LAS VEGAS – Is the growth of web-connected TV sets in viewers’ homes a destructive force, or will it just build viewership as new business cases develop around them?
The consensus seems so far to be that such devices – whether they are integrated Internet TVs or just monitors made smart by their connections to game systems, Blu-Ray players, OTT devices like Roku or Boxee or whatever else will be disruptive additions to the business.
This morning’s Super Session at the National Association of Broadcasters Show in Las Vegas attempted to explore first just what a connected TV was – and then whether or not they’ll be a value-destroying force in electronic media.
Right off the bat, Intel’s GM, retail CE products, Wilfred Martis, who’s in charge of Intel’s digital home group (so everything to do with TVs, Blu-Ray players or over-the-top devices like Boxee) dumped the “connected TV” moniker for “Smart TV”, partially because research showed consumers didn’t quite understand how a “connected TV” was any different – especially if it was already connected to cable or satellite.
“Anything can be connected, but unless you do something interesting with it, it’s not very useful… The experience is smart TV,” he said.
Besides, he added, it’s not about the TV anyway. It’s about the experience for viewers who, in growing numbers, want whatever content they like to be available on whatever device they like. “Most young people say… If I’m going to sign up for your content, I want it on any damn device I own.”
“They expect now to be able to find anything like how they would use a search engine,” added Comcast’s Richard Buchanan, VP and GM content services, “and to look at it anywhere on whatever device they happen to be with at any given time.”
Comcast’s Xfinity branding (which also features a killer iPad app) is an attempt at providing that to their customers – albeit only with on demand, not linear TV, content.
So then, it was asked, is cable TV then just another app for the “smart TV”, be they regular big screens, or phones or tablets? “Will the cable set top box be gone at some point?” asked moderator Will Richmond of Broadband Directions.
“In general, all experiences are becoming ‘app-ified’,” said Buchanan. “(Xfinity) is enabling customers to find what they want, to record if they’re not home, to look at it and share it or experience it with their friends.”
However, Xfinity is enabled by EBIF (Enhanced Binary Interchange Format), the interactive cable standard that makes it work with all deployed cable set tops – meaning customers don’t need to get anything new, or wire in any additional gear.
However, Susan Panico, who is senior director for the PlayStation Network, disputed that, calling her company’s service “a bit of a Trojan Horse for media convergence in the living room.” The PlayStation Network lets PS3 users (and Panico called them primarily male and in the 18-34 age group) not only do real-time online gaming, but also watch movies and TV shows. And it doesn’t require a set top box, other than the gaming console, just a broadband connection.
It may not lead to outright cord cutting, but they are seeing “cord-trimming,” where customers pare back their cable subs to basic cable and Internet only, said Panico.
While few know the destination in which we’re headed, Buchanan added that Comcast is “embracing the disruption because we think it’s additive,” meaning the more people are watching within the system, the better and if the existing legacy carrier and broadcast companies don’t give people what they want, the customers will go elsewhere, someplace where there may be no business case.
And if that happens, “instead of disruptive, it would be catastrophic… we need business models that are good for everybody,” he said.
Added Intel’s Martis: This new wave of technological development is just the latest in a long line (such as VHS, DVDs, TiVo) of tech changes and “the earlier the businesses embrace it and does something with it, the better.”
For example, the faster a local broadcaster can bring their content to multiple devices (local news, sports, traffic and weather is “very powerful and compelling content,” said Buchanan) the better off they will be because there are ad targeting opportunities. “They need to know what the behaviour (of their audience) is, to track it and monetize it.”
And the best way to drive audience numbers is “creating original exclusive content you can’t get anywhere else,” added Panico .”You will become that destination, or the go-to place.”
The changing face of piracy is also having an effect on the business, even if it isn’t causing severe bottom line problems yet, added Clicker.com’s (a part of CBS) COO Paul Wehrley. “Digital lockers like Megavideo (where digital content of any type can be stored and streamed) look legitimate… and have the potential to disrupt the industry significantly if we don’t find a way to get the content out there legitimately.”
However, when an audience member noted that he can already get the news and content he needs via the web or TV on his own – and is entirely happy with his media experience – and asked “isn’t the industry too late on this now? Aren’t we debating the irrelevant?” the panel largely ignored the question and talked around it.
