[opendtv] News: All this VOD business making some heads spin
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- Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2005 10:10:15 -0500
All this VOD business making some heads spin
December 8, 2005 12:00am
Source: Advertising Age
In recent weeks, major TV broadcasters and cable networks have
announced a sudden storm of video-on-demand and online initiatives
that don't conform in any way to TV's traditional business models.
Both NBC and CBS are offering top prime-time programs to VOD services
that allow viewers to watch when they want, not when the network sets
the appointments. They are also posting more TV news content online,
while ABC is making its whole nightly news show available on the Web.
TiVo said it plans to let subscribers transfer recorded programs to
portable players like iPods and Sony's PSP.
With so much activity, it's not clear what's going on. Respondents to
an Advertising Age poll expressed confusion about the new
distribution plans, platforms, schemes and copycats.
"All of this smacks of Chicken Little desperation,'' said John Maher,
senior VP-director of planning, U.S. International Media. "Everybody
seems afraid of being left out of the ongoing changes.''
That may be so, but the consumer experience is improving even amid
hurdy-gurdy changes, said Rob Floyd, president, Circle F Media. "No
one understands how this will turn out and everyone is placing
bets,'' he said. "It's all very exciting and very disruptive but it
can let me watch my content (and more of it) on my own schedule. I
don't mind commercials if I can select ones meaningful to me and if
watching them gives me my content for free. I would also think that I
am more valuable to advertisers if I am interested in seeing their
specific messages.''
In a dissent, Paul Benjou, director-client services at Mediaplex,
said where some see chaos, others see ordered evolution. "The shift
of channel distribution for TV content is nothing new. It started
decades ago with the birth of cable TV and the resistance by the
major networks to acknowledge or embrace it. Today we are witnessing
yet a stronger shift, fueled by the Internet, addressable set-top box
and mobile technologies, coupled with the visionary talents of some
of the best and brightest minds today. If this is confusion, I cannot
wait to see what's around the corner.''
Bob Davidson of Davidson Communications isn't confused, either:
"Vaudeville feared movies. Movie theaters were scared what TV would
do. Now, TV is what you want, when you want it. Consumers are getting
the message loud and clear. It is this industry's task to figure out
the shortest distance between two points. It can and will be done.''
What you say: 59% of respondents to Advertising Age's online poll
believe all the sudden, overlapping and divergent changes affecting
digital TV distribution are confusing. Another 41% disagreed, many
arguing that we are witnessing evolution at work, including both
innovations that will fail and innovations that will influence
everything.
<<Advertising Age -- 12/08/05>>
<< Copyright ©2005 Crain Communications Inc. >>
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