Internet Video Subscriptions
Posted on March 2, 2010
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Today’s post is a reprint of an article I wrote for Online Video Insider on March 2, 2010.
By: Philip Leigh
Since Shawn Fanning launched the original Napster about a decade ago CD music sales dropped by 50%. Unfortunately, legitimate digital downloads recaptured less than half the total. Given steadily compounding improvements in computer, storage, and network bandwidth, video-centric media companies have been apprehensively awaiting the new media Tsunami on their own shores. Many industry executives conclude it is now arriving. It appears their response is to (1) charge new incremental monthly fees and (2) increase existing ones. In short, after a decade to prepare, it looks like the industry’s most imaginative solution is to raise prices. Read more…
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Apple and The Digital Living Room
Posted on February 23, 2010
About 20 years ago a character named Ray Kinsella in the movie Field of Dreams heard a voice urging him to plow under a portion of his Iowa farm to build a baseball field. Purely on faith he built it. Soon long deceased legendary players began to show-up for practice. Strangely, only Ray and his family could see the ghosts.
Later the same voice told Ray to visit a famous novelist who had mysteriously stopped writing after the 1960s. In the book upon which the movie is based, that author was J. D. Salinger. Ray brought him back to Iowa where he too could watch the players. Read more…
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Apple Service Might be a “Game Changer”
Posted on January 18, 2010
Phil Leigh
It’s become obvious over the past seven years that Apple can develop innovative products that revolutionize both emerging and established industries. An example of the first is the iPod. When it hit the market about seven years ago it was the first portable MP3 player with enough capacity to enable most of us to carry our entire music collection around with us. An example of the second is the iPhone which forever changed our concept of what a mobile phone should be able to do. In short, it combined voice telephony with unlimited Internet access.
Now, speculation is rife that Apple is at the threshold of introducing not only a new product but a new service as well. Read more…
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Lessons from Early Radio
Posted on January 6, 2010
Today’s post is a reprint of an article I wrote for Online Video Insider yesterday.
Lessons from Early Radio
By: Philip Leigh
January 5, 2010
Much like today’s Internet, during its early years radio enjoyed a high intrinsic growth. For example, while most industries were shrinking during the Great Depression radio advertising alone grew from $27 million in 1929 to $185 million in 1939 translating to a compound annual growth rate of 21%. Radio entertainment during the era included mix of music, drama, comedy, and variety shows. However, music was considered essential. Read more…
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Television of the Future
Posted on November 28, 2009
If you want to learn what the future of television will look like, this video podcast is for you.
Despite recent publicity about favorable consumer response to services providing only limited Internet Videos at our TVs, ultimately nearly everyone will demand unlimited Internet access on televisions. Services like Amazon-Video-on-Demand, iTunes, and Netflix Watch Instantly via devices such as TiVo, Blu-Ray Players, and Xboxes are merely going to whet consumer appetites for unrestricted Internet access on TVs. Read more…
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Consumers Want Internet on TV
Posted on November 21, 2009
Phil Leigh
If you would like to learn just how rapidly consumers are gaining interest in obtaining unlimited Internet access on their TVs, this podcast is for you.
We have long predicted that consumers will ultimately want unlimited Internet access of their TVs. It enables them to watch any Internet video in a lean-back viewing experience from their living room sofa. Moreover, given a remote mouse and keyboard, it empowers them to use the TV as a giant window into the Internet for any purpose, including e-mail, online shopping, or Web surfing. Read more…
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It’s the Stoopid Economy
Posted on November 14, 2009
Phil Leigh
During the first three decades of the twentieth century the most promising invention was radio.
Scientists could see a clear evolutionary path for the technology that would revolutionize everyday life. The trip from the dots-and-dashes of Morse code, to audio transmission, and eventually to television, was all a matter of learning how to manipulate the electromagnetic spectrum. Unlike a fanciful speculation like teleportation, such things were undeniably possible within the theory underlying Maxwell’s equations. Read more…
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Will Consumers Pay for Hulu.com Videos?
Posted on November 7, 2009
Phil Leigh
Will consumers pay to watch TV shows and movies at the hulu.com website?
Hulu.com’s website hosts popular TV shows and movies after they have been released normally. Owners include Disney, NBC-Universal, and News Corporation (Fox). Viewers can watch shows for free but in exchange must also watch commercials since the videos are streamed and not downloaded. Last month, Chase Carey who is the President of News Corporation said that Hulu should start charging fees sometime next year. Presumably he envisions a premium subscription service providing more content or viewing time in exchange for a monthly fee. Read more…
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