Sony Home ... Why Can't I Make My Own Stuff?

When looking at part 1 and part 2 of the unveiling of Sony Home for the PS3, I was dazzled by what I can only describe as a cool combo of an über-interface to the Sony media-world and a hi-res version of Second Life for my living room TV.  Even my wife started saying she wanted a PS3.

The message -even though not explicitly mentioned- is that Sony wants to:

• slay a few TV stations by embedding movies and TV-shows into Home
• disintermediate a few retailers by making games downloadable
• take on Second Life and There by offering a hi-res living room experience, featuring "premium" virtual clothing, furniture and what more.

And in the process of course make the guys in Seattle sweat on about how they will counter that move.

Whether Sony will pull all of this off, only the future can tell, yet the most interesting feature which I missed in Home was the ability to "make my own things".  But then I wondered, is that actually something which the majority of people actually want? 

If Sony are going to include "sponsored environments" anyway, wouldn't a virtual IKEA be more convenient for the average punter who just wants to hang out with his in-world friends.  But then the next question forms in my mind, who do I call to open my shop?

I don't know … what do you think?

Commercial Broadcasters and the Internet: A Series of Posts

This is the first of a few blogposts in which I intend to focus on broadcasting and the internet.  They will be short posts as I don't want to rehash the usual stories, yet try and raise a few questions that haven't yet been covered elsewhere.  In the end, I'll probably bundle it in a report (if you want a copy, drop me a note).

If you want to have a look at real media innovation, these days public broadcasters are the place to be. 

Being euro-centric, think of the BBC, throwing hours and hours of classical music online.  Holland's "Uitzending Gemist" which is a portal where literally hundreds of hours of series, documentaries, talkshows, music programmes, etc. are available for viewing on line.  Ketnet Kick in Belgium, which increasingly starts blurring the lines between TV and PC, to the point it's hard to tell which-is-which.  And there is also that gorgeous phrase "martini media" (anytime, anywhere, anyway) which was actually coined by the director interactive of the BBC in describing their future vision.

Critics will point out that the reason they can do this, is exactly because they consider some of their government-money sponsored programming to be, well "public".  This while  the producers that supply Googlewood have to work hard for their money and carefully protect it from abuse by the rest of us unsavory internet consumers.

I would, however, argue there is also another reason.  This is that the management of many of these so-called "stale" public services actively promotes creativity and innovative thinking and provides adequate budgets to those who need to be creative.  And think of it, with 20% of European media-consumption time online, this makes sense.  On-demand viewing via IP is a reality and with TV, PC and other devices converging, the time to experiment is now.

I wonder when commercial broadcasters will follow suit?

How European Commercial Broadcasters can Still Beat GoogleWood

One of the biggest reasons why broadcasters don't throw all of the programming they buy online, is the complaint that producers don't allow the use of their content unless the broadcaster can guarantee that the programme is only watched in it's designated territory.  This cannot be done on the internet.  Or can it?

Come to think of it, premium sattelite TV, which has a similar difficulty to delineate viewership by geographic borders has solved this problem years ago.  If you buy your SkyTV or other premium channel, you get a little set-top box which typically contains a card or chip that allows you to decode the transmissions you receive.  As many Sky viewers outside the UK can testify, this little chip doesn't really care "where" you sit, as long as you've paid for the privilege to watch.  As a result, the sattelite channel in turn can guarantee the production house the programme cannot be watched beyond it's designated audience, so everyone is happy.

Online this can work in exactly the same way, by using digital certificates in which broadcasters simply give, sell, what-ever digital tokens allowing surfers in their region to identify themselves online in an undisputable way.  These tokens can even be used to decrypt broadcasting signals which effectively ensure that no one can watch the programming put online without the key.  Anyone who is naughty simply gets his key revoked. 

And considering we're not really talking about "fancy" digital certificates or DRM systems, the actual deployment should be quite affordable.

Commercial broadcasters who take this approach to "carpet bomb" their geographic terrain not only create a digital media opportunity beyond their wildest dreams, yet also build up quite an interesting wall against GoogleWood, iTunes and the likes who are aiming to disintermediate them.  After all, most consumers won't want to have fifteen of these certificates so it's going to be first come first served (in which the best content wins ... hey just like TV).

And even if Google Video takes over TV-broadcasting, having a captive audience of a few million certified viewers at least makes room for a very nice acquisition value ...

So What if I Stopped Watching Regular TV Alltogether?

Here's a nice one to get your head around.  Online PVRs.  Just go online to a programme guide and select the programmes you want to "tape".  A remote service does so and you download them to your PC or Windows Media Centre & watch the show.  No more hassle with commercials or trying to hit the programme.  Only what you want, when you want, where you want.

Currently I've found two paying services who do this www.shift.tv and www.rentmydvr.com.  For those of you who speak german there's also a free service (with a whopping 60 gig of free space) at www.onlinetvrecorder.com and yes they cover everything on German TV from Star Trek reruns to the latest TV premieres.

Whether these services will survive the legal battles which are sure to com eis uncertain, yet the signs are they may be more robust than previous efforts to launch peer2peer networks. 

Though the thought itself is posing interesting challenges for cable companies (ISP = TV provider), TV-stations (I can now watch American Housewives before it's on TV here in Europe), and last but not least mediaplanners (how on earth do you plan for this one?).

Interesting times indeed.

Hollywood Preparing for the 'Big Shift'?

"We are going to see market segmentation done on biological, neurological and evolutionary-psychological bases".  You'd expect this type of words in a magazine for future-gazers, yet actually this was written in The Hollywood Reporter on Sept 13.

In addition, the article covers predictions like the end of the media networks within the next 10-15 years, the end of the 30 second ad, the revamping of radio, television and gaming, etcetera

Additionaly to being a thought-provoking read, to me it's also a proof that Hollywood is really waking up to the new realities.  After all, isn't part of the message in the medium?