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TV Outside the Box 55

Posted by Zonk from the watching-some-internets dept.
C|Net has a story up looking at ways TV stations are moving online. An event on the subject was held during the annual marketing conference sponsored by the Television Bureau of Advertising. From the article: "For the first time, the conference was devoted to a single topic: the importance of the 'multiplatform'--that is, offering content and advertising not only on local broadcast stations but also online, on cell phones and other wireless devices, through video on demand and video iPods. The sole topic was intended to underscore that 'advertisers and their agencies are increasingly demanding a multiplatform strategy from all their media partners,' said Christopher Rohrs, president of the bureau, in a speech he gave to almost 1,200 attendees to begin the conference. "
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TV Outside the Box More

TV Outside the Box

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  • Haven't they had a couple other stories like this fairly recently? Maybe not on cnet, but all over the place?

  • Great, my boss will love this! (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Because he always tells me to "think outside the box." Now I can just bring in a TV to work! Thanks, /.

  • is there a television bureau on quality programs ? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 21, 2006 @07:18PM (#15178391)

    thought not, oh wait [thepiratebay.org]

    people go online to watch media because they are FED UP of being treated as advertisings bitches, TV was an art form now its just a sad classified advert deployment platform, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd et al are probably rolling in their graves in what TV/Cinema has become

    • No kidding. The single TV show I enjoy to any extent is Deal or no Deal, but that show is so insanely full of constant advertising that it's not only hard to watch, it's painful. I'd gladly cancel our cable TV service if it were up to me (as bad as network TV shows tend to be, most cable channels seem worse). What drove me away from TV? Advertising. Likewise, it's just what drove me away from purchasing movies (I'm too young to use 'remember the days' but remember the days where DVDs didn't have previe

      • I'm Canadian, and my 15 year-old son was doing (no doubt heard in school) his "Americans are so stupid, Canadians are so great" thing.

        Choosing my words carefully, I pointed out to him that attributed, obvious, reported stupidity requires at least 5% of the population to be actually, clinically stupid. I also noted that Americans tend to be very vocal and opinionated about stuff they don't know much about.

        Canada's current problem is that it lacks a critical mass of stupid people. 13 million dumb American
        • Canada's current problem is that it lacks a critical mass of stupid people. 13 million dumb Americans is a group to be reckoned with, but 1.3 million dumb Canadians is just Manitoba.

          Dammit! I'm in North Dakota, and we have plenty of rednecks here, too. South Dakota is full of them as well, along with Montana and rural Minnesota. Now you're telling me I can't even escape to the north?
      • there has to be a more efficient way than "make a desirable product. The people who want it will find it"

        You're condemning people to wander around looking for gems in rooms full of costume jewelry and cheap paste.

        How 'bout using an RSS from somebody you trust?
    • When I get some type of broadband network access where I can download movies in a reasonably short period of time, I will very likely cancel my Dish Network subscription. There is nothing more annoying to me than seeing a pop-up cartoon advertising another program at the bottom of my TV screen. I believe that TNT is one of the worst offenders with these pop-ups. I no longer watch that channel.

      I also believe that $12.99 per month for 5 channels that show constant reruns of the same few movies over the ent
    • TV wasn't called a "vast wasteland" in the 50's for nothing, you know. It hasn't gotten any better, because Sturgeon's Law is immutable: "90% of everything is crap." The reason TV is surviving nowadays is because different people define "crap" differently, so the people who hate golf "crap" can watch channels without it, for example. That gives us hundreds of channels with nothing but crap. In fact, by 2010 if there isn't a "Crap Channel" I'll be disappointed...

  • Sucks to be them (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Y-Crate ( 540566 ) on Friday April 21, 2006 @07:27PM (#15178425)
    It's unfortunate, but the iTunes Video Store has completely robbed me of whatever tolerance I had remaining for advertising. The picture quality isn't the best, I can't burn it to a non-data-only DVD, but for $2 I can get any episode of any show right now with no ads. I can watch it on my 20" LCD, or take it with me.

    If The History Channel and HBO sign deals (and I know for a fact HBO is interested in working with Apple) I'll be tempted to give up cable TV altogether.

    The response to this is natural and expected. The advertisers are trying to be more and more invasive with their product, and are moving it away from "Necessary Annoyance" to "Shove It Down Our Throats". They spend millions to research the most effective campaigns, but fail to see that having scripts written around their products, forcing their ads into our pockets or similar efforts will only alienate the public and increase the adoption of services that shut them out of our lives even more.

    They are in a bad spot with few clear strategies for turning things around, but saturating every aspect of our lives with advertising and making it utterly impossible to escape it cannot be a sustainable solution. You will likely see a telemarketing/spam-esque backlash arise as a consequence.

    • Re:Sucks to be them (Score:1, Insightful)

      by flogic42 ( 948616 )
      Not all marketing firms are evil. Google has done an admirable job of promoting their services in the most non-invasive ways possible. And that is simply word of mouth. One person uses it, likes it, and tells his friends about it. And so on. That's how I heard about google back in '99. Most other forms of advertising are quite simply the art of deception. Paid commercials are a less reliable source of information than dictatorship-owned propaganda radio stations in third world countries.
    • My cable TV costs $30 a month. For that I could watch 15 shows on iTunes. I watch way more than 15 shows in a month, and I can't get much without cable. The price will have to come way down for TV over the internet to really catch on.
      • $30? Ouch. I pay $5 per month (maybe 6 or 7 after taxes and fees). iTunes can't compete with that.

        Now if I didn't already get my internet access from my cable provider, I'd probably pay $35, but as long as I depend on them for internet, I might as well throw in the TV for $5 too.
    • I feel the same way, I cancled my cable as well. I now rely on OTA HDTV, iTMS video, and downloaded content (in that order).

      There is very little need for "real" TV when you can just download a show when you want to. Schedules and programming are not needed when everything is truly random access.
    • Well, the problem (for them) is that there is the clear dichotomy between traditional advertising and entertainment ... they cut to a commercial and then cut back to the show. The modern approach is simply embed paid advertising in all forms of media, from TV and movies to video games. No way to escape it, no way to skip around it, if you watch the program you're being advertised to. If you've ever watched the film "Repo Man" you'll see that producer's abhorrence of the idea because all the products used by

  • Music video (Score:2, Informative)

    by clcobra ( 921072 )
    for some of you if you like older euro video music :

    http://www.interactivehuman.com/ [interactivehuman.com]
  • Apple pulled an end around on the media market. Sony bet on bluray for next gen home media, while M$ backs HD-DVD, simply because they believe that in the end download services for music and video will win out, and people will stream meadia from their PC to their xbox. Ironically, Apple is already their with their products and services, including the mac mini which may prove to be an important next gen "console", though it is not a gaming console. M$, seeking to cut the throat of the gaming empire, may h
  • Great, now I need to find a phone with a Tivo function. Oh wait, I would never watch a program on a small crappy screen.
  • if they were REALLY smart, they would tailor the ads to viewers. here's what i would do. you could watch my shows in hd for free on your computer, ipod, or whatever the heck, if you signed up for a membership. to get that, you'd have to answer a few questions about things that interest you. this way, all commercial time would be primed to target markets & viewers could get what they'd want. yeah, it's sorta creepy, but it's also smart. i'd sign up.
    • But if I answer the survey - "I am a destitute senior on fixed income, I am not interested in anything except a little entertainment before I die..."

      Can I still see your content for free, ad-free?

  • Who Needs Apple (Score:3, Informative)

    by microbrewer ( 774971 ) on Friday April 21, 2006 @08:30PM (#15178644) Homepage
    who needs a $300 iPod to watch video or a $600 Mac Mini

    When you can get the D-Link 520 for $210 and stream video over your home network to your TV.

    http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=438&sec=1 [dlink.com]

    • Re:Who Needs Apple (Score:2, Insightful)

      by rblum ( 211213 )
      And the $210 DLink streams video from...? The Ether?

      Ah. Wait. Let's add at least another $300 for a PC. That gets me what kind of cost savings? Almost none, you say? That's right. And I can have Windows hassles, too, while my macMini just works.

      Brilliant plan!

      • You see, I've invented a box that you can buy for $80 less than an ipod, that does nothing but stream media from a PC, and I'm going to tell people it's a replacement for an ipod, which has its OWN storage space, and can play media anywhere, including a TV.

        A single function box instead of a multi-use ipod? BRILLIANT!
    • Rabbit ears. Buck and a half.

      KFG
    • who needs a $300 iPod to watch video or a $600 Mac Mini

      No one. You can download iTunes shows onto your crappy five year old PC and watch it there. No iPod or Mac mini required.

      When you can get the D-Link 520 for $210 and stream video over your home network to your TV.

      I have a computer. I don't have a TV, let alone a network capable one. I think I'll stick to the $0 option, thanks.
    • I do. I've probably saved hundreds of dollars dumping movies to mp4 rather than to DVD. I'm pretty sure my iPod has already payed for itself. The iPod makes a handy anti-boredom device on business flights. Also, the last hotel I stayed in in Edmonton had AV connectors on the TV. I watched the entire "Man With No Name" trilogy last week. "Broadcasting" directly from an iPod to a TV with no need to bring a stack of DVD's or a personal laptop is extremely handy.

  • On-line for sure (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Bullfish ( 858648 ) on Friday April 21, 2006 @08:35PM (#15178663)
    Of course people are going to go on-line. If you think of it, how many must see movies, TV shows or games are produced each year. And don't get me started on music. Frankly all these industries have fallen into a bankruptcy of creativity and guts. Too much of what we see and hear are hackneyed remakes of shows and songs that were fine back in the day, but repackaging them is not the path to glory. They can cry piracy all they like, but Spielberg said it best when he said that if Hollywood wants people to see their movies, they should make movies people want to see. At least on-line you can have your choice instead of what some entertainment executive thinks he can sell you. Is there some good stuff out there? Sure, but by comparison it is buried often by the volume of crap out there. Apple has done well with their kitschy little units, but it wouldn't be the same without the complicity of the industry. Hell, I could probably buy all the stuff I want for about 10 bucks a week. But then, like the music industry, once it takes off, they'll be whining that two bucks a show is too cheap.
  • In the '90's Amiga had AmigaLive then the the toaster. I thought the emergence of TV and PC was here. Then the bust. I can't for the life of me figure why windoze and mac are even in the running for anything. Ya' know you can't fix a wrong answer no matter how much money you throw at it!!! I have XP and it's like a garage collector that gets in it's own way. Some day when we get over this crap and we start programming in colors instead of binary; you'll see.

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