« Network2's Top 10 “Internet Only TV Shows” Week of October 30, 2006: | Main | Matt Lauzon and Jason Reuben: One of Business Week’s Best Young Entrepreneurs under 25 »
November 01, 2006
Communications Technology: The Mouse Starts to Roar as a Channel Changer
Communications Technology: The Mouse Starts to Roar as a Channel Changer
"Here's a news flash: Television viewers don't need a television to view television...
...The champion of Internet-based cults, Jeff Pulver, who made VoIP a household term and VON a force, has noticed that trend and is jumping into it with both feet via Network2, a compilation and presentation of the best independent TV shows available only on the Internet. The Pulver-backed site features a guide to episodic programming that ranges from reality shows like "Alive in Baghdad," where citizen journalists cover the war, to "Fearless Cooking," where Gloria Piper cooks anything for your viewing pleasure – including on a future show, we understand, cable's goose.
Network2 is an Internet-based mini-cable system that pulls independent content together in one place to make it easy for viewers to find.
"The beauty and value of the Internet as a distribution means for television is instead of having to go after blockbusters, instead of asking how many millions of people you're going to look at, you can go after the people that really are going to respond as an audience," said Chris Brogan, community developer for Network2.
Katie Couric, whose nightly newscasts are pushed over the Web, will probably never answer an e-mail she receives about something she said or read, but Brian Conley, who produces the Baghdad show, most likely would. In fact, Brogan counts on it.
"This is insanely personal product," said Brogan. "The idea of putting independent producers in the driver's seat means that no one can tell us who should or shouldn't be on the platform and what shows we should or shouldn't watch."
Who's gonna pay?
For now, Network2 is free, but that's unlikely to continue if it picks up steam, and you can figure there will eventually be some cost-based model – perhaps even, shudder, advertising – added to it. It's also pretty much targeted to a user with a computer or portable device, but that, too – and this should frighten traditional video content delivery guys – is changeable because the end devices have ways to connect to the Internet, ironically through the broadband connection being delivered by the cable or telephone company.
"They can watch this on their 60-inch plasma screen and be as comfortable as anyone watching your standard cable product, but they're watching what they choose to watch," Brogan said.
Brogan was quick to differentiate the programming, which is vetted by Network2 before it goes on the site, from more freewheeling content from players like YouTube. Still, it is unmistakably unprofessional compared to the scripted fare available from the large broadcast and cable networks, as rare as scripted shows are becoming.
That difference might not matter when it comes to attracting and losing viewers, said Franco.
The eyes have it
"If consumers are going online to watch this, then it becomes a question of time – time away from traditional means to watch the untraditional, whether it's professional or not," Franco said. "In that sense, it could cut into viewing," she said."
Tags: network2.tv, Chris Brogan, disruptive broadcasting, Network2, Jeff Pulver
Posted by jeff on November 1, 2006 12:08 AM | Permalink
Additional resources: #140conf events | Watch the Jeff Pulver Show | Jeff's Qik Videos