Month: December 2004

European Networked and Electronic Media (NEM) initiative launches

How Europeans receive their digital entertainment in the future could change, following an event in Nice last week. At the launch of the bold and ambitious Networked and Electronic Media (NEM) initiative, the European Commission (EC) announced their intention to form an integrated, interoperable platform. Its broad scope stretches from the way media is created, through each of the stages of its distribution, to its playback.

The EC want its citizens to be able to locate the content they desire and have it delivered seamlessly, when on the move, at home or at work, no matter who supplies the devices, network, content, or content protection scheme.

With interconnectivity as its goal, it is fortunate that over 120 experts were there to share the vision and hear pledges of active support from companies such as Nokia, Intel, Philips, Alcatel, France Telecom, Thomson and Telefonica.

It might initially appear to be surprising that companies in direct competition are keen to work together, but again and again speakers stated they could not see incompatible, stand-alone solutions working. A long-term strategy for the evolution and convergence of technologies and services would be required.

The EC is being pragmatic in its approach. They have identified that many standards bodies have, and continue to, define standards in the areas that NEM encompasses, but recognise that some of these standards overlap. The NEM approach is to take a serious look at what’s available and what’s in the pipeline, pick out the best, integrate them together and identify where the gaps are. Where it finds holes, it will develop standards to fill them.

While the global access to content is not a unique idea, what is significant is that such a large and powerful organisation has stated its desire for it to be fully open and interoperable – not restricting the consumers choice at any stage in the process.

This is bound to please, if not surprise, many individuals and user organisations who feel that the wishes of the holder of rights to content are normally considered over and above those of the consumer. Following the keynote earlier in the week of EC Director João Da Silva, they now know they have a supporter within the higher echelons of the European Commission.

Many feel that the most difficult and challenging area for the EC will be to identify a solution for interoperating Digital Rights Management (DRM) schemes. Currently DRM solutions are incompatible – locking certain types of purchased content, making them unplayable on all platforms.

With the potential of having a percentage of every media transaction that takes place globally, the prize for being the supplier of the world’s dominant DRM scheme is huge. This leads the companies who feel they have a chance in controlling it to not be very open to sharing.

Although entertainment is an obvious first step, it will encompass the remote provisions of healthcare, energy efficiency and control of the Smart Home. The over-arching initiative amalgamates the work of many currently running research projects that the EC has been funding for a number of years.

The NEM is a ten-year project, which in the everything-immediately age we live in, might seem like a lifetime away, but it’s important to remember that the digital delivery of media stretches a long way into the future. Decisions made and solutions selected now will have far reaching consequences.

This piece was featured on the BBC Web site.

Online Documentary Channel Planned by UK Channel 4

The Chief Exec of Channel 4, Andy Duncan, has been floating the idea of launching an Internet-based documentary channel, that would carry archive footage from previously transmitted shows.

Duncan also announced that Channel 4 is to “double the amount it spends on ‘public service’ Internet sites”, which he revealed was currently in the low millions, reported Brand Republic.

We understand from Ofcom that the comments were made during their PSP pitching day.

Andy Duncan moved from the BBC, where he was the mastermind of the highly successful Free-To-Air service, Freeview. He’s been speaking publicly a lot about re-positioning Channel 4, although not all of his comments have been well received.

When Digital Lifestyles spoke to Channel 4 today about the Internet-based channel, there were still only sketchy details available; in their words it was “work in progress.” They did confirm that new programmes would be commissioned specifically for the site and that content would be downloadable.

Channel 4 told us more details will become available in the New Year and the launch is muted for Spring 2005.

Channel 4
Ofcom

European Media Leaders Summit 2004

Concentrating on the European broadcasting and communications industries from the inside out, expect a 360° view of the competition and challenges within the region, and an insight into the strategies of the US-based multinationals. Join the audience of senior media and entertainment professionals to debate with some of the most influential and dynamic board-level media executives and commentators in Europe – and compare and contrast the view from the United States. Hear from a line-up of over 30 influential decision makers.
Landmark Hotel, London http://www.medialeaders04.com/

P2P OK with Most Musicians, Survey

A survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project has revealed that two thirds of musicians that they surveyed felt that peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing poses a minor threat or no threat at all to them.
The author of the report, Mary Madden said, “What we hear from a wide spectrum of artists is that, despite the real challenges of protecting work online, the Internet has opened new ways for them to exercise their imaginations and sell their creations. To many, this feels like a new Digital Renaissance rather than the end of the world.”
The findings of this survey are in stark contrast to the published findings of the US recording industry that claim that file-sharing hurts artists.
We’ve found a drastic difference between the public stance of the record companies and their private actions. In our discussions with operators of file-sharing networks we’ve been surprised to hear that one of their largest paying clients have been record companies, who have become near-obsessed with using the networks to watch the speed to spread of new tracks giving them valuable feedback to the viability of bands.

Pew Internet & American Life Project survey

Jo

In his keynote presentation at the Net-atHome conference in Nice, France, João Da Silva gave an overview of where Europe is with digital media within the home, what the trends are and where Europe would like to be in the digital landscape.

Da Silva is Director of (deep breath) Communications Networks, Security and Software applications, at the European Commission. His opening slide stressed the European Commission’s desire to create equilibrium between three parties, the consumer; technical suppliers; and content owners. They want to create a balance where the rights of the content owner and the consumer are protected, to try and level the current imbalance, as “there has been a tendency to protect the rights of rights holder over the consumer.”

Moving on to bandwidth, he declared that since July 2002 broadband in Europe has grown over 248%. Despite this he feels there is a danger of a digital divide over Europe – not between no access and some access, but a split of where there is broadband of decent speeds and where there is insufficient for the next generation of entertainment.

He highlighted the huge variation in pricing of broadband services over Europe, giving the example of the contrast between Belgium and France; the first giving a 3Mbps connection and the latter 150Kbps – for the same charge. While some felt this example wasn’t quite as simple as the headline sounds, as it ignored the population density of the two countries, it does point to disparity. He illustrated this further, with examples of companies moving their offices to get bandwidth. The message was clear, member states, get your broadband up to scratch or you’ll start falling behind.

The inevitable comparison with Asian markets was covered. Japan now offers 100Mbps over Fibre To The Home (FTTH) for €22/month (~$29, ~£15) and Korea offers 50Mbps over VDSL.

When discussing the explosion in content, Da Silva pointed to blogs as a major source of new entertainment – content created by the consumer, for the consumer. He quoted the growth of blogs running at rates of 20% per month and generating traffic of 8Gbit of traffic daily. The EC are generally excited about the growth in user-generated content, seeing it as a real option to, what is currently seen as entertainment.

Concluding his presentation, he reminded the audience that the European Commission’s Information Society Technologies (IST) programme has a four year research budget with a net worth of €4Bn (~$5.34Bn, ~£2.76Bn), equating to €1Bn year. He encouraged all with innovative ideas to apply.

European Information Society Technologies (IST) Net-atHome conference