TV's Response to Broadband Video Examined

TV'S RESPONSE TO BROADBAND VIDEO EXAMINED
[SOURCE: tvnewsday]
A new report from Broadband Directions finds that the broadcast TV industry's longstanding formula for success is under assault from new technologies and new consumer behaviors. In particular, broadband video holds the most disruptive potential for the industry since it is the first open video delivery platform. Yet broadband video also offers the broadcasters a significant range of new opportunities that the industry is beginning to exploit. Networks, the report finds, are taking a gradual approach, for now using broadband mainly as a new delivery path for their existing TV programs. Local TV stations, the report continues, recognize both opportunities and threats in the new medium, and their early responses are more diverse and experimental. With only modest exceptions, however, broadcasters have not yet pursued community-building around video clips on their sites. This arena is currently dominated by sites such as YouTube and MySpace, which have experienced explosive growth. The report also examines the broadband video initiatives of 50 local stations around the United States. Of the 50 local station web sites analyzed, 40, or 80%, now provide broadband video. Yet these initiatives vary widely. The reports finds that local stations are currently experimenting with at least eight different broadband video approaches. “Local stations have much to gain from broadband’s new opportunities, and also much to be concerned with given broadband’s disruptive potential,” Richmond said. He added, “Our analysis shows that most local stations recognize this and are selectively moving forward to determine how to succeed in the broadband era.”
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2007/01/25/daily.7/

* The Broadcast TV Industry and Broadband Video:
Confronting New Challenges, Embracing New Opportunities
http://www.broadbanddirections.com/report-2006_Q4.html