A writer’s strike, shitty programming and the Internet. Oh my!
Viewer’s are leaving appointment television by the droves and broadcasters are scrambling to do something, anything to keep them firmly planted on the couch during prime time. I’ve covered the topic of declining viewers in the past, but the trend in hemorrhaging viewership of major network programming and in turn local broadcast stations is accelerating, even as the number of overall television viewers are up and as many cable shows enjoyed their best ratings during the month of April. The “Big Four” networks lost 9% of their viewers over the 2008 April/May period from 2007 and last year they were already down 5% from 2006.
During the writer’s strike from November 5, 2007 to February 12, 2008 broadcast networks complained in advance that their ratings would suffer, but that it was a temporary setback in their business. Well, enough time has passed for the numbers to come out and set a table for them to eat their words. A good summary of the broadcast losers and cable winners over the past few months can be found here. Continue reading ‘Local Broadcasters Can’t Catch A Break. Mostly Their Fault.’
Sezmi is a startup out of Belmont, California that hopes to win subscribers from cable and satellite providers by providing a cheaper, on-demand and real-time television viewing service for a select selection of the more popular broadcast and “cable” channels.
This new company is born from the ashes and founders of the defunct USDTV service that burned through its cash from investors such as Fox Television Stations, Hearst-Argyle and LIN TV, but ultimately ceased operations back in March 2007. Previously under the stealth name “Building-B“, Sezmi recently unveiled their new commercial name and are again trying to entice the interest of broadcasters into donating part of their digital television data stream in order to help make their business model work. Continue reading ‘Competition for Cable & Satellite? Says Who? Sezmi.’
This year’s NAB had a bit more energy among television broadcasters than the NAB show last year and almost all of it was around the mobile DTV plans and testing currently going on. Despite the interest in mobile DTV and the NAB claiming ~105,000 registered attendees, the North and Central halls were only mildly busy. Attendance, as judged by “elbow room” has significantly waned year after year and it is easier to navigate the halls and major vendor booths. Broadcasting & Cable agrees with me on this.
The South upper and lower halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center, by way of contrast, were significantly more energetic, crowded and younger! Since the South halls were occupied by film production/support companies and smaller “new media” (read: Internet related or centric) businesses this comes as little surprise to me. Two notable companies that abstained from attending NAB this year were Avid and Apple. Apple really didn’t have a need to attend this trade show, but Avid’s considerable customer base for their product, outside of film, is the broadcast community and their absence does not portent good business sense or, more importantly, sales for the future and their stock price seems to reflect that.
During the show I did notice more DTV transmitters on the floor than last year. Continue reading ‘NAB 2008 In Review.’
No “film at 11″ drama here; yes, it works and it works surprisingly well for a $60 piece of electronics ($20 after the $40 coupon is applied).
For those that don’t know, this Insignia brand NS-DXA1 DTV converter box is one of a few available devices which are part of the US government’s effort to make it possible for people to view over-the-air DTV broadcasts on older, analog-only televisions when the analog transmitters (about 1,700 of them nationwide) are required to cease operations on February 17th, 2009. The coupon program’s plan is to provide a way for those on fixed incomes, or the inability to replace their existing set with one that has a digital OTA tuner in it, to continue to view their favorite local broadcast stations. Continue reading ‘DTV “coupon” converter box put to the test. Does it work?’
Traditional, over-the-air TV broadcasters are pretty screwed. Time and technology are rapidly shooting past and only now are they collectively looking for ways to recapture a lost audience. Only now are they, as a majority and as part of a coordinated effort, actively promoting the DTV transition, by way of shutting off the analog transmitters under the government’s plan, that is scheduled to occur February 17th, 2009.
Ashamedly, even though they have had digital transmitters operational for several years because of the government digital transition mandate, most broadcasters have flat out refused to promote that fact to their viewers outside of the addition of the new call letters on an hourly legal ID. Many broadcasters were hoping for and using the NAB to lobby for yet another delay in the analog shutoff.
In much the same way the Emperor felt superior in his new clothes, broadcasters felt secure in their lobbying arm, the NAB, and their sizable ad revenue which they wore like a protective cloak of invulnerability. If it were not for the SHVIA act, retransmission consent, must-carry and syndicated exclusivity laws that essentially force local market broadcasters onto a regional cable head-end’s television set, it is extremely likely that television broadcasters would now be a much leaner business - as radio has become. As it stands, even these legal protections are unable to completely stem the hemorrhaging of viewers to alternative entertainment outlets. Continue reading ‘TV Broadcasters struggle to remain relevant. Probably too little, too late.’
