Convergence of Internet and Broadcasting in Conflict Zones

Most of us take for granted the TV broadcasts which bring us titillating news coverage of various global conflicts. After all, we as the audience in the West are far removed from the conflict zones and simply wish to observe the macabre events unfolding on our Television sets. However, in the recent conflicts in the Middle East and beyond, radical new upstarts such as Al-Jazeera are re-shaping the very nature of the role of news broadcasters and the manner in which the news is collected and disseminated.

Modern conflict zone reporting was probably born during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, when the regime of Saddam Hussein allowed the then upstart Cable News Network (CNN) to station a skeleton crew of personnel in Baghdad and provide broadcast updates [1]. This cinematic real-time delivery of war hooked audiences forever after. From Somalia and Bosnia, through the next Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, live coverage became more pervasive. The upstart of this era; however, is adding an entirely new flavor to real-time coverage.

The best news broadcasters today use a wide array of media tools, and Al-Jazeera has used this to great effect, most notably in the sequence of events which saw the overthrew of the Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak. Al-Jazeera initially set up a live webfeed from the rooftop of a building overseeing Tahrir Square which was the main locus for the protest movement, until that was shut down. This was followed by the Egyptian government severing Al-Jazeera’s ability to provide local transmission to the Nilesat satellite, subsequently followed by a termination of Nilesat’s downlink of Al-Jazeera’s Arabic channel being transmitted into Egypt from elsewhere in the Middle East! While Al-Jazeera was battling with the Egyptian government over news coverage freedom, the protesters themselves used Twitter and Facebook to great avail in crowdsourcing the “task” of initiating momentum for the freedom revolution, and disseminating information on coordination and organization of movement. In all the furor, the Egyptian government didn’t seem to understand that retaining control over state owned TV could not possibly stop the movement [2]. The regime, thankfully, failed to realize that standard TV broadcasting is 1.0 in the fast-paced 2.0 world of converged social media, user-contributed media, and the ability those mediums have to rapidly alert news broadcasters of sources of news coverage. My personal take is that video broadcasting is here to stay, and will become even more powerful as technology advances, but it’s clearly not the sole arbiter of information delivery to viewers. In an interconnected World viewers can rely upon any other variety of mechanisms to disseminate and interact upon information, and in turn influence the standard video broadcast itself. This article quotes Al-Jazeera’s Online Producer who states that the popular “Web Desk” is used by commentators to talk on air about what is going on live on Al-Jazeera’s online portal [3].

Video clip showing an example of Al-Jazeera commentator
"checking in" with Web Desk

[1] http://www.cnn.com/chat/transcripts/2001/01/16/arnett/

[2] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703989504576128290567134066.html

[3] http://www.ojr.org/ojr/people/webjournalist/201103/1949/

The Competitive Threat from IPTV - Part I

I thought I’d be able to succinctly summarize the concept of Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), but after much research I realized I should devote multiple blog entries to this fascinating topic. Part I of this series will provide the user with a basic understanding of IPTV, and how it is beginning to alter the competitive landscape for TV broadcasting.

Naturally, IPTV is reliant upon the underlying Internet Protocol (IP) standard. IP allows different network devices to communicate with one another through the use of a common schema to route IP “packets” by source and destination address. These packets contain data payloads which correspond to real-life applications such as webpage transactions, chat clients, and of course video delivery. IPTV is therefore a packetized emulation of the high bandwidth video broadcasting that was the traditional domain of cable systems.

IPTV is considered a disruptive technology to the TV broadcasting industry, since it stands to greatly alter the viewing experience of subscribers. No longer would customers be subject to fixed channel assignments and arbitrary programming, but with IPTV one can selectively choose individual programs to be delivered at a time of one’s choosing. A senior executive from Tandberg (subsidiary of Ericsson) went so far as to state at a conference that the next generation of IPTV services would be a personalized blend of entertainment, communications, social networking and web media [1]. The same executive also stressed the role of Generation Y in driving the need for delivery of IPTV services across all connected platforms – PC, TV, and mobile [2]. It’s logical then to see that IPTV is actually just a service, which is extensible across any device which is capable of connecting to the Internet and viewing such content.

There are a number of players offering IPTV services, ranging from free to pay services. Hulu, sidereel, and even the major networks like NBC, ABC, and CBS offer free video programming. On the other hand pay services such as Netflix are quickly positioning themselves as premier paid webTV providers. It is therefore no surprise that Google is also making a foray into this market. The video below captures both the essence and advantage of IPTV, as well as the position that Google is looking to leverage in this rapidly growing market.

Google TV is not alone as a platform for convergence of multiple online media services. Boxee is a provider of free software to equip one’s PC to interface with their TV. The software even allows the PC console to be controlled by an iPhone running the Boxee app! Both Boxee and Netflix offer their respective IPTV services via dedicated hardware set-top box as well. Furthermore, IPTV is gaining increased presence through web-enabled televisions themselves. According to Park Associates, some 3 million broadband-equipped US households purchased Internet-connected TV’s in 2010, and this number will rise to 350 million by 2015 [3].

[1] “Potential IPTV Threat Discussed at Satellite 2009.” Satellite News, 01613448, 4/8/2009, Vol. 32, Issue 14

[2] Reedy, Sarah. IPTV World Forum: Moving beyond the triple play.

[3] Shields, Michael. Mediaweek. New York: Jan 10, 2011. Vol. 21, Issue 1, Pg. 9, 1 Pg.

Dish Network announces acquisition of Blockbuster

    

I thought I'd start this blog with a rather mundane topic regarding the TV broadcast industry, but an opportune moment to discuss the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet presented itself in yesterday's business news. Dish Network announced the acquisition of Blockbuster, Inc. in a bankruptcy auction. This is an interesting move by a Direct Broadcast Satellite Service provider to acquire a once well known, but now utterly failed, movie rental business. Dish itself is a relatively recent incarnation, having only come into existence in 1996. In the same amount of time Blockbuster went from being the industry leader in movie rentals to becoming another casualty of the online movie rental business. Blockbuster faced significant competition from a number of players no doubt, from the erstwhile Hollywood Rentals, to complentary threats such as movie theaters and cable broadcasting in general. But make no mistake, Blockbuster was done in by the aggresive growth and market penetration of Netflix.

Executive Vice President Tom Cullen stated, "Blockbuster will complement our existing video offerings while presenting cross-marketing and service extension opportunities for Dish Network." That's sufficiently vague enough to allow one to consider exactly what they might do. It's my guess that they will liquidate most, if not all, of Blockbuster's brick-and-mortar locations. Secondly, though I'm in agreement with Dish's own belief that there is significant value in Blockbuster's extensive video offerings, I don't see that this addition to Dish's portfolio will really enhance their satellite TV offerings. So though Dish was able to acquire a victim of the Internet media boom, Dish may itself be headed down that path as well. I'm in agreement with Thomas Eagen of Collins Stewart that, "Dish may lack the fulfillment infrastructure needed to distribute the titles. Put simply, this isn't enough to compete against Netflix and the Internet.