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July 03, 2005
Watching the Live 8 rebroadcast(s) on AOL Music - The Internet IS a new "TV Channel:"
So far this morning, I've been able to catch up with some of the moments I missed yesterday by watching some of the parallel re-broadcasts by AOL Music of Live 8. This really is a great demonstration of the technology available today for anyone who wishes to use the Internet as an alternative broadcast delivery channel. As a consumer of AOL Music's broadcast and re-broadcast, the quality of the sound, picture and overall experience was good enough.
In fact, AOL Music’s broadcast of Live 8 was a great example of what a “free rider” can do for a great cause, given the opportunity. And yesterday, just about all of the broadband service providers subscribed to the Net Freedoms as I’m not aware (yet) of anyone whose access to the content was blocked by the actions of a local broadband service provider.
In the world of the internet, “free riders” are not just limited to those offering voice communication services...the term could easily cover those who rely on unrelated third parties for their content to become viewable.
Thanks to the continued effects of both Moore's Law and the "Law of Unintentional Consequences", broadcasts similar to the one done with Live 8 with the help of AOL Music will just get better with time. This in turn, I hope, will encourage both traditional broadcasters and new broadcasters to take a chance and use the Internet as their worldwide distribution channel.
Focusing on the Internet as an alternative channel for TV broadcasts, I believe that we are about to enter another period of time, at least in the US where the ILECs who are focused on their fiber to the home (FTTH) strategy and launching TV/IP services will fail with their TV strategy because the broadband internet offers “good enough” watching availability today.
Just like those PSTN zealots who still demand to use MPLS (and other technologies) at a time when the broadband internet is “good enough” to deliver reliable, high quality, voice services, I see a similar disruption happen between those people who are so caught up with their strategy to fight cable operators that they are not able to see their forest from their trees in their multi-billion dollar technology rollouts.
What happens when the individual broadcast networks and content providers start to offer their own content, some for free and some on a subscription basis directly to consumers worldwide over the broadband internet? Major League Baseball is already offering sporting content over the internet and this market niche is just going to continue to grow.
Just wait until a company like NBC Universal starts to offer their cable content – Bravo, USA Networks, CNBC and MSNBC – on a regular basis, just like the way AOL Music broadcast the Live 8 events. Once this happens, the business models for just offering TV/IP by the RBOCs will be gone forever. Others may make the point that there maybe never was a market for them to begin with. While I can appreciate that some of the RBOCs are very focused on delivering "high quality" TV/IP over private networks, when similar content is available for free over the public internet, how could the RBOCs really be expecting consumers to pay for this special privilege?
And if it seems that NBC Universal won’t be the catalyst, someone else will come forward and take the lead. It is just a matter of time. I’m also waiting for the day when some of the independent TV stations start to use the internet to fill the gaps of their local coverage and provide a means for ex-pats from a given city/region to now catch up with "what is going on at home?" While certain kinks will need to be worked out between the copyright owners, for some, the Internet already has become the new medium for the broadcast of TV content. And if you don’t want to wait for a local broadcaster to wake up to offer this, our friends at Sling Media already offer a solution for individual consumers to take charge of their personal viewing of TV content remotely over the internet.
TV over IP (TV/IP) has happened...and thanks to AOL Music's broadcast of Live 8 on the Internet, people are using it and taking advantage of it. The only thing they may not realize (or care about) is what the underlying technology was that gave them the ability to do what they did - and why should they? If the technology "just works" it will become embedded in the underlying infrastructure. It is up to everyone else in the food chain to recognize this and focus on delivering quality products rather than harping on what it was that made a certain broadcast happen.
After 10 years, streaming media has become as mainstream as voice over IP, and it takes events like Live 8 for some of these technologies to be showcased to consumers.
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Posted by jeff on July 3, 2005 09:49 AM | Permalink
Additional resources: Watch PrimeTime TV Shows | Watch the Jeff Pulver Show | Jeff's Qik Videos
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Posted by: 升降机 at July 14, 2008 05:39 AM
can anyone tell me who was singing backup with Brian Wilson in Berlin -- the blond -- ?
Posted by: maccer at January 3, 2006 11:32 PM
Jeff,
I have been playing with DTV (video podcast client) and the Broadcast Machine (open source publishing tools) from Participatory Culture. The breadth and quality of video programming that is already available is astounding. RSS has turned the internet into the biggest "network" for media. My Mac is now an Internet Tivo. From our VoIP experience we all know that the biggest network wins..
And hey.. Congratulations on a HUGE VoN !!
/JC
Posted by: Jonathan Christensen at September 21, 2005 10:07 PM
I'd suggest there's a bit more to be found: beyond "another channel" there is, as you suggest, supplementary content to be delivered. For example, NASCAR fans can watch the production broadcast (regular television signal) or any of a number of in-car camera views (supplementary television signals). Additionally, fans can access in-car audio over the internet as well as graphics showing relative track position and other enhancements to the sporting experience.
At the simpler end of the scale, we also have the choice of any of a number of audio streams to complement many sporting events (for example, to select our favoured sportscasters for NFL games).
And integrating the PBX and security systems on the computer (along with the video) gives me further control over interruptions.
All I need now is enough displays and an integrated control to make it all do what I want.
Posted by: Paul O at September 19, 2005 11:46 PM
Jeff: Your points are right on and insightful as always, yet a true appreciation of the vision still eludes governmental policy and established industry business models. While this is too bad for many of them, it proves the opporunity rests with innovators to lead the changes necessary to empower the citizen, the consumer, the constituent, and the family.
Posted by: Michael Powell at July 5, 2005 09:34 PM
Hi Jeff,
I had a similar reaction to the experience of listening and watching live on AOL ; it felt like the future. I expanded on this theme a bit on my "new" blog: http://www.humancomm.com/james_rafferty_blog.htm
James
Posted by: James Rafferty at July 3, 2005 02:39 PM
Nice piece, Jeff...if only I'd had the opportunity to indulge yesterday in front of my computer, instead of basting in my Mother-in-Law's backyard under the too-hot Summer sun. C'est la vie...
Anyway, it seems that once again you are a step ahead of the mainstream media...check it out: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8446006/
K˛
Posted by: K˛ at July 3, 2005 02:13 PM
I agree. A good article.
Posted by: 2010: Poverty Elimination at July 3, 2005 11:24 AM