TV Broadcasters One Step Closer... But Still Missing The Value Of The Net
from the it's-a-step...-but... dept
The buzz today is that UPN and Google are doing something worth noting in offering up Chris Rock's new TV show for streamed viewing online. Honestly, this isn't all that different than what others have done before them. However, it's still getting the model wrong. It's still looking at the web as a broadcast medium, rather than a communications one. The show is only available to be streamed. You can't take it with you. You can't pass it on to others. You can't move it to another device to watch. You're stuck watching it the way it's offered -- and not so well at that. In attempting to watch it, it seems to be taking an incredibly long time to download, so I'm getting plenty of stops and buffering, which is exactly the impression that neither Google nor UPN should want to be giving. They could have set it up as a BitTorrent (or equivalent) download, saving their own bandwidth issues and letting people actually view the episode how they wanted to. That would generate real excitement and real interest. Instead, this just seems like a cheap marketing stunt that doesn't work very well.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Oh goodie
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Rock's TV Stream
[ link to this | view in thread ]
TV Broadcasters
The people that produced it, own it, as it should be. The internet is still a free-for-all.
I don't see anyone complaining that HBO isn't going to stream "The Sopranos" and you pay dearly for that.
News and public affairs should be streamed because its part of a TV station's license to serve the public, but that is soemthing they produce themselves and it has an expiration date.
If quality TV programming is streamed or can be recorded, how can the producers possibly sell their programs overseas?
Mike
[ link to this | view in thread ]
broadcast vs. communications
Actually, I'd say it's a flexible medium, that can be used in a variety of different ways. If someone chooses to broadcast over the net, more power to them. If I don't want to watch it, I vote with my feet -- but if they find an audience that way, where's the harm?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: broadcast vs. communications
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: TV Broadcasters
So why not offer the program as a download with the commercials included. That way you get a lot more people watching those commercials.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: TV Broadcasters
All quality tv programming is already widely distributed on the internet by millions of people via p2p, and I don't see producers having any problems selling their programs overseas. If anything its making them more money because it, in marketing terms, "generates buzz".
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: TV Broadcasters
Good point though about adding those comerials along with the download.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: TV Broadcasters
How many of you want to watch a commercial about my local car dealer? Or look at it from the business's point of view...would you pay for a commercial where more than 90% of people viewing your commercial are outside your market area?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: TV Broadcasters
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: TV Broadcasters
Or, instead of a station identifying "bug" in the bottom right hand corner, a picture of a pair of Levi's jeans, or the AMD logo, or any other product sold internationally...or one in the bottom right and another in the bottom left...mini-commercials that pay for the production, are on the screen for far longer than a 30 second spot, can't be skipped, and reach a much larger market (international). This and a torrent based distribution channel would more than likely generate more income for both the producers and the advertisers.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: TV Broadcasters
Sure, it costs money to for the network to create a show. It costs money for the local affiliate to broadcast that show. Of course, they are using public airwaves and there are no barriers to entry for a UPN show (like buying cable/DirecTV or signing up for the additional HBO programming). This this means they are giving away a product in exchange for advertising revenue. The people buying commercials hope the product (TV show) is good enough to have eyeballs watch the show and the commercials.
Again, since there are no barriers, then the only thing limiting viewing area is signal strength. The local affiliate pays for each megawatt and pays for the rights to broadcast. If they remove these two limitations by re-distributing the TV feed via the Internet then they can reach a wider audience at the same cost and (maybe) also be able to charge more in ad fees. This seems like a win-win situation to me.
And yes, I've considered the results of having 37 different versions of the same show from 37 different stations. I decided to ignore that problem.
[ link to this | view in thread ]