Archive for the ‘Hollywood’ Category

Any Movie, Any Time, Any Where

May 14th, 2010 2 Comments

For years, consumers have been promised the ability to get any movie on demand. Years ago, Time Warner Cable tested a video on demand (VOD) system in Florida, but that fizzled.

Not just any movie, but any time and anywhere. And of course, on any device. But we’re still a long way away from that goal.

Today, consumers piece together their own solutions. They buy Tivos, iPads, iPhones, Sling boxes, Xbox 360s and many other devices in order to get a full digital media experience.

But it seems that there are always missing links. For example, there’s still no simple way to watch Hulu on your TV screen. Because it uses Flash, Hulu isn’t available on most connected TVs and set-top boxes.

Any Movie, Any Time, Any Where. At your fingertips.

While I was at the IPTV World in London in March 2010, I saw a demo of a yet to be released set-top from Amino that had an Intel chip, a real (not embedded) Linux operating system and full Internet browsing.

Yes, that means you can watch Hulu on your TV. And anything else on the Web. It also comes with HD tuners for over the air broadcasts, which are popular in the UK, and DVR functionality. Additionally, the box came with its own very pretty UI which made it easy to browse through Internet content.

Amino’s Freedom box was really a demo, and not yet available for purchase, but it really showed me that technology isn’t a barrier–it’s legal issues.

And perhaps cost. No doubt the Amino box is more expensive than typical boxes, since Intel chips are usually pricier compared to others that are in existing set-tops. The fact that Intel is pushing its way into the set-top world was pretty significant too. Of course, Google is reportedly launching Google TV sometime later this month, so hopefully they can enable Flash (and Hulu) and full Internet browsing also.

Tivo had a great chance to once again become a major disruptor with its new Tivo Premiere box. But generally speaking Tivo Premiere has had lackluster reviews online. Tivo could have really brought the Internet to early adopters and shown the rest of the industry what could really be done with an innovative interface and a mix of TV and Internet content. But instead, Tivo Premiere just looks like a software update, not an entirely new product.

Last year, I was at a trade show and heard a speaker talking about the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) initiative that Hollywood is pushing. Essentially, DECE is trying to figure out the next digital media format after Blu-ray. Since Blu-ray hasn’t been selling well, the industry needs to think of the future. And the future is digital.

DECE is looking to create an entire ecosystem (via digital rights management, of course) for purchasing, renting and downloading movies. Unfortunately Apple is not included in DECE, although they’ve been invited. Clearly, this looks like an initiative to build an alternative iTunes Store, and take away Apple’s dominance in digital sales. It’s clearly a case of ABA: Anyone But Apple.

Apple probably doesn’t think it needs to join the group, but if it did, there might finally be one universal format for digital music and movies, rather than Apple’s proprietary files. And maybe DECE could be a good alternative to iTunes. So far, DECE has been moving really slow, and I haven’t seen much momentum.

Oh, one other un-popular thing about DECE is that they are focusing primarily on recent Hollywood hits, not the long-tail content. Going after the low-hanging fruit is OK, but I think they would have greater success going with long tail content. In my personal experience, I’ve been happy watching NetFlix’s long tail content for weeks, while waiting for new releases 28 days later.

Tivo Premiere just looks like a software update, not an entirely new product.

VOD via Cable and IPTV Operators still isn’t very popular. But I think consumers are getting used to watching TV shows at anytime, much like they are accustomed to watching movies at any time with VOD and DVDs. In fact, Cable Providers have started a marketing push (called Movies on Demand) to promote VOD among their customers.

I guess we’re still a while away until we see the promise of “any movie, anytime, anywhere, on any device.” But I am enjoying the ride.

Image courtesy of SM3287

Posted in Apple, Blu-Ray, DVDs, Google, Hollywood, TV, Tivo, iPhone Tags:

Cable Companies Want Exclusive TV Content

June 17th, 2008 No Comments

It seems that cable companies are finally getting tired of competing with all the free TV shows that are streaming over the Internet. According to an article in AdAge.com, Time Warner Cable’s CEO Glenn Britt said that they do care when TV networks put their full-length content online and essentially bypass cable TV.

This is a fight that’s been a long time coming. Hollywood studios and networks are finally realizing that they want to reach the most number of people as possible and not be constrained by traditional broadcast TV models. For example HBO has hosted many full-length shows online, as have ABC (Desperate Housewives, Lost), NBC (Hereos) and others.

Studios are embracing this new “Hollywood 2.0″ mentality that they want wider options for their content, and different mediums rather than trying to keep everyone tuned into their TV sets. In fact, a Time Warner cable spokesperson said they are prepared to withhold some subscriber revenue from the networks.

“Our point of view is that there is a segment of our audience that is living more primarily online than they are living on other platforms,” said Erik Flannigan, exec VP-digital media of MTV Networks’ Entertainment Group. “As some of our actions have made clear, the consumer will have many places they want to consume content. As long as we’re putting forth that experience and getting the lion’s share of the advertising, everybody wins.”

I don’t think that it will come to that, however. Cable companies are scared, and are trying to say and do anything to make people understand that they feel threatened by the Internet. Broadcast TV is being threatened–by DVRs, Internet delivery and even DVDs. But any major change to the established broadcast cable TV systems won’t happen for many years.

Some cable providers, like Comcast, have embraced the Internet and have developed web properties (like FanCast.com). It seems that other TV providers will have to learn how to adapt in the face of the growing Internet menace.

[tags] FanCast, Comcast, Advertising, AdAge, Ad Age, Cable TV, cable [/tags]

Posted in Hollywood Tags: , , ,

LG’s Scarlet – It’s Time to Brand Your TV

June 15th, 2008 No Comments

You’ve probably seen it by now.

What looks like a commercial for a new TV show or movie, turns out to be a commercial for a line of HDTV sets from LG called Scarlet. (Check out the video below if you haven’t seen it already.)

It seems like it was a successful campaign, in that it garnered lots of press attention including a red-carpet fake premiere with (fake) celebrities and lots of mentions on the Internet.

However, I’m more interested in the fact that this is one of the first TVs that are branded. And it’s about time. Everything else around us has branded names. Think of cars (Toyota Avalon, Ford Taurus), MP3 players (iPod, Zune), cell phones (LG’s Chocolate, Motorola’s Razr or the iPhone)–heck even condoms have brand names (Trojan, Magnum). So it’s about time that TV sets are becoming brands that consumers can identify.

LG’s Scarlet line of sets don’t really push the bar as far as new or advanced features, it just has a good brand name. And the back of the TV is red, too. So it doesn’t take much beyond lots of advertising dollars, an online viral marketing campaign, and a new product to begin promoting a new brand.

Why aren’t other TV set manufacturer’s doing this? I mean, Sony, which came up with Walkman, and Vaio, should have a good TV brand. Panasonic does have the Viera line of TV sets, but it reminds me too much of Good Morning America’s Meredith Viera to really have a brand impact with me.

Having a name like Scarlet, also makes it easy for consumers to find reviews and prices on the Internet. You don’t have to remember that the Scarlet is product number AZTX-4208, for example. (I just made that up.) Just Google “Scarlet” and TV and up comes results to help you shop and compare.

Brands. It’s what people want. People share with others what brand their new cell phone is. And consumer electronic manufacturers should realize that people want to show off their new HDTVs also. And let’s include DVRs also. Tivo has done pretty well as the top brand of DVRs, but distinguishing different product lines is kind of tricky. Tivo’s Series 2, or Series 3 DVRs are boring names. Why not the Tivo Magum? Or um, something like that.

[tags] Tivo, LG, Scarlet, branding, advertising, HDTV, TV [/tags]

Posted in Hollywood, Tivo Tags: , , , , , ,
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