[opendtv] Re: We're More Than Just 'Content Carriers'
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 18 Jun 2011 11:49:24 -0400
At 6:53 PM -0500 6/17/11, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
Bill Hayes, Iowa Public TV (which they call, confusingly, IPTV),
makes a case for localism.
Perhaps things are different for PBS, where a few stations
nationwide do create most of the content. But even there, I would
expect to have whatever good content other PBS stations create to be
available in my market too. No? At which point, it's not local
anymore. Aside from local news and weather, or coverage of
occasional community fairs or what have you, what is all of this
local content broadcasters expect to create?
EXACTLY!
We only really care about having local news sources when something
big happens locally, be it a storm, or a major local event.
The American viewing public has NEVER embraced locally produced
content on a major scale, other than news, and even here the interest
is waning rapidly.
Here's a quote that I also wonder about:
"I would not consider 19.4 Mbps designed primarily to reach fixed
receivers with antennas mounted 30 feet above the ground a high
volume carrier."
Hmmm. I would certainly consider the aggregate of TV broadcaster
channels in a given market to be "high volume." And never mind the
30' canard.
Bill is exactly right, and the situation is getting worse for broadcasters.
A single station can only carry one or a few programs at a time,
which must be streamed to whoever may choose to tune to that station
at a given time. IF you tune in and don't want to see Dr. Phil, you
will choose another channel.
There was a time that the only way you could reach a viewer was
carriage by one of 4-5 stations in a market...this resulted in large
audiences but very low volume in terms of content choice.
Now you can deliver you content in many ways, INCLUDING ON DEMAND.
The high volume carriers Bill is referring to are Amazon, Netflix,
iTunes, and others who are making it possible to find and watch what
you want, on demand or after only a short buffering delay.
Bottom line, localism means tiny niche audiences. For example,
broadcasting a high school football game. As you noted, the PBS
stations that are in the content creation game are leveraging a
national audience, albeit one that depends on aggregation - that is,
the content may be offered in different markets at different times,
rather than a single national broadcast.
Regards
Craig
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