Viodi View - September 12th, 2007 Issue

In this on-line publication, we share our analysis, opinions and direction on the interactive television news and views that we believe will be of interest and use to our friends associated directly or indirectly with independent telephone companies. For more information as to the various ways Viodi works with independent telephone companies, please go to http://www.viodi.com/alliance/

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The Viodi View [Viodi, LLC] and its associates used their best efforts in collecting and preparing the information published herein. However, the Viodi View [Viodi, LLC] does not assume, and hereby disclaims, any and all liability for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions resulted from negligence, accident, or other causes.

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Viodi View Newsletter - September 12th, 2007

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By Ken Pyle, ken.pyle at viodi.com, Managing Editor, Viodi View

Hilton Head in September, what could be better? To have the honor of being a keynote speaker at the Occam User’s Group meeting in this low-key Southern resort community is even better. The hospitality was great and the panels I saw were excellent. The question addressed in my speech was, What is IPTV.

What is IPTV?

By now, one would expect a uniform answer to such a simple question. Fortunately, I was able to gather a group of experts, via electronic means, to give their respective views on just what IPTV is. Click here to watch this montage of comments from industry luminaries Kurt Scherf - Parks Associates, Jessica Kizorek - Two Parrot Productions, Sean Riley - Fox Cable Networks, Bruce May – WhiteBlox, Joe Weber - Author of the IPTV Crash Course, Kris Harikrishnan - moowee.tv, Drew Lanza - Morgenthaler.

VoiceMail to Email – A First Step to IPTV?

One of the presentations at the Innovative Systems User’s Group meeting was on the feature of receiving voicemail in one’s email box. That there had to be a presentation on this topic in August 2007 was somewhat surprising to me. Club Viodi members click here to read the rest of this post.

My First Video Game Console Since Pong

While others were relaxing over the Labor Day weekend, we were busy “testing” the Wii and thinking of ways an independent telco might exploit this interesting device. This is my first video game console since Atari’s pioneering Pong game in the 70s. Club Viodi members, click here to view the video that made its debut to the Independent Telcos that attended the Occam User’s Group meeting.

Open Platform IPTV?

A little more than a year ago, Viodi reported on an open platform IPTV approach from a Swedish government-industry organization, Acreo. Acreo is one Northport SE’s partners, that include a long-list of well-known IPTV names like Latens and Amino, for this Swedish middleware company that just announced a deal (pdf) that will eventually connect 19 urban networks and 250,000 subscribers. The open approach is intriguing and is worth further investigation to see if lessons are applicable to U.S. IPTV deployments.

Streaming TV - Almost Here?

One of the promises of IPTV is being able to connect a television or any other screen directly into the home IP Network and not require a set-top box. At the US Telecom Executive Business Forum yesterday, Todd Johnson of Sr. V.P. of Marketing for Verisign predicted that 2008 may be the year when televisions with this sort of capability become readily available in the United States. Based on some advance information from a new report from research firm S2 Data, he may be right.

S2 Data calls this new sort of device Streaming TV. Based on their poll data, people are receptive to this sort of device and the adoption of Streaming TV may revolutionize the living room in the same the way the DVR has. The interesting thing is that line between service provider and device manufacturer will blur as the large Consumer Electronics companies are engaging content owners to deliver content directly to the consumer, bypassing the telco or cable operator. Click here (pdf) for an outline of the report that covers this potentially disruptive approach to content delivery.

Football League or Media Company?

On the flight back from Hilton Head, I noticed an interesting article in USA Today regarding how the NFL has come to realize that they are a media company. As such, they are exerting tighter and tighter control of their content. News organizations are complaining that the NFL is restricting their ability to report and record video, as they are limited to 45 seconds of onsite coverage per day at a team facilities. It will be interesting to see if this tight control may ultimately backfire on the NFL, as fans may perceive a lack of credibility if the coverage is too one-sided.

Camtasia Software Review - by Roger Bindl

Click here to view Roger Bindl’s review on TechSmith’s Camtasia software for screen and windows recording, editing, presentation, and more…

WiMAX Roundup: Market Gathering Momentum as Deployments Advance by Alan J. Weissberger

There has been quite a bit of positive press about WiMAX deployments and resolution of critical issues. Most if it is not the usual hype and spin we’ve heard for years, but hard news about deployment plans and vendors selected for build-outs. We attempt to summarize these developments in this article and provide links for the interested reader to pursue those topics in more detail.

Weissberger’s Take on MuniWiFi - by Alan J. Weissberger

In this news summary, we take a critical look at Municipal WiFi networks in light of recent cancellations and uncertainty, we revisit the mobile broadband and WiMAX markets, check out VoIP and IEEE 802.11n developments. We also report on a new startup pursuing services for rural broadband customers. Finally, we quote the opinions of Vince Cerf on the Internet remaining open (now working for Google, he is obviously a proponent of net neutrality and an open Internet). To read the rest of the article, click here.

People on the Move

Terry Fletcher, a long-time veteran of independent telco IPTV, is now with Tandberg. He is one of the few people in the industry who have been involved with the entire IPTV food chain, from headend to set-top and all points in between.

Josette Bonette, formerly with RHK and now with Cookie Jar Entertainment (e.g. Caillou), spoke at the Fierce IPTV Evolution conference as to how owners of content have traditionally built their businesses on advances and guarantees and it is a huge culture shift for them to change to a “consignment” model (e.g. revenue sharing). She explained that the content owner faces challenges in understanding what rights they actually can sell and things such as music clearance and rights of publicity can slow or kill a particular license deal.

[more about the Fierce IPTV Evolution event and the US Telecom Executive Business Forum in the next issue].

The Korner - Music, Video & the Internet for Good

Is IPTV the video that a friend sends you? Will some of the most popular video channels in the future be those sent from your friends? I know when I am on the road, I rarely flip on the TV in the hotel room and most of the video I end up watching comes from friends or the clips Roger and I produce for ViodiTV. In the case of the following video, sent from a friend who is a hero in my eyes, video over the Internet can actually do some good.

The video promotes an organization called Augie’s Quest, named for its founder Augie Nieto who also co-founded the famous fitness company, Lifecycle (now Life Fitness). Nieto’s goal is to cure Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ( ALS); which he was diagnosed with in 2005. Revver hosts this video, which is embedded on John Ondrasik’s web site, www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com.

Ondrasik, of, Five for Fighting fame, was so inspired by a video that someone had made to one of his songs that he created the aforementioned web site for people to use his music to affect positive change. This is so refreshing, as licensing music for video applications is one of the most painful tasks a person can undertake in the content world. More on that in some future issue. In the meantime, watch this video, click on the ad at the end of the video and Augies Quest will receive donations of up to two dollars.

[Another call for help – has anyone with Comcast.net accounts been experiencing problems getting onto Viodi.com or Viodi.TV? Please let me know if you have.]

Please feel free to forward the Viodi View to anyone who may be interested in our unique view of the intersection of the independent telecom, entertainment and technology industries.

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