The Fourth Estate (Moved)

The Pipe & The Straw

High definition set top boxes, mobile TV, digital radio – all contenders for the future of media, right? Well, not exactly. It can be tempting to assume if something is digital it must be good. But there is a more subtle pattern at play. If you want to understand how traditional media is being disrupted – the key is not technology but audience behaviour.

Vid, Vlog, View

Video is having a kind of midlife renaissance. Having shaken off its early infamy in porn and exercise tapes – the medium is being reborn as viral broadband clips, iTunes downloads, and social networks. Hollywood is watching the space carefully. Sitting on hundreds of thousands of hours of raw footage, movies and TV shows – they believe their content will put them in a prime position to dominate once someone figures out a Googlesque model for making money out of web video. That may not be so simple, nor their advantage so pronounced. While there is lots of hot VC money chasing after kooky online ideas at the moment, early indications are that the space may play out in ways that the Titans of entertainment haven’t quite anticipated.

Sony - One But Only?

One of the wierdest creative tensions in Hollywood is between finding new distribution channels for old content, whilst rigorously defending existing channels from new challenges. Back when the box office was king, getting the DVD format greenlight was an uphill battle. Now that DVD is a $17.5 billion dollar industry, you can just imagine the reception to proposals for digital downloading replacements. Still, potential lost billions or not, it seems this time round Sony is determined to avoid being iPodded again.

The Fat Lady Sings

Just when you thought the last 'Phantom' had been exorcised from the 'Opera', the shiny suits of entertainment world unveil yet another dastardly product extension plan to torment us all.