TV Archives - The Connected World

YouTube Set to Introduce Paid Subscriptions

Feb 12

When Google bought YouTube for a billion and a half dollars back in 2006, some thought it was foolhardy. Surely the major content players would come crashing down on YouTube for copyright violations and how in the world are you going to monazite Keyboard Cat?

For the most part, Google has made nice with the major content players, regularly taking down videos that infringe on copyright. Plugging in the powerful Google advertising engine was the next logical step and has worked very well. In the six years since Google bought it, YouTube has only grown larger and more powerful. My daughter spends as much time or more watching YouTube as she does traditional TV and I think that’s pretty typical for the average teen these days.

Now Google is taking the next step and it’s a bold one. YouTube will start offering subscriptions for channels this spring. There will be a select few channels in the experiment and it is thought pricing will be anywhere between $1-$5/mo for a channel. Google has always been an advertising company so this is an interesting move but to the extent they get people used to paying a la carte for video, it could explode the current television business model. Today, customers have to pay for a package of TV channels for a set price wether they want those channels or not. Similarly, cable operators are often forced to license channels in a package as well. Both cable operators and end customers have become frustrated with this model and would rather pay for channels a la carte or at least be able to choose which channels make up their package. YouTube is clearly the most powerful video platform on the web and if anyone can challenge the current business model it’s them. Of course there is no guarantee paid subscription channels will even work on YouTube where people are used to getting their content for free.

H+ The Digital Series is Television 2.0

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

Aug 29

There is a great new show on that you should be watching, especially if you are a fan of sci-fi called H+. But it’s not on any traditional network, it’s on YouTube. This is a full blown production with quality that easily matches anything you have seen on the big three networks or cable. In fact, it’s produced and created by Bryan Singer who is best known for his work on The Usual Suspects and the X-Men movie.

Another thing that makes H+ unique is each episode is very short, amounting to around 6 min. Also, sometimes several episodes are release at one time. H+ is a rethinking of the television series in so many ways. Now here is the real mind blower. Part of the reason the show is on YouTube is so viewers can control their own viewing experience. Episodes can be watched in scripted or chronological order. People can even create their own curated playlists of episodes, put together in anyway they wish. Someone might do a playlist of a particular character arc, for example. The audience is now the editor and they will be creating new versions of the show for each other.

This is just one, but a very powerful example of what is possible now that we have moved into the digital era of entertainment. It also embraces the mashup culture that is so prevalent among younger generations. And listen up hollywood, I would happily pay say $4.99 for the series if I had to, it’s that good. I can see this as a model for the future as well. Imagine no cable subscription. You simple pay for shows on a per show basis and everything is distributed via You Tube or Vimeo or Apple TV. As I have said before, the television industry will be massively disrupted and their current business model will be forced to change, it’s just a matter of time. If they are looking for new ideas and ways to thrive in the new world, here is a decent idea.

Screens Continue To Invade Our Lives

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

Aug 23

Screen, screen, everywhere a screen. The first screen was our traditional television. Then, we got one on our desktop via the desktop computer. Now, we have additional screens in our lap and in our hands. With this new product release of what they are calling a “large screen mobile smart cloud product”, I think we’re going to see an expansion of the number of screens we are exposed to.

Some are looking at this as a “smart tv” product, but I don’t think that’s really what we’re looking at. Apple will reveal their television soon and that will define the market as many past apple products have done. But this product, which is Android powered could be just the thing to hang on the wall of your bedroom or a teenagers bedroom. This is a more casual, at-a-glance screen. With voice control, you could ask it to play the days weather forecast video, show your schedule for the day or entertain you with the latest video on YouTube while you get ready in the morning. When you are trying to get through your morning routine, it’s hard to do all that and hold a device, so this makes perfect sense. You might even want one in the kitchen. Play me some music while I prepare dinner or show me that video on cooking that special lunch sandwich I was interested in. Yes, an iPad could do all that, but the difference here is that it hangs on the wall so it’s neat and out of the way.

If this this the future of television as we know it, it also points up some other interesting facts. For the first time, when you turn on your smart tv, it may not go directly to the last channel you were on but to an information screen and will have plenty of other choices as to what to do that are NOT watching traditional television. Television producers an networks will have to think radically differently in this new world. In fact, we should stop even thinking of these devices as televisions at all. These are flat screen computers mounted on your wall. One of their many functions is to play video, or television. Think about the mobile phone. It’s not a mobile phone at all. It’s a handheld computer that can make and receive phone calls. How much disruption has the smart phone caused in the industry? Television is about to get disrupted in much the same way. I hope the industry is ready.

The Evolution Of Television And The Second Screen

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

Jul 3

Television is evolving in many ways and directions at once. Content is becoming available on digital and mobile services and there is a new concept called the “Second Screen“. This simply refers to the fact that many people are now watching TV with a laptop, phone or tablet with them. Second screen started mostly with people tweeting following Twitter streams while watching shows. Organized around a single hashtag, this was a good way to have a live water cooler conversation.

Now, second screen has evolved into more sophisticated dedicated applications produced by the networks themselves. MTV has a nice “watch with” app that even takes into account delayed DVR viewing. One of my current favorite shows on now is Falling Skys. TNT has a great app for Falling Skys that goes one step further and includes gaming elements. Of course it includes the Twitter water cooler and special bonus content that is all rolled out as you watch the show. The app is synced with your viewing experience. AMC’s The Walking Dead also has an app for iPhone and Android but also a Facebook app.

Using a computing device while watching TV might at first seem like a distraction, but, credit to the networks, they have turned it into an enhancement that is driving improved engagement. Following some popular shows, there are even network driven podcasts to carry the engagement through the week. The whole term “water cooler moment” was invented as it was common for employees at the same company to gather around the water cooler and talk about what happened on their favorite TV shows the previous night. Now we are looking at a global water cooler via the Internet and social media. While the TV industry still struggles with what to do about cord cutting, at least they are taking good strides on the other side to make progress and maybe innovate their way to the future.

Dish Ad Hopper Causes Rumblings Across The TV Landscape

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

Jun 18

Satellite provider Dish Network recently released their newest DVR set top box and it comes with one feature that has sent shockwaves through the television industry. Aut0-Hop is an ad skipping service included with the Dish Hopper box. TV networks and advertisers, of course, hate this feature and want it gone. They are so upset, in fact, they are suing Dish to remove the feature.

Dish chairman Charlie Ergan says tv needs to change and advertisers must create more meaningful ads. Says Ergan

“Ultimately, broadcasters and advertisers have to change the way they do business or they run the risk of linear TV becoming obsolete. I think the conversation is going to go a lot faster because now there is a risk of inaction as opposed to no risk of inaction.”

I don’t think Ergan is doing this for some kind of altruistic vision of better TV. I think he put the feature in because customers love ad skipping and it gives his box an advantage over others. But he is right about one thing, TV needs to change.

The other obnoxious thing Dish is doing is fighting with AMC over fees AMC is charging Dish for it’s programming. This kind of fight goes on all too often and it’s always the consumers who get screwed in the end. Dish says they will drop AMC completely at the end of June unless a deal cam be made. Breaking Bad on AMC is one of my favorite shows and starts it’s final season in July. I really don’t appreciate being put at the end of the gun barrel in this situation. AMC ran ads on it’s popular Mad Men show telling Dish customers to call Dish and complain. Dish retaliated by moving AMC into no mans land on it’s channel line up. Back and forth we go.

Yes TV needs to change and in more ways than one. We have all the technology we need to make TV much better but the really big block is the lucrative and complex business deals cable companies and networks have. These relationships cannot be easily unwound and completely stop most progress in the industry. The TV folks are painfully aware of what technology did to the music industry, namely destroyed it. They are not looking forward to the same fate and so they have fought back vigorously. But I would argue while the music industry has changed drastically it’s in a better place now to grow into the future. That old model never had a chance against the unstoppable wave of technology and now at least they are on the other side and looking for ways to move forward. It’s the same with TV, they need to get to the other side of the model.

I’m Calling It: Groupon Sitcom Will Be DOA

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

May 22

I wish I knew why Hollywood always thinks these things are good ideas. CBS is moving forward with a new sitcom based on the Internet coupon company Groupon. I’m sure they think it will be The Office for the tech set. I’m sure it will be a bomb.

The first problem is they used a real company name. This just smacks of sleazy promotion. If you really wanted to make a high tech comedy you would create a fictitious company that could morph into anything. By sticking yourself with one specific company, you’re bound by those company aspects.

There is already one successful geek comedy, the Big Bang Theory and I doubt you’re going to outdo that one. Geeks aren’t really all that funny and working in Silicon Valley isn’t a laugh riot, although they have moved the show to L.A for just that reason I suspect. Oh, geeks out on the town in Hollywood. And the hilarity ensues.

You can smell the stench all over this one. Groupon isn’t even that popular of a company. It would have made more sense to model the show after Facebook and have a quirky Mark Zuckerburg-like CEO.

Reality TV Comes To Silicon Valley

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

Apr 24

The television landscape is awash in reality tv as it has been for years. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, Bravo is bringing it’s brand of “reality” to Silicon Valley. A new show to be called “Silicon Valley” will follow the exploits of several type-a personalities as they do business in The Valley. The series is being produced by Mark Zuckerberg’s sister Randi and is already catching flack from some in the valley who think the show will make them look silly. Ya think?

The only thing i’m surprised about is that it took this long. Unfortunately, they’re going to have to bend reality pretty hard on this one as anyone who has lived in the valley knows. It’s no Jersey Shore. People take their dogs to work, stare at computer screens all day and talk geek. The show would have been much better if done during the Internet boom days when people got millions of dollars for an idea scribbled on a napkin, literally. Paper millionaires were being minted daily, and then, just as quickly, poof, it was all gone. Now that was drama.

Hulu, Boxee and the Future of Internet TV

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

Feb 19

Hulu is the newest and best place on the Internet to watch TV programs, but they are pulling out of the innovative Boxee software service that runs on PC, Mac and Apple TV. What it all means for Internet video and the future of television.

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Social Media Morning 10-06-08

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

Oct 6

The new Obama 08 iPhone app is amazing and a real political tool. Also, two twitter stories: CNN uses twitter very effectively and ABC uses twitter to launch it’s new show, Life On Mars.

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