Spotify No Longer Just Music

When we look at the future of on demand and streamed media services the clue is in the word media. We are no longer shackled to thinking of vertical movie, music, games but media hubs that satisfy all under one subscription.

To bring the point firmly home Spotify has announced it is adding more non-music content to its app. The expanded service will include radio podcasts, news bulletins, video clips and moves their 60 million regular users which span some into a media one stop shop and they also have introduced a new running mode that matches music to the pace of the listener which is based on feedback from their smartphone's built-in sensors.

The news comes on the same day that The Verge disclosed the details of Sony’s Spotify contract and raised questions of whether the model worked in the best interest of the production companies, or the artists. The move is also intended to protect Spotify from competitive threats from Apple’s planned streaming service and YouTube’s expansion moves.

Spotify’s content partners include the BBC, TED, the science-tech talks organiser, Disney, Vice Media, comedy podcast The Nerdist and clips from Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls video channel. They will mix musicians and cooks in a show called Turntable.  

What is clear is that Spotify has a vision past music and one which if successful will help protect it from the new Spotify can provide music that matches a runner's pace.

The big question is whether Spotify’s 15 premium subscribers want and will use the extra services today and allow Spotify to float their service on the stock market.

Is The BBC Losing Its Way?

The BBC now appears to be losing its way in a sea of redefinition and a constant stream of new Director Generals. This week they announced a significant restructuring and rebranding within their organisation. Gone is the name ‘vision’ to be replaced by ‘television’ and also gone is ‘audio and music’ and in steps ‘radio.’ Yes the BBC is planning for the future by defining itself in the past!

Children’s TV has its own channel with associated brands, merchandise and trading rights. There is an argument that it would make sense to do the same with sport, drama, news but irrespective people are watching it increasingly on demand, on tablet, laptops, mobiles as well as television. Today, we have content which is developed and delivered in media agnostic verticals. It is no longer governed by the deliver device but more down to what matters- the content itself.

The same devices you listen to stuff on are often the same devises you watch stuff on. YouTube music video have taken off as one of the most popular ways kids listen and watch music today. This itself is only the tip of an iceberg that is constantly adapting and adopting content to technology and we have all seen that the television itself is to be changed and some would suggest become the home entertainment server.

The we have the success of the BBC’s iPlayer which should be giving the new brooms the idea that their business fundamentally is about content and rights not about broadcasting be it on television or radio which to many is like having a telecommunications company and dividing it between telephones and mobiles and forgetting all the other stuff and the fact that its just about communications.

BBC To Make International Service Cheaper Than UK

It as if all media is caught between, digital sales versus digital subscriptions, versus digital bundles , versus digital free. It is sometimes mind-boggling to see the variations within the same sectors and the sheep like tendencies of others.

This week we have already given our thoughts on the madness of HarperCollins’s library new rules and the fact that they seem unable to engage their brain before opening their mouths.

We now hear that the BBC’s director general, Mark Thompson has announced that the international version of the BBC’s popular iPlayer service, will cost less than $10 a month, which works out at around £73 a year. Nothing wrong with that, until you compare it to the UK annual licence fee, which is £145.50.

So international customers wishing to use the service via their iPad can do so for less than someone in the UK! It is questionable whether the Apple 30% app tax will apply or not but as if they haven’t a clue Thompson is quoted saying, ‘We're exploring internationally what the right pricing and models are ... the most important thing is the consumer pricing is right.’ Well that’s as clear as mud and to make it even worse they still have to clarify exactly what content will be available internationally via the iPlayer app. Last month the BBC launched a much-awaited iPlayer app for the iPad and Android-powered devices.

As some suggest, lets all experiment first think later.

Mobile TV

We can already watch streamed BBC on our Android but the apps aren’t official. However the BBC will now launch in April its first applications for the iPhone, including the iPlayer catch-up TV service. The iPlayer on-demand video and audio player currently serves up 20 million requests for TV and radio programmes every week.

The BBC will launch applications based on its news, sport and iPlayer services and content will be free and it is also looking to make the offer available on rival Android and RIM’s BlackBerry platforms.

Users will also be able to send comments and pictures directly to the newsroom.
The BBC said the sports app will be released in time for the World Cup, which starts in June, and will initially focus on football.

The BBC’s free applications will certainly increase tension with companies looking to offer paid-for content and raises many questions about licence fees and tracking abuse. The other certainty is that the networks will certainly feel the pinch as bandwidth once again becomes a potential issue. Others who today offer free news apps include Sky, ITN and papers such as the Daily Telegraph.

In other TV news Seesaw's online service has launched for UK internet users after less than a month of beta testing on 20,000 users. Seesaw technology came from the aborted Project Kangaroo, the internet TV service that was blocked by the UK Competition Commission and the service offers viewers the chance to catch up for free on 3,000 hours of archive and recent programmes from the BBC, Channel 4 and Five.

Seesaw is funded by advertising and 17 major brands including; Ikea, Diageo and Kraft have already signed up. Like Spotify and other streaming services they see a combination of advertising, subscription and pay per view.
"It's quite hard to get people to pay for content online.

So TV is coming to a mobile near you and wide choices of offers are appearing on the internet. How long will we view TV as separate to other media?.

The iPlayer is Coming to TV

A few years ago we all had to have a VHS player, then a DVD player and some made it as far as Blueray, but streaming the Internet and consolidation is changing this. Why buy when you ‘click and get’, why record when you can get relays on demand? The world of broadcasting is rapidly changing and in a few years we have gone from a TV with many boxes to potentially an all in one box. Anyway we just want a nice flat wall mount screen and don’t want wall mounted boxes.

The highly successful BBC iPlayer service has already announced limited overseas support which will make overnight business trips a lot more palatable! Now, from the end of this month they will launch a limited TV service with a full services planned on the Freesat platform early next year. It will enable viewers the opportunity to catch up on programmes not on their computers but on the TV in their living room. No more having to huddle around the PC and carry it through into the living room.

The Freesat subscription-free satellite TV service joint venture between the BBC and ITV, already gives viewers access to more than 140 television and radio channels will now offer even more. Already users on not just PCs but Sony's PlayStation 3 games console and Nintendo's Wii users are able to access iPlayer services.

Some may say that the BBC should focus on its programming others that services such as iPlayer are correctly focusing on their customers needs and access to content is as important as the content itself.

UK TV

Two quick views of the UK broadcasting market.

First, on the subject the value and use of the licence fee versus advertising. According to a Guardian/ICM poll published today it appears viewers and listeners are rallying around the BBC and show rising levels of trust in the broadcaster and also support for the licence fee. The Murdoch Empire has taken many a swipe at the BBC and the latest was made last month by James Murdoch when he was highly critical of what he claimed was the "expansion of state-sponsored journalism". The Guardian report that an overwhelming majority, 77%, ‘think the BBC is an institution people should be proud of’ – up from 68% in an equivalent ICM poll carried out five years ago and that 63%, also think it ‘provides good value for money’ – up from 59% in 2004.

The licence fee as a means of funding is still backed by 43%, with 24% thinking advertising should foot the bill and 30% who think people should pay to subscribe to see BBC programmes. Interestingly only 31% backed the licence fee in a similar research in 2004.

To read more on this interesting survey ‘Public rejects Murdoch view of BBC, says ICM poll’

Second, the drop in advertising revenues and the state of ITV. The loss in advertising revenues is double edged as it can’t be compensated by increasing the charges for prime slots and drives down the available investment in new programmes which in turn drives down viewers and advertising. Unlike in the US, where advertising alongside the Super Bowl will cost a significant amount and is open to bidders, UK commercial companies like ITV charges are effectively capped. They are currently unable to fully exploit the earning potential of winners such as ‘X Factor’. ITV is effectively losing revenue because of commercial advertising agreements created before the digital explosion, recession and much more.

Channel 4 is at least bolstered with some licence fee, Sky has its subscriptions and others doesn’t have ITV’s overheads. In January the commercial advertising agreement is up for renegotiation and it will be interesting to see what happens and whether it changes the playing field. It will also be interesting to see if players like Sky in the meantime don’t go after ITV.

That Was The Month That Was

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.

Kangaroo or Karoo Court?

Karoo has a unique service position as an Internet service provider (ISP) in Hull. It is the only ISP in the area, which has no BT lines and has long adopted a policy of automatically suspending service of suspected file-sharers. In order to get their service restored, customers had to sign a document accepting that they were guilty and promising not to repeat the offence.

It appears that following a BBC report outlining the firm's practice. Karoo now issued a statement saying that it has been "exceeding the expectations of copyright owners". Karoo will now adopt a "three strikes" rule, in which suspected file-sharers will receive three written warnings before action is taken.

Andrea Robinson, a Karoo customer from Willerby, told the BBC that a day after her service was cut off, she received a letter from the firm claiming that she had been using the peer-to-peer file-sharing service BitTorrent to download the film Terminator Salvation. She was told to attend the company's offices to resolve the issue.

"They gave me a form to sign to get reconnected," she told the BBC. "The form basically said 'if I admit my guilt you'll reconnect me'. So I didn't sign it and walked out."

The practice follows the Amazon Kindle debacle which lead to a personal apology from Jeff Bezos and a change of policy at Amazon. The current approaches is like chasing the drug takers whilst the dealers stand on the street corners dispensing the wares. Karoo appear to have ‘exceeded everyone’s expectation’. Some may wonder if Karoo is short for Kangeroo which appears to be their type of court justice

A Wireless Power Fix

We all forget the power transformer and often the transformer is the lump we hate to carry everywhere with us. So is the solution close at hand? This BBC video describes and interesting development that may just signal the end of wires and the beginning of true 'wireless'.

It leaves many questions unanswered re who will pay for the charge but it is worth a note.

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.

Can You Live Even a Week Without Technology?

The BBC have a video of some teenagers in Los Angeles who took part in an experiment to find how they would cope without their electronic gadgets for a week. It worth watching and is an interesting insight into our dependency on both technology and electronic communication.


Perhaps, its time we had a technology rest day just to remind us of what these kids experienced.

BBC iPlayer Under The Sheets?

We have written before about the hugely successful BBC iPlayer but were amazed that it now claims to stream 12GB of data every second, and seven petabytes (PB) of data every month.

BBC iPlayer boss Anthony Rose, who was previously CTO at that famous music file sharing service Kazaa, disclosed much about its future in an exclusive interview with CNET UK, 'BBC iPlayer Numbers Revealed'.

Interestingly they clearly back the streaming route over downloads and according to Rose, its clearly what everyone wants today. He intimates that there could be a personal service feature sending alerts, enabling pre booking and updating your online library. The usage must reflect lifestyle and peaks about 10pm, about one hour later than TV , but the iPlayer on the iPhone peaks at about midnight with a further peak on Saturday and Sunday morning at about 8-10am. So users obvious now curl up with their iPhone to catch up on their favourite TV.

BBC News Coverage of Blackwell's Print On Demand

BBC take one step back and Two Forward

BBC has announced plans to simulcast on handsets at the same time as they are broadcast on traditional television. Live TV is under beta testing enables all handsets with a WiFi connection to view BBC channels which have been optimised to play on small screens and hear radio broadcasts but their owners will need to hols a full colour TV licence.

Some programmes with licence restriction will be unavailable but the service is planned to grow enabling it to be enjoyed not just on the Nokia N series and TMobile G1 but on an expanding number of handsets. The BBC already enables some mobile phone users to access its catch-up television service, BBC iPlayer, through their handsets, but this will be the first time it has streamed live broadcasts to phones at the same time as they are being shown on television.

Also the joint broadcasting TV venture between the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 that was hypocritically squashed by the competition regulator may be rescued by network operator Orange.

Project Kangaroo, the video-on-demand joint venture is being eyed up by Orange who see it as complimentary to their television over the internet serviceIn November, Orange, which runs a television over the internet service in France, said it was considering different options for a launch in Britain.

Insights Into Reading

This week BBC4 that often lost channel broadcast two book programmes ‘Why Reading Matters’ and ‘How Reading Made Us Modern’.
We realise that those outside of the UK will not be able to view these BBC/iPlayer links but we would recommend those who can to find the time to watch.

‘Why reading Matters’ relates how modern neuroscience is revealing the extraordinary leap we made from our primary senses, to being able to read, understand and the cerebral workout that reading gives the brain. Rita Carter explains how the brain works at reading, she explains how the brain adapts and that importantly, no single part of the brain is dedicated to reading. We are all reliant on joins between different partsof our brains. What are the N400 and P600 reactions when meaning is wrong, surprising or not logical? Did we realise that Shakespeare used difficulty to excite the brain. Importantly is empathy the difference between games and reading?

In ‘How Reading Made Us Modern’ the English academic John Mullan charts the explosion of reading in English society in the 18th century. He starts with the suppression of literature before the revolution. In the reign of Charles 2 printers had to get a licence to press from the king and appachniks. Offenders who published without licence were hung drawn and quartered, printers pilloried and booksellers lost their hands. There were only 20 licensed printers in the whole of the country at the time of the Bill of Rights in 1695.

The ensuing lapse of the licensing act created an explosion of print; newspaper, journals, books, pamphlets and a new luxury market. On 11th march 1702 The Daily Courant, the first daily newspaper, was launched and within 10 years the London Dailys had mushroomed from 1 to 20, each with their own distinct political position and making ‘Politians of Everyman’. There were coffee houses on every street corner that in turn fuelled debate, reading and made it fashionable to be seen reading. The Spectator was read by 1 in 10 Londoners.

Under the patronage of bookseller entrepreneurs such as Robert Dodsley, Sam Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language, published in 1745, defined good writing and language. George III created his huge library that now resides at the British Library. Every village had a bookbinder and a gentleman was often judged by the covers and spines on his shelves.

Mulllan presents three further interesting developments that have helped shape reading as we know it today. The introduction of ‘penny fiction’ for the masses - the Chap book, which were bought from so called ‘Chapmen’. The creation in Edinburgh in 1740 of Alan Ramsey’s circulating library. These quickly spread into every provisional town and today we would call these public libraries. Finally, the literary emancipation of women as readers, writers and ‘blue stocking’ women, which help create one of the major step changes – the novel, which was best reflected in the first best seller ‘Pamela’ by Samuel Richardson.

Hats off to the BBC for bringing these fascinating insights into reading.

So Is The UK Going Digital Selectively?

The anti BBC people will be no doubt rubbing their hands at the news that the Kangaroo joint project between BBC, ITV and Channel 4 is to be blocked by the Competition Commission. The service would have established an on demand video service to sell current shows from C4 and ITV and archived BBC shows. The reason given was that the posed service posed "too much of a threat to competition".

One week after the government had tabled a digital Britain plan another arm of the establishment has gone the other way and the losers will be the public. The logic was that the project would inhibit other on demand services developing a service. The reality is that the services are all under considerable pressure with ITV haemorrhaging ad revenues, Channel 4 and 5 close to a survival marriage and the knives poised as always over the BBC.

These companies may commission productions but today the majority of content is independent and it’s the delivery where the consolidation makes most sense. In a global market with strong international dominant branded players a UK consolidation makes more sense than a fragmented one that is potentially unable to compete on the global stage.

The BBC's iPlayer followed the lead of Channel 4and has proved a high success story and proof of the demand for a free service and ITV now also offers a similar service. Kangaroo would have enabled the BBC to offer its huge archive of material and importantly build a global brand enabling those outside the UK to use the service on a pay to view basis. It could have removed the current 7 day window. This could have been rolled out country by country on the back of BBC.com. As it is the BBC may have to live within their branded section of iTunes, further building Apple’s brand rather than a UK one.

The combined entity would have consolidated investment, user experience and enabled money to be funnelled into what really matters content and rights.

At a time when the UK government cries global with one breath it’s a shame their narrow minds stifle global opportunities with the other.

The Future is Free?

Last week BBC Radio 4 covered an interview with Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired magazine on his new book 'Free: The Future of a Radical Price'. Anderson best know for his writing on ‘Long Tail’ economics, has now moved on to a future where the customer no longer pays? He believes that digital product prices are now falling until the point when they reach zero and that this is creating a new business model where companies grow rich by charging their customers nothing at all.

‘We go from an economy where things get more expensive, such as oil and food - the economy of atoms - to an economy where everything gets cheaper, which is the economy of bits.’

He cites Google, Wikipedia, Craiglist as a disciples of the new model and that although their consumer offer is free, the likes of Google are extremely profitable. Someone has to pay, but in his model a few paying customers can cross-subsidise everybody else. Open-source computer software such as Linux, is free to users who can then alter and build upon the system, but only as long as they make it freely available to everyone else. Even the likes of IBM now create free software and cargo and baggage on airlines can cross subsidise passenger flights. He cites Flickr Basic being free, whilst Flickr Pro is sold to premium subscribers.

As games move more online then Anderson believes they are moving to his free model and that the majority of players will play for free and that the games companies will make their money from other means.

So what about ‘books’? We have seen the emergence of the free back list ebook offer to promote new front list. We have seen increasing use of free digital marketing materials, including the whole book for a limited time period. However, unlike other media sectors, we are still currently stuck in an ownership model based on collecting book libraries. Perhaps, the future of digital books are online and on a rental basis and it is easy to envisage these being cross subsidised. However, as the majority of books are still physical and the industry remains in denial over digital being cheaper, we may not adopt the Anderson model at the same speed as others.

International iPlayer

Having just got back from Canada my first television moment was to browse BBC’s iPlayer and make a note of those programmes I would have like to have seen will I was away. Therefore it was ironic to read that the BBC Digital Chief Eric Huggers is reported in advanced television.com among other things as now supporting the opening up of the corporation’s highly successful iPlayer to international markets. Means I may be able to watch them whilst I am away which will be a welcome break from that terrible rolling BBC News and CNN News.

"The Internet is, by definition, a global medium, yet today we are artificially blocking international access to the iPlayer. That's a problem, in my mind, and a big challenge for the industry," Huggers said. "I know that bbc.co.uk is the third biggest web property in the country, yet every time I go there I feel completely alone. Instinctively, I know there are other people on the site so the idea is connecting audiences with programming and with each other, embracing that big theme of social media."

The iPlayer service has been a huge success and has served up close to 50 million videos since June on the Virgin Media cable service. Opening it up to the international market will start to change TV worldwide and further project the BBC’s content and value potentially creating cult status on certain programmes and increase BBC Worldwide’s ability to sell more content.

TV ON Demand

The major UK broadcasters, BBC, ITV and Channel 4 are to are join forces to launch a joint on-demand service in 2008. The service will compete with new services such as Joost and will offer viewers access to over thousands of hours of current shows and archive material. The Internet based service may have several options streaming, download, rental and purchase and even possible expansion for distribution to other platforms. The broadcasters already have online platforms, 4OD, ITV.com and the BBC's iPlayer.

It is clear that TV is changing and watch what you want when you want is becoming the new paridim and real time viewing less demanding. This could offer the potential for others to compete for those ‘entertainment’ hours or alternatively present the viewer with content overload.

A New Dawn for Travel

BBC Worldwide has purchased travel Publisher Lonely Planet.
This should not be a shock to anyone and reflects that we are now moving into a true multi media where certain verticals will move in different direction and form different alliances. Travel has long been identified as a sector which has huge digital potential and where there was a need to think outside the jacket. This move clearly takes Lonely Planet outside the jacket and lines it up with one of the best brand leaders in the media and rights business.

One only needs to look at the branding and merchandising opportunities of the likes of Doctor Who to see where travel could benefit. Linking travel programmes, travel documentaries from the likes of Palin and eco-factual works such as ‘Living Planet’ present huge opportunities. The BBC now have a travel platform that covers all media and virtual all angles. We must also recognise that BBC Worldwide is the powerhouse and commercial arm behind much of what is changing in the BEEB.

The real question now is whether the Lonely Planet brand is wide enough to embrace all as it is or whether we will see a brand repositioning which can appeal to a wider audience than Lonely Planet enjoys today. One thing is certain is that we will hear much more about the Lonely Planet brand. The question now is whether others will step in to give it competition or whether we have witnessed a significant step change in Lonely Planet fortunes.