Recent articles on this blog featured the problems broadcasting services have to face in the days of the internet. Just take a look at my del.icio.us bookmarks on the right to notice that the death of Project Kangaroo has been the opener to Project Canvas.
Today’s informitv newsletter is concluded by a comment by Dr William Cooper, CEO informitv, addressing current issues. It’s a brilliant one. Unfortunately, I can’t find it anywhere on their site (“resource not found”). So here it is, straight from the newsletter…
Continue reading "Dr William Cooper, CEO informitv, on Challenges..." »
Entries tagged as channel 4
bbc 12.rästv ard bbc trust broadcast bskyb bt channel 5 commercial services convergence crisis digital economy eu germany government hulu iplayer isba itunes itv joost ofcom project canvas project kangaroo project marquee youtube regulation revenue virgin media cello financing free interview labels music industry strategy wolframhuschke business models choruss content industry isp jim griffin midem music business warner added value adsense all2gethernow andrew dubber artists authors collection societies content copyright creation creative commons culture dmca law lawrence lessig takedown warner music
Monday, March 9. 2009
Dr William Cooper, CEO informitv, on Challenges in Television Industry
Monday, February 23. 2009
BBC: R.I.P. Project Kangaroo - Along Comes Open VoD
4th February 2009 saw a sudden death to promising Project Kangaroo, the BBC’s joint venture project in digital distribution along with partners ITV and Channel 4. Regulation had been expected, maybe a halt due to various reasons but certainly not the one issued by Britain’s Competition Commission.
The basics of Project Kangaroo had been sketched as early as of 2004. BBC started out developing an IPTV solution for video on demand (VoD), aiming at recycling content. Despite some minor drawbacks, the Integrated Media Player (later known as iPlayer received a warm welcome and enabled a successful entry into digital distribution. In November 2007, the joint venture between BBC, ITV and Channel 4 was announced.
In the British Competition Commission’s (CC) news release, CC chairman Peter Freeman calls the project a “threat to competition in this developing market” which “has to be stopped”.
The CC argued the concentrated power of three out of four terrestrial broadcasting services would dominate smaller content providers, creating an online monopoly. In an attempt to urge all participating members to keep their role as competitors, aim was to support the user’s benefit.
I must admit, I was surprised to see the project completely stopped. The most obvious reason the BBC has to get digital is straight forward: Triple play and media convergence have been touted long since. Strategically, broadcast - and this means any broadcast service – has to stake its digital claim threatened by web services like Hulu, Joost, Apple’s iTunes and YouTube.
The ubiquitous ease of mobile use can’t be achieved with old skool TV. It is not just for local ubiquity: Any content is available at any time. More importantly, as Trent Reznor does with his audience, it is a must to get interactive and get involved with viewers. The only way out is: go digital, get online and offer a sheer wealth of content otherwise lost in the archives.
Continue reading "BBC: R.I.P. Project Kangaroo - Along Comes Open..." »
The basics of Project Kangaroo had been sketched as early as of 2004. BBC started out developing an IPTV solution for video on demand (VoD), aiming at recycling content. Despite some minor drawbacks, the Integrated Media Player (later known as iPlayer received a warm welcome and enabled a successful entry into digital distribution. In November 2007, the joint venture between BBC, ITV and Channel 4 was announced.
In the British Competition Commission’s (CC) news release, CC chairman Peter Freeman calls the project a “threat to competition in this developing market” which “has to be stopped”.
Why?
The CC argued the concentrated power of three out of four terrestrial broadcasting services would dominate smaller content providers, creating an online monopoly. In an attempt to urge all participating members to keep their role as competitors, aim was to support the user’s benefit.
One hop back…
I must admit, I was surprised to see the project completely stopped. The most obvious reason the BBC has to get digital is straight forward: Triple play and media convergence have been touted long since. Strategically, broadcast - and this means any broadcast service – has to stake its digital claim threatened by web services like Hulu, Joost, Apple’s iTunes and YouTube.
The ubiquitous ease of mobile use can’t be achieved with old skool TV. It is not just for local ubiquity: Any content is available at any time. More importantly, as Trent Reznor does with his audience, it is a must to get interactive and get involved with viewers. The only way out is: go digital, get online and offer a sheer wealth of content otherwise lost in the archives.
Continue reading "BBC: R.I.P. Project Kangaroo - Along Comes Open..." »
