Live Internet Television

Andrew Vanacore’s interesting piece running in the Huffington Post and in the Seattle Times today about the endangered state of free TV really underscores how direly TV needs a new model, as ad revenue erodes and viewership splinters.

The business model is unraveling at ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox and the local stations that carry the networks’ programming. Cable TV and the Web have fractured the audience for free TV and siphoned its ad dollars. The recession has squeezed advertising further, forcing broadcasters to accelerate their push for new revenue to pay for programming.

That will play out in living rooms across the country. The changes could mean higher cable or satellite TV bills, as the networks and local stations squeeze more fees from pay-TV providers such as Comcast and DirecTV for the right to show broadcast TV channels in their lineups. The networks might even ditch free broadcast signals in the next few years.

As people discovered in ‘08 with the Beijing Olympics, it can be hard to watch what you want live online, even if it’s heavily promoted as being “live online.” To protect its TV ad revenue by keeping viewership up, NBC made sure that a lot of its live online content was not available to US customers (Silicon Alley Insider).

With the upcoming Vancouver Olympics, NBC is trying something a little different (Media Daily News):

The system, tabbed “Olympics Online Connect,” allows people to prove via an authentication process that they pay a provider for TV service. That measure opens the gate to more than 1,000 hours of live Olympic streaming and full-event replays.

“TV Everywhere” is a concept designed to prevent customers from dropping their pay TV service if the same content is available online gratis.

This is exactly the kind of mindset — in effect, keeping people from accessing the content they want by making it too expensive in a bundle — that ivi seeks to make obsolete.

Time to get excited about things to come!

TV content has every business reason to move online.

For example:

Boomers would be willing to give up their subscription TV service if they could get the same programming online.

By a five-to-one margin Boomers are watching less traditional TV than they did a year ago. Among this group, 62% say it’s because they’re not as interested in what’s on TV these days, and another 26% say they’re spending more time surfing the web.

…

Among traditional TV viewers, 20% of survey respondents say they would be likely to downgrade or cancel their current TV service package in the next six months. The likelihood of canceling is highest among cable (22%) and satellite subscribers (22%), and lowest among fiber-optic TV subscribers (7%).

When asked which one paid subscription – among all media choices – they’d be most willing to give up, 44% selected TV service, which fared significantly worse than any other subscription service.

Back in May we were talking about ever-blurring lines between advertising and TV shows. This direction is accelerating as people try to find new ways to make revenue and connect with TV audiences. The latest:

AMC and Banana Republic are offering shoppers a chance for a walk-on role on the network’s Emmy Award winning drama Mad Men.

As part of marketing partnership, the parties are co-sponsoring a contest where customers can enter to win a walk-on role for an upcoming episode, plus a $1,000 gift card from the retailer.

Beginning July 21 and leading up to Mad Men’s third-season premiere on Aug. 16 at 10 p.m. (ET/CT), Banana Republic’s 400 U.S. and Canadian outlets will showcase mannequins dressed in modern takes on classic, iconic 1960s style, along with series imagery and tune-in details.

Banana Republic is also creating a style guide profiling the Mad Men character profiles and images alongside quintessential work looks from Banana Republic. The Guide will also be available in stores, while supplies last and offer U.S. customers a free gift-with-purchase — a free iTunes download of the show’s pilot, as well as an exclusive look at Mad Men style. Read the rest of this entry »

Came across an interesting list of no-nos for reality TV camera people. Basically, it’s a list of things you should not include in your footage to avoid licensing costs and release troubles from people in crowd scenes. It also explained for me why logos on clothing are always blurred out (I wondered about this, since it seems to undermine the concept of”reality” to censor these things, which are so ubiquitous).

Every producer will tell you to avoid shooting logos, on t-shirts, ball caps, cars, equipment, in restaurants, on drive-by shots, you name it. No logos! Do you want to know why? Two words: Ad Sales. Even though you may not care about logos, and the manufacturers probably don’t, either, the ad sales department at the network WILL care. Their alliances with major brands will be in conflict with the appearance of logos, prominently in your footage. So, avoid the major, national brands most of all (no Starbucks coffee get-togethers with signage everywhere, McDonald’s excursions with the name and logo mentioned and visible at every turn, or Coke cans sprawled across the kitchen table). Instead, use mom and pop locations, local brands, and lots of greeking tape!

P.S. If you’re curious where to get this fabulous ivi TV T-shirt, head on over to Café Press.