Tube News: News & Trends
Old TV: Make Way for the New
Although not everyone agrees on which direction television should take in the next few years, most seem to concur on one important fact: the broadcast TV industry is due for a wake-up call.
"What MP3 has done to the music business is going to happen to us soon," said Robert Tercek, senior vice president of digital media for Columbia TriStar's television group, in an interview with Wired magazine. "We have to be prepared."
Tercek, former CEO of the successful entertainment software company 7th Level, was referring to the new Internet-based digital audio format that threatens to turn the current model for music distribution on its ear. With the proliferation of high-speed Internet access, many will soon have the ability to watch a full-speed, full-frame television show from a Web site just as easily as they can now download an MP3 music file. And that, understandably, has television executives worried.
For Tercek, interactive television services will provide the jumping-off point for the new era in broadcasting. Case in point: Columbia TriStar's Game Show Network. Under Tercek's supervision, the Game Show Network has reached 25 million households with interactive television services, bringing name-brand content like Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune into the convergence era.
For others, like Cindy Johansen, vice president of PBS Online, the future of television is enhanced television (a specific form of interaction that allows viewers to see additional program-specific text and graphics). Toward that end, PBS has been using Intel's Intercast standard for enhanced broadcasting--until now. Both Intel and PBS will now focus on the new ATVEF (Advanced Television Enhancement Forum) standard, which is based on a standard HTML-based development model that's not tied to any proprietary technology. Other supporters of ATVEF include Microsoft's WebTV, CNN, ESPN, Lifetime and QVC. Expect to hear more about the ATVEF standard in coming months, as manufactures roll out products that conform to its specifactions.
Though not all industry pundits agree on which direction the new era of television will take, all seem to recognize that the networks had better embrace convergence or risk extinction.
Panasonic Backs ReplayTV; Sony Backs TiVo
It didn't take long. Even before the first hard-disk based personal video recorder hit the shelves last fall, two of the world's largest consumer electronics companies--Sony and Matsushita (Panasonic)--found themselves backing two competing versions of the new technology.
Each of the two devices (see the Summer/Fall 1999 issue of Smart TV and the reviews in this issue's Black Boxes column) takes a slightly different approach to this exciting new product category. Though the basic concept is the same--using a hard drive and an electronic program guide to record, time-shift and otherwise manipulate television programming--the two products are just different enough to fuel the fires of a new technology war between the two consumer electronics giants.
In June of 1999, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Corporation licensed the ReplayTV technology from Replay Networks, Inc. and announced plans to market the device under the Panasonic brand name.
"Hard disk recorders with ReplayTV offer consumers a seamless interface with broadcast TV that clearly enhances viewing enjoyment," said Andrew Nelkin, general manager of Panasonic's Consumer Video Division. "We're optimistic that this capability, when introduced through Panasonic's extensive distribution channels, will help establish hard disk recorders as a viable and desired product category in a very short time."
Then, in September, Sony Corporation of America and TiVo, Inc. announced the formation of a strategic alliance. In this new alliance, Sony would manufacture and market hard-disk based video recorders using the TiVo Personal Television Service. The alliance also outlined the incorporation of Sony products and original content on the TiVo service and gave Sony an 8.8 percent stake in the fledgling company as well as a seat on the TiVo board of directors.
"This alliance represents a significant endorsement of TiVo's technology and personal television service," said Mike Ramsay, President and CEO of TiVo. "Our combined efforts will bring an even richer, more entertaining experience to viewers, who will now have access to a wide array of interactive services based on Sony content. This alliance further validates TiVo's personal television service as the next big thing in television."
Unlike previous battles between the two companies, Panasonic Consumer Electronics and Sony Corporation, this technology war is likely to be a boon to the consumer. Unlike the VHS/Beta wars of the late 1970s, the current conflict does not involve incompatible tape formats, which served only to confuse the marketplace before it settled on one of them. Instead, from this skirmish, we're likely to see a healthy competition between them that should bring an escalation of features while at the same time keeping prices low for the consumer.
Open Access: The Battle of the Bandwidth
As cable TV providers prepare to invade the high-speed Internet service marketplace, politicians, Internet service providers (ISPs) and consumer electronics manufacturers are lining up on opposite sides of a debate that will determine what form the Internet will take in the near future. The policies that result from this debate could well affect the development of a number of convergence technologies that rely on high-bandwidth Internet access, including enhanced TV and streaming video technologies.
The debate is over who controls access to the high-speed data networks that are developing as cable modem technologies proliferate. Suppose, for example, that a local cable TV provider offers cable modem service; should that provider be forced to allow other companies to offer Internet service over its network? Or should the cable company be allowed to require users of its network to subscribe to its own Internet service, to the exclusion of all others?
In February of 1999, a group of Internet service providers (led by America Online and currently including over 700 companies) formed the Open Net Coalition, dedicated to "...promoting the rights of all consumers to obtain affordable, high-speed access to the Internet from the provider of their choice." The group's Web site (www.opennetcoalition.org) chronicles its struggle to stop a trend that it sees as a direct threat to the livelihood of independent ISPs all over the United States.
Government officials from the city on up to the state and federal levels have taken a keen interest in the open access debate. In a ground-breaking and controversial decision, council members of the City of Portland, Oregon voted in early 1999 to require AT&T-- owner of the local cable TV franchise-- to grant independent ISPs access to the city's cable network, which, like all other cable networks, exists on public rights of way granted by the city. In June of 1999, Federal district court judge Owen Panner ruled that Portland had the right to require open access on the city's cable network. In July, the board of supervisors for the City of San Francisco followed suit and voted to require open access to its own cable infrastructure.
Not everyone agreed that open access was the best way to proceed, however. On July 20th, 1999, FCC Chairman William Kennard gave a speech to the California Bar Association flatly stating that cable companies should not be forced to open their networks to independent ISPs. His reasoning: forcing cable companies to open their networks to independent ISPs would slow the deployment of new technology.
"With competition and deregulation as our touchstones," said Kennard, "the FCC has taken a hands-off, deregulatory approach to the broadband market.... We did this because there is no sign that, as this nascent market matures, the cable operator has an incentive to deny ISPs access to their platform. There is no sign that consumers do not have other avenues to get broadband connections if they don't want to use cable. And finally, it is not clear that the perceived benefits of mandating open access outweigh their apparent economic and technological costs."
Then, in September, politicians in the city of Los Angeles, including Mayor Richard Riordan and a number of city council members, backed FCC chairman Kennard's position. A coalition for closed access soon formed, enlisting the support of a large number of companies, including Paramount Digital Entertainment, the Disney Channel, USA Networks Interactive, NBC.com, Dreamworks Interactive, Sun Microsystems Inc. and eToys.
The open access debate is reminiscent of a similar discussion that took place several years ago on the topic of government-mandated leased access to cable television services for independent TV programmers. Sadly, the independent television programmers lost that one; we hope that the current debate--whether it's a rivalry between urban areas, a struggle between federal and local governments or just a good old-fashioned policy discussion--will result in the best solution.
Panasonic Unveils DVD-Video Player with Both Dolby Digital and dts Audio Support
In an attempt to relieve some of the confusion presented by competing audio formats in DVD-Video players, Panasonic has released its model DVD-A320, the first DVD player to offer built-in decoders for both Dolby Digital and dts digital audio.
"The DVD-A320's built-in dual decoders provide a convenient way to enjoy all the benefits of DVD's theater-like sound, without having to buy and connect separate decoder components," says Rusty Osterstock, assistant general manager of Panasonic's DVD Division. "This player represents Panasonic's commitment to bring added value to the DVD consumer."
Other features of the DVD-A320 include Panasonic's Quick Start mechanism, which puts a video image on the screen 5-6 seconds after inserting the DVD disc. There is also a Chapter Preview function that will quickly review the first few seconds of each chapter whenever you hit the play button twice. You can also enjoy better sound with the Dialogue Enhancer feature, which boosts the volume of a Dolby 5.1-enhanced disc's center channel, by 6dB on request.
The DVD-A320 is available now at a suggested retail price of $500.
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