Five Questions with Dan Sheeran, RealNetworks, svp, marketing

It seems Real has stepped up its cable pitches in the past 6 months? Yes we have, primarily in 2 areas. We’re helping cable operators build out broadband portals for greater brand loyalty, and we’re helping build out portals on the infrastructure side. We’re working with nearly all the top MSOs. Until this past year, most were focused on gaining scale and robustness in the network. Now, they’re moving on to value-added services. How can cable and RealNetworks persuade subs to spend for online content? Consumers have shown they are willing to pay. The key is to make it simple for them. We now have 1.3mln subs to our various services. A lot of the best content wasn’t available 2-3 years ago. Are you considering content deals that would be exclusive to your cable partners? Yes, we’re providing some in certain deals. In general, we think that’s not as important as having a differentiated experience. MSOs can offer content in a way others can’t through home networking. Who will lead the fight to have content span seamlessly across PCs and TVs? We think it’s cable’s opportunity to lose. Cable’s in the pole position. It has a higher speed network, and it’s already in the content business. It has a lot of cross-marketing opportunities between TV and HSD. I do think we’re 2-3 years away from mass rollouts, as home networking capacity and copy protection have to be tackled. Last song you downloaded? I know it was by Matchbox 20. I can look it up-it was "Mad Season."