (and,to counter DVR ad skipping, increasingly from big screen to small screen as well)

Supreme Court Takes on Cable Modem Case

In case you missed this, the ultimate decision on this case could have a huge impact on the cost of and how broadband service is distributed, offered. The decision will turn on the how cable modem service is defined under FCC regulations: as as a telecommunications service which is subject to common carrier regulatory requirements (including access to connections from third-parties) or as an information service which is free of such obligations.

Cable and large telcos are on the same side, hoping that the Court rules in favor of the FCC's decision to consider modems as an information service, with large telcos hoping for more of a de-regulatory arena on high-speed broadband which can benefit their own broadband businesses. Entities like Earthlink and NetZero favor the common carrier status because it could facilitate their own businesses if they could have easier and guaranteed access to existing broadband lines.

Cable companies fear a loss of their present competitive advantage and a loss of economic incentive to invest and drive the broadband infrastructure if competitors can connect to their facilities.

PBS: Purpose and Relevancy in Today's Market

With cable and DBS penetration now at or exceeding 90M homes, the questions regarding how and why PBS should be funded will likely grow. As a former PBS/NPR guy through my work at the former WNYC Communications Group, it was always easier for me to make the case for NPR in a marketplace where radio became increasingly homogenized, niched and predictable. PBS has been, and continues to be, a source of excellent television. However, except for more rural markets, the diversity of cable and satellite programming is a reality for many American homes. Yet, while PBS culture and operations need reassessment and the kind of deal recently struck with Comcast for creation of a new toddler channel raises additional questions, I still believe that a public television voice can offer valuable alternatives. The still undecided issue of digital multi-cast must-carry needs resolution in a way that doesn't guarantee any broadcast entity carriage of multiple video streams per broadcast signal, but in that framework there is room for a revitalized PBS.

AOL on Balance Beam

AOL seeks to create free site rich enough in content to attract users and advertisers, yet allowing for enough separate valued content and services to sustain fee service. Not an easy balance beam effort, especially when a backward flip from prior policy is required, but with original dial-up business slouching towards extinction and so many cheaper to free web access alternatives, AOL needs to try. If it doesn't quite work, save your money; AOL may be available in a few years.

Showtime & Comcast: Time to Show Free VOD

Showtime will be offering already aired programs from series as part of Comcast's relentless free VOD platform. Arguing that offering these samples may result in subs deciding to buy Showtime for more and current shows, this announcement demonstrates the power of Comcast's reach and focus on adding more and more free programming to its VOD servings. One question is: with Comcast's appetite and demand for more free VOD product, at what point can (and will) Comcast begin to transition to some mix of SVOD , allowing programmers to share revenue and receive some incentive to produce distinct and original VOD content.

I imagine a case can be made that the subscriber community first needs to better and more broadly understand and appreciate VOD before any effort at charging can begin. At present, getting the VOD message out beyond the industry and trades remains difficult. MSOs can cite numbers, yet I believe many subscribers still mix DVRs with VOD with the distinct nature of VOD remaining elusive. Beyond specific movie channels, the nature and potential of VOD still is largely unexplored territory.

Broadband/DSL: America Getting Wired

Broadband/DSL continues growth and becomes increasingly integrated into the mix of choices of how viewers/subscribers/humans obtain/experience/interact with entertainment and information. With still only 24 hours a day, and other activities competing with the siren call of tv, these kind of numbers should attract the attention of content providers, advertisers and marketers everywhere

HGTV Celebrates 10 years: At Home in America

HGTV, whose time came some time ago, shows it knows how to continue to grow and evolve...as successful a story as cable has to show what it can offer the American viewer..of course, having a parent like Scripps would help any channel find the means to make it, but I remember the comments and jokes from some when the channel launched and Scripps continues to laugh all the to the proverbial bank...

British Telephone Calls Up Broadband

British Telephone to offer broadband video content as means to supplant declining POTS income...like the telcos here, the future is no longer in traditional land-line which will slowly decline and erode as more folks only use cell phones and PDAs...video and broadband is where the market future is and BT plans to get there...

WebTV...Its Coming

This article from Forbes shows that the idea and potential of web based full video content is catching on...the business/legal model, reach into enough homes for sufficient adoption to carry it through remain questions but that is always the case with new modes of delivery...whether or not its Akimbo or any other current pioneer/player, with Microsoft and other heavyweights in the game, this is one that will be part of the mix..

PA Limits Municipal WiFi

At a time when the digital/broadband/wireless divide remains real and retains the potential of seeing certain urban and rural neighborhoods trying to catch up to the communications and business opportunities passing them by, Pennsylvania now has a law supported by Verizon that severely limits a municipality's right to provide WiFi....Whether or not any city should spend resources on this should, IMHO, be the decision and right of that city in deciding on the benefits to its citizens..and having a bit of competition and spur for the private sector is a good thing...unless, it seems, when the reality of that seems more problematic than the theory...

ESPN Going Mobile

As previously reported, ESPN is moving on down the wireless line to provide content specifically for mobile phones....though especially well suited for sports, this new kind of service can be adapted to news/info updates, sneak peaks of programs, music, joint marketing pitches for new movies or products..as with any content, limited only by imagination, rights and technological limits...

More Music--Its Universal

Looks like record companies are seeking as many new direct reach/marketing possibilities as possible...a package of music services offering the widest range of music choices and programming seems likely as the digital/broadband/interactive/VOD distribtion world offers more opportunities...in a way reflecting the infinite splitting and niching of the music itself, to me there is always room for the new idea that presents its content in ways that intrigue, excite and get the heart and feet moving...