We just got FIOS at my house this past week. It’s BLAZING fast, the HD looks nice, and so far we’re well pleased with our decision to get it. We opted for the 25 mbps up/down package. That’s INSANELY fast. What will I do with that upload speed? Funny you should ask. Watch this for clues to my plans for WORLD MEDIA DOMINATION. It’s two minutes of your life you’ll never get back.
Verge New Media – Video Blog 5/15/10 from Verge New Media, LLC on Vimeo.
Awakening
While I’m an early adopter of technology in many respects, when it comes to technology with a price tag, I often let others blaze the trail for me. By the time I crack open my wallet, the trend has gained enough momentum that it will soon percolate up to the mainstream. Based on that unscientific hunch, my awakening to IPTV, cord cutting, and over the top video should be an indicator that this thing has legs. What I’m seeing now is broadband proliferation pushing a move by consumers to cut the cord with their TV providers, a rise in web only TV channels, and indicators that this will create challenges and opportunities for those of us in the TV business.
Cord Cutters and PC to TV
A Yankee Group study released in April predicts that 1 in 8 consumers will eliminate or reduce their pay TV service in favor of “over the top” content delivery over the next 12 months. While a recent Parks Associates study makes a more modest assessment of the threat posed by online video, I think we are in the early stages of this disruption. In fact Revision 3 CEO Jim Louderback penned a challenge to the study over on GigaOm. Regardless of whose prognostications you believe, something is afoot here and it’s only going to get bigger.
Drivers here are the proliferation of broadband and devices that act as TV tuners. Blue Ray players that stream You Tube, Pandora and Netflix – game consoles that run media center software – media center software platforms that offer that “lean back” couch potato experience making you forget your watching web video … all of these are moving the goal posts. Yesterday I bought a Mac Mini – it’s sole mission: to deliver a elegant viewing experience that suspends my disbelief that I’m watching shows originating from the web. I like it. I’ve got it running Boxee and plan on loading Plex and XBMC. My TV, my way. Here’s Boxee’s intro video:
Boxee Alpha Web Intro from boxee on Vimeo.
I’m not alone here. While still on the horizon are new set top boxes from Boxee and Google, many, like me are dipping their toes into this new way of watching. I informally polled my Twitter and Facebook friends for some vox populi and came up with, as always, insightful views. While it’s easy to get giddy about the potential of this viewing experience, Twitter friend Christian Burns points out, only people with access to broadband can enjoy this experience.
The future is here now, but it’s just not evenly distributed. I chose to go ahead and live like it’s 2014 instead of 1997.
- Christian Burns, via Facebook
Still, from those with broadband, I was amazed at the numbers of people who have cut the cord.
Have cable, it came free with the Internet fo a few months. Since it was installed I have not watched a single minute. I only watch some stuff on the Internet. Why? Less commercials, or no commercials and i can watch whenever I want and…it’s free!- Cima Mondanlou, via FacebookI have cable, but every month when I see my big ugly bill, I think about cutting it. I can stream Netflix on my TV and Hulu via HDMI cable from my laptop. After Fringe and Lost seasons are done I’ll have even less incentive to keep the cable. Looking forward to reading your post, Jim.- Sukhjit Ghag, via Facebook
@newmediajim Cut TV after WCup 2002, now only computer/web bcause it works in2 my sched. TV wants my life 2 work around their sched~no way!
@newmediajim @iconjohn we cut pay tv when we bought our first house in 2003 $ issue at the time did fast Internet over TV. Never looked back
So that’s a glimpse into the motivations from the consumption side. But as someone who works in TV, I’m equally intrigued by the new media moguls working from the content side.
The Next TV Networks
So who will be the new Ted Turners – the new Rupert Murdochs of this new TV? While there have been many smart players in the web media space for some time, that’s been more about creating content. Now we’re seeing the rise of IPTV channels – 24 hour networks. That’s big. TechCrunch recently announced plans for their 24 hour network. Reuters is hoping to get subscribers to pony up for their web video channel.
One of these new networks that bears special attention is The Pulse Network. This is the brainchild of CrossTech Media (Inbound Marketing Summit, New Marketing Labs among other things) and will be headed by CrossTech’s Nick Saber. According to the press release TPN is slated for a June 1 launch date.
The Pulse Network engages its audience in a rich multi-media environment. Our hosts provide smart and insightful analysis on the biggest stories of the day and use the timeliness of social media to advance the dialogue while providing a three hundred and sixty degree perspective to keep you informed. The Pulse Network, it’s what’s next – NOW. – TPN Press Release
The Pulse Network has very smart guys behind it, including social media business consultant Chris Brogan, who attracts legions of admiring followers. Brogan will appear on a weekly show on the network. This should prove a big boost for their viewership. Still, just from what you read there, it seems that the network is a bit of a general news driven by social media play. It seems to me that as media becomes more fragmented, the content becomes more niche. TechCrunch TV, The Pulse Network and others will face a number of challenges to making their channels stand out in a web of limitless choice. Nick Saber of TPN was kind enough shed some light on their approach via an email interview. It’s an interesting insight into how new TV pioneers are planning the next networks. Here it is in it’s entirety.
VNM: First and foremost, why are you taking on something as monumental as
starting a TV network (channel)?TPN: We see a great opportunity currently in the underserved vertical of aggregating topical social media information into an entertaining streaming TV format. Many of the networks are attempting to incorporate social into their stale formats which really haven’t changed much over the last ten years. During that same period the way we consume information has changed dramatically:
-TV and Radio audiences are fragmenting while online streaming and consumption of video and audio content is increasing. -Social media sites boomed in 2009. Twitter grew 577 percent, Facebook 188.6 percent and LinkedIn 89 percent.
-According to the Cisco Visual Index study, video will account for nearly 90 percent of all consumer Internet traffic by 2013VNM: tell me what your channel looks like. Is it a combination of live
and taped programming? Will there be a regular schedule?TPN: The Pulse Network is social TV focused on the topics of Finance, Politics, Sports, & Technology. Our content will be delivered live for long form consumption at launch weekdays in half hour and hourly blocks. The best clips of the day will be available in short form for our viewers who don’t have time to spend a half hour with the Pulse, this will allow them to sample TPN in a snack-able format. On June 7th we will launch our first branded block of content with a daily four hour sports show hosted by Butch Stearns. This show will be live each weekday from 11AM-3PM EST:
-Butch Stearns – Sports Director, The Pulse Network
¡Host of “TPN Sports with Butch Stearns”. Broadcast daily on The Pulse Network. Butch is a unique and creative sports personality who prides himself in talking with sports fans not at them. He brings to TPN more than two decades of TV and Radio sports broadcasting experience-TV experience: WFXT-TV Fox 25 Boston, Comcast Sportsnet New England, WABU-TV CH 68 Boston, PASS Sports Detroit, WMAQ-TV (NBC) Chicago, KAAL-TV (ABC) Rochester MN, WLVI-TV CH 56 Boston,-Chris Brogan, NML President will host a weekly program for TPN. With his large following on Twitter, blog posts, newsletter, and podcasting he has always been on the forefront in content creation targeted to his audience.
Our management team is headed up by three broadcast veterans with varied backgrounds. In addition to his hosting duties Stearns will also serve as Sports Director, he brings valuable major market TV experience that will provide quality control to our daily production.
Kevin Straley will serve as Chief Content Officer for The Pulse Network. Kevin spent eight years as SVP of news, talk, sports content at XM in Washington DC. During his tenure at XM he built the initial twenty-nine news/talk/sports channels and two hundred annual sporting events at service launch in 20001. Over the next eight years he grew the XM platform to over one hundred news/talk/sports channels and five thousand sports play-by-play events per year.
The TPN Executive Producer Gary Grodecki has a twenty year sports radio career including as Executive Producer at WEEI, Boston. For the last ten years Gary helped to launch the production group at Kraft Sports under the marketing umbrella of the three time Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots. In this role Gary created daily video and audio content which was a first for an NFL team online.This social media TV network is being built along side the best in class agency New Marketing Labs. Chris Brogan, Colin Bower, Justin Levy, and Nick Saber bring social media expertise and credibility that is helping to craft this unique network.
This summer we will roll out long form blocks dedicated to politics, finance, and technology. The goal will be to have all four topics covered for a Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM EST weekday network block in September.
VNM: Who do you see as your target audience? why will they tune into your
channel instead of CNN/MSNBC/Fox?TPN: Our target audience is men 28-44. TPN will be the destination that aggregates critical information on the biggest stories of the day in sports, politics, finance and technology. We view our network as a one-stop destination so they don’t have to weed through multiple forms of media to be informed.
CNN/MSNBC/Fox/ESPN currently force social media into their existing formats. These networks used to be on the cutting edge of delivering information. More recently social media has been several steps ahead of them on some of the biggest topics of the last few years including Sully landing the plane in the Hudson and the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti. TPN will sort through all of the chatter in social to deliver the most timely information to our audience. It is our goal to bring those 140 characters of Twitter to life by Skyping in the source into our network to advance the story or their eyewitness account.
VNM: TV production is expensive. Do you have sponsors/funding?
TPN: TV production costs have come down dramatically over the last five years. We are using the TriCaster TXD300 to deliver a network quality show in HD to our audience. ESPN, CBS, Fox News all use the Tri-Caster in some form for their network productions. We don’t have the bloated infrastructure costs of these legacy networks so our business model is much more cost effective.
TPN is currently getting funded and strategic direction by it’s sister companies New Marketing Lbs, LLC. and CrossTech Media, LLC.
We are currently taking our sponsor offering for TPN out to the marketplace. Unlike the traditional broadcast sponsorship we feel TPN has a much more robust offering to the advertising community. We have the ability to measure awareness, conversion, sentiment, and outreach for our client partners. This provides accountability to a CMO looking to place their ad dollars in a 2010 post recession world. TPN provides R.O.I. for its sponsors.
VNM: How will you be streaming? What about your intuitive player?
TPM: After an exhausting search through most of the major CDN providers, from Akamai, UStream, Live Stream, Bit Gravity to High Winds, we settled on a company called Mirror Image. Their unique solution, integrates Wowza servers right at the CDN, which allows for a multiple platform, multiple bit-rate deployment.
We took a unique approach with our player and built it from the ground up based on the JW Player platform. Because the network is truly social interactive experience, we did not want a separate chat window. We incorporate a topic driven Twitter control which allows our viewers to tweet directly within the player. We also have built a Skype video caller system which allows our viewers to become part of the video experience by video calling into the show rather than just call via a traditional cell phone.
VNM: Where are your studios? Have you been doing rehearsals?
TPN: Our studios our on route 128 which is Boston’s high tech corridor. We recently wrapped up the exhaustive process of building pilots for all of our shows over the last few months. We are currently going through dry runs each day to a closed circuit group of early adopters who are providing critical feedback leading up to launch.
VNM: As media fragments, do you see content getting more
niche/targeted? your channel appears to have a general news with a
social media twist. Do you think that will be enough to make you guys
stand out?TPM: We are starting with one channel aimed at four specific topics that are critical to our target audience. We believe in niche targeted content and see TPN evolving into four individual channels over the next year – TPN Sports, TPN Finance, TPN Politics, TPN Technology. In a world where broadband is ubiquitous the winners will be the most entertaining mass-market content, innovative aggregation devices that simplify the thousands of choices & push content that is appropriate to my lifestyle/user habits, and content aimed at small but passionate niche audiences.
VNM: Any plans on partnering with Boxee or some other media center?
TPN: We believe that TV Applets are one of the next big innovation to happening to mainstream media. Boxee, Pandora, YouTube, VUdu and others are all changing the way media is being consumed providing wider access to content. We are currently exploring a wide range of partnerships as we believe this is a key part of the expansion to new media. Being the first social TV streaming network gives us a unique angle to take out the marketplace. We are creating long form and short form blocks that could be syndicated to other distribution devices and networks that share our target audience.
The Pulse Network, and for their part Tech Crunch, have very ambitious plans. Having worked in TV for 20 years, I know it requires a lot of creativity, effort, and money to be done in a way to attract levels of audience that sponsors want to see. Their success will hinge on creating shows of a quality that people come back for. I think we are going to see more players in this space and ultimately that whole “convergence” thing will become seamless.. invisible. I’ll be watching all of this unfold and who knows.. maybe the “Just Jim Network” will have its day! 
For You Skeptics
When CNN first arrived on the scene, some of my broadcast colleagues looked down their noses at the upstart news network – calling them “Chicken Noodle News”. Mark Cuban has flat out stated that the future of TV is TV and not over the top. And who can for get anchorman Ron Burgundy’s dim view on the future of an all sports network.
So what do you think? Are you a cable cutter? Do you use Plex, Boxee or Apple TV? Are you planning on being the next Rupert Murdoch?
