Tom Altman’s Wedia Conversation

Could it be - it is possible to get rid of cable?

Ditching your cable company has never been more viable than it is today. The rise of online, streaming TV shows allows you to save on one of the most expensive household bills if you are willing to sacrifice a bit of the convenience of having either a cable box or DVR. The main question you will need to ask yourself is what shows you actually enjoy watching. Several name brand shows are now available online in free, ad supported formats; if your particular shows are not available then you may be stuck with your cable company, at least for now. More and more shows are always coming online, so keep checking back to see if your favorite show is available.

I think it is possible to get rid of cable in 2008 - IF you are not a live sports person.  That is the biggest thing missing from the internet offerings.

Are we surprised?  With the writer’s strike making online TV viewing about as entertaining as back-to-back-to-back episodes of “Are you Smarter than a Third Grader?”

Another week, and another stat has just been released showing that people are increasingly turning to the web to consume televised entertainment. The latest from Solutions Research Group claims that 80 million Americans (43 percent of its online population) have watched their favorite TV shows on the web, and that 20 percent watch TV on the web on a weekly basis.

Who knows - maybe the writers strike will drive all TV viewing online…who knows?

Interesting post at arstechnica “Study: Ads in online shows work better than ads on TV“:

Good news for TV networks: online ads work. As TV shows continue their lengthy migration onto the web, new research finds that the people watching those shows actually pay more attention to both advertising and content when they watch online.

I know it’s true for me…when I watch internet TV it seems like the ads are made specifically for that application.

ReadWriteWeb has a great post about internet video in 2007:

From YouTube’s continued dominance, the television networks’ newfound willingness to experiment online, the rise of the desktop Internet TV application, and a number of new PC-to-TV devices and set-top boxes — it’s been a big year for Internet TV in all shapes and forms. In this post we look back at 2007 through the lens of last100’s coverage, highlighting some of the important stories and trends, and how they point to what we might expect for Internet TV in 2008.

IPTV (Internet Protocol TeleVision) is starting to creep its way on the web. We’re starting to see more and more TV shows pop-up as their own little mini-stations - plus the whole miro and joost thing.

TV Shows via the Internet
I was looking at Mashable this morning and saw a banner ad for The IT Room, a new IPTV show starting sometime soon. It seems like a take off of the British show The IT Crowd, it really feels to me by watching the promos that it is a big media company trying to play small. The props are almost too good and then “dumbed-down” to look bad. (So my mini-prediction is this will turn out to be one of the netowrks trying to be cute and viral - you read it here first.) But either way - the concept is solid.

Another show gaining traction, which is backed by MySpace,is called QuarterLife. As describe on the site, QuarterLife is:

What is quarterlife about?
Both the new online series and social network take on the crucial years between 20 and 30, when so many of life’s important decisions are made. The “quarterlife” series tells the ongoing stories of six creative people in their twenties. As with Herskovitz’s and Zwick’s earlier television series, at the center of “quarterlife” is a commitment to realism, the recognition of universal human themes through the truthful depiction of the way young people speak, work, think, love, argue, and just goof around. Starting with Dylan, a young woman whose overly truthful video blog (on quarterlife.com of course) spills the closest secrets of her friends, the show’s characters – filmmakers Danny and Jed, actress-bartender Lisa, geek-extraordinaire Andy, and still-tied-to-her-parents Debra – chart the sometimes excruciating, sometimes comic, often emotional experiences that comprise coming of age as part of the digital generation.

I really like where they are going with this, they offer up the idea this is a show - but the characters from the show will allow exist virtually:

Can I be quarterlife friends with characters from show?
A profile for each character on the show exists on quarterlife.com. Don’t be shy. Go to their profile and send them a Friend Request.

Talk about blurring the lines of reality. Without showing my age too much - this seems like the modern day 90210 or OC - but utilizing the “media of choice” and social networking for the medium.

Miro and Joost thing:
If you’re not familiar with Miro and Joost - they are IPTV projects on the web.

Joost is a fairly new product which was created by the guys who built Skype. They have 15,000 shows on their “network” which you get by having a broadband connection and downloading their free client. And understand - we’re not talking 15,000 shows of internet crap…channels from CBS, VH1, ComedyCentral, Yes Netowrk are popping up - this is a serious deal.

Miro, formally known as democracy player, is more of the open source alternative. Miro has no DRM and aggregates content from others instead of trying to control the content.

It will be very interesting to see who wins - here is a chart from Miro (so possible a little biased) that shows how they feel they are better. Let me tell you - when I read it…it sure feels like Miro is new media and Joost stole too much from the media dinosaurs.

So what?
Well - things are interesting, the big gotcha right now has to be the state of broadband in the US. It stinks. Until broadband speeds catch up (see Google, Microsoft, Verizon and the 700 MHz band) we will see these independent show flourish. Plus, if you think of the cost to produce one of these - it has to be a fraction of a full blown TV show. When the broadband speeds get there we will see IPTV really get some legs.

Until then, mainstream TV station need to figure out how to get their content “on the wire” and available for consumers to get it any way they want, when they want it.

I’m not sure I have seen this before - but it caught my eye.

Link to video - this video is from an arrest video - but the interesting thing to note is below the video in the related links section they have a link to the raw video.

I like that - it lends credibility to the story when I can go back and see all the video - not just what was “canned” for me.

Cool!

Sorry for ignoring the blog for a few days - I feel guilty and also anxious to post a few very cool things I found. So here are three things I have been looking at: Interview With A Convicted Hacker: Robert Moore Tells How He Broke Into Routers And Stole VoIP Services
This is a great article about a hacker who stole VOIP services for another dude to sell. The just of the article is how he explains it was like taking candy from a baby - so easy, anyone could be taught how. Good read.

New Zealand Launches Wiki To Help Citizens Draft New Law
This is some real community intelligence. How open and honest is this - let’s ACTUALLY let the people help draft the law…wow!

“The Office” Convention
Now this is a great idea. How many TV shows do you know of that have a convention? Can you imagine? If you think about it - it is not really that different than us going out into the neighborhoods…but let’s pretend we set-up a wiki first, and asked people to participate and asked what they wanted to have us do. Interesting way to promote and thank.

So, I’m not sure if I have shared my love for the Tom Green Show yet. And this is not the old MTV Tom Green or the Jay Leno thing - but the internet show…or as Tom calls it the “Nation Web-o-vision” show. He is doing some really innovative stuff - right from his living room…but the caveat is the cost. He has a number of cameras and equipment.

Well, the rules have changed. It takes me to something I found today called Mogulus. This is amazing technology and would offer the individual the opportunity to broadcast their own “news program”. Wow, like kids could sit at home and do cool stuff.

The only component missing is marketing…have I spoke to you about this thing called “viral marketing” yet?

“What if every local television station turned into an Internet-MSO—a web-based cable company?”

“Think about it. Who do you turn to when you need the very best local news, weather and sports information? Is it YouTube? Nope. Is it MSN? Nope. Is it your local broadcaster? Yep. People with names you know, the anchors and reporters of your local station. Local experts. People you trust.”

Could this be any more what we’ve been talking about - this is from one of the guys over at TitanTV, yes our former company mates.

This is what I’m talking about…

As we hear more about IPTV we see new and exciting things popping up on the internet.

My current favorite is Tom Green - this is the “new” Tom Green, not the guy that used to scare me on MTV. This is very cool, and in my opinion, very innovative. Tom is doing this from his REAL living room - he has converted it and uses about 5-7 cameras.

There is also a bunch of the old “techTV” guys who have started up IPTV or internet broadcast stuff. (Revision3, Chris Pirillo and Leo Laportte/Twit)

And the best part - these guys are already making money.  Tom Green has Bud Light as a sponsor.

If you have other favorites - please let me know.