Viodi View - January 17th, 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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Viodi View Newsletter - January 17th, 2007

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

Viodi – the name describes what we are doing this week at ViodiTV. Viodi (pronounced Vee-oh-dee) is really VOD with i’s. We are providing almost real-time coverage of this week’s OPASTCO Winter Conference at ViodiTV. This exclusive footage of this four plus day event augments the excellent content from this important independent telco conference. It is a must-see for anyone who wants to learn about the unique nature of the independent telco market.

Below are descriptions of ViodiTV’s programming (all of the videos might not be posted at the time of this publication). At the bottom of the player, there is a link, which will allow you to make comments. Please leave a comment so we know how we are doing.

ViodiTV @ OPASTCO Day 1 Video Highlights:

John Rose Interview – The President of OPASTCO discusses topics such as Net Neutrality, content access, broadband and wireless.
Meanwhile, Roger Bindl recorded a pre-conference interview with Doug Wenzlaff, President of Wisconsin-based independent telephone company, Solarus. Wenzlaff discusses how Solarus has transformed itself to meet the changing demands of its customers.
Ringgold Telephone Company has provided a number of original local content programs that they are making available for syndication. Today’s content is the Content Pavilion Award winning, Kookin’ with Kimberly.

ViodiTV @ OPASTCO Day 2 Video Highlights:

Frustration, must-have and hope summarizes the peer perspective panel, “IPTV – Success Stories and Lessons Learned.” This very important panel provided a realistic view of the current state of IPTV.
Ice and inclement weather in Oklahoma caused Lynn Pike, President of BTC Broadband, to miss his speaking engagement. Fortunately, ViodiTV caught up with him in this brief overview where he discusses the unique approach BTC is taking to IPTV.
In this one-on-one interview, Phil Erli, Executive Vice President of Ringgold Telephone, suggests one way to grow is by “embracing the competition”.
Gardening Catoosa Style is another example of community-specific content created by Ringgold Telephone to help enrich their community.
OPASTCO U As usual, experts covered a diverse set of topics that ranged from finance to marketing to technology. A take-away from these presentations is that independent telcos and their vendors are beginning to embrace the idea of Internet-delivered video.
Anika Enos of Gila River Telecommunications, Inc. gave an impassioned wake-up call for independent telcos to observe and understand how the younger generation – the so-called millennials and echo-boomers – uses media. She provided real-life examples to point out that tomorrow’s customers will not be landline and television centric, but will be more oriented to personal media players and un-tethered communications devices.

ViodiTV @ OPASTCO Day 3 Video Highlights:

Mike Deller, Engineering Manager for Comporium, has looked at just about every sort of technology that a telco can use to deliver the quintuple play. In this brief interview, Mike lets us know what technology has him excited – you might be surprised.
Nortel’s Director of Rural Markets, Dennis Couture, gives a broad perspective of technology, standards and the implications for telcos in a world that has shifted from stable to chaotic.
George Henny, President of FiberCloud – a subsidiary of Whidbey Telecom – presented a case for the independent telco to move into the data center business. Ironically, a company in his service area is mentioned in this week’s Korner.
Robert Primosch of Wilkinson, Barker and Knauer, LLP emphasized the need for independent telcos to communicate to the FCC on a regular basis, so the FCC understands the challenges and barriers to bringing affordable broadband to rural America.
With approximately 150 telcos, Iowa has more telephone companies than any other state. Dave Duncan, President of the Iowa Telephone Association, talks of Iowa’s competitive market in this video.

OurTube is a fun, short video from your over the top friends, Ken and Roger.

Disney at Disney & Lots More

There is not enough room in this issue for all of the good content from the conference. Jeff Maxwell organized an excellent panel on the topic of content, which included representatives from Disney, Starz, TVN and a company that will help independent telcos create their own Internet to PC or TV solution, iWave. Based on what we heard in one of the other sessions, there should be a major announcement regarding independent telco wireless by the time the NTCA Annual Meeting convenes here in Orlando in a few weeks.

Some final random notes from this morning. Reaction to the presentation from Microsoft’s Harry Patz is that it was a bit of a sales pitch. Too bad, as the video towards the end of his presentation painted a good visual of where things are going. Totah Telephone Company’s Mark Gailey, gave a speech that hit to the heart of what makes the independent telco industry unique in telecom – its commitment to community. Finally, John Rose built on this idea when he suggested that independent telcos have the opportunity to, “create something out nothing,” by continuing to help rural communities reach their potential.

Akimbo Revisited

The whole idea of over the top video was somewhat new to many of the OPASTCO attendees. Several speakers mentioned Akimbo as an interesting service that could complement an independent telco’s offering. For those of you unfamiliar with Akimbo, the following video that Roger put together in 2004 provides an excellent overview. We are currently reviewing the latest version of the service and box, so look for a new review soon. In the meantime, enjoy Roger’s unique perspective on Akimbo.

Screens Everywhere

CES 2007 was an overwhelming conference, because it represents a crossroads for the different technologies and services that have traditionally come from disparate industry segments. This is a great place for an independent telco to learn about the unforeseen competitor or partner. As Gary Johnson of Paul Bunyan Telephone stated in an email to me,

“I think every one of our peer companies should have a representative there. I can't think of a better place to get a true sense of what consumers are doing with the services we offer, as well as truly understand where our industry is going (or being drug....).”

Click To Play

Club Viodi Highlights

Here are some of the articles posted over the past few weeks to Club Viodi. Only independent telcos qualify for Club Viodi membership. Independent Telcos, please send an email to us if you are interested in joining. Click here to sign in.

Content Syndication & NATPE
Simple Customer Experience Improvement Idea from CES
A Good VOD Promotional Piece
A Typical Cable Offering

People on the Move

Many of you may remember Jodi Benassi from Minerva Networks. She is now Vice President Strategic Accounts for a company called Future Dial – a company with solutions for Wireless Operators that allow subscribers to take their mobile content with them.

Raynet friends will be interested to hear that Joel Jakubson has started a new venture – Jakubson Financial Organizers. The name says it all.

This may be old news, but Dick Jones (aka Richie Allan) formerly of GTE/Verizon has said aloha to Hawaiian Tel.

Meanwhile in Minnesota, John Schultz had a eureka moment. His new venture is U-Reka Broadband and he is helping companies utilize their fiber assets. Congratulations to all.

The Korner – What’s In a Name

This picture says it all. Thanks to Steve Hawley of Advanced Media Strategies for finding this mini shopping mall on Whidbey mall that almost has the same name as this section of the newsletter that was formerly known as Krazy Ken's Korner. I guess I was not so original when I coined the original name for this section of the Viodi View. Still, I do not expect a big lawsuit like the one that has occurred between Apple and Cisco over the use of an i in front of a phone.

Retired industry veteran, Bill Fielding provides unique commentary on Apple’s decision to name their new device iPhone in this entertaining and insightful article that follows.

What's In a Name - Editorial By Bill Fielding

There are marketing research firms that for a few or even many tens of thousands of dollars will come up with a name for your company, your product or whatever. They will do all the research to validate the name is clean from litigation, promise it has great PR value, has significant synergy to your business/product and can be leveraged in the market to establish and build brand name recognition, and finally can be copyright so no one else can infringe on or take advantage of the reputation you will build in the market place or public eye.

Baloney! In my humble opinion you should name your company and products yourself, just get a lawyer to validate the name is available for copy write and obtain the copy write. Save yourself a ton of otherwise wasted money.

If any company can prove my point, it is Apple. Yeah, that computer company. Did the name Apple when they launched their company give any clue as to their business? Did the names Lisa and Macintosh give any clue as to what their products were? What about their most recent success the iPOD? What does the i stand for? Integrated? Internet? Incredible? And POD, what does that stand for?

If my point is not already obvious, names do not matter. What matters is if you have a desirable commercial product. Do you believe anyone refused to buy from Apple because they did not like the name of the company or their products?

Now let’s get to the meat of my little editorial. Cisco is suing Apple for their use of the name iPHONE for their new product. Now I am a bit astonished by a couple of things here.

First off, why would Apple call this new whiz bang gizmo iPHONE? Why now are they now trying to brand name something that actually gives some clue to what it does? They never did it before; it never mattered. before so why now and do battle with Cisco? Look at the costs if Apple loses. Ignoring the fat lawyer fees, if this is not settled before product launch then you have to change the name, with enormous costs to convert documentation, product labeling, sales collateral, on and on.

Secondly, the name is actually unimaginative and silly because in the end it just represents being an undifferentiated part of a sea of phones. It is not just a phone; it proclaims to be a cell phone, an internet browser, does email, does voice mail, has a keyboard for text messaging, blah, blah. Whoever in Apple is pressing for this name should seriously reconsider.

So Mr. Steven Job how about maybe calling it something like iWON (integrated World of Networking) if it had to mean anything, and save your stockholders money from any contest for an unappealing name anyway. Do what you have always done before and give it some other name. Because you have already proven that, the name does not really mean a thing!

But! If you Mr. Jobs, would like to have a most delicious name for your new whizmo that can be parlayed endlessly and wonderfully in award winning commercials, contact me as I have real winner for you. I will have a significant fee of course.

Sigh….sometimes I wish I were not retired. They really do need me out there.

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