[opendtv] Re: Up to the minute on demand newscasts
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2015 22:08:58 -0400
On Jun 22, 2015, at 6:38 PM, Manfredi, Albert E
<albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Craig likes to go on about the need for actual, live broadcast. And one of
the recurring examples is news, another is sports.
Please remember the context. We are talking about a broadcast channel that can
only deliver linear programming. And we are also talking about "news channels"
like CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, Fox Business Channel etc. both broadcasters
and the "cable news networks" do rerun some of their newscast and opinion
programming, so it is not all live all the time.
Obviously many of the programs that run live, can also be made available on
demand after they air. NBC is running radio ads in this market promoting the
fact that you can watch their evening news and other news programs on demand.
Let's take sports first. I suppose that the reason actually "live" sports
coverage is demanded, by sports fans, is that they don't want anyone or
anything to be able to give them the outcome of any play, let alone the score
of a game, before they get to see it. Okay, I'll buy that excuse. So, "live"
is truly needed in sports. Anything else?
Some people like to go to the events Bert. It is difficult to conjure up the
athletes to play a game when you feel like going to the stadium...
The reality is that most sports have fans who actually get excited about their
teams and want to see them play. Ever hear of a Super a bowl party?
And this plays into the hands of advertisers who love the ability to injects
ads during the event when they are difficult to skip, other than grabbing a
beer or making room for another...
Take any news program, be it local or national, and be it a half hour
newscast or a 24 hour news station. Is "live" broadcast needed? I'd suggest
no, not a bit.
Perhaps you should temper that statement a bit.
I agree that generally most news is not so important as to require an
appointment, and that live news programs do not provide the news you want on
demand. This is a major reason that news, weather, sports and business news
portals on the web have grown so popular.
But there are times that people want to see important news as it happens...
I watched Lee Harvey Oswald being shot by Jack Ruby live.
I watched the second jet crash into the World Trade Center live.
I have survived number of hurricanes here in Florida, and believe me, people
keep the TV or radio on.
The cable news networks have two advertising rates cards:
Regular programming and Breaking News. When there is a breaking news story the
rates jump dramatically, a reflection of the fact that large numbers of people
tune it to find out what has, or us happening.
And then there is tradition - about 25 million Americans watch the network
evening news. A similar, or perhaps slightly larger number watch local evening
newscasts.
Anyone more thing...
Breakfast TV is very popular and profitable. All around the world people tune
into the various flavors of GMA, Today, Fox and Friends, BBC Breakfast, etc.
while having breakfast and getting ready for work.
Most of this stuff is not going to go away, just because it can be made
available on demand. On the other hand, it may be possible to accumulate a
larger audience by making these shows available on demand in much the same way
that the networks are accumulating audiences for episodic shows through the 3
and 7 day VOD windows.
News programs are almost always, if not always, a mix of last minute content
and recycled stories. My claim is, if these news shows are distributed to the
CDN server network of a TV network, then each individual story can be updated
as needed.
This is already happening via the Internet news portals. That is how I get most
of my news now. These portals take full advantage of the content that had been
created for the live linear channels. Newspapers are starting to get is as
well, including the ability to provide video coverage of local news, something
dead trees could not convey well.
Yet newspapers and magazines still exist...
So for instance, let's say some people prefer the carefully assembled
30-minute format, rather than individual stories. No problem. Someone wanting
to see a half-hour news program calls it up on demand, at any time of day,
and he will be given the latest breaking items as well as a mix of older
material, to fill up 30 minutes of playback time. I do not think that this is
a huge technical challenge.
Really?
Who decides what stories to assemble into that 30 minute show? And how often
the run sheet is to be updated? Many stations now make their latest newscasts
available on demand via their websites.
The individual clips in the 30-minute show can be updated via satellite, to
the CDN's servers, replacing only those news items (clips) that need to be
updated. The rest stay as is. The 30 minute time frame doesn't even need to
be super precise, because there isn't any other "live" stream likely to
conflict with the schedule.
This is certainly feasible. CNN did this for years with the headline news
channel; they still do, but the ratings are miserable. Or you can just go here:
http://www.cnn.com/
With the website, you decide what you want to read or watch when you have that
"half hour" to get the news you want.
Plenty of 24 hour news "channels" already do something approaching this. They
have both individual stories, and the "live stream," on their web site. My
contention being, even that "live stream" doesn't really need to be live. The
viewer should be able to have the same experience as if watching the
by-appointment "live stream," but at any time of his choosing, and always
getting the very latest news.
My main question is why not live? Somebody needs to sit in front of the camera
and read the news and throw to the packages, even if they are consumed on
demand. Some of this is just a matter of maximize the available news content
across multiple media. Most of the audio tracks of the 24/7 news channels are
syndicated via Sirius/XM satellite radio.
Again, I would point out the context of this discussion. A broadcasters has
slots to fill on their linear channel. They certainly can take some of this
content and make it available via the Internet, and many are now doing so. But
to eliminate the live linear news shows begs the question of why broadcasters
need any spectrum at all...
Regards
Craig
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