Message From Michael -- February 25, 2008

BATTLE ROYAL NUMBER ONE – DTV TRANSITION

BATTLE ROYAL NUMBER TWO – NET NEUTRALITY

I DON’T WANT MY MTV

FACTOID OF THE WEEK -- CLICKERS

COCKTAIL CHATTER – GOOGLE LOGO


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BATTLE ROYAL NUMBER ONE – DTV TRANSITION: With one year left before the nationwide transition to DTV (February 17, 2009), a report by market research firm Centris claiming that “Millions” of people may be “left in the dark” with the digital transition has caused a furor. In brief their analysis goes like this: there are 40 Million households currently receiving over-the-air analog signals. That represents 117 Million sets that are – in the curious wording of the news release – “unconnected from cable or satellite video networks.” Using the website Antennaweb.org which helps consumers map out the best antenna to use, the folks at Centris found several “gaps” in coverage outside of a 35 mile range. (Antennaweb, by the way, is a joint venture of the Consumer Electronics Association and the National Association of Broadcasters). To make it worse, say the folks at Centris, the antennaweb.org survey is based on outside antenna, but three quarters (75%) of those 40 Million over-the-air households rely on less sensitive set-top antennas instead of outdoor antennas.

The problem with the analysis, according to the Association for Maximum Service Television is that Centris relied on a “paper analysis” of the antennaweb.org data. The MSTV group which was formed in 1956 but which bills itself as “the leading advocate for advanced over-the-air digital television in the United States” for the past decade says the Centris study “mischaracterized” information and says consumers are already receiving good signals 30 miles and beyond. A commentary by Doug Lung on the website TVTechnology.com also says the Centris data is a “misinterpretation” of the FCC data on signal propagation and that the issue of multipath interference is “misleading.” But even he says antennas have been overlooked in the DTV discussions and that outside the strong signal areas (that 35 mile range), antenna selection will be important. One last point: the Centris study makes the point that considering nearly half (45%) of the audience doesn’t even know DTV transition was taking place, any gaps in coverage will only add to the confusion.

BATTLE ROYAL NUMBER TWO – NET NEUTRALITY: Two years after first talking about it, a bill (named in Washington jargon – the Internet Freedom Preservation Act) has been re-introduced into Congress to give the Federal Communications Commission more control over the Internet. And tomorrow, the FCC holds hearings in Boston on Net Neutrality and network management. On one side are the giant telephone and cable companies (AT&T, Time Warner, and Verizon) who argue that the increasing online video usage makes some kind of ‘capacity-based’ pricing system necessary to keep the lines open. On the other side are consumer groups (with names like savetheinternet.com and openinternetcoalition.com) who argue that such a pricing system would set up an equivalent to the cable television pricing in which “choices are limited and the platform is closed.” And before you start thinking the consumer groups are out-gunned, also on their side are such behemoths as eBay, Amazon and Google whose representatives argue they wouldn’t have been able to start-up if the pricing system existed. The new bill was spurred, in part, by cable company Comcast’s admission that it had slowed traffic on its lines. Meanwhile, sitting on the side lines are peer-to-peer file sharing operations such as BitTorrent whose software has been downloaded 160 Million times. The original vote to give the FCC more control was defeated by a 269-152 vote.

I DON’T WANT MY MTV: No, instead, I want I Love Lucy, Battlestar Galactica, The Twilight Zone, MacGyver and F Troop. At least that’s what two of the broadcast networks are betting. In separate announcements, NBC and CBS announced they will begin streaming “classic” TV series on the Internet. CBS is offering the shows through its ‘audience network’ which includes video providers Joost and Veoh while NBC will be offering the shows through its ‘entertainment sites’ including Hulu and sites such as SciFi.com, ChillerTV.com and Sleuthchannel.com. And, of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention AOL’s In2TV website which has been operational for some time now. As a side note, a whole new network specializing in classic television series has sprung up and is being carried on many affiliates’ secondary digital channels. The network, a subsidiary of Little Rock, Arkansas, based Equity Media Holdings focuses on shows from the 50’s to the 80’s. And as a foot note to the side note, there is a website TVHistory.TV which recounts the history of television and television sets starting from 1935.

FACTOID OF THE WEEK: Another new feature for MfM. Maybe. Anyway… A study by comScore found that less than one-fifth of the Online population accounts for four-fifths of all the Internet ad clicks. The study commissioned by Starcom and AOL’s Tacoda found that six percent of the online population were clicking on ads four and five times a month, accounting for half (50%) of ALL clicks. Another ten percent of the Online population click two or three times and thus account for 30% of ALL clicks. For those non-math majors among you, that’s 16% of the online population accounting for 80% of the clicks; or looking at it from the other side, three quarters (74%) of the online population account for only 20% of the online clicks.

All right, one more. BrandWeek reports that if you think the number of coupons stuffed into your Sunday newspaper has grown… you’re right. Spending on FSI’s (Free Standing Inserts) has more than doubled from $413 Million in 2006 to $904 Million in 2007, according to Nielsen Monitor Plus.

COCKTAIL CHATTER: Would-be fashion photographers can practice their skills through a website, directdaniella.com, co-created by Taco Bell and Sports Illustrated which allows them to take snapshots and even direct poses of Brazilian beauty and SI Swimsuit model Daniella Sarahyba using their web browser. Aside from Fidel Castro stepping down, the other big news coming out of Cuba is that the Chinese state television network has launched three channels in the island nation, as a reciprocal to the Cuban television shows airing in China. The typeface in the Google logo is Adobe Garamond. Definitely a factoid you can drop at that next cocktail party. Actually, the whole issue of the logo design was the subject of a Wired article profiling the graphic artist Ruth Kedar who met the two founders at Stanford University. Kedar who admits she never imagined the logo would be as ubiquitous as it is, said she brought some ‘playfulness’ to the design by “bringing primary colors and two dimensionality to the O’s… to visually imply that something goes on ad infinitum.”

And lastly for those of you who stayed up and watched the Academy Awards, well, I don’t have anything to say, except that I missed most of the movies. But you have until March 28th to submit for the new category of broadband television in the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences 60th Primetime Emmy awards. In its announcement, the academy says, “the future of television is awaiting you.”

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