The two companies put out a press release without a whole lot of detail (below) but are holding a press conference shortly where we may be able to tease some more out of them. (Update: Well, that was a waste of 10 minutes. Verizon is also promising to make executives available for interviews this morning, but my expectations are now very, very, very low. Subterranean.)

Right now, all they’re really saying is that they’ll have video content, delivered over the Web and via mobile devices, and that consumers will be able to stream some of it and download some of it.

Roping Redbox into the JV — Verizon will own 65 percent of the company, and the movie rental service will have the remainder — makes sense, because it will give the unnamed service a digital-plus-physical option. Just like Netflix and Dish Network’s Blockbuster already have.

But while the big media companies are very happy to license some of their content to Verizon or any other player that wants to pay for digital rights, they are much less comfortable with Coinstar’s Redbox, and have tangled with that service in court.

Right now, for instance, Redbox has announced that it won’t work with Warner Bros.’ new 56-day “window” for new movies on DVD, and will buy discs from third-party sources instead of getting them directly from the studio. So it will be interesting to see how Warner Bros. and parent company Time Warner treat the new venture, and whether that dynamic plays out with other content guys.

VERIZON AND COINSTAR’S REDBOX FORM JOINT VENTURE TO CREATE NEW CONSUMER CHOICE FOR VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT
Joint Venture Will Offer the Best of Both Worlds – Physical and Digital – to All Consumers Nationwide

NEW YORK – Verizon and Coinstar, Inc. today announced the formation of a joint venture that will create a new choice for quality- and value-conscious consumers seeking a simple and affordable way to access the video entertainment they crave. The venture’s services will offer all of the convenience, simplicity and value of Redbox® new release DVD and Blu-ray Disc® rentals combined with a new content-rich video on-demand streaming and download service from Verizon.

The joint venture plans to introduce the product portfolio in the second half of 2012. It will offer subscription services and more in an easy-to-use, flexible and affordable service that will allow all consumers across the U.S. to enjoy the new and popular entertainment they want, whenever they choose, using the media and devices they prefer. Additional brand and product information will be revealed in the coming months.

“When you consider the core elements the parties bring to this venture – our powerful brands; our national rental kiosk footprint; our anytime, anywhere network presence; and our mutual commitment to customer-focused innovation – it’s clear that Verizon and Redbox are a powerful entertainment team,” said Bob Mudge, president of Verizon consumer and mass business markets.

“Consumers rely on Redbox for the latest new release movies at a great value, and our joint venture with Verizon will enable us to bring them even more value by offering expanded content offerings and greater flexibility for how and when they enjoy entertainment,” said Paul Davis, chief executive officer of Coinstar, Inc. “This alliance is the result of a deliberate and strategic process to identify a partner who shares our commitment to delivering innovative solutions to consumers. We look forward to rolling out the shared benefits this venture will bring to consumers, retailers, and shareholders.”

This venture between Verizon and Redbox will create the kind of national multi-platform product that customers are demanding from video entertainment service providers. It will leverage Verizon’s industry-wide relationships with entertainment content providers, its advanced cloud computing technologies and state-of-the-art IP network infrastructure to distribute video on-demand content to its customers.

“The joint venture will combine the accessibility and value of Redbox with Verizon’s vision for a borderless lifestyle – where consumers easily accomplish what they want or need to do, on their terms, through the power of the network,” said Mudge. “Together, we are erasing old technology boundaries, freeing people to spontaneously enjoy the entertainment they want, whenever they choose, using the devices and media they prefer, at home or away.”

By offering instantly available online and mobile content with immediate access to physical media through rental kiosks, Verizon and Redbox will be uniquely positioned to deliver the best of both worlds – digital and physical – to consumers across the country.
The joint venture is a limited liability company with Verizon holding a 65 percent ownership share and Redbox holding a 35 percent ownership share at the outset.

It’s not even 8 am PT yet here, but we’ve got a full day of speakers at D: Dive Into Media, and first up is Hulu CEO Jason Kilar. I’m sure we’ll hear him talk about the future of Web video, not to mention his own position and that of his company in said future.

Earlier:
8:08 am: We’re getting just a bit of a late start, as SoCal traffic is messing with the schedule just a bit.

8:19 am: I think we are close now. Attendees are grabbing seats.

8:24 am: Looks like you still have some time to catch up on your favorite show on Hulu. But it shouldn’t be too much longer now.

8:27 am: Here he is.

Peter: I’m a little surprised you are here (refers to memo a year ago that a lot of people thought would get Kilar canned).

Are you surprised you are still running Hulu?

Kilar: No, I am not.

You have to be a bit crazy to do this. He notes that the company was initially called Clown Co.

If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

8:28 am: What were you thinking when you wrote that memo?

Kilar encourages people to reread the memo. “I think it stands up today.” I actually think that when it comes to bundles, there is tremendous value, but you have to be very careful in how you construct that. Customers vote with their wallets.

8:30 am: Why print the memo?

When you are starting a new business, it’s important to explain yourselves. That was a very important moment for the company.

The entrepreneurial jouney is not a smooth one or an easy one.

8:31 am: Kafka: One of the reasons it was called Clown Co. was the idea that the media companies couldn’t build a successful joint venture, and that the interests of the parents and the company would necessarily diverge.

8:32 am: Kilar: It’s not unique to the history of media. Kilar notes that TV was originally seen as a threat to the movie industry.

It turned out it was the best thing that ever could have happened to content companies. The Internet could be the same way.

8:33 am: Kafka: The broadcast content industry is now getting paid in the form of retransmission fees, and distributing its shows in many forums. Is there the same need for Hulu to exist as there was four years ago?

Kilar: I think there’s more reason for Hulu to exist now than there was four years ago.

8:34 am: Some of the content isn’t there, or is being “windowed.” You have to wait eight days for some shows. Are customers still as happy?

Kilar: There’s actually more content. In addition, we have Hulu Plus (the paid service), which allows customers to get content sooner, and with more content.

Kafka: Is the subscription business a profitable one?

Kilar: Clearly still in investment mode, but a lot of opportunity to make money.

It allows us to pay the content community more per user per month than any other service. “We’re thrilled about that business. It’s a very scalable service. It’s our fastest growing service.”

8:37 am: Kafka: You have to pay for TV, but not for laptop. Isn’t that confusing?

Kilar: Agrees, the distinction might be confusing to our grandkids down the road.

“There’s no doubt there is this transition happening.”

8:38 am: Kafka: How do you think the content owners think about the value Hulu delivers?

If I were in their shoes.

You’ve got this amazingly large business (broadcast TV) that is very robust and very healthy, so you are constantly thinking about that.

At the same time, you can’t be blind to what you are hearing from consumers.

If I were in their shoes, I’d balance the obligation to that existing business, but plant seeds that allow things to bear fruit for the long term.

This is not dissimilar to the introduction of television. People used to go to movie houses three or four times a week to watch “premium content.”

8:44 am: Kafka: What about YouTube and others?

Kilar: There’s going to be many winners in this space. Online video and online advertising space.

Kafka: Why did owners put you on the block then?

Kilar: You should ask News Corp.’s Chase (Carey) this. (Carey is on stage later.)

It’s fair to say the process that happened last year. … We were approached by a company.

Kafka: Yahoo.

Kilar: We never commented on it.

Kafka: Yahoo.

Kilar: It was far more public than I would have liked. I’m a private guy.

Kafka: What do you think happened?

Kilar: Things change … people have different points of view.

It wasn’t dramatic. It wasn’t salacious.

Kafka: One thing that you heard was that the bids weren’t high enough and/or that the content owners weren’t willing to give a long enough rights deal to make it viable.

Could you ever sell this company or take it public? Can this work as a standalone company?

Kilar: We have 330 content partners, only three of which are investors in the company.

Kafka: You’ve said you are going to spend $500 million in content fees this year. Does that include money to main broadcasters?

Kilar: Yes. Main investment is in existing content, though spending a little on new, exclusive content. Gives them some healthy differentiation.

It’s not the thing, but it is an important thing.

Kafka: Is it important to have a lot of exclusive content?

Kilar: It’s important to have some exclusive content.

8:51 am: Kafka: Folks describe you as “rerun TV.” Are you OK with that?

Kilar: At end of day, we search for Hulu and Hulu Plus and see what consumers say. Kilar reads on Twitter a lot, but doesn’t post much.

8:52 am: Audience Q&A. Hulu said it brought in $420 million last year, but less than it had been on a pace to do.

Kilar: In Q3, specifically, the ad market was very soft. Things rebounded in Q4. “We’re pacing very well. I’m not going to talk about the financials of the business.”

Kilar said it was up 60 percent from the prior year, and ahead of its original plan for 2011, which was for $408 million.

Kafka: Will you stick around?

Kilar: I’ve only done two things. One was Amazon for nine years. The other is Hulu. I’m not the kind of guy that dabbles. I tend to go deep.

Kafka: Do you think you will be here in a year?

Kilar: Just judge me on my history.

Kafka: Very eloquent side step. I appreciate it.

8:55 am: TV everywhere. How does Hulu fit into that?

Kilar: Differentiation is important. When we think about services like TV Everywhere, which has been around as a theory for a while … Hulu Plus is designed to be different from TV Everywhere, which only has four or five episodes.

TV Everywhere is getting better, and will continue to, but Hulu Plus is designed to be different.

8:58 am: Hulu Plus for Apple TV?

Kilar: It’s a juicy question. I don’t have a juicy answer. We don’t talk about our product road map.

Q: Can we expect it in 2012?

Kilar: We don’t talk about our product road map.

The commercial was originally supposed to be kept under wraps until game day, but Gawker Media’s car blog, Jalopnik, spoiled the surprise last Friday. Honda put the full ad on YouTube early this morning. Jalopnik says Honda hired “The Hangover” writer/director Todd Phillips to create it.

In the spot, Broderick reprises his role from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” calling in sick from work in Los Angeles, instead of from high school in Chicago. Instead of crooning a karaoke version of “Danke Schoen” during a parade, this time Broderick gets caught up in a Chinese New Year parade. His CR-V is taken for a joy ride, not by garage attendants, but by a valet parker at a posh restaurant.

Here’s the spot, for those of you that would rather just watch it. Maybe … nine times?

Let’s take another peek, courtesy of SNL Kagan and Barclays analyst Anthony DiClemente, who has an updated list of wholesale prices by channel* (the list on the right is for ad rates, which we can ignore for the purposes of this story):

Takeaway from today’s chart: Nothing has really changed — you’re still paying a lot for sports, and you’re paying a lot for ESPN.

That’s why Disney’s sports channel is the most valuable asset on your cable dial. And it’s also why you’ve been hearing increasing grumbling — from both customers and ESPN’s non-sports cable competitors — about ESPN’s drag on your cable bill. (We’ll talk to new ESPN boss John Skipper about this topic next week at Dive Into Media.)

As I’ve noted before, the odds are that this doesn’t change anytime soon: Disney and ESPN can charge that much because the cable guys, like Comcast, think the programming is worth it to their customer base. And they’re signing up long-term deals that will keep that fee structure in place for the next decade.

But there is a chance that a “virtual” cable operator, using the Web, decides to offer a package that doesn’t include ESPN. They could either use that unspent money to lower customers’ bills, or plow it into other programming.

Again, this will also mean that subscribers couldn’t get any Disney programming, because Bob Iger has zero interest in splitting up the bundle. But I know of a few folks who have at least contemplated the idea.

So what about that “over the top” option, anyway? Some industry observers, like BTIG’s Rich Greenfield, are sure that someone — Apple, Google, Verizon, who knows — will offer one this year. Today, Bernstein’s Craig Moffett has a long essay describing why that won’t happen for a long time, if ever. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said something similar this week, alluding to the fact that Microsoft has reportedly bailed on its Web TV subscription plans.

*The 2012 chart omits regional cable channels, which is why Fox Sports Net has disappeared in the new chart. I don’t know why the new one includes outliers like 3net, a 3-D channel that isn’t widely available (and/or relevant, as best I can tell).

[Image: ESPN]

To recap: Lots of people you know, and lots of people who read sites like this one, think people are already ditching cable TV for some combination of iTunes/Netflix/Hulu and/or pirate sites, etc. But cable providers and cable networks say they don’t see any signs of it.

So onward to today’s numbers from Time Warner Cable, which show the second-biggest cable company in the U.S. losing 129,000 video subscribers — about 1 percent of the 11.9 million base.

If you’re in the “it is totally for real” camp, you can jump on this as proof of your thesis, and that’s what this Business Insider post* does, Grim Reaper art and all.

But in order to get really worked up about Time Warner’s losses, you’d have to ignore contrary data points from other video services that show a boost.

For instance, AT&T and Verizon each added about 200,000 subscribers to their pay-TV offerings in the last quarter. Presumably, many of those 400,000 subscribers were already paying for TV from another provider, so those losses have to show up somewhere.

Time Warner Cable notes that AT&T’s service is available in about 25 percent of Time Warner’s footprint, while Verizon, which it says was “aggressive” about marketing last quarter, is available in about 12 percent of Time Warner’s market.

In any case, until we get numbers from all of the pay TV providers, it’s hard to make any calls about cutting/adding in the last quarter. Comcast, the industry’s biggest provider, won’t report until February 15.

And once we do have all of this quarter’s data, we’re still just going to have this quarter’s data. As we’ve seen over the last year or so, sometimes pay TV user numbers go up, and sometimes they go down. We’ve yet to see a clear trend one way or another.

None of this will soothe some of you folks, who will tell me that you, or your friends, or someone you know has cut the cord and is loving life. That doesn’t mean that’s not the case — just that statistically, it has yet to register.

Earlier this month I tried to make an analogy between cord-cutters and vegans, but I’m not sure I hit the mark. So this time we’ll let Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt make a similar argument, in his own words, via Seeking Alpha:

I think there are — remember, the average TV in America is on for some very large number of hours a day, with 6, 7, 8 hours a day, whatever the latest number is. And this activity you’re talking about is kind of sporadic, watching no specific programs. So most people watch a lot of TV and they like these packages of linear networks. And the services we’re talking about are not, at this point, a substitute for that. Having said that, there are people who don’t watch TV very much and they’re quite satisfied with just being able to watch a few shows now and then. And we all know one of those people and I think that affects our perception of what’s really going on in terms of the mass market.

*Per my disclosure, I not only like the guys over at Business Insider, but I have a vested interest in their success.

• Showing TV shows the day after they air, like Hulu does.
• Renting TV shows and movies one at a time, on demand, like Amazon, Apple, Walmart and many others do.
• Renting video games, like GameFly does.
• Getting more people to sign up for its DVD rental service, which is what Netflix used to do.

So what is Reed Hastings trying to do? He explained it again during his company’s conference call Wednesday night, but it’s the same message he’s been delivering for some time: He’s trying to create the Web version of HBO or Showtime.

That is: A premium cable channel that gives subscribers lots of viewing choices — including some stuff they can’t see anywhere else —  but not unlimited choices.

That may disappoint some customers, investors and even reporters. Because the idea of a maverick Internet video service that could upend all of Hollywood and the TV industry sounds pretty exciting. People are still hoping for one, perhaps in the form of a “virtual” cable service – perhaps from Google or Apple – though yesterday Hastings said he doesn’t believe that’s happening, either.

But Hastings’s more modest ambitions are popular enough: He now has 23.5 million Web video subscribers worldwide, which is more than CBS’s Showtime has. And he is creeping up on Time Warner’s HBO, which has around 28 million subs. [UPDATE: Let's make this an apples-to-apples comparison: Netflix has 21.7 million Web video subs in the U.S.; that 28 million number for HBO is US-only, too.]

Still, Hastings will need to keep reiterating his plan for some time in order for everyone to get it.

That’s partly his fault, because he hasn’t always been consistent. Last summer, for instance, he said the company would start marketing its DVD-only business again, but the company has since canceled those plans (and now rarely acknowledges DVDs exist, even though they are a huge business for Netflix). Last fall, Netflix also said it would get into the videogame rental business, but those plans have been scrapped, too.

“We are just another network competing for viewing time with, and licensing content from, other networks,” Hastings wrote in his letter to shareholders yesterday. That’s not quite as compelling as “All the movies and TV you’ll ever need, for $8 a month,” but it’s the truth, and it seems to work for lots of people.

But at least as important are the company’s subscriber numbers and guidance, which should give us a much better sense of whether consumers have forgiven/forgotten its missteps of 2011. Netflix has already warned investors that it would lose money through much of 2012, largely because of its international expansion plans.

Q4 Domestic streaming: 22 million subs
Q4 Domestic DVD: 11.17
Q4 International: 1.86 million

Outlook: The company had already warned that it may not turn a profit in 2012, and it is now being more explicit about that, citing expansion costs and diminishing DVD revenue: “We expect modest quarterly losses, as well as losses for the calendar year.

Netflix ended the year with 24.4 million U.S. subscribers. That’s up 25 percent from the previous year, and — crucially — up from the previous quarter’s total of 23.79 million subs. That doesn’t mean its customer base has completely forgiven the company, but at the very least it means it is growing again.

Investors are pleased, and are pushing the stock up 10 percent in after-hours trading.

This is a case where the cheat sheet that Citigroup’s Mark Mahaney provides is particularly useful (click to enlarge).

Here’s a very interesting note on competition from Amazon: Netflix agrees with a New York Post report this morning which says Amazon will offer a standalone video service: “We expect Amazon to continue to offer their video service as a free extra with Prime domestically but also to brand their video subscription offering as a standalone service at a price less than ours.”

Hope to hear more about that from CEO Reed Hastings during the company’s conference call, which starts at 6 pm ET.

In light of this month’s SOPA/PIPA debate, for instance, it ought to be very interesting to compare and contrast what Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman and YouTube head Salar Kamangar have to say about copyright and piracy. (Not that they were on the same page to begin with.)

But in addition to executives who help distribute media for a living, we also wanted to make sure we heard from content makers at Dive. We’ll have several, but none more famous than Neil Young.

One of the nice things about having a music icon join you onstage is that you don’t need to spend much time introducing him (though it’s easy enough to get the official and unofficial takes; and, courtesy of Kamangar’s YouTube, plenty of audiovisual reminders, which you can see at the bottom of this post).

That’s going to give us more time to have a freewheeling conversation: The man has a 40-plus-year career and is still making music and movies today, so there’s a lot of ground to cover. One digital topic I imagine we’ll certainly touch on: His long-running campaign to fix the way modern music sounds – not the songs themselves, but the way they’re recorded and distributed.

That isn’t the easiest sell, when lots of people seem content to listen to super-compressed iTunes files bleeding out of tiny, tinny, laptop speakers. But perhaps things are changing a bit: Dr. Dre and company sure have sold a lot of sort-of high-end Beats headphones in recent years.

Dive kicks off on the evening of Jan. 30, and we’ll have complete coverage here. If you want to join us in person in Laguna Niguel, Calif., grab a seat.

Something seems to have resonated with Jon Stewart and his “Daily Show” writers, who weighed in yesterday. Note that almost all of the footage they use in this one seems to come from a June 1, 2010, CNN report:

(By the way, before we get there: I didn’t watch “SNL” last night, and no one in my Twitter stream seems to have been interested, either. But the reason I’ve seen these is because I got an email this morning from “social media agency” New Media Strategies, which NBC is using to promote yesterday’s show. I believe I’ve noted this before, but we’ve come an awful long way from NBC’s befuddlement over “Lazy Sunday” showing up on YouTube. Then again, it’s been six (!) years.)

A reminder that typing and texting is dangerous/funny:

And a weird one that mocks the Internet audience that it hopes will end up watching and talking about this. “I have no shame or self-awareness”:

On Saturday, the News Corp. CEO used his new Twitter account to rail against the search giant, call it a “piracy leader,” and gripe that it had too much influence in Washington, and the White House, in particular. (Here we need to remind you that News Corp. owns this Web site.) Business Insider has all four of his “Internet makes me angry” tweets (Update: He’s back at it! More below), including the one he deleted, but here are the two relevant ones:

So Obama has thrown in his lot withSilicon Valley paymasters who threaten allsoftware creators with piracy, plain thievery. -

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) January 14, 2012

Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts around them.No wonder pouring millions into lobbying. — Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) January 14, 2012

That amounts to an open invitation for Web pundits to sound off, which they were happy to accept. Techmeme is studiously collecting those responses, but the one I like best so far comes from Om Malik:

.@rupertmurdoch you weren’tcomplaining much when google was paying you big ad dollars for MySpace, that hosted some “pirate” stuff #SOPA

— Om Malik (@om) January 14, 2012

The obvious point to make here is that Murdoch’s venting (which his legal and PR handlers would love to quell, but can’t) was spurred by the White House statement which deflated the SOPA and PIPA antipiracy bills today. It’s also not the first time Murdoch has sounded off about Google.

In 2009, he went on a similar anti-Google crusade, though that one was more measured and planned, and involved many of his lieutenants. But do remember that in Rupe’s world, cursing loudly at someone doesn’t mean you can’t do business with them. A year after Murdoch was threatening to boycott Google, he cut a new deal with them. I’m sure it won’t be the last.

Speaking of Murdoch’s lieutenants: We’ll have his top one, chief operating office Chase Carey, at our D: Dive Into Media conference at the end of the month. And we’ll have a high-ranking rep from Google, too: YouTube CEO Salar Kamangar. Guess we’ll have to revisit this with both of them: Grab a front-row seat.

Update: Just like a lot of fellow Twitter users, Murdoch is having a hard time disengaging. Two more here:

Understand more than all allege!Google great company doing many exciting things. Only one complaint, and it’s important.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) January 15, 2012

Just been to google search for mission impossible. Wow, several sites offering free links.I rest my case.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) January 15, 2012

Google announced the plan last fall, but yesterday, YouTube content boss Robert Kyncl held a formal coming-out party for the plan, with a presentation for a packed house at the Consumer Electronics Show. And after that, I talked to him about why YouTube had changed course.

After all, plenty of people seem to like YouTube just the way it is. It attracts 800 million users a month, who watch a staggering three billion hours of clips a day. And while Google has never come out and disclosed the site’s finances, it frequently hints that it is a big business, and perhaps a profitable one.

And if YouTube really wants to get more premium stuff for the site, why not go out and buy the stuff that Hollywood and the TV guys are already making? Google could certainly afford it, and Big Media has gotten very comfortable about putting its stuff online, as long as it’s getting a big check for it. Kyncl knows that well, since he used to arrange those deals at Netflix, before joining Google in 2010.

You can see Kyncl’s answers here — apologies for the extra-shaky cam — and below that, you can see the full CES presentation. And in a couple weeks, you can hear from Kyncl’s boss, YouTube CEO Salar Kamangar, at our D: Dive Into Media conference. Registration details here.

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120113/channel-changer-one-on-one-with-youtube-content-boss-robert-kyncl-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20120112/what-kind-of-web-video-plans-does-sony-have-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20120112/what-kind-of-web-video-plans-does-sony-have-video/#comments Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:30:43 +0000 Peter Kafka http://allthingsd.com/?p=163093 Sony has everything you’d need to launch an interesting video service: Its TVs, DVD players and game machines are already in millions of living rooms. It owns a big Hollywood studio. And while it has taken a beating over the past few years, it has plenty of cash to fund big bets.

So no surprise that Sony is yet another company reportedly exploring “over the top” Web video. And even if it doesn’t end up launching a full package of cable-like TV programming, it seems quite reasonable to assume it’s going to be doing something with video this year.

And that’s more or less what Sony executive Tim Schaaff said near the end of the brief chat I had with him yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Schaaff is the former Apple executive hired by Howard Stringer six years ago to knit all his media and electronics businesses together. If you don’t want to hear his thoughts about his new music subscription business, or what the cloud means for Sony versus Google, Amazon, Apple, etc., skip ahead to the four-minute mark on this video.

That’s where Schaaff refuses to say that Sony is looking to get into a Netflix-style subscription business. But he does say he would love to have me “paying for video on a regular basis.”

“We’re certainly talking to lots of different people about some new possibilities, and I hope that we can have some new announcements for you later in the year.”

The guy making a cameo appearance in the background, by the way, is Sony VP Michael Aragon, who oversees video and music for Schaaff.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120112/what-kind-of-web-video-plans-does-sony-have-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20120110/why-the-future-of-tv-wont-be-here-soon/ http://allthingsd.com/20120110/why-the-future-of-tv-wont-be-here-soon/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:30:20 +0000 Peter Kafka http://allthingsd.com/?p=162179 This is the year for many big pronouncements about The Future Of TV, and we’re hearing the first round this week at the Consumer Electronics Show. Here’s how I’m sorting through the deluge: I’m ignoring almost all of it.

Instead, I’m focusing on the ones that promise to bring me the TV I want to see, when I want to see it, without charging me a fortune. And without making me pay for stuff I don’t care about.

Try it yourself. See? Things get quiet in a hurry.

All that other stuff that everyone is talking about right now — new ways to get Web video onto your TV set, new ways to chat up your friends while you watch TV, etc. — is sort of interesting. Maybe it eventually turns into something really interesting.

But none of it solves the problem that regular people have with TV right now. Because they actually like TV quite a bit, and watch tons of it every week, and they’re okay paying for it, too, even if they say they’re not. They just want to pay less for the stuff they want.

Making that happen will require a lot more than using AirPlay to throw video from your iPad to your LCD, or making it easier to search the Web via a Google TV. It means fundamentally overhauling the TV business.

And while it can look like the TV business is loosening up dramatically — look at all those shows the networks are putting on the Web, for free! — it’s actually tightening up considerably — it’s getting harder and harder to watch that stuff, it turns out, without paying for cable, or going rogue.

Even the most interesting stuff I’ve heard about — selling TV “over the top,” via the Web — still contemplates buying bundles of channels from the programmers, which means that over-the-top TV will look just like cable TV. Just like satellite TV and fiber TV do.

“I think there’s not a lot wrong with the business models,” says Myspace owner Tim Vanderhook, who wants to launch his own over-the-top service this year. I’m not at all confident that he’s going to pull it off, but I’m sure the programmers are happy to have a chat. They love the idea of more buyers ponying up for their stuff.

One interesting variant you’re hearing more about right now involves keeping bundles intact, but buying less of them. If you don’t pay for ESPN, then you’re not going to get anything from Disney, including ABC Family and the Disney Channel. But if you can live with sports or kids stuff, you could save an awful lot — or put the money into other programming you do care about.

That’s not nearly as sexy as The End Of TV As We Know It, but it is doable. And I’ll definitely holler about that one, if and when we see it.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120110/why-the-future-of-tv-wont-be-here-soon/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20120108/frequency-a-tv-guide-for-web-video-tris-a-new-look/ http://allthingsd.com/20120108/frequency-a-tv-guide-for-web-video-tris-a-new-look/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 03:00:11 +0000 Peter Kafka http://allthingsd.com/?p=161381 You watch a lot of Web video, and you will watch a lot more. Who will serve as your TV Guide?

There are a whole lot of people who want to be in that game, and Blair Harrison is one of them. His Frequency, which launched last year, has gone through an overhaul, but its gist remains the same: It wants to let you pick and choose feeds of stuff you know you like. It wants to show you stuff your friends like, too, by incorporating cues from your social networks.

Harrison, who made his money and reputation building iFilm and selling it to Viacom during the beginning of the Web 1.0 boom, raised $3 million last year, and since then has rounded up another $1 million.

More important, his new Web site is slicker, and now features a dashboard that you can program with feeds you select, along with ones that use suggestions from Facebook, Twitter, et al. And the service now offers an iPad version, as well as one that will be featured on some Samsung TVs. Here’s what it should look like on the big screen:

Harrison’s challenges also remain the same: He needs to convince people that they should use a Web video hub, period. Facebook already does a great job of surfacing cool videos my friends think I should see (thanks for the Wilco clip, everyone), and Twitter is getting better at it.

And if I am inclined to use a Web video hub, chances are I’m already doing it via Google, at YouTube.

Google is particularly interesting for Harrison, since it’s both competition and de facto partner. YouTube is in the process of dividing itself up into niche channels that will work particularly well with Frequency’s new scheme — if you like the indie music that myISH serves up on YouTube, it should be easy to bring that feed right into Frequency.

But Google would very much like to be the program guide for Web video, too, via Google TV. That means, for instance, that some Samsung models will feature Frequency, and others will feature the one from the giant company with enormous resources. Tough fight.

Harrison isn’t asking consumers to fund his fight, either. The Web sites and apps are free, and the only ads that show up on the videos are the ones that the original distributors add in there, so right now Frequency is revenue-free.

Harrison says he needs to build scale and can figure it out later, but there are some obvious sponsorship/customization routes that he can try, just like Flipboard is trying out with magazines for its Web app reader. In fact, if you said that Harrison was trying to build Flipboard for Web video, he wouldn’t stop you.

Anyway! No point in writing about Web video without showing Web video. Here are a couple of clips Frequency tells me my friends think I would like:

Now-65-year-old David Bowie, from way back in 1973, via Facebook:

And, for whatever reason, a weather balloon, via Twitter:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120108/frequency-a-tv-guide-for-web-video-tris-a-new-look/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20120108/tom-hanks-brings-electric-city-to-yahoo/ http://allthingsd.com/20120108/tom-hanks-brings-electric-city-to-yahoo/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 01:26:12 +0000 Peter Kafka http://allthingsd.com/?p=161359 More new blood for Yahoo, this time in the form of a Hollywood star: Tom Hanks and his Playtone productions are creating an animated series for the Web giant. Hanks will also star in “Electric City,” which Yahoo is describing as an “action-packed sci-fi adventure series,” which will run for a total of 90 minutes — across 20 three- to five-minute episodes — and will kick off this spring. Yahoo says the show will feature all sorts of cross-platform interactive bells and whistles.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120108/tom-hanks-brings-electric-city-to-yahoo/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20120106/you-watch-a-lot-of-web-video-you-watch-way-more-tv/ http://allthingsd.com/20120106/you-watch-a-lot-of-web-video-you-watch-way-more-tv/#comments Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:41:21 +0000 Peter Kafka http://allthingsd.com/?p=160950 It’s possible that you, AllThingsD reader, are a cord-cutter or that you know a cord-cutter. Or that you’d like to cut the cord if you could.

But odds are much better that you:

1. Watch a lot of Web video, and
2. Watch a ton of TV.*

We’ve seen similar stats before, but always good to see a reminder. Today’s comes from Nielsen, which has a very cool looking “State of the Media 2011” report full of cool infographics.

This one, alas, is a tad more vertical than I’d like, but I’m a beggar. So here you go. Note that even you youngsters that watch the most video still put in more than 20x time watching TV (that’s real TV, not Netflix on your flatscreen, etc):

This data comes from Q2 of last year, and it’s self-reported, so it’s possible that it will change dramatically over time, and/or that it’s under- or over-counting one or more datapoints. [UPDATE: My mistake. Nielsen tells me the viewing and Internet data comes from their automated meters which track device behavior, not from self-reported surveys.]

But particularly because we’re about to enter a phase where we hear many loud pronouncements about The Future Of TV (more on that soon), keep in mind that The Present Of TV seems to work for lots of people. For some it’s the equivalent of a full-time job.

*And yes, I realize that some of you could be watching a ton of TV without paying for cable, because you’re getting free HD signals over the air. But my hunch is that’s a very small group for now.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120106/you-watch-a-lot-of-web-video-you-watch-way-more-tv/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20120103/after-chrome-ads-flap-google-puts-itself-in-the-penalty-box/ http://allthingsd.com/20120103/after-chrome-ads-flap-google-puts-itself-in-the-penalty-box/#comments Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:47:14 +0000 Peter Kafka http://allthingsd.com/?p=159469 Google, which says it had no idea it was paying bloggers to promote its Chrome browser, is punishing itself for doing so. The search giant tells Danny Sullivan it will penalize the “pagerank” of www.google.com/chrome for “at least 60 days.” Google has blamed the pay-per-post campaign on ad network Unruly Media, but says “Google should be held to a higher standard, so we have taken stricter action than we would against a typical site.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120103/after-chrome-ads-flap-google-puts-itself-in-the-penalty-box/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20120103/googles-ad-company-which-isnt-google-explains-whats-up-with-those-chrome-ads/ http://allthingsd.com/20120103/googles-ad-company-which-isnt-google-explains-whats-up-with-those-chrome-ads/#comments Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:11:15 +0000 Peter Kafka http://allthingsd.com/?p=159168 Google is paying bloggers to run posts promoting its Google Chrome browser.

Is that a big deal? Depends on whom you ask.

Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan, who sussed this out yesterday, has two big problems with the notion.

The first is that in at least one case a blogger’s post linked to Google in seeming violation of Google’s policy against so-called “paid links.” Sullivan’s bigger beef is that the content of the posts themselves consists of a video ad and some barely sensical text — the kind of thing that Google is trying to flush out of its search results by tweaking its algorithms.

So what’s going on? I’ve asked Google reps for comment, but I’m still waiting for them to get back from vacation. [UPDATE - they have, see below] But Unruly Media, the London-based company which ran the campaign for Google, was happy to answer. (Yup – Google, which dominates both Web advertising and Web video, relies on an outsider to promote its Web video ads.)

There’s nothing wrong here, says Unruly CEO Scott Button, except for what appears to be a one-off technical mistake by a single blogger. Here’s his email response:

Yes, it’s a campaign we were running at the end of December.

There’s a good response by Andrew Girdwood here.

Andrew’s absolutely right — we don’t ask bloggers to link to the advertiser’s site. It’s just not part of our business model. We help advertisers distribute video content and that’s what we get paid for. All links from the video player itself are wrapped in Javascript, so although Google can follow them, they don’t influence search engine rankings. Even though we don’t ask bloggers to link, we do advise them to use nofollow if they do link to the advertiser’s site. This is really important and they should do it to protect themselves as much as the advertiser.

As far as I’m aware, there was one link in one post that was not marked nofollow. This was corrected as soon as we became aware of it.

We’re always completely upfront and transparent with bloggers that we are running commercial campaigns and who we’re working for. We always require that bloggers disclose any commercial incentive to post video content. We always require that bloggers disclose even on related tweets that they might do off their own bats.

It’s also a key part of how we operate that we don’t tell bloggers what or how to write. It’s really important that opinions expressed and the tone of voice belong to the author not the advertiser. Occasionally that leads to human error, as here, so we’re always really happy to have these kinds of example flagged and will sort them out as quickly as we possibly can.

Note that Button doesn’t address Sullivan’s complaint that the text in the bloggers’ post is barely better than garbage. That stuff may not be elegant, but it does seem to work — Unruly says its ad network reaches 725 million people a month.

UPDATE: Google has offered a response, and it doesn’t sync with Button’s. Here’s a quote from a Google spokesperson:

“Google never agreed to anything more than online ads. We have consistently avoided paid sponsorships, including paying bloggers to promote our products, because these kind of promotions are not transparent or in the best interests of users. We’re now looking at what changes we need to make to ensure that this never happens again.”

And here’s more along those lines, via Essence Digital, another Google ad vendor, this time posted on a Google+ page:

“We want to be perfectly clear here: Google never approved a sponsored-post campaign. They only agreed to buy online video ads. Google have consistently avoided paid postings to promote their products, because in their view these kind of promotions are not transparent or in the best interests of users.

In this case, Google were subjected to this activity through media that encouraged bloggers to create what appeared to be paid posts, were often of poor quality and out of line with Google standards. We apologize to Google who clearly didn’t authorize this.”

All of this back-and-forth finger pointing might seem odd to the outside world, but it’s not uncommon in online ads, where money and marching orders pass through multiple points on their way from the original customer to the site that runs the ad.

Here’s the video ad, by the way. I guess I should disclose that Google is not paying me to post this:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120103/googles-ad-company-which-isnt-google-explains-whats-up-with-those-chrome-ads/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20111222/netflix-really-really-doesnt-want-your-dvd-money/ http://allthingsd.com/20111222/netflix-really-really-doesnt-want-your-dvd-money/#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2011 20:25:21 +0000 Peter Kafka http://allthingsd.com/?p=156352

Streaming is the future. We’re focused on it. DVD will do whatever it’s going to do. We’re not — we’re going to try to not hurt it, but we’re not putting a lot of time and energy into doing anything particular around it and then we’re focused on, how do we take advantage of this incredible global streaming opportunity.

That was Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, at the UBS media conference earlier this month, reiterating the point that Netflix has been making over and over again for some time: They want out of the DVD business, even though it is generating more than $1 billion a year for them.

Hastings and his team are convinced that even though consumers say that discs are important to them, their usage data shows that few people … use them. “Old fogey discs,” Hastings calls them.

Netflix tried very hard to accelerate the decline of DVDs with the Qwikster fiasco. Since then, Netflix has been careful to tell its subscribers who are still paying for DVDs that it is happy to have them around.

New subscribers are a different story, though. Netflix exclusively pushes its $8-a-month unlimited-streaming option, on its site and in its promotional materials. You have to work very hard to discover that the company still rents DVDs, and that’s by design.

Same deal for former subscribers that Netflix is trying to woo back: Even if you used to get both DVDs and streaming videos from Netflix, the company will only tell you about its streaming plan in its “come back!” emails. (See the screenshot of an email my colleague Tricia Duryee, who quit her hybrid plan this fall, got recently, at the bottom of this post.)

But the message is most clear for people who want to give someone a Netflix subscription as a present: The company no longer allows you to gift a subscription that includes a DVD plan, period.

Go ahead and see for yourself — there’s no way to give Reed Hastings and company an extra $8 a month for a service they’re still providing to some 11 million subscribers.

The one tiny workaround that the company offers (if you look very, very hard — or do what I did, and call up Netflix PR and ask) is the ability to let current subscribers extend their current deal. So, for instance, if you’re currently getting the equivalent of a $16-a-month hybrid disc-and-streaming option, and someone gives you a year-long $8-a-month streaming gift, you can convert that into a six-month hybrid plan.

But, boy, that’s complicated. Easier to just give someone a year of streaming, and then send them a check so they can add the DVD portion on their own. Which is what we just did this morning, here at the AllThingsD Brooklyn outpost.

So to repeat: If you work very, very hard, Netflix will let you give it money, and will let you rent DVDs in return. But it would really prefer that you didn’t.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111222/netflix-really-really-doesnt-want-your-dvd-money/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20111222/before-google-deal-closes-motorola-buys-video-guide-startup-setjam/ http://allthingsd.com/20111222/before-google-deal-closes-motorola-buys-video-guide-startup-setjam/#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:12:11 +0000 Peter Kafka http://allthingsd.com/?p=156269 Motorola Mobility, which is supposed be acquired by Google, has made bought a company in the meantime: The mobile handset maker has picked up SetJam, a small New York-based company that provides online video listings and data. SetJam originally positioned itself as a consumer-facing Web site, but appears to have pivoted to a B2B service; former SetJam CEO Ryan Janssen announced the deal via email.

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