July is proving an interesting month for the UK broadcasting and video market as companies change hands , focus and new enterants start to emerge.
First we saw the change of focus of Joost, which started with a fanfare , significant backing and support. Having been the driving force behind the groundbreaking Skype and Kazaa services, it looked like Joost’s founders could do nothing wrong. Alas reputation doesn’t guarantee success and this month Joost announced a reinvention refocus dropping its consumer video focus and reinvent itself as a business to business web-TV platform provider. The company had found it increasingly hard to stay afloat as a consumer-focussed independent ad-supported online video service.
Joost biggest problem was content, or the lack of great content and its model by the time it woke up.
to stream the video through web browsers it was too late as users had already gone elsewhere. Whether it will survive as a ‘white label’ service provider remains in question.
Project Kanageroo, a collaboration between BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 which was thwarted by the Competition Commission earlier this year and now has been acquired by Arqiva, which owns and operates part of the UK's terrestrial TV infrastructure and is a spectrum licence holder.
Argiva aims to use the technology to launch a new video-on-demand service with content likely to come from a range of content providers including the three broadcasters involved in the original joint venture.
Meanwhile Argiva face stiff competition from Hulu who continue to have discussions with UK broadcasters including ITV and Channel 4 and plans to launch in the UK later this year. Their offer is likely to include a significant amount of US content and would provide a one-stop shop for video on demand content.
The BBC's director general has suggested other broadcasters could share its iPlayer VOD service, which allows viewers to watch BBC shows online at a time of their choosing.
The BBC has revealed more detailed plans for, Canvas, its proposed joint venture with ITV and BT. It is now clear that what is envisaged is a platform and it intends to work with industry bodies such as the Digital Television Group, the European Broadcasting Union and the
Open IPTV Forum in defining appropriate standards. It is envisaged that Canvas will support a wide range of revenue options, including targeted advertising, micropayments and subscription and how these will be supported, including the approach to conditional access, digital rights management and billing.
The idea of a ‘box’ that combines broadcast and broadband delivered programmes with an intuitive interface is attractive to consumers. However, although the BBC has a role to play in establishing technical transmission standards, do they have the same role in designing the user experience of the box.
We envisage many more moves emerging, but the real test and answer lies in what the consumers decide to back.
Showing posts with label Hulu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hulu. Show all posts
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Digital Views From News Corp's CDO
Jonathan Miller, News Corp.'s new chief digital officer, is reported in Daily Finance.com saying that he envisions a future where at least some of the TV shows and movies on Hulu, the premium video site co-owned by News Corp. (NWS), NBC Universal and Disney (DIS), are available only to subscribers.
Miller is in charge of coordinating News Corp.'s efforts to find new ways to get consumers to pay for digital content generated by News Corp.'s properties , which not only includes Fox but The Wall Street Journal, HarpeCollins and much more. He also said that newspapers will have to do to convince readers to pay for articles that they're used to getting free on the web.
He has expressed the novel idea of bundles not only of content but also against locations such that you could have a Washington bundle, a New York bundle and offer these at a single price.
Interestingly prior to joining he flipped his Wall Street Journal subscription to a cheaper one from Amazon. He now sees the other side of the table where the Post loose him asa subscriber and Amazon gain him as Amazon subscriber. Not good for the Wall Street Journal won loss both the customer management and the money.
Miller is in charge of coordinating News Corp.'s efforts to find new ways to get consumers to pay for digital content generated by News Corp.'s properties , which not only includes Fox but The Wall Street Journal, HarpeCollins and much more. He also said that newspapers will have to do to convince readers to pay for articles that they're used to getting free on the web.
He has expressed the novel idea of bundles not only of content but also against locations such that you could have a Washington bundle, a New York bundle and offer these at a single price.
Interestingly prior to joining he flipped his Wall Street Journal subscription to a cheaper one from Amazon. He now sees the other side of the table where the Post loose him asa subscriber and Amazon gain him as Amazon subscriber. Not good for the Wall Street Journal won loss both the customer management and the money.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Hulu To Step Into Kangeroo Void
Its ironic that the day that news broke that Orange has decided not to acquire the technology that was developed for Project Kangaroo, Hulu announced it was coming to the UK in September.
Kangaroo was the UK video on demand venture service proposed jointly by the UK broadcasters BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4, to position themselves in a global market and fully online. The service and some may say naively squashed by the government when it decided it wasn’t part of their Digital Britain plans and raised competition concerns. It emerged that Orange was considering making a purchase of Kangaroo's underlying IPTV technology for its Orange TV services in France and elsewhere in Europe, but now that is no more.
Hulu, the free online video-on-demand service backed by News Corp, NBC Universal and Disney, doesn’t face the same governmental controls and is set to launch in Britain in September 2009, with 3,000 hours of American content and ITV and Channel 4 as content partners. Hulu is also understood to be in talks with the BBC.
So rather than have a strong UK service we now all fall in with a very strong US one. It beggars belief what the legacy of this UK government will finally be but good decision making will not be high on many peoples lists.
It is rumoured that negotiations have paused due to Hulu wishing to retain control over Channel 4’s and ITV’s advertising sales on the platform. Who will give in and what ad model will prevail is unclear but it’s a shame that a UK solution was scuppered in the first place.
Kangaroo was the UK video on demand venture service proposed jointly by the UK broadcasters BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4, to position themselves in a global market and fully online. The service and some may say naively squashed by the government when it decided it wasn’t part of their Digital Britain plans and raised competition concerns. It emerged that Orange was considering making a purchase of Kangaroo's underlying IPTV technology for its Orange TV services in France and elsewhere in Europe, but now that is no more.
Hulu, the free online video-on-demand service backed by News Corp, NBC Universal and Disney, doesn’t face the same governmental controls and is set to launch in Britain in September 2009, with 3,000 hours of American content and ITV and Channel 4 as content partners. Hulu is also understood to be in talks with the BBC.
So rather than have a strong UK service we now all fall in with a very strong US one. It beggars belief what the legacy of this UK government will finally be but good decision making will not be high on many peoples lists.
It is rumoured that negotiations have paused due to Hulu wishing to retain control over Channel 4’s and ITV’s advertising sales on the platform. Who will give in and what ad model will prevail is unclear but it’s a shame that a UK solution was scuppered in the first place.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Hulu Captures Disney
Hulu, the video streaming site, has now secured Disney, and with it comes ABC. With some 42 million visitors a month Hulu has , in the last 18 months, become the third most popular video site on the Web, behind YouTube and Fox Interactive Media. The only major U.S. TV network not yet in the Hulu loop is CBS, which have ties with Google's YouTube. Hulu has partnered with 35 sites, including AOL, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo. It gets content from nearly 150 companies, such as Fox, NBC, Comedy Central, Lionsgate, MGM, MTV Networks, National Geographic, Paramount, PBS, Sony Pictures Television and Warner Brothers Television Group.
ABC will give Hulu an exclusive license to distribute its shows on Hulu.com and across the Web on Hulu’s partner sites, like MySpace and AOL .com. Disney will take a 28% stake in Hulu.com, and as part of the deal, NBC and the News Corporation also renewed their commitments to provide their shows exclusively to Hulu for an additional two years.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Disney Looks to Join Hulu
The La Times reports that Disney are looking to go in with their rivals Fox and NBC and take a stake in Hulu.com. According to ComScore Video Metrix, which tracks online traffic, Hulu is attracting a large audience with an increase 42% up in February to 34.7 million viewers. Although it’s still significantly lower than YouTube, it is growing.
Disney have recognized that they have ‘to go where the people are’ and that ABC.com just isn’t strong enough. So potentially, Disney, Fox and NBC could each end up with 30%, leaving Providence Equity Partners retaining the remaining 10%. It would also leave CBS, which owns TV.com, outside.
The Hulu model has still to make the money needed to fund the costs of producing shows and still threatens to erode the value of established broadcast and cable channels. However, Disney would bring Hulu their content such as "Grey's Anatomy" and "Desperate Housewives," which in turn should fuel the larger audiences and may well help it towards a tipping point.
Disney have recognized that they have ‘to go where the people are’ and that ABC.com just isn’t strong enough. So potentially, Disney, Fox and NBC could each end up with 30%, leaving Providence Equity Partners retaining the remaining 10%. It would also leave CBS, which owns TV.com, outside.
The Hulu model has still to make the money needed to fund the costs of producing shows and still threatens to erode the value of established broadcast and cable channels. However, Disney would bring Hulu their content such as "Grey's Anatomy" and "Desperate Housewives," which in turn should fuel the larger audiences and may well help it towards a tipping point.
Monday, October 13, 2008
YouTube TV Shows
It great to be able to go out knowing you can always watch that TV or radio show you missed via the Internet.
Now YouTube has started to run full-length TV shows from CBS's archive and is now talking to other networks to sign similar deals. A mix of shows, including "Star Trek," and "Beverly Hills 90210," will now be available in full-length episodes and will have a full-length badge to distinguish them from shorter clips.
Its competition will be Hulu, owned by News Corp and General Electric's NBC Universal. However the size of YouTube’s audience with its 330 million users in August compared to Hulu’s 3.3 million poses some interesting opportunities for Google to cash in on adverting revenues. Apparently CBS will sell the advertisements around the shows with both companies sharing the revenue.
The increased convergence of broadcasting and the Internet is yet another example of the broadband revolution and of the movement towards online. Music, film, games, audio and books just make more sense online and away from this ‘must own ‘ mentality from poor or no bandwidth.
Now YouTube has started to run full-length TV shows from CBS's archive and is now talking to other networks to sign similar deals. A mix of shows, including "Star Trek," and "Beverly Hills 90210," will now be available in full-length episodes and will have a full-length badge to distinguish them from shorter clips.
Its competition will be Hulu, owned by News Corp and General Electric's NBC Universal. However the size of YouTube’s audience with its 330 million users in August compared to Hulu’s 3.3 million poses some interesting opportunities for Google to cash in on adverting revenues. Apparently CBS will sell the advertisements around the shows with both companies sharing the revenue.
The increased convergence of broadcasting and the Internet is yet another example of the broadband revolution and of the movement towards online. Music, film, games, audio and books just make more sense online and away from this ‘must own ‘ mentality from poor or no bandwidth.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)