Concerns Over "The Infinite TiVo"

Screenwriter John August writes that federal authorities should limit Comcast's ability to provide DVR services based at Comcast's facilities because that will effectively remove the desire for repeats and the residuals that come with them, as well as DVDs and the like. After all, if a consumer can get any TV show or movie they want at any time -- via, say, a function that tells Comcast to "record all," and then deciding later whether and what to watch, why would anyone every need to watch (or TiVO) a rerun, buy a show's DVD, etc. And, therefore, how would writers make money off the residuals and DVD sales, etc, August asks.

But the solution is probably not in limiting Comcast's use of the technology -- which introduces efficiencies by obviating the need for home storage and potentially letting Comcast record once but play many times -- but rather in the business model. If Comcast gets permission to do what it's proposing but there's also a way for everyone to get paid fairly, shouldn't that work?

The technology will ultimately make everything available on-demand, all the time, to multiple devices. Residuals will eventually dry up, at least in the form they're practiced today. So, shouldn't the issue be compensation rather than limiting the use of the technology? (And wouldn't some say the market would solve this, because folks won't make the content Comcast needs unless they get compensated?)

I found August's site via a link from Ze Frank, the Web-based artist and thinker and gatherer and whatever else you want to call him behind a jillion viral hits and community experiments on the Web. I'm writing about him today in an essay for the We Media Game Changer awards.

Shelly Palmer: It's the Programming, Stupid (But it's not Ben Silverman)

Shelly, for whom I contribute, and is a colleague and friend also contributing the JackMyers Media Business Report, portends the end of broadcast TV, as it goes into a downward spiral of managing for margins, rather than programming for audiences. Shelly may be right, and he's certainly smart to hold up radio as an unfortunate example -- terrestrial radio is now unlistenable, packed as it is with undistinguished programming and interruptive ads. If broadcast TV sings the money tune to the exclusion of creating good programming, it, too, will find itself an emptied shell. Certainly a visible future, as more and more creativity goes to other forms of video distribution -- cable, premium cable, the Internet and so on.

Shelly calls NBC exec Ben Silverman courageous for being willing to admit managing for margins. Silverman, though, is simply repeating what his boss Jeff Zucker said a couple months ago before the big TV "Upfront" sales presentations:

We’re managing for margin, not for ratings. So it’s the expense of our shows, the consistency of our shows being on the schedule. It’s not determined by the size of the ratings.

Zucker raised eyebrows at the time for honestly addressing speaking the financial side ahead of a big sales show.

Shelly Palmer: It's the Programming, Stupid (But it's not Ben Silverman)

Shelly, for whom I contribute, and is a colleague and friend also contributing the JackMyers Media Business Report, portends the end of broadcast TV, as it goes into a downward spiral of managing for margins, rather than programming for audiences. Shelly may be right, and he's certainly smart to hold up radio as an unfortunate example -- terrestrial radio is now unlistenable, packed as it is with undistinguished programming and interruptive ads. If broadcast TV sings the money tune to the exclusion of creating good programming, it, too, will find itself an emptied shell. Certainly a visible future, as more and more creativity goes to other forms of video distribution -- cable, premium cable, the Internet and so on.

Shelly calls NBC exec Ben Silverman courageous for being willing to admit managing for margins. Silverman, though, is simply repeating what his boss Jeff Zucker said a couple months ago before the big TV "Upfront" sales presentations:

We’re managing for margin, not for ratings. So it’s the expense of our shows, the consistency of our shows being on the schedule. It’s not determined by the size of the ratings.

Zucker raised eyebrows at the time for honestly addressing speaking the financial side ahead of a big sales show.

Managing Media for Profitability

Yeah, Zucker said he was managing NBC for profitability. But what's so wrong with that-- isn't it profitability, more than audience, that matters? Sounds kinda B2B, but media's media, and business is business. Maybe he's not just talking to The Street.

New Primetime(s) - Program for Noon

Magazine Publishers of America writes that the new prime time for Web video is noon. Jim Louderbeck of Revision3 says, via PaidContent, "there are now three primetimes beer-drinking relaxers at 8pm-11pm; bored office workers at 12pm-2pm and now young male geeks at home12am-4am on a Saturday night:"I’ll leave it to you to figure out what they’re looking for."

Noon, we've known about for years. And it moves across the country along with the timezones. Lunchtime, people log on from their fast at-work connections. We've also sometimes seen the uptick in the evening. Saturday late night is a new one.

ABC Wins? Or CBS?

Silicon Alley Insider's Michael Learmonth is now saying ABC looks like it's the top TV network on the Web, based on unique viewers to its video in February. But in average time spent per viewer, CBS knocks it out of the park. According to SAI, quoting Nielsen Online's VideoCensus it's:

ABC: 4.6m uniques / 48.6 minutes
CBS: 2.9m uniques / 69.1 minutes

If I were a CBS exec, I'd be trumpeting the time spent figure. That, they can argue, is true "engagement." Once folks are on, they stay on (and not only view a lot but also can be served a lot of ads).

Let a Thousands Cameras Bloom

Fox TV in Chicago emailed me (and a jillion others) today to say they're launching an experiment, to see what happens when you take live feeds from Fox cameras all over the U.S. and just slap them on a page. Upper right is a woman at a desk reading, and working on her computer, and talking to the camera a bit. On the page are myriad boxes from stations and cameras all over, dozens of cities and locales.

Later, I imagine, they'll add voting apps, maybe some social networking, perhaps even embedding. But for now, it's what they call a skunk works, and I see no harm in posting the link so they can get some feedback.