Internet TV channels promise to give viewers and advertisers a fresh look

Published: Sunday, June 10, 2007 | 4:45 PM ET

Canadian Press: BILL GRAVELAND

BANFF, Alta. (CP) – The Internet’s infinite universe is continuing to expand and its 700 million users are bound to provide fertile ground for the full-scale arrival of Internet TV, an international conference heard Sunday.

One item that’s getting attention nextMEDIA, a conference on the future of digital content, is Joost, the world’s first broadcast-quality Internet television. Joost has over 150 channels, including cartoons, sports, comedy, documentaries and science fiction.

Stacey Seltzer, the company’s senior vice-president, says the idea is to provide relief for viewers who are sick of regular TV.

“It’s our feeling that viewers don’t mind advertising. What they mind is the clutter and being bombarded by lots and lots of advertising.”

Online TV will be free to consumers, who will also be viewing interactive ads. Internet tracking will then allow advertisers to know if they’re engaging the viewer.

“All of that is measurable, and for advertisers that’s exactly what they want.”
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But the system isn’t quite ready for prime time. It’s in what’s known as the ‘beta stage,’ which limits it’s use until all the bugs are worked out.

But Seltzer says there are already 600,000 users with an additional 10,000-20,000 downloads of the software every day.

“Consumers want a rich media experience on the web. It’s part of our daily lives,” he says.

“There was a kind of inevitability that video would begin to transform the web just as music and web pages did from the static days of e-mail.”

Seltzer says TV broadcasters around the world are embracing the Internet as a medium in which they can reach new audiences.

Alliance Atlantis already syndicates a number of science-fiction shows on Joost. Claude Galipeau, senior vice-president of digital media, says Alliance is negotiating for more titles.

“The benefit is reaching new viewers, having viewers interact themselves with the content and also making money off of it,” says Galipeau.

“For example, we can open up a channel – the Alliance Atlantis sci-fi channel – and provide sci-fi content to the fans.”

Galipeau is impressed with the system he’s been using, but concedes there are a couple of concerns about “people’s willingness to watch content on a computer screen,” and how many would link their computers to a high-quality TV for better viewing.

Other impediments include the speed of a user’s Internet connection, because video streaming requires a fast link.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

Apple pitches iTunes movie rental to studios: WSJ

By MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Apple Inc. is in talks with the Hollywood studios to make new movies available for rental for its iTunes service, according to a media report Sunday.
The rental service is being pitched aggressively by Apple, with titles renting for $2.99 for a set number of days before expiring, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition, citing two unnamed studio executive familiar with the matter. See Wall Street Journal story (subscription required).
It is unclear which studios might participate, with Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures in favor and General Electric Co.’s Universal Studios Inc. currently opposed, for example The Journal said, adding that the service is far from a certainty with several details to iron out.
Apple, of Cupertino, Calif., now sells TV shows from several entertainment companies. It also offers older movies from studios including Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Paramount and Walt Disney Co., but has had little success persuading major studios to give up their new releases for sale on iTunes, the Journal said.
Only Disney sells new movies through the service, The Journal reported, noting that Apple’s chief executive, Steve Jobs, is a large Disney shareholder and sits on the Disney board.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment, according to the report.
If Apple can persuade Hollywood to offer its new movies for rent, it could pave the way to offering them for sale, The Journal said, but studios are balking at Apple’s pricing, which is currently $14.99 for new titles, compared to around $18 for a new DVD, potentially undercutting a major income source for studios.
For Apple, whose annual conference for software developers opens Monday in San Francisco, such a deal would represent a departure from a long-term strategy, according to the report.
Jobs has many times dismissed the consumer appeal of rental-like “subscription” music services, which allow users to listen to as much music as they like for a flat monthly fee, without giving them permanent ownership of the songs, The Journal said.

(06/10/2007 – Source: marketwatch.com )

Social messaging code for channels in the offing

Santwana Bhattacharya

NEW DELHI, JUNE 9:Along with a content code and an advertising code, the I&B Ministry is all set to introduce a mandatory social messaging code for private broadcasters as part of the proposed Broadcast Bill.

Private news channesl would now have to come into the picture for “larger good”, be it by airing aggressively the AIDS awareness and polio campaigns or popularising a new legislation. The move is expected to free up Doordarshan, which according to I&B Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi is the only channel that sets aside time for social campaigns.

Channels failing to comply with the code would have to pay a fine. This would be followed by a show-cause notice for cancellation of licence.

Though the ministry is yet to define what constitutes social messaging, it has specified that 10 per cent of the news/entertainment content every week would have to be devoted to social messaging along with 10 per cent of the commercial time. Apart from regulating content, the proposed Broadcast Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) would also monitor social message capsules. The Broadcast Bill is expected to be tabled in the Monsoon session.

While other parts of the Bill have been part of the discussion with stakeholders, the social messaging code is non-negotiable. “The time and duration of the public service have, however, been fine-tuned with inputs from the private broadcasters,” a ministry official said.

While the channels would be mostly free to decide how to incorporate social messaging into their content, the commercial segments will have to carry the Centre’s social campaigns free-of-cost. “They can themselves generate corporate ads to back this up. But, 10 per cent of commercial time has to be devoted to public service,” the official added. Social sector ministries – Health, Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Social Justice and Empowerment, Women and Child Development – would submit a campaign of the month for the free-to-air commercial slots.

(Posted online: Sunday, June 10, 2007  – Source: indianexpress.com )