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Viodi View Newsletter - February 2nd, 2005 Issue

Indie Telco Local Content Workshop Advertisement

The New TV O.D.

By Ken Pyle, Viodi, LLC

“I don’t need a TV, I just stick the cable in my vein and get TV O.D.”
- Some unknown New Wave band from the early 1980s

In the early 1980s, 77 channel state-of-the-art cable systems heralded in entirely new forms of programming and a seemingly limitless supply of television channels. Based on what was shown at NATPE last week, we are about to see a similar revolution, except this time the content will be delivered to cell phones and through the Internet. Just as the cable television technology changed the nature of the programming, so will technology affect the types of programming created for this new wireless medium.

It is clear that the cable programmers are thinking of how they can produce content for this new medium, based on the number of announcements from companies such as Fox, ESPN and others announcing product for cell phone networks. I happened to be in the booth of SmartVideo, a sort of content aggregator for cell phone providers, and realized that this was a hot area when I saw a major content provider aggressively pushing for a meeting with their content acquisitions person.

Using wireless as an interactive technology was also on display at Travertine Entertainment’s booth. Travertine was showing an interactive technology that utilizes the cell phone as a return. There were also a number of companies, such as Multicast, Livemercial, Continental Broadcasting and Narrowstep, that were showing different ways of using the Internet as an inexpensive way of providing streamed or on-demand video.

At the Interactive Television Alliance panel ITV Advertising Workshop: Advertiser as Partner, it was suggested that producers of content need to design programming such that it can communicate to all of the touch-points and different devices, regardless whether the devices are connected via the Internet, cell network or via cable television. Brands are beginning to fund a lot of the content. John Bryan of eMuse, an interactive television tool supplier, gave an example of an interactive application that was created for a television show in England for the cost of approximately $30,000 and returned approximately $160,000 in revenue (80,000 people paying $2 each to play the interactive game).

Jeff Weber of SBC made a strong case to the content folks in the audience as to why SBC’s approach could be of benefit. He said that SBC is currently talking to content providers and explaining their approach. He indicated that they will be able to add value through the interactivity that is inherent in their approach. He also stressed the importance of local customization. They are going to attempt to create new business models and drive existing models further.

Patricia Karpas, General Manager of AOL TV, reinforced the importance of working with producers and writers early in the process of creating content. She also suggested that their will be an increasingly symbiotic relationship between the web and television. She provided several examples of television shows that have had an AOL web component. For instance, AOL showed the premier of the television show Jack and Bobby, which resulted in over 700k streams and helped the show build an early following. She pointed out that broadband is the ultimate form of interactivity. The message boards and communities provide immediate feedback on the content.

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