G.E.’s decision to sell NBC Universal reflects the shifts in fortune that are battering the media business, especially network television. The broadcast division of NBC Universal could lose big, a remarkable downturn for a network that had earned roughly $400 million in past years.

Problem: the Internet has fractured audiences and few viable business models have emerged for the distribution of content online.

What the new Comcast venture looks like: Comcast will contribute its own cable channels, which include Versus, the Golf Channel and the E Entertainment channel, and a modest amount of cash, about $5 billion, to a joint venture in which it will own 51 percent. G.E. will retain a 49 percent stake, and would likely reduce its ownership over several years and in theory, Comcast-NBC Universal will be a company separate from Comcast’s cable assets.

Some interesting possibilities could be:

It could use its power in film, with Universal Studios, to expand video-on-demand offerings by altering movie release windows to make movies available on demand the same day they are released on DVD.

It could use its power in film, with Universal Studios, to expand video-on-demand offerings by altering movie release windows to make movies available on demand the same day they are released on DVD to all active basic cable subscribers that buy HBO and SHOWTIME or purchase at least 1 on-demand film per month.

Buying Netflix: Stream movies through this service coupling subscription on cable with certain consumer benefits through Netflix, i.e. day and date with DVD or perhaps even a scheme to stream films just released in theaters 1 time only to ‘frequent flyers’ or renters of the service, but at a big ticket price on-demand.

But here is the real reason why Comcast is buying NBC: TV Everywhere. “TV Everywhere” model, which promises to give their subscribers exactly what they want: anytime, anywhere access to any TV content. They have to do this to keep their customer bases and compete. In a TV Everywhere world, the role of the multi-system operator is diminished. Your cable or satellite TV provider will no longer be your only (legal) means of watching the current episode of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. In a TV Everywhere world, Curb Your Enthusiasm will be available on literally thousands of websites and mobile apps, as long as you can authenticate yourself as a paying cable or satellite subscriber with the HBO package. Comcast risks becoming a “dumb pipe,” providing little more than bandwidth. To avoid that fate, Comcast recognizes that it needs to move upstream and own or control the content itself, thus NBC/Uni. More to the point, a consumer COULD elect to turn off his cable basic subscription and turn around and subscribe to TVE thereby allowing him to see his basic cable channels but on his PC, phone etc. Now that Comcast owns content and some of those channels it can monetize the consumer whether or not they subscribe to the cable in the house or not.

In a TV Everywhere world, it will be a terribly crowded space, with a ton of noise and websites with similar content. The sites that perform best will be the ones that create the best user experience for viewing TV content – and right now, that’s Hulu ( and who knows, maybe Clicker ?). If Comcast buys NBC, Comcast will own about 1/3 of Hulu, providing an ideal launching pad for TV Everywhere it has a very passionate and loyal audience.

This online world is a very splintered and exceedingly difficult to measure, especially when you are asked to sell advertising against the content. The real problem is a lack of tools to properly bring the right economy of scale to online which equates to buying media in a traditional way. Therefore, instead of trying to monetize a cable channel online one by one, with TVE, you can monetize the whole package in a similar way that cable already is monetized. Its a structure already understood by the consumer now. Bundle a bunch of cable channels for a small monthly fee and let consumers have access to them everywhere, including home or NOT.

The Internet while very big, does not yet command the equivalent kind of media rates and fees that Cable or Network gets today. No agreed upon means of measurement exists to give advertisers a definitive ‘rate card’ for the internet. There is no Nielsen for the web, (yet, although it was announced yesterday by Nielsen that eventually, there will be). comScore, even though they do a great job with data can’t extrapolate the data to equate to viewers ‘watching a TV set’. Making the comparison when placing an ad on a video online and the same ad on TV impossible to compare TODAY. Hulu streamed 855 million video stream last month. What does that really mean? Did all 855m viewers who watched those streams watch ALL of each stream or were many of them counted as they ‘surfed’ through Hulu clicking on various videos for a few minutes or even seconds – were they counted among the 855m? What does 855m stream equate to in Nielsen ratings/eyeballs? Does anyone really know? Nielsen despite its shortcomings has some measurable statistics for this, but its still not apples to apples.

Furthermore, Hulu still has a long way to go to prove it can monetize its audience as effectively as its parent companies can do with programs viewed on-air. Why? Its uniques are flat. Hulu’s uniques are scarcely better than they were 6 months ago. Unless the unique number jumps in the coming months (which I doubt it will), Hulu will have to meaningfully enhance its value proposition to grow its audience (can you say “Hulu to-the-TV-via-Xbox/Roku/Apple TV/etc?”) says Will Richmond of Videonuze (Nov 30^th 2009). He goes on to ask “What happens to Fox’s programs on Hulu should Rupert Murdoch expand his focus beyond his newspapers’ online content going premium? What if Disney decides to launch its own subscription services? What if Google or Microsoft or Netflix (or someone else) decides to open their wallet and make a bigger play in premium online video?” And, these questions become somewhat less mysterious now that Comcast has bought NBC/Universal.TV will NEVER be the same again.

Comcast chart above courtesy of VideoNuze.com

Posted via email from williamsager’s posterous

This evening, I was in a nice restaurant and noticed one of the most prominent televangelists in America walking in. If you have cable TV, he is instantly recognizable. He drove up in a Rolls Royce with blacked out windows and had two armed bodyguards. Funny thing for a man of the cloth. You see, his empire is in the many hundreds of millions of dollars, and if a reasonable intelligent individual watched him in action, they would call BS after 3-4 minutes of watching his oily informercials for Jesus.

Another Elmer Gantry finally broke his silence tonight. Al Gore doubled down on his anthropomorphic global warming sermon and said that we have to act yesterday to prevent a global catastrophe. His visual aid,  for the event, presented by Arnold Schwarzenegger, was a map of San Francisco in 2030 showing the entire coastline inundated and the city under 30′ of water. Some  are not too unhappy about that prospect. I would miss the surf at Mavericks, though. Mr. Gore said nothing about the Climategate controversy or his massive bet on carbon futures, the big money pot at the end of his particular rainbow. Mr. Gore, you see, only takes select questions from trained monkeys these days.

On the other side of the country Larry King was on television arguing with Michael Moore, who I must say has at least a consistency of conviction on the Afghanistan war. Mr. Moore pointed out the intellectual flaws in Mr. Obama’s rationalization of the Afghanistan surge while Mr. King was an unabashed cheerleader. Sean Penn, Jane Fonda, and others on the Left have all been contorting themselves like a game of Twister gone wrong today as they try to justify the President’s pretzel logic. At the same time, the Congressional Black Caucus wants to stick up the Congress for more aid for their pet projects, including mortgage forgiveness in inner cities, pork, and a laundry list amounting to hundreds of billions for their campaign donors.

I really am not sure if I loathe the preacher or the politicians or the gandy dancers more these days.

Which is Better – Bundling Digital Services or Shop and Compare?

Bundling services is popular in home entertainment and communications today. The bundling craze began with cable providers like Time Warner, Cox, Comcast, and Charter, but now telco and satellite providers are bundling services as well. Is it better to purchase a bundle (for your television, internet and phone) or is it cheaper to get each one individually? For years, I have been covering digital services and products and in this piece I’ll give you a look at these package deals and let you know whether going to one company for all of your broadband, television, and telephone requirements is ideal or whether shopping around is the best method.

It’s hard to turn all your home digital needs over to a single company. It makes us uneasy. Will I be locked into a contract and have to deal with rate hikes? Or will I have to buy expensive equipment without the opportunity for a refund if I change companies. When examining competing offers and promotions from digital providers these are all valid concerns. So what does happen when your original promotion expires? I’ve found that the level of competition is so great among these companies rate hikes are few and far between. In fact, the drive to keep customers is so great that even when promos or special deals end, very often existing customers can extend their offer or move to a new promotion. It just might take a simple phone call from you to get the latest deal. Some cable companies, like Charter Communications, are currently giving users the chance to lock in rates for as long as two years if they agree to take a complete package deal. Whether you get stuck with any special hardware that you’re responsible for comes down to the individual company. The type of equipment you’re going to get from your provider is usually just a digital receiver for your television and a broadband modem if you order high speed Internet. It is likely you might have a digital video recorder (DVR) as well if you ordered a top tier digital TV package. Usually, companies will not charge you surprise fees for using their equipment. You may be charged a small monthly fee for additional digital receivers or a monthly broadband modem rental fee if you don’t purchase one of your own. Contact the providers in your area to find out their exact polices. When you move or change service providers, it is your responsibility to return any hardware to the local provider’s office. Baring loss or damage, you shouldn’t be charged anything. This is why I don’t see any reason for consumers to not take advantage of a bundle offer over any apprehension about the equipment provided by the company. Each of the major digital companies have essentially the same policies regarding hardware fees and returns which don’t change whether you’re getting all your services from one company or several.

Let’s check out the digital service bundles you can now purchase for your home. Satellite saw a big resurgence in the 90’s when they introduced small dish’s that could be installed on the side of a house and all-digital channels that at the time were far clearer than the signal being delivered by cable companies. Besides generally speaking being less expensive, until the last few years satellite TV offered a greater variety of channels than cable did. Since then satellite hasn’t changed much at all. Restricted by technological limitations, satellite companies like DirectTV and Dish are fighting to compete in the digital revolution currently going on in cable and telecommunications field. Even though television prices are still very competitive, satellite has a poor Internet option that’s only useful to homes in very rural areas and no phone service option. Recently, national telecommunications companies like AT&T, Qwest, and Verizon are now offering digital TV, high-speed Internet, home, and mobile phone deals. They can now do this through a slowly growing fiber-optic network available in metropolitan areas and by partnering with satellite and broadband providers to cover the TV and Internet portions of the package. Although it’s got the price point and quality, right now I am not suggesting customers go with a telco business for all 3 digital services. You are really just getting a repackaged product in most areas where fiber optic networks aren’t accessible. Plus, if one of these partners wants to change pricing terms or pull out of the deal with your telco where does that leave you?

So where should consumers spend their money? The bundled service packages that cable companies are offering can save you some money. Cable companies today offer a more complete digital and HD programming lineup that matches and often beats what Dish and DirecTV offers. Plus, you can get great add-ons like DVR boxes and on demand service that satellite is only beginning to deliver. With a cable bundle package you will only have to deal with one company if there are problems and you need support. If want digital TV only, however, competition among cable, telcos, as satellite is more intense and it might pay to shop around. But when you combine services you can’t get a better deal considering the products and discounts a cable provider can give you. You should evaluate for yourself every aspect of the main cable and satellite offers. Research each package and use the knowledge you’ve learned to find the best deal!

Find the best Comcast Cable Phone and High Speed Internet Deals for New Jersey here!

Is Bundling Digital Services Together More Economical Than Just Purchasing Separate Services in Pennsylvania?

The latest trend for telecom and media companies is to bundle their services together and promote a money saving package deal. This trend started with cable companies like Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Charter and Cox and moved to national phone carriers who now offer TV and broadband in select areas on top of traditional phone service. Does bundling television, internet, and phone save you money, or is it just another advertising contrivance? I’ve been covering digital products and services for years and in this article I’m going to look at these package deals and find out if going to one company for all your TV, broadband, and phone needs is the best or if shopping around is the way to go.

No one wants to have one single company provide all our necessary services. Call it jaded consumer distrust, but it makes us uncomfortable. Can’t they suddenly raise the rate and I’ll be locked into a contract I can’t get out of? Do I have to sign a contract to pay for their equipment or pay fees if I switch providers? These are all normal concerns when you are shopping around for digital home services. So what does happen when your original promotion expires? Due to the high level of competition in this industry, rates are rarely raised. In fact, the drive to keep customers is so great that even when promos or special deals end, very often existing customers can extend their offer or move to a new promotion. It just might take a simple phone call from you to get the latest deal. For example, Charter gives cable customers the chance to lock in rates for up to two years if they buy a total service bundle. The hardware issue comes down to the terms and conditions of each provider. You will usually get a digital receiver and a modem from you provider. It is likely you might have a digital video recorder (DVR) as well if you ordered a top tier digital TV package. Generally speaking, most businesses will not charge you any costs for the average wear and tear of their equipment. A small monthly fee may be charged for a monthly broadband modem rental fee if you do not purchase one of your own. You may also be charged a small fee for additional digital receivers for multiple TV’s. Get a hold of the digital providers in your locality to find out their actual rules. If you change address or switch providers you’re generally only responsible for giving the equipment back to the office of the local company. Assuming the equipment is not lost or damaged, you probably will not have to pay anything additional. Therefore, there’s no reason for consumers to reject a bundle price because they are concerned about the equipment. Every digital company has basically the same rules and regulations about equipment fees and how to return them.

Let’s check out the digital service bundles you can now purchase for your home. Satellite experienced a large resurgence in the nineties when they introduced compact dish’s which could be setup on the side of a house and offered all digital channels that were a lot more clear than the signal offered by cable. Additionally, Satellite television had more complete programming than cable for a generally lower price. But in recent years the satellite industry has remained stagnant. Restricted by technological limitations, satellite companies like DirectTV and Dish are fighting to compete in the digital revolution currently going on in cable and telecommunications field. Even though television prices are still very competitive, satellite has a poor Internet option that’s only useful to homes in very rural areas and no phone service option. National communication businesses like Qwest, Verizon, and AT&T have recently been providing high-speed Internet, digital television, and cell and landline telephone packages. They can now do this through a slowly growing fiber-optic network available in metropolitan areas and by partnering with satellite and broadband providers to cover the TV and Internet portions of the package. Even though the quality and price point is there, I’m currently not recommending consumers go with a telco company for all three services. Since they are partnering with other companies for the TV or broadband service, you’re merely getting a repackaged product that puts more hands in the pot and can create service headaches. Plus, if one of these partners wants to change pricing terms or pull out of the deal with your telco where does that leave you?

So what company do I think customers should get their cable and broadband from? Right now I’m a big proponent of the bundle deals coming from the major cable providers. Today’s cable companies offer a complete digital and HD programming lineup that matches and often beats what Dish and DirecTV offer. You can get awesome add-ons including DVR boxes that the satellite industry is just starting to bring to it’s customers. With a cable bundle package you will only have to deal with one company if there are problems and you need support. If you are only looking for one service, like digital television, then the competition between satellite, cable and the telcos is tighter. But when you get two or three services together you can’t beat the products and discounts cable providers offer. Take a look for yourself and compare the features of each major provider. If you do this you can find the best digital TV, high speed internet and telephone offer to suit your needs and your budget.

Click here to find the best Comcast Cable Triplay Play deals for Pennsylvania!

India has recently seen a boom in the satellite channels. Star, Zee and other big media corporations have made inroads into the Indian market. Earlier it was Doordarshan which catered to the tastes of the urban and the rural populace. Now, with the Satellite channels making their presence felt, viewers are left with better choice. The varied soap operas and reality shows are successful in getting wide viewer ships among cross section of people.

Cutting edge technologies, like DTH(Direct to Home) has further helped the audience to choose from a wide range of channels on offer. Satellite communication has made world a global village where contents originating in different corners of the planet travel across national boundaries. A person residing in Kolkata, India get a daily dose of Desperate Housewives in Star World which is alien to average Bengali conservative culture. However, programs like these have initiated a change. Men and women in India have been exposed to a way of life which gives a lot of importance to individual freedom. Specially, women have got a chance to speak their mind and choose a life which they want.

The reality shows which are shown in Indian television are heavily influenced by their western counterparts. Indian Idol based on American Idol is a case which can be referred to. This has led to another debate,whether Indian culture is facing the danger of being invaded with ideas which are harmful for its people. The recent trends reveal that youth in India have been quick to ape western outfits and way of talking in a bid to become “cool dudes”. Sadly, they are yet to get the true essence of the American and European cultures which are rich and varied. Men and women here are busy in copying blindly the way of life which is shown in serials.

This, however, doesn’t mean that Indians are really facing a lot of challenge due to Satellite Channels post globalization. No one can deny the fact that horizons have been widened with new ideas enriching the lives of millions. Information dished out at Discovery Channel, National Geographic and news channels like CNN, B.B.C have been of immense help. The need of the hour is a balance between the plethora of opportunities offered by Satellite channels and individual discretion. The choice between right and wrong should be left to the viewers with minimal regulations from the national government.

Cable news. It’s all the rage. Oprah’s doing it, and you should, too.

American television was born on a strong tradition of broadcast networks. Until Fox came into the picture in 1987, three major broadcast channels dominated US airwaves–CBS, ABC and NBC. They set the pace for American life and served not just as networks for news, but as channels of entertainment and popular culture, as well. In an Unsteady Future for Broadcast, New York Times reporters Tim Arango and Bill Carter tell us that this is no longer the case for American television.

Like newspapers, television is seeing a slow and imminent death due to the increased popularity of the Internet. We no longer consume our media by turning the page or flipping through channels–instead we find information through quick clicks of a button. Newspapers and journalism in general have found some relief through downsizing and moving much of their business online. Television has yet to find a definite solution to save its face. It is clear, however, that is hasn’t found refuge in large broadcast channels. Instead, media personalities and shows have fled to cable networks.

According to the NYT article, compared to the 30 percent of households that tuned into NBC in 1952, only 5.2 of households today watch the channel. That is an unbelievable drop and it really landmarks where all broadcast stations are at today. People no longer gather around the television at night to watch the nightly news or dramas. Instead they are turning to a different market where their content can play to specific niche audiences. Unlike large networks, cable channels target different kinds of tastes–like the Food Network, Lifetime, SpikeTV, USA–all of tthem have something in common. They all have variety in their content and each narrow down to something specific. A channel for food-lovers, a channel for women, a channel for men.

“The mass audience — the bread and butter of broadcast networks — has splintered into niches as viewers flock to alternative entertainment choices on the Internet, to video games and to cable channels dedicated to individual tastes, like Ms. Winfrey’s forthcoming OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network.”

Unlike broadcast channels, which receive most of their revenue from advertisers, cable news networks heavily rely on subscriptions from cable operators to fund their projects. They don’t have to depend on advertisers to keep their channels afloat. As a result they have the freedom to test out different shows and don’t have to resort to cheap reality programming to replace hardcore dramas. Survivor. Amazing Race. So You Think You Can Dance. Broadcast networks use these as a way to replace dramas and comedies that typically cost about $3 million per hour.

Much of the debate about net neutrality comes from the fact that television can no longer compete with the world wide web. For now, it seems as though cable is television’s only saving grace.

The waiting room at the tire repair shop had my favorite tv network, HGTV, on. That’s a first. Normally, I would have been doomed to sit in a room with sports or some terrible Lifetime television melodrama. I gave up cable months ago. I only get to see my favorite channel at the gym or, apparently, here.

What a spectacular year we have had distributing Multimedios Networks!

 This year Multimedios Networks have launched in 7 of the top 10 Hispanic DMA’s: Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, Chicago, San Francisco, San Antonio, Harlingen/Brownsville/McAllen, and now… Los Angeles!!

In January 2009 Time Warner Cable launched Multimedios Television on digital basic throughout the Texas Region including the above and Austin; El Paso; Corpus Christi; Waco; Port Arthur and the Golden Triangle area and others. Comcast is completing the Multimedios Television and TeleRitmo “roll-out” on its systems in northern California, Washington and Oregon and also launched the networks in Detroit and Boston.

Multimedios has been a great success in those markets and will be for all operators whose footprint covers the fastest growing demo in the US: your core Mexican demographic.

Multimedios offers:

-        100% Original, 100% Mexican Programming

-        From the 2^nd largest media group and the 3^rd largest programming producer in Mexico.

-        Experience: Successfully operating newspapers, radio and TV for nearly 80 years, Multimedios knows and understands its core Mexican audience.

-        Brand: High brand awareness among Mexican audiences on both sides of the border.

-        Stars: Well known Mexican stars and TV personalities.

-        Mexican Triple Play:  General Entertainment – Multimedios Television; News Network – Milenio Television; Music Network – TeleRitmo

-        Ratings Success: Multimedios Television regularly beats Televisa and TV Azteca in the ratings; Milenio Television regularly beats CNN en Español and Teleformula.

-        Mexican Demo: Multimedios programming is effective in targeting the Mexican demographic.

-        VOD: 500 hrs of Children’s Programming; 500 hrs of “Lucha Libre” (Professional Wrestling)

-        Marketing Support: Proactive on-the-ground promotional events targeting local Mexican residents; live transmission of its shows; celebrity meet-and-greets; marketing dollars for direct mail, print and radio campaigns.

-        Radio:  Multimedios operates full power radio stations along the US border including Tijuana that covers San Diego. Multimedios “La Caliente” radio network is available for digital distribution.

-        Influence: Multimedios influence by way of its media businesses covers all of Mexico,

 Below is the Nov 18, 2009 Multichannel News story by journalist Laura Martinez:

Multimedios Television Launches On Time

Warner Cable Los Angeles

Network Part Of El Paquetazo, El Paquetazo Dos Packages

Laura Martinez — Multichannel News, 11/18/2009 11:26:33 AM

Multimedios Television, the Monterrey, Mexico-based TV network, has rolled out its service onto Time Warner Cable system in Los Angeles, the nation’s largest Hispanic market. Multimedios, now available on channel 804, joins Time Warner Cable’s El Paquetazo and El Paquetazo Dos programming tiers.

The deal for Multimedios, terms of which were not disclosed, follows Multimedios and sister music channel TeleRitmo’s recent roll out on Comcast systems in San Jose, Oregon, Detroit and Washington State.

“This has been a very good year for us, as we’ve been able to launch our networks from coast to coast,” says Gustavo Mena, who handles Multimedios Television’s cable and satellite distribution in the U.S. Nationwide, Multimedios is available in over 1 million U.S. households.

Multimedios Television, a privately held company, is also close to striking a deal with Comcast for carriage of Milenio Televisión, a 24/7 all Spanish-language news network, which premiered October 2008 in Mexico. According to Mena, the deal will be finalized as soon as this week.

In addition to its continuing carriage negotiations, Multimedios Television is offering MSOs over 1,000 hours of programming available for VOD, including 500 hours of original children’s programming and an additional 500 hours of Lucha libre (wrestling), hailing from the company’s own wrestling stadium in Monterrey, la Arena Coliseo.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/389669-Multimedios_Television_Launches_On_Time_Warner_Cable_Los_Angeles.php?nid=2386&source=title&rid=16298918

About Multimedios Networks:

Multimedios Television Networks are part of Grupo Multimedios, the third-largest producer of original Spanish-language programming in Mexico. The Mexican media conglomerates’ assets include: 37 AM and FM radio stations; nine broadcast TV stations; a 150,000-subscriber triple-play cable operator that offers television, broadband and telephony; 12 local, regional and national newspapers; two national magazines; outdoor advertising; music concert venues, amusement parks; radio network La Caliente Radio Network; and three satellite transmitted television networks distributed in the U.S. market: General Entertainment Multimedios Television, News Network Milenio Television and Music Channel TeleRitmo.

Verizon Pays $2 Million For Poor Florida Service
Years of complaints ‘resolved’ by $2 bill credits…
09:00AM Wednesday Nov 11 2009 by Karl Bode
tags: business · Verizon Online DSL

While Verizon gets a lot of warranted attention for investing heavily in fiber to the home, the last few years have seen a growing number of allegations that this investment came at the cost of neglected DSL and landline networks. Union workers have told us they aren’t getting the tools and resources they need to support DSL & landline customers effectively, and in some states the resulting service issues have been obvious. Florida in particular has been a problem spot for Verizon, with higher than normal customer complaints, and union employees picketing Verizon offices last year. Regulators investigated, and found that lack of prompt repairs were leading to extended outages for customers. After many months of debating how these complaints should be resolved, Verizon yesterday agreed to refund customers $1.75 million and pay the state another $250,000. Of that $250,000, about half of it will be going to the state’s the state’s Lifeline Assistance program, which was designed to aid elderly and low-income Floridians.What does this mean if you’re a Verizon customer in Florida? According to the Associated Press, Verizon has roughly 900,000 customers across six Florida counties. Each one of them should see a whopping $2 credit on their bill sometime in the next ninety days.

In my previous post about your internet connection sucking, I covered some stats and what both telcos and cable companies will do to stop municipalities from taking matters into their own hands, namely suing them. Verizon is getting away with delivering crappy service because there is no competition in the DSL and landline market in North Florida. You will be very hard pressed to find both AT&T and Verizon in the very same areas (wireless is a whole different post). Miami-Dade, Broward and I would guess Palm Beach  is pretty much covered by one telecom, AT&T (previously Bellsouth) while the cable market is mostly Comcast (previously Adelphia). There are some exceptions to the cable markets. Miami Beach has Atlantic broadband and some parts of north Florida have Brighthouse.

No more of this single provider per area non-sense. We need more telecoms and cable companies to compete with the established AT&T/Comcast here in South Florida. If Verizon, Charter, Clearwire, Speakeasy and other do not want to step up to the plate, then we need to create our own municipal broadband. But how do we do that? We can’t force a competitor to come to us. The only tool that I can think of is to bribe the competitor to joining the market. Obviously bribing Verizon and others to service South Florida when AT&T has had it exclusively for years is is not going to fly nicely with their legal teams. As all companies have proven they will fight any type of law or regulation that doesn’t suit them tooth and nail. Making a pact with the devil maybe our undoing. Hell, it got us to where we are now.

Sometimes cable television is the best.  At 11PM I started watching Rocky II and didn’t stop til it ended much too late for a guy like me who has to get up at 6:40 to take care of 4 kids with his wife.

These two audio files are some of my favorites from the movie. I thought you might like them.

First….

Rocky gets paid $150,000 for fighting Apollo Creed, who is his nemesis except in Rocky III and IV where Apollo is his close friend. In 1979 that’s a lot of money. It’s a lot of money now.

A reporter asks “Rocky your pay for the fight is very substantial. What are you going to do with the money?”

Second

Mick, Rocky’s grizzled trainer loses patience with Rocky. Rocky knows his wife does not approve of his upcoming fight and he can’t focus. What does Mick do?

Tough love.

“All right. Then don’t you waste my time no mo’. Ya hear that?

Go away, go back to the docks where you belong. You go back to bein’ a two bit nothin’.

But don’t you ever come back here again. Because I’m too old to waste my time tryin’ to train a no good loser like you. YOU BUM!”

There are times when you must channel the inner Mick to put your message across. Don’t mince words. Be like Mick.

It’s not the movies. They are all over everywhere. It’s not music. It’s not photo’s or documents. C’mon…Its TELEVISION! What I mean is this: TV isn’t pirated out of the box because the episodes of LOST or V or the last NY Giant football game (sorry, I’m a fan) debut on TV. I can’t find the upcoming episode of V which is on ABC tommorrow -10/10/09 – on any torrent or newsgroup. It may show up AFTER its debut on TV, but never before. There are no ’screener’s’ floating around the newsgroups. This being said, the content on these networks becomes all that much more important. And, I believe because its so accessable, that’s one of the reasons its NOT on the newsgroups or torrents as much as the movies and music are.

-Coming up:

Wal-Mart and Target – The last DVD standing

Well, I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again – I like knowing the answers.

So, because I don’t do movie theaters well, and because I don’t like knowing just the plot or story of a book or movie, I have a tendency to tell people who want to describe a movie experience to me to go ahead and give it all to me.  I want everything … including the end.  If you’re not going to give it all away, don’t tell me anything.  I’ll wait for it to come to cable or go find it online or whatever.

With that in mind, there are several movies I’ve wanted to see over the past couple of years.  Well … okay, I’ve wanted to know about them, not necessarily to sit through them.  Some examples would be 9, a Tim Burton affair I believe, and Orphan, and Let the Right One In, and so on.  So, when I want to know and don’t have the patience to wait for them not only to come to cable but to move to the premium channels or free movie selections (hey, I’m unemployed, all right?), I go check out The Movie Spoiler.

The problem with this site is, the spoilers are all written by site users.  Anyone can do it.  You go see the movie, you send them the trailer.  They post it.  Raw.  Typos, grammatical nightmare constructs and all.  It goes up.  So, when you read the spoilers, you have to try and decipher what’s being described.  Very interesting.  A lot of work, sometimes.  But in the end, I have an okay idea of what the movie’s about.

The good news is, I get the endings, and can decide based on what I see whether or not I want to watch the movie.  Investing a couple of hours of my life into something that sucks doesn’t excite me.  So I use this site to good effect.  It’s how I knew I wanted to see the Nicolas Cage movie Next, and how I knew I didn’t really care one way or the other about the same actor’s movie Knowing.  (If I catch it, great; if I don’t, meh.)

My wife is great at getting to the point with me about books too.  She reads approximately sixteen gazillion books a year, and while her tastes and mine differ pretty widely, she’s very good at giving me the straight skinny (ha! me, “skinny”!  rriiiiiiight!) on the ones I want to know about.  So I feel I’ve read a lot more books than I have and I’ve seen a lot more movies than I have.  Truth is, I just know how they end.

I spent some quality time with the spoiler for 9 and The Box this weekend.  I’ll probably look up a few others while I’m there.  What the heck?  It only takes ten minutes and could save me hours of wasted viewing time.

How ‘bout you?  Do you like to know the ending?  I’m that way with all things, including life.  I want to know the answers, know the future, know the twists and turns.  Maybe you like things darker and more mysterious, or enjoy the discovery of what lies ahead whether in art or in life.

Sound off, let me know, and I hope you had an amazing and happy weekend.

-JDT-

All original content © 2009 DarcKnyt
ALL rights reserved.

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BROADCAST/CABLE

Scripps Networks Interactive , owner and operator of the Food Network and HGTV lifestyle television networks, is to acquire a controlling interest of 65% in the Travel Channelat a $975 million valuation and enter into a joint venture with current owner Cox Communications (Techcrunch11/5)

U.S. regulators said they’re actively working on a request from Hollywood to use anti-piracy technology so studios can offer first-run movies over cable and satellite services. (Bloomberg11/5)

USA averaged 3.47 million prime-time viewers during the week that ended Nov. 1, making it the most-watched, ad-supported cable network during that period. While USA won the overall viewership crown, ESPN’s lineup of professional and college football won the day in the 25-to-54, 18-to-49 and 18-to-34 demographic groups. Mediaweek (11/3

I just received my monthly cable bill, and on it the company indicated that they were raising the fees for my cable TV service. Ridiculous! Not because I care about the $4 increase, but because cable TV service providers have refused to pay for the content they distribute for profit, and that has become my problem!?

It’s not right that service providers are passing the new costs on to us and disguising the fee as a “tax”. They are choosing to take no responsibility in the well being of the Canadian television industry.

What do you think? Should cable companies be forced to share in the cost with viewers?

Local TV Matters website

More info here: http://localtvmatters.ca/

IN FIVE HUNDRED WORDS OR LESS

By

Ted Larsen

“Why The Wires?”

I’ve been writing on a computer since the early 1980’s. Hey that’s pre-Windows and Bill Gates was just another nerdy teenager.  Now laptops are almost thin as a dime and we communicate with cell phones (have one) and Blackberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, whatever (don’t have one)! We text for business to naughty pleasure. “Pods” play our favorite tunes when we stick funny little rubber covered things in our ears. It’s a “techno world” full speed ahead and that’s great. All this stuff proves we can conquer almost any challenge. However!

The other day I met an alien on the street (didn’t ask what universe it was from) with the iconic shiny skin and pointy eyes.

“What are those sticks and strings?” it asked.

“Huh?” I replied.

“Those wooden poles sticking straight up with the lines strung between them.”

“Oh they’re called ‘utility poles’

“You mean they are from Poland?” was the puzzled reply.

“No, no, no. That’s how we get our electricity, telephone and cable TV into our homes.”

“Ya gotta be kidden’ me!” as its aluminum skin turned a pallid green. It looked sick. “Let me get this straight. You have primitive rockets that can almost reach our dying planet, but you skin trees to support ugly wires to get some of the most important stuff for living?”

“Uh, ha,” I replied.

“I feel sick. This is no place for us to invade and capture. What a waste of my “Zygo” fuel. I am outta here big time, Bro!”

It vanished in a flash, but got me thinking. In 1844 telegraph guru Samuel Morse built a 40 mile telegraph line from DC to Baltimore. Yup he used wooden poles pretty much the same as today. TODAY! Something is very wrong here.

We have the ability to replace hearts, make fuel cell powered cars and invent Crazy Glue, but we still string wires the way Morse did 165 years ago. Maybe we got spooked at the beginning. Morse tried burying his cables and failed, so why mess with a good thing?

Let’s face it those poles are just plain butt ugly, especially when you have one with cables criss-crossing in all directions with those horrid-looking transformer hanging like parasites. Ok, I know lots of cities and newer neighborhoods had the good sense to bury their utility lines, but go to any older part of town and “ucck!” We’ve taken them so for granted we can’t see the poles for the houses. Try it sometime. Stand on the sidewalk. Take a good look and I’ll bet you’ll agree and maybe even feel ill or laugh.

Buried cables aren’t effected by hurricanes, blizzards or other nasty weather and can’t “fall up” electrocuting you. Expensive? Sure, but not if the country did it a little at a time. Washington can shell out a million bucks to study the mating habits of the “buzzlebee,” so surly the dough can be found to “pretty things up.” Of course our alien friends might then have second thoughts.

The Dress Tents of artists Robin Lasser and Adrienne Pao encompass three of my favorite visual entertainments: photography, architecture, and fashion. The last is a more recent interest, and is completely due to several years worth of attention to detail while engrossed in emotionally-charged “Project Runway” episodes. Before that, my knowledge of haute couture extended only as far as the Yves St. Laurent beach towel I bought on sale at a Dallas department store more than three decades ago, and a Coach leather purse destroyed one night by a teething canine.

But no fashion knowledge is required to appreciate the compilation of images that make up “Dress Tents: Nomadic Wearable Architecture.” The artist statement on Lasser’s website explains what drove the women to create the clothing series and accompanying photographs: “each dress tent, which literally morphs from a dress into a tent, poses the question of what lies under a woman’s skirt in the 21st century.”

This is done with the Lasser and Pao’s tongues firmly placed inside their cheeks. It’s tough to pick a favorite, but I’d probably have to go with “Ms. Homeland Security: Ilegal Entry Dress Tent,” which portrays a woman on the border between Mexico and California surveying the landscape through binoculars, while wearing an enormous halter-necked dress tent of camouflage.

Equally appealing is the “Picnic Dress Tent,” a spoof on the post-World War II view of the role of the American woman.

Σύμφωνα με δήλωση που έκανε, ο εμπορικός Διευθυντής του Conn-x TV, Ηλίας Καβάγιας, στο ηλεκτρονικό περιοδικό Sportbiz, μέσα στο 2010, αναμένεται η δορυφορική εκπομπή του δημοφιλούς πακέτου, κάτι που μέχρι τώρα γίνεται μόνο με επίγεια καλωδιακή σύνδεση.[next]

Have you watched Canadian television broadcasts in the past month or so?

If you have, then chances are you’ve seen the advertisements from the dueling TV camps.

There’s this one – for example – from the group representing CTV, CanWest Global, and the CBC (to a lesser extent):

Or this one, sponsored by the cable television providers in Canada (not the most popular ad at the moment, but representative):

The problem with this battle for your TV dollar is that both side are right… which is presenting a massive headache for the CRTC (the federal agency responsible for policing Canada’s airwaves).

What to do?

Canada’s cable and satellite television providers both pay cross-border carriage fees for American broadcast channels which allow you to watch network content from stations operated  by ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX affiliates.

Cable and satellite companies also obviously pay money to carry programming from American and Canadian premium content providers such as HBO, Super Channel, The Movie Network/Movie Central.

They also pay fees to carry mid-level content from well-known providers like Discovery Channel, Bravo, National Geographic Channel, Showcase, and others – which are all operated by either CTVGlobemedia (owned by Bell Canada) or the former Alliance television division that is now owned by CanWest Global.

These fees paid by the cable and satellite companies goes toward content broadcast by the individual providers and is completely understandable since you can’t create programming for free.

At a glance, it wouldn’t seem so bad that Canadian broadcast channels want some extra money – especially considering the cable companies essentially are charging Canadians money for something that is free by its very nature.

However, this argument is flawed.

Do you buy bottled water?

You do?

Why?

Water is free! Hell, it’s one of the most abundant substances on the face of the planet!

What’s that? You can’t find any clean water where you are?

Ah… now that’s the rub, ain’t it?

The same principle applies to broadcast-via-airwaves television signals: some people can’t tune into a pure TV signal from all the broadcasters – whether it be due to geographical location or too much electromagnetic clutter in their area.

Rabbit ears only can do so much in Canada’s analogue television landscape – which is precisely why people pay for television service from companies like Rogers or Shaw Direct (formerly Starchoice)

However, there is a mitigating factor in this battle and its name is Advertising.

Canada’s big three traditional broadcasters – namely CTV, Global, and CBC – support their on-air programming through selling advertising time to large corporations like Coca-Cola, General Motors, Telus, or the Bank Of Nova Scotia.

In turn, these companies pay X-number of dollars per minute of air time – sometimes in the range of millions of dollars per minute during the most watched programs – thus ensuring that their products are seen by the maximum number of eyeballs that their money can achieve.

The money broadcasters take in via selling advertising is then turned around and spent on on-air programming that you and I watch – whether it be the local news, or the latest episode of C.S.I.

The problem for the broadcasters in this day and age – meaning the current economic recession – is that the companies that need to advertise have less money and therefore are less willing to part with those dollars, and that drives down the amount of money Canadian broadcasters are taking in.

This leaves them in a bit of a bind: spend money on expensive American programs which guarantees people watching their station and it’s paid advertising, or spend money on homegrown content like local news.

Canadian broadcasters are also left with smaller operating budgets necessary for operating their networks across the country.

Some of you out there might have already noticed smaller stations going off the air coast to coast – stations that just weren’t bringing in enough revenue to their owners via advertising market share through no real fault of their own other than being in a city with 800,000 citizens versus one with 3 million.

The biggest bug in the ointment – and what this whole debate centers on – is the fact that the Canadian broadcasters essentially want to tax the viewers for their own failing business practices, which is completely unacceptable!

Yet… the cable companies are making money on things they have paid zero dollars to create.

So, as I said at the top, both parties are right – and both parties are wrong.

What is the answer to this problem?

I personally think that it’s a bit of COLUMN A and a bit of COLUMN B.

Canadian broadcasters should invest in Canadian-made content that people actually want to watch – shows that don’t completely suck a plate of dog bollocks – which will inherently be cheaper than foreign-originating programs and be much better for their operating capital.

To a degree, CTV and CBC have occasionally done this, but their successful programs are very far in between.

Seriously… what was the last Canadian drama or comedy program that you watched as much as you do an American alternative?

Also, the cable and satellite companies need to kick in a few bucks WITHOUT passing on the costs to their subscribers because that’s very much dishonest.

My cable bill from Cogeco is already $90 for a mid-level digital package that has all the basic tier programming, channels like Discovery, 10 a-la-carte stations, and a time-shifting package that has channels from the east and west coast – and does not include anything like a digital video recorder or any of the other fancy ad-ons like VoIP phone service or internet.

The suggested carriage fee of $10 per subscriber would bring my bill to $100!

Is television worth $100 to you?

Come on now.

…

Be honest.

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Google will partner with iLike and LaLa for their new music service, Techcrunch has learned. And the announcement date is Wednesday, October 28, 2009. (Techcrunch10/21)

Yahoo announced third quarter earnings today, showing net income more than tripling to $186 million, or $0.13 a share, nearly double analysts estimates of $0.07 a share. This was definitely a financial achievement for Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, but it was done almost entirely through cost cutting. (Techcrunch10/20)

Comcast will become the first cable television operator to unlock online access to cable shows and movies. Subscribers can initially watch programs only on their home computers after verification. Time Warner Cable and other cable providers plan to follow with similar programs. (Iwantmedia 10/21, AP, 10/20)

More and more Americans are obtaining their news from cable television and political pundits. I set out to determine who are the most biased and least biased news commentators on cable television. There is a top three list for each. The results may surprise you!

Do you agree with my assessment?

Cable Television has been a mystery for most auto dealers.  They really believe it should drive dealership traffic but most never see positive results and conclude that the audience dynamics of cable  are not condusive to a short term strategy.

This is where perception and reality don’t match up.   It’s not that the cable audience is elusive, it’s that most dealer’s cable buys are 75% off target.  How can this be?  It’s simple, the networks being chosen and bought are for the wrong reasons.  So the perception is cable doesn’t work but the reality is the tool is being used improperly.

The spreadsheet above shows a typical buy based on traditional influences and one based entirely on lifestyle media.  You can quickly see that Advantage Media (lifestyle buying) is the way to go when wanting to drive traffic to your dealership.  If you continue to use a screw driver to hammer a nail you’re going to get frustrated.  Cable is a great media if you can put your message in front of your buyers with frequency.

Your customers have a unique lifestyle pattern.  Demographics simply don’t allow you to target your customers and people who look like them.  Lifestyle buying is based on the simple truth that birds of a feather flock together.  Talk to your birds with frequency and the hunt will be much more rewarding.