June 29, 2010 -- The CableFAX Show: Seth and Mike discuss 3DTV, the set-top box revolution and other topics in an attempt to sound intelligent and analytical. In addition, they show off the stellar video NBCU submitted for the recent Best of the Web event in NYC as a shining example of how to do it right. Oh, and tchochtkes. Always with the tchotchtkes.
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Aug. 25, 2010 Webinar Capitalizing on Transactional TV Register
Sept. 14, 2010: NAMIC and CableFAX Breakfast
Hilton New York
Oct. 4, 2010: CableFAX Program & Top Ops Awards Luncheon
Grand Hyatt NYC
Dec. 9, 2010: CableFAX 100 Luncheon
Dec. 10, 2010: CableFAX Most Powerful Women in Cable Breakfast
CableFAX's Sales Executive of the Year and Sweet 16 attendees celebrate during NYC festivities June 15. To see more photos from that event please click View Gallery above.
SMOOTH SAILING: Comcast's Dana Hughes and Adel Rezk flank HBO's May Mountcastle Webb aboard the Catherine Marie during CTAM Wash-Baltimore's recent "Meet the Operator" cruise off Annapolis, MD. Photo: Amy Belson
With the explosion of content platforms in the last few years, cable operators and programmers obviously face unprecedented challenges as they try to navigate this minefield. It won’t get any easier. Still, the opportunities to test new business models and try new ways of delivering content to viewers have never been more abundant. It’s reminiscent of the late 1990s when we all thought we’d become billionaires by delivering pet supplies over the Internet. Only this time, it’s not about making a quick buck. It’s about giving consumers what they truly want when it comes to video content—and that’s primarily an a-la-carte-ish experience while preserving the all-you-can-eat business model that keeps the entire content industry fed and happy.
It can’t be one or the other. The industry needs to find a happy medium that gives the people what they want while preserving the fragile ecosystem that somehow justifies spending $3 million on an episode of a TV drama. The long tail—a wonderful device for indies and startups to reach niche audiences—will never produce $3 million shows. Some would say that’s a good thing. After all, $3 million shows waste a bunch of money on bloated crews and overpriced catering, right? Perhaps, but most viewers would miss the quality. Even if they don’t like to admit it.
So what to do? Authentication offers much promise, but it seems to take the VOD paradigm and simply retrofit it into the online environment. Shows are categorized into little baskets within other baskets associated with specific networks. But what if the industry offered a navigation experience that was completely different? What if it treated our tastes in video content similar to the way we all listen to music? Think about it: We don’t listen to record labels or even TV shows like “American Idol.” We listen to artists and, more specifically, individual songs. And our love of one artist or song begets our love of another artist or song with a similar vibe. Through the magic of collaborative filtering, we can discover new music that we would have never run across on our own—simply because a group of people who share our musical tastes also liked something else. This is the tech used by Amazon and Netflix to hook us up with movies we might enjoy based on our ratings, past purchases/rentals and the patterns of other similar customers. Why not apply this to the world of video content?
You need look no further than the success of Pandora to understand the power of this sort of navigation. This music service, which grew out of the geeky Music Genome Project, offers a free way to create your own radio station based on a favorite artist. If you love Liz Phair, you can create Liz Phair Radio to hear her songs as well as numerous other artists who are similar or in some way seem to consistently please other Liz Phair fans. It’s not an exact science. But it’s pretty darned accurate. And it works in any genre, and with any artist you choose (as long as Pandora has the artist on file). The company just reported its first profit in Q4 2009, and it’s creeping up on 60 million registered users. Billboard reports that Pandora is running some 500 simultaneous targeted advertising campaigns, with 45 of the nation’s top 50 advertisers taking out ads.
Is it feasible to offer a Pandora-like service through cable authentication? Could operators let customers set up their own Mad Men Channel, White Collar Channel, South Park Channel, Dog Whisperer Channel, etc? Would people really watch TV this way?
To be sure, this sort of idea is fraught with pitfalls, challenges and perhaps even insurmountable hurdles. First of all, cable operators would have to spend the money to set up recommendation engines and other back-end systems to make this possible. Then, they would have to get the major programmers to sign off on the idea that their shows could be mixed together with rival shows and presented to consumers on one customized “channel.” Can you imagine the fights over the algorithms to decide which shows pop up on the channel and when? And what network wants to risk losing brand ownership of a hit show because it was mixed in with a bunch of shows from other nets?
The advertising angle is even more troublesome. The entire industry would need to devise a new inventory system that would allow ads to float between shows or even be administered by the operator rather than each individual programmer. Good luck getting that to fly anywhere. Plus, there’s the whole issue of how consumers would want to pick and choose based on recommendations. These aren’t 3-minute songs, after all. You couldn’t just play shows back-to-back and expect viewers to sit there and watch them. The system would need to allow people to sample new shows through a menu, and that would require shows to set up trailers, previews and other media—all of which would need to work seamlessly through this Pandora-like system. And then assuming any of this worked online, operators would want to eventually migrate it to the VOD world on the TV screen itself. That would likely involve even more complicated back-end wizardry.
The bottom line is that nothing like this is in the cards any time soon. It may never happen. But the industry should think about this and other new ways of presenting content to consumers. It’s never a bad idea to think outside the Pandora’s Box.
[Editor’s Note: Don’t miss our iTV/advanced advertising Webinar on Wed, July 21. More info HERE]
If you subscribe to CableFAX Daily, you saw today’s Q&A with Canoe Ventures COO Kathy Timko and are probably wondering whether this is it—whether this is finally the moment (or the cusp of the moment) that iTV and advanced advertising starts to weave itself into the fabric of television. It’s an interesting question. Many indications suggest that iTV will snowball slowly but surely in the coming months. But what will it look like? And how will viewers react?
The truth is that absolutely no one—regardless of their industry experience, pedigree or lofty level of intellectual brainpower—has the slightest clue how iTV will play out over the long term. Few believe it will whither and die, partly because of the massive industry efforts behind it and the Internet’s huge influence on consumer behavior over the last 10-15 years. Consumers “get” interactivity now. It’s how they live. But it’s anyone’s guess which forms of iTV will really “stick”—especially when it’s unclear whether the lean-forward nature of the PC will translate as seamlessly to the TV and the living room.
Some camps believe iTV will primarily become a vehicle for advertisers, allowing them to target specific demos and “engage” them with special offers and informational widgets that create more loyalty and, ultimately, higher sales. Others believe iTV will become more “social” in nature, allowing viewers to communicate while watching their favorite shows and/or use those widgets to interact with those shows and each other in new ways. Polling is an obvious enhancement to any game show or reality show. People can more easily play at home and even influence the outcome of a particular program. Theoretically, nets could extend this kind of viewer power to the scripted TV realm—although the idea of viewers voting for whether a character does this or that seems gimicky, logistically problematic and, in most cases, an unwelcome intrusion into the whole reason people watch fictional TV shows: To be transported into the show’s world. Give too much control to viewers, and it sucks all the surprise and fun out of the experience.
Most observers split the difference on this and assume that iTV will combine advertising, marketing, social media and audience participation into one big soup of interactivity. This could create a win-win of sorts, creating a robust interactive environment that satisfies product marketers (who, after all, basically fund most of what we see on the screen) but avoids creating a noisy carnival where barkers constantly assault the senses. Consumers have other options these days, including the Internet. They will leave if iTV becomes a nuisance.
So far, the cable industry has proceeded cautiously on the iTV front, making sure to get the technology in place and work out all the kinks before going forward. But this is about more than technology. It’s also about the consumer experience and figuring out which iTV “apps” will ultimately enhance TV viewing rather than detract from it. That will be the challenge for all parties involved in the coming months and years. iTV can be a great way to create some parity between the Internet and TV experience, taking the best from both worlds to combine them into something that exceeds either medium. As long as the cable industry proceeds with caution and always keeps viewers top of mind.
(Michael Grebb is executive editor of CableFAX).
My faith in humanity—boosted earlier this year when a pickle actually amassed more Facebook fans than the rock band Nickelback—took a hit this week as Lady Gaga set the all-time fan record by surpassing 10 million Facebook followers. It seems like further confirmation that Facebook is an unstoppable force sure to someday devour us all. Cable operators and programmers already make big use of Facebook to market new shows, products and, of course, to conduct customer service. But should we all be going so, uh… gaga? Must cable now devote big chunks of its advertising, marketing and customer service budgets to this ubiquitous platform that seems to attract all ages, demos and perhaps soon even species and aliens from other worlds?
To be sure, all companies now understand that Facebook is a vital component of any marketing or customer relationship strategy. During judging for CableFAX’s most recent Faxies and Best of the Web awards programs, we were blown away by the incredibly intricate and innovative social media campaigns that cable nets and operators are using to reach customers, with Facebook often a focal point. But how much time and money to devote here? And should the cable industry continue to focus so much on Facebook over other social media platforms.
A new study by online gaming site ROIWorld suggests that, like most things, Facebook’s hotness may be in the early stages of a cooling off—at least for the youth demographic that at one time made up the vast majority of its users. The site surveyed 600 teens (age 13-17) in late April and found that 19% of those with a Facebook account say they hardly use it anymore. What are the reasons? Well, 45% have just lost interest (hmmm… where did they go?!), but another 30% say it’s because too many adults are using it, including their parents! Not a big surprise, but all of this tells us something about how social media evolves over time. At some point, cool sites and activities started underground can get “co-opted” by a larger audience. With Facebook, kids are starting to feel like it’s no longer their place to hang out beyond the prying eyes of the adult world (they’re right). Before that, it was MySpace that started as a cool place to meet up and talk mostly about indie music, sharing tracks and making actual friends. But it soon became overcrowded, unwieldy and a haven for spammers and an endless parade of bands trying to friend everyone in sight. When it got too crazy, people migrated over to Facebook, which continues to do a much better job than MySpace ever did in keeping things clean and orderly. But still… the kids may be starting to tire of it. Is this a short-term bout of youthful moodiness or a canary in the coal mine? And will the rest of us experience the same kind of Facebook fatigue in due time?
The truth is that kids are smart. They’ll find places to go where they don’t feel like a bunch of adults are watching them or, worse… marketing products to them. That’s the exact reason that cable operators and programmers must be respectful in how they use social media—at least when it comes to the more fickle youth demo. Right now, the next big thing seems to be geo-location platforms like FourSquare and Gowalla… but young people are also flocking to more chaotic and unsafe environments such as ChatRoulette where anonymous users randomly connect via Webcams (Yes, this is a parent’s worst nightmare and justifiably so). Already, companies are trying to create ChatRoulette-like environments that are much safer, but what if the concept goes mainstream at some point, attracting all ages and plenty of companies pushing products? Kids—and perhaps the rest of us—will once again move on to the next thing. In the end, cable operators and networks obviously can’t ignore Facebook, Twitter or any of the other emerging social media platforms that allow them to reach and connect to their customers. Use them to full effect. But the sands of social media shift constantly. Companies must adapt every day and be ready to pull resources out of one environment and plow them into another at a moment’s notice. But understand one thing: Your customers will always be one step ahead.
Based on the first episode, SyFy’s new series “Haven” seems to be the latest in a long line of TV shows heavily influenced by Fox’s 1990s hit “The X-Files.” It certainly rides the same supernatural love train toward an abyss of perpetual mystery and shape-shifting alliances. But it also offers its own fresh take. In this world (based on Stephen King’s “The Colorado Kid”), character motivations and histories are murky—and that’s just as the writers intended. While the first episode (premieres July 9, 10pm ET) won’t necessarily blow you away, it certainly creates enough mystery to draw you back in for more. And if the writers do their jobs, viewers will soon get hooked to the narrative. But it will take some patience.
The show gets right to the point: In the first scene, we meet FBI agent Audrey Parker (Emily Rose), whose boss rides her for following unlikely leads but then inexplicably sends her to Haven, Maine, to find an escaped murderer. OK, we’ll bite. As she drives into town by herself (no partner?), a massive crack spontaneously forms in the highway in front of her, forcing her off the road and nearly to her death. To her rescue is local cop Nathan Wuornos (Lucas Bryant), who shows up out of nowhere, pulls her from the car and then takes her straight to the escaped murderer who it seems has thrown himself off a cliff to his death. But our Agent Parker smells foul play and can’t resist sticking around to investigate despite the eye-rolling protests of the local police chief.
In case you weren’t tipped off when the road tried to devour our hero as she drove into town, something isn’t quite right about Haven. Two weird guys from the local newspaper keep showing up with unsolicited advice and creepily inform her that she looks familiar. One resident has strange personal-space issues that, when violated, seem to affect the weather. And our accident-prone Agent Parker falls off a pier and nearly drowns, only to wake up naked in the bed of Duke Crocker (Eric Balfour). He claims to have saved her life, but we’re not sure if he’s lying—and something just seems “off” about the guy. Rose certainly brings a fresh take to the FBI agent role. While seemingly tough and smart, she also seems imminently vulnerable and almost glib to the point of distraction. It will be interesting to see how her character evolves in future eps.
This show throws in some interesting but bizarre character complications. For example, Wuornos apparently has a form of autonomic neuropathy, which is a rare but real condition in which you can’t feel sensations such as pain. Yet the condition doesn’t have much impact on the story—at least within the first episode. Perhaps this will become a bigger factor later in the season. In addition, Agent Parker has a mysterious past as an orphan, and it becomes very clear that her long-lost mother has some connection to Haven and/or its residents. Also (and here’s your SPOILER ALERT), it turns out that a woman in town is in fact the one who affects the weather, although she doesn’t know it. But the big climax in which she creates a storm out of thin air is painfully reminiscent of the X-Men comic book character Storm, who can do exactly the same thing and is certainly well known to SyFy’s demo. The episode twist, however, is interesting in that the guy with personal-space issues ends up being there only to misdirect us from the real culprit (and it’s done well), but still… couldn’t we have led with a power not so well known to comic-book fans?
One of the last scenes of the episodes shows Agent Parker’s boss on the phone making several ambiguous statements to an unknown caller—all suggesting that he has placed Parker in the town for a specific reason that will at some point get revealed. It’s unclear whether he’s on her side or plotting her doom, and that’s of course all part of the fun. Haven has a lot of potential, but it could also fizzle. Much depends on how the show and its quirky characters develop in the next few episodes. We’ll be watching.
It used to be so simple. Cable operators simply leased set tops to customers who used them primarily to switch channels (and perhaps tell time). Then came addressability. The boxes did a little bit more, but they remained clunky. For years, all of this was acceptable because the same box makers made the same cheap-as-possible boxes for cable and satellite distributors—and those boxes were the only game in town. So people didn’t complain much. But now the world has changed. Boxes are everywhere. And some of them are pretty fancy. Is cable falling behind? Yes. Does this portend the end of the industry? Hardly. But let’s all agree that the good ole’ days are over. Cable operators need to innovate like never before when it comes to set tops. Many are already trying, but it’s an open question as to whether they are moving fast enough.
Over the weekend came more set-top news as Logitech became the first device maker to announce a Google TV box, which will ship this fall. It’s called the Logitech Revue and will seize on an established and growing trend of boxes that fuse the Internet and traditional cable TV into an amorphous blob of living-room entertainment. It will present everything on a state-of-the-art interface that blows away the functionality of most existing cable set tops. Make no mistake: Logitech—while not yet a force in the world of TV-connected CE devices—is an extremely ambitious company that makes numerous high-quality peripherals, including HD webcams, “playseats” for gamers and the well-reviewed “Squeezebox” series of standalone WiFi-enabled music devices. With convergence, Logitech has branched out into the CE space and gotten rave reviews from computer geeks, audiophiles and perhaps soon TV aficionados.
Unlike Boxee, which plans its own similar set top in Nov, Logitech is no scrappy startup with a few million bucks in venture funding. Rather, it’s a publicly traded powerhouse with $2.75 billion market cap, the marketing dollars to make lots of noise, and the discipline and patience to stick around a while. Plus, it’s hooking up with Google—a company known as much for its tenacity as its innovative spirit. Meanwhile, Apple’s self-described “hobby” called Apple TV could at some point become more than that, especially if Steve Jobs gets spooked by watching primary competitor Google make progress in the space. The Logitech Revue, after all, with use the Android operating system, which already directly competes with Apple’s OS in the mobile space. And then there’s the similarly Web-enabled TiVo Premiere, which TiVo continues to market as a device “that replaces your old cable box,” not to mention the bevy of Blu-Ray players and gaming devices now on the market with easy access to streaming Netflix movies and YouTube content.
None of this is to say that the ongoing box revolution spells doom for cable. It doesn’t. In fact, the fine print often works in cable’s favor (For example, TiVo Premiere can’t access the cable VOD menu, which makes it a quite imperfect cable box replacement). But these third-party boxes get better every day. And increasingly, they offer so many incredible features—often leveraging Web-based VOD streaming content such as that from Netflix—that cable operators can’t turn a blind eye.
But perhaps all of this actually bodes well for cable. After all, just as DBS satellite competition in the 1990s cajoled cable to build out its broadband networks to offer something satellite could not, the new set-top competition should drive all multichannel distributors to (finally) supercharge their set tops to compete. Comcast and others are on the case and making progress. But as usual, it’s slow. And with the market about to get much more interesting come this fall (just in time for Christmas), it’s time for cable to redouble its efforts. Again. The cord cutters and end-runners are out there. And the Googles of the world are making it easier for them to access Web content through their TVs. These days, Web video competes directly with cable VOD. Neither authentication nor Hulu’s potential switch to a pay model changes the basic reality that these boxes are giving consumers more ways to bypass cable. Until cable gives them a reason to stay.
It was perhaps the worst kept secret in tech for a few weeks running, but Apple’s unveiling of the iPhone 4 and accompanying iOS 4 operating system represents more than yet another glitzy excuse to hype a few new features. OK. It was kind of that. But here’s the deal: These new features—some of which were added to keep up with Google-fueled Android smartphones—could greatly affect the multiplatform strategies of content providers everywhere. Add to the mix the interestingly timed announcement last week that exclusive iPhone carrier AT&T would stop offering all-you-can eat data plans (Verizon is rumored to be considering the same restrictions), and the wireless content world seems to be changing faster than most content providers and app developers can tweak their business plans.
Here’s what we know: Apple’s new iPhone 4 really takes video to the next level—especially when it comes to the user-generated variety. Its new camera shoots at 720p HD that users can now edit and watch immediately right on the new iPhone’s ridiculously high-resolution screen dubbed the “Retina Display.” Apple engineers, who really need a vacation, developed pixels that are insanely tiny—just 78 micrometers wide—enabling them to pack 4 times more of them into the same 3.5-inch screen. This means that premium HD content produced by top cable nets will look incredibly good even on that small device. And meanwhile, the higher pixel count should make it easier to create content once for both the larger iPad screen and the smaller iPhone screen. Right now, there’s actually a big disparity in pixel counts and other tech between those two devices, and that affects not just video but also the development of iPhone apps, many of which come from cable programmers and operators. In fact, the new iPhone employs a lot of iPad technology, including Apple’s new and faster A4 processor and other wares that greatly enhance iPhone battery life (The short battery life on current iPhone models is a constant pet peeve of even the most die-hard Apple fans). It looks like Apple will ultimately shoot for basic tech parity between iPhones and iPads, which should help everybody on the development side.
Also interesting is the new front-facing camera, which will allow video chat sessions on the go. But while this as a fun way for friends to connect, consider the many other creative applications that smart programmers could build around this two-camera set-up. It seems almost certain that someone will come up with a way for groups of people to, say, watch a cable TV show together from many remote locations with each iPhone 4 user chiming in via video box about the show in real time as its plot thickens. Such software could come from a cable programmer, cable operator or an unrelated third party like Facebook. In addition, gaming developers could create fun new twists on the many iPhone apps now used by cable nets to promote shows. For example, how about giving folks the ability to watch a new episode, trailer or 5-minute clip while also showing their reactions and commentary at the bottom of the screen. Then they could post that real-time video review to the Web site the same way that people post comments now. A particularly interesting commentary could go viral and, instead of quick blurbs about a show, now you have user reviews that occur in real time while the person watching the review also sees the show in action (and therefore can make his or her own decision about whether the reviewer’s comments are right or wrong). Just think about the possibilities. It’s true that we could be doing this right now with standard Webcams connected to PCs and Macs—but let’s face it: There’s just something more spontaneous about posting something when the mood strikes you from a mobile device. Who knows? We could see the next generation of TV reviewers squeezing in their pontifications while bored at airports and Jiffy Lubes.
But before we get too excited, let’s also consider the trend toward metered data pricing on wireless plans. Does this sound familiar, cable industry? Yes, AT&T’s announcement that it will start metering data for new users sounds similar to Time Warner Cable’s attempt last year to look into the idea for broadband users. That created an uproar, and TWC stepped back from the ledge. And now, bloggers are crucifying AT&T for implementing the same idea on the wireless side. But the bigger issue is that metering could limit the amount of streaming video that people call up on their devices—and this has major implications for content providers trying to foster new advertising markets (and even subscription models) on the mobile platform. This is a bit of a paradox. On one hand, we have unprecedented multimedia power in the iPhone 4 and other mobile devices such as those using Google’s Droid OS, along with an unprecedented amount of online content available. But all that power encourages more usage, which taxes wireless networks and ultimately leads to worse network performance for everyone. So network owners are trying to limit usage. The truth is that many consumers aren’t willing to suddenly ratchet back their habitual use of multimedia. It’s too ingrained in their daily routines. Many will pay for the privilege—whether it’s metered or not. And that will hopefully swell enough corporate coffers to justify the accelerated network upgrades necessary to cope with all of this demand. Furthermore, consumers will gravitate to the most data-friendly carriers, so it’s a safe bet that many will continue to offer unlimited data plans to differentiate themselves from those that meter. But unfortunately, those plans might start to get more expensive. Whether it’s the iPhone, the iPad or countless other data-hungry gadgets out there, those with network capacity need to serve the market. And that market’s growing. Fast.
Delivering a monologue to a packed room is enough to put most of us on edge. But for slam poets, who “perform” their own poems to live audiences across the country, it’s old hat. MSG Network has captured one microcosm of this modern art form with its “Knicks Poetry Slam” series (new season premieres Thurs, May 27, 8pm), which tracks scores of teenaged poets vying for a chance to win grants, scholarships and other prizes offered throught the KPS program. The competition operates “American Idol”-style—judges gradually pare down the pool as poets advance—and with each round comes a higher bar to overcome. MSG Net does a good job capturing the poets’ nervousness before they go on (and elation after they survive the stage), and unlike most reality shows it avoids the temptation to highlight relationships and infighting between the players. Instead, MSG focuses mostly on the kids’ struggles to express themselves as they riff about everything from beauty to love to violence to racism to homophobia and beyond.
Overall, Knicks Poetry Slam sticks to a straight-ahead documentary style, intercutting sideline interviews with the poets with their performances in front of enthusiastic audiences. To be sure, these kids are impressive, with even younger teens holding their own against more experienced 18- and 19-year-olds. Poems range from sweet refrains to furious rapid-fire rants, with some poems veering into hip-hop/rap territory and others simply giving an urban spin to what might otherwise be considered traditional poetic structure. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the show for those of us whose teenaged years are long gone is that it gives us a window into the fears, joys, anxieties and concerns of today’s youth. And despite common stereotypes, it’s not all about inner-city strife. One guy recounted his childhood trips in the back of a minivan, including his adolescent attempts to air-drum to Phil Collins. Others talked about love and loss. For adults, Knicks Poetry Slam confirms that being a teenager involves timeless anxieties, making it strangely relatable despite the youth spotlight.
In the end, Knicks Poetry Slam offers an interesting look at the creativity bubbling up from this subculture of Beatnik-esque wordsmiths who play with the English language until it abides by the rules they set. The program, which was created in 2003 to reach high-school youth, continues to put the sometimes untapped brilliance of this generation on display. With $350K in scholarships and prizes for this year’s competition, it was already a worthy endeavor. Watching it unfold in this 6-episode series just makes it all the more enjoyable.
(Michael Grebb is executive editor of CableFAX)
There’s one vital thing all of us must do after returning from the Cable Show every year: Nurse that hangover. But after a few days and multiple Vitamin B injections, it’s also important to think about the serious, businessey stuff we did in between the parties, receptions and “business dinners” that took up the vast majority of our time. And for this, I give you the following food for thought:
3D – Yeah, it’s not going away. People wish it would. But it’s not. The consumer electronics companies are going to make us want it even if we don’t think we do right now. ESPN, Discovery and HDNet are already on the vanguard. Others will soon follow. This means every network will eventually need to deal with 3D production and all it entails.
Brian is Back – Comcast chmn/CEO Brian Roberts made a big splash at the show in two ways. First of all, he opened up considerably to ex-News Corp chief Peter Chernin on the first day, giving us some details about Comcast’s plans with NBCU and vowing not to “Comcast-ize” the content giant, whatever that means. And Roberts also wowed us with that iPad demo during the Wed general session. But his willingness to trumpet the consumer benefits of mergers and multiplatform isn’t without risk: Now Comcast must deliver. The MSO must allay the pro-net neutrality camp, which has used the Comcast-NBCU merger as a rallying cry, and it must somehow be careful not to overpromise when it comes to the set top. Those legacy boxes are still out there. And they’re still pretty clunky. Any kind of run on new boxes could put Comcast in a tough position.
Authentication – Interestingly, the debate over whether or how to do authentication seems to be over. Instead, panelists focused more on how to integrate “TV Everywhere” into the very matrix of cable’s multiplatform strategy. That’s an obvious result of a technology and business strategy that has already started to evolve and be accepted as reality. And that’s generally a good sign. But the specter of net neutrality is still out there, as NCTA pres/CEO Kyle McSlarrow’s Q&A with FCC chmn Julius Genachowski made painfully clear. How the industry approaches authentication over the next year could have huge implications for how politicized the net-neutrality debate becomes.
Interactive TV/Advanced Advertising – Panels focusing on these topics tended to be technical and wonky… but still well attended. That means that interactive TV—fueled by the intense interest in advanced advertising and metrics—is still a big driver as networks and operators hunt for new revenues. Canoe confirmed that its plans are well on track, and despite continuing challenges around the EBIF spec, interest among nets and ops in how to exploit that format seemed high at the show.
The Economy – In general, moods seemed better. People were smiling. Booths were large and expensive. Traffic on the show floor (at least on Wed) seemed quite robust. None of this means that cable is out of the economic woods. In fact, great Q1 results came with some analyst downgrades and worries over the FCC’s “Title II Lite” plans. But compared to the last couple of years, the show seemed a bit more “sunny.” Whether that was an emotional shift or just the side effect of gathering in L.A. is anyone’s guess. Let’s see how it feels next year in Chicago and reassess.
