The Fourth Estate

Splitting The Bill

The best and probably only good thing about being sick in bed with the flu is that its the perfect opportunity to catch up on trashy television. And no, I'm not talking about Oprah. Thanks to iTunes I went on a downloading binge that included Lost, Battlestar Galactica and even quirkier titles like Eureka, Kyle XY, the Dresden Files, Jericho, Blade and Surface. And that's when I discovered the catch. A lot of a niche programming that ends up on iTunes also ends up getting cancelled. Anyway, it got me thinking. In an on demand future - just how will television get funded? 

The Power of Now

There is nothing quite like getting what you want. Especially if its when you want it. 2007 is shaping up to be the year of 'on demand' entertainment. Apple will consolidate its media pedigree by adding more video content to iTunes as well as bridging the gap between the computer and the home television with its ITV device. Peer to peer technologies like Bittorrent and the Venice Project will go legit, as publishers discover bandwidth savings from decentralised distribution. Upstart aggregators like YouTube will try and toe the line on copyright infringement. And Studios, just like music labels, will wake up to the fact that consumers are starting to view channels as another form of forced consumption like record albums.

Tubular Belles

If baby boomers day dream about winning the lottery, Gen Xers just fantasise about selling out to Google. In their video message to the YouTube community announcing their sale to Google - founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen could barely suppress their grins. And by the end of the clip, they were killing themselves laughing. I don't blame them. US$1.65 billion buys a lot of Ferraris and pina coladas. But as with all big media deals - the 'what' is never half as interesting as the 'why'.

You Can't Do That On Television

Online video has hit prime time. YouTube now claims to be streaming 100 million clips per day. Viacom and Google are experimenting with delivering short TV clips through online ad inventory space. Most of the major US networks are delivering traditional programming via iTunes or their own download service. And social networks like MySpace are adding rocketfuel to the explosion in viral video distribution. Is this TV 2.0? I don't think so.

Viewer Pays

You have to hand it to Apple. When Steve Jobs sneezes, everyone else falls over themselves to catch pneumonia. Following on from the integration of Disney TV programming with the iTunes store, both CBS and NBC Universal television network announced this week that they would be selling shows a few hours after broadcast at 99 cents an episode through video-on-demand services on cable and satellite. Like Lost and Desperate Housewives on iTunes, the programs will run commercial free.

The Next Last Mile Is Only A Meter

You are no doubt somewhat bemused by the hype over video search, the latest craze animating the titans of the new economy. Yahoo and Google’s offer to host your home videos seems both considerate and vaguely sinister. We all know, after all, the kinds of video most people are looking for when they jump on a search engine. But rest assured, home movies are a red herring. As more and more people illegally digitise and download broadcast television and movie content, the real issue for media companies will be finding an effective means to simultaneously secure and open up their material for public access.

Idiot Box Blues

In the good old days, it could take up to nine months for a blockbuster Hollywood movie release to finally screen in markets outside of the US. Once the Studios realised that cheap handycam dubs of their multi-million dollar films were being sold in Asian noodle markets hours after their release, they realised they had to simultaneously open in multiple markets.

Freefall

There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but it seems in the media sector, everything else is losing its price tag.

The Cable Cowboys Call Collect

The last time the US cable industry played musical chairs - the theme was convergence. Despite an antiquated network and a crushing regulatory regime, TCI managed to sell to AT&T in the late nineties on the dream of a single high tech network that could provide everything from movies on demand to phone calls. What the telco giant didn't realise, was just how many billions it would take to upgrade the cable network to do just that.