Category: Content

This year will be the first time there will be an Emmy for Interactive TV. The scope is broad, covering on TV-screen graphics as well as related Web sites and is being seen as a first step in full recognition. Interestingly it will be given during the engineering awards presentation and will be a plaque, not a statuette. The article also refers to the 1950s TV show “Winky Dink and You” as being the first interactive TV show.

The digital video distribution market has been crying out for a single format to encode into. When companies want to distribute video on the Internet, they have to be encoded in Real, Microsoft, QuickTime and even DivX to ensure everyone can watch them. This can be a barrier as it puts up the cost substantially, especially if the video pieces are surrounded by Rich Media. There have been clear moves towards making MPEG-4 the format of preference for video compression in particular by the Internet Streaming Media Alliance. There was a significant rumour at NAB this week that MovieLink, the online film distribution vehicle for Sony Pictures, Paramount, MGM, Warner Bros. and Universal would be using MPEG-4 to distribute its content. MPEG-4 has the advantages of not being owned by a single company so should be compatible across different players and importantly, across platforms (PC, STB, handheld). On2 have submitted an objection to the US Justice Department claiming MPEGLA, which represent the rights holders of MPEG, are acting outside its current MPEG-2 remit. There is a lot of momentum behind MPEG-4, so it will be an interesting few months.

During a recent visit to CNN London, I asked a senior news editor if their Internet based video content would remain free. He gave an elusive answer which I interpreted as no, this article confirms that they will be charging. This move isn’t surprising to anyone who’s been involved with streaming media – streaming content over the public Internet, especially BB video IS expensive, so expect this to be the rule rather than the exception.

Sweden’s B2 Bredband has signed a deal with BBC Prime to enable their 70k subscribers to watch it through their PC. This is the first deal that BBC Prime has signed and it’s good to see BBC Worldwide becoming adventurous with the way they deliver their content.

Alliance Atlantis Motion Picture Distribution are to provide films for the first Canadian VOD trial. 1,000 customer of Toronto-based Rogers Cable will take part in the trial.

Alcatel and Italian broadcaster RAI have announced they will be streaming their 24hr news channel, RAI News 24 over 3G at 384 kbit/s during the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes. I’m looking forward to reports on its results.

MGM have agreed to have their movies distributed by Intertainer. This adds to the deal they did last year with Universal. Viewers will be able to watch the movies on-demand (VOD). Intertainer currently only distribute their content to users who live in a number of region in the US and have at least a 580kbps connection. Not a great deal of chance of them distributing in the UK as the base BT ADSL service offers UPTO 500k – even if they could sort out movie distribution deals.

Having now got out of the console market, Sega are innovating in gaming again. They are providing content and equipment to enable the distribution of games and PC software between ISP and their Broadband customers, thus avoiding any bottleneck their may be over the Internet.

AOL-TW are to increase their monthly access fee to their content through non-AOL provided broadband connectivity by 50%. I imagine there are two reasons for this, 1) it’s a good lever to get people to change to AOL as their BB providers and 2) shifting BB content over a network that you don’t own end-to-end is expensive.

A trial is just starting in Plano, Texas, USA to provide students access to rich-media educational material after normal school hours via DSL called MyPISD.net (PISD – Plano Independent Schools Districts). The initial trial includes one of each school level, Elementary, Middle and High School. The hitch which is touched upon is the fact the parents of the students need to provide the extra $50 extra dollars a month for access to the system.