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TV Outside the Box
C|Net has a story up looking at ways TV stations are moving online. An event on the subject was held during the annual marketing conference sponsored by the Television Bureau of Advertising. From the article: "For the first time, the conference was devoted to a single topic: the importance of the 'multiplatform'--that is, offering content and advertising not only on local broadcast stations but also online, on cell phones and other wireless devices, through video on demand and video iPods. The sole topic was intended to underscore that 'advertisers and their agencies are increasingly demanding a multiplatform strategy from all their media partners,' said Christopher Rohrs, president of the bureau, in a speech he gave to almost 1,200 attendees to begin the conference. "
Why is this in the apple section!!! HACKING??? this is no hacking apple is taking over teh world!
-dellfanboy1
Haven't they had a couple other stories like this fairly recently? Maybe not on cnet, but all over the place?
Because he always tells me to "think outside the box." Now I can just bring in a TV to work! Thanks, /.
What does this story have to do with Apple? The article mentions "video iPod" once.
thought not, oh wait
people go online to watch media because they are FED UP of being treated as advertisings bitches, TV was an art form now its just a sad classified advert deployment platform, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd et al are probably rolling in their graves in what TV/Cinema has become
Well? Is there a quota for Apple stories on Slashdot now or does anything that fits into "media" automatically get associated with Apple because of the unending hype surrounding the company?
It's unfortunate, but the iTunes Video Store has completely robbed me of whatever tolerance I had remaining for advertising. The picture quality isn't the best, I can't burn it to a non-data-only DVD, but for $2 I can get any episode of any show right now with no ads. I can watch it on my 20" LCD, or take it with me.
If The History Channel and HBO sign deals (and I know for a fact HBO is interested in working with Apple) I'll be tempted to give up cable TV altogether.
The response to this is natural and expected. The advertisers are trying to be more and more invasive with their product, and are moving it away from "Necessary Annoyance" to "Shove It Down Our Throats". They spend millions to research the most effective campaigns, but fail to see that having scripts written around their products, forcing their ads into our pockets or similar efforts will only alienate the public and increase the adoption of services that shut them out of our lives even more.
They are in a bad spot with few clear strategies for turning things around, but saturating every aspect of our lives with advertising and making it utterly impossible to escape it cannot be a sustainable solution. You will likely see a telemarketing/spam-esque backlash arise as a consequence.
for some of you if you like older euro video music :
http://www.interactivehuman.com/
cuz you know, a video ipod screen is totally an adequate replacement for a fullsize TV.
I do all that with Orb... plus I can skip the ads... and I can do that with internet TV... and Internet radios... and my own videos... and my music collection.....hmm, why do I care about that article again?
Apple pulled an end around on the media market. Sony bet on bluray for next gen home media, while M$ backs HD-DVD, simply because they believe that in the end download services for music and video will win out, and people will stream meadia from their PC to their xbox. Ironically, Apple is already their with their products and services, including the mac mini which may prove to be an important next gen "console", though it is not a gaming console. M$, seeking to cut the throat of the gaming empire, may have won the battle against sony (though I root for sony), but lost the war for the living room to apple. We'll see in 2 years, but I want to see Nintendo and Apple divide and conquer. I will probably be only half right...
Great, now I need to find a phone with a Tivo function. Oh wait, I would never watch a program on a small crappy screen.
I used to be with IT..now IT seems strange and scary to me.
if they were REALLY smart, they would tailor the ads to viewers. here's what i would do. you could watch my shows in hd for free on your computer, ipod, or whatever the heck, if you signed up for a membership. to get that, you'd have to answer a few questions about things that interest you. this way, all commercial time would be primed to target markets & viewers could get what they'd want. yeah, it's sorta creepy, but it's also smart. i'd sign up.
who needs a $300 iPod to watch video or a $600 Mac Mini
When you can get the D-Link 520 for $210 and stream video over your home network to your TV.
http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=438&sec=1
Of course people are going to go on-line. If you think of it, how many must see movies, TV shows or games are produced each year. And don't get me started on music. Frankly all these industries have fallen into a bankruptcy of creativity and guts. Too much of what we see and hear are hackneyed remakes of shows and songs that were fine back in the day, but repackaging them is not the path to glory. They can cry piracy all they like, but Spielberg said it best when he said that if Hollywood wants people to see their movies, they should make movies people want to see. At least on-line you can have your choice instead of what some entertainment executive thinks he can sell you. Is there some good stuff out there? Sure, but by comparison it is buried often by the volume of crap out there. Apple has done well with their kitschy little units, but it wouldn't be the same without the complicity of the industry. Hell, I could probably buy all the stuff I want for about 10 bucks a week. But then, like the music industry, once it takes off, they'll be whining that two bucks a show is too cheap.
I've said it again and again - make a desirable product. The people who want it will find it. We're so constantly bombarded by advertising that not only do we tune it out, we actively avoid it. They're getting smarter in the sense that they now make it unavoidable if you want any content, but I'm sure that I'm not the only one who's driven away from the content as a result. Don't convince me that I want something that I don't - you'll just piss me off. Find a market and sell to it. Base your business off of customer satisfaction and quality products, not the flashiest ad. Most places I buy stuff from either don't advertise or keep it subtle, and save a couple exceptions, they tend to keep me coming back from service rather than lack of option. Not only do businesses lose future sales to bad customer service, I've personally gone into several stores for the first time intending to buy something but ended up not doing so because of how I was treated within the store.
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
Can I still see your content for free, ad-free?
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
I feel the same way, I cancled my cable as well. I now rely on OTA HDTV, iTMS video, and downloaded content (in that order).
There is very little need for "real" TV when you can just download a show when you want to. Schedules and programming are not needed when everything is truly random access.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
an "end run" or a "reach around" - if you use these terms as interchangably as you do, you've probably got more important issues to work on then apple and the media.
:)
Not that apple performing a reach around on the media would, um, well.
Make your own damn analogy. I'm fresh out
When I get some type of broadband network access where I can download movies in a reasonably short period of time, I will very likely cancel my Dish Network subscription. There is nothing more annoying to me than seeing a pop-up cartoon advertising another program at the bottom of my TV screen. I believe that TNT is one of the worst offenders with these pop-ups. I no longer watch that channel.
I also believe that $12.99 per month for 5 channels that show constant reruns of the same few movies over the entire billing period is too high of a price. This is the type of shit people once had to put up with when dealing with government enforced monopolies. Fortunately, there are now ways around these monopolies. These ways are called movie swapping clubs, peer to peer networks, and independent producers creating via computers and camcorders. Since I live in an area where there is no broadband access, I only get to download entertainment when I visit another town. However most people have access to broadband networking in the U.S. Maybe this is why Dish Network keeps offering free weeks of HBO and Showtime. It may also be the reason why their telemarketers keep calling my house to get me to sign up with addidtional programming. People can now go to other sources rather than pay for mediocre, overpriced service.
Another reason people go online in order to view content is because much of what is found on the internet is much more entertaining than the crap that is found on cartel controlled media. The crap that Hollydud is pouring out is for the most part completely unoriginal. Why should I watch yet another remake of King Kong when I already know what is going to happen in the movie? Where is the suspense? Where is the originality? I don't feel like I should pay premium prices for uninspiring reruns. Tech TV is no longer on Dish Network. Instead, there is something called G4. G4 IMHO is a pitiful replacement. For tech entertainment, I would rather download HackTV, "Welcome to the scene," or some other tech-oriented show from the Internet.
When some form of broadband access (be it muninet, FreeWan, or Internet) comes to my area, I will call Dish Network and ask them to reduce my bill to $35 a month without cutting access to any channels. Of course, they will refuse and the agent will most likely put his or her phone on mute while laughing at my request. However, my rquest would be a reasonable one, since I would be able to obtain equivilent or better entertainment online for the price of the connection without having to deal with the pop-ups, etc.
This is what Dish Network, Direct TV, cable companies as well as other channel providers provide - connectivity. These providers only stream content from producers and resellers such as HBO, Showtime and TNT. Currently, most Hollydud movies move through the following channels to get to me - studio > HBO (or other channel) > Dish Network. The studio manufactures the content, HBO buys and resells the content to a cable or satellite company, and the satellite company charges a fee to link the viewer to the content. The studios are beginning to have high quality competition from small time or even home studios which in many cases release their content for free. HBO and the likes only retrieve the content from studios and organize it in a way that they think will cause people to pay to watch their channel. The likes of web browsers and LimeWire will do the same task to the specific likings of individuals and mostly for free. The Likes of Dish Network, Direct TV, and Comcast only route content from the source to the viewer. The likes of cable Internet, DSL, Muninets, FreeWans, as well as sneaker networks provider a much lower cost of connection as well as better choice. In essence, when more and more people get turned onto the competition, the over-priced, under-quality service offered by the tradional media companies will have to be priced at a significantly reduced rate or else go the way of the dinosaur. When broadband comes to my area, the content distribution route will change to studio > LimeWire, BitTorrent, Mozilla, or FTP > me.
I'm Canadian, and my 15 year-old son was doing (no doubt heard in school) his "Americans are so stupid, Canadians are so great" thing.
Choosing my words carefully, I pointed out to him that attributed, obvious, reported stupidity requires at least 5% of the population to be actually, clinically stupid. I also noted that Americans tend to be very vocal and opinionated about stuff they don't know much about.
Canada's current problem is that it lacks a critical mass of stupid people. 13 million dumb Americans is a group to be reckoned with, but 1.3 million dumb Canadians is just Manitoba.
Uh-oh...
In the '90's Amiga had AmigaLive then the the toaster. I thought the emergence of TV and PC was here. Then the bust. I can't for the life of me figure why windoze and mac are even in the running for anything. Ya' know you can't fix a wrong answer no matter how much money you throw at it!!! I have XP and it's like a garage collector that gets in it's own way. Some day when we get over this crap and we start programming in colors instead of binary; you'll see.
there has to be a more efficient way than "make a desirable product. The people who want it will find it"
You're condemning people to wander around looking for gems in rooms full of costume jewelry and cheap paste.
How 'bout using an RSS from somebody you trust?
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
TV wasn't called a "vast wasteland" in the 50's for nothing, you know. It hasn't gotten any better, because Sturgeon's Law is immutable: "90% of everything is crap." The reason TV is surviving nowadays is because different people define "crap" differently, so the people who hate golf "crap" can watch channels without it, for example. That gives us hundreds of channels with nothing but crap. In fact, by 2010 if there isn't a "Crap Channel" I'll be disappointed...
By the taping of my glasses, something geeky this way passes
Canada's current problem is that it lacks a critical mass of stupid people. 13 million dumb Americans is a group to be reckoned with, but 1.3 million dumb Canadians is just Manitoba.
Dammit! I'm in North Dakota, and we have plenty of rednecks here, too. South Dakota is full of them as well, along with Montana and rural Minnesota. Now you're telling me I can't even escape to the north?