Modern Feed Blog

Welcome to the Daily Feed from Modern Feed - your guide to the best programming on the web. Today we take a look at the beginning of fall premiere season.  With the overwhelming number of shows making their premieres, it couldn’t be easier to utilize the web to catch the show you missed on TV. In addition, it’s the perfect time to browse through Modern Feed’s deep archives to catch up on shows that haven’t premiered yet, but whose networks have been smart (and generous) enough to leave some recent episodes or an entire season online.

In addition to our previews here, be sure to check out the Modern Feed Season Premieres Gallery, where we’ll keep the first episodes of the new season for each of the major and cable networks.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy some of the newest and best, available free through Modern Feed.

1) SHOW: Greek
NETWORK: ABC Family
CATEGORIES: Cable Networks, Drama, Family
MORE INFORMATION: IMDB, Wikipedia

ABC Family’s smash hit returns for a second season and naturally begins with Greek week.  With Rusty and the gang each a year older (if not wiser), the fraternity and sorority hijinks should continue to escalate.  In addition, Kelsey Grammar’s talented daughter Spencer stars as Casey Cartwright, whose first season love triangle became the focus of fans eager to see which fraternity brother she’d choose.  You’ll also enjoy Clark Duke (from our favorite web original Clark and Michael) as Dale, Rusty’s bible thumping freshman year roommate.

2) SHOW: Prison Break
NETWORK: Fox
CATEGORIES: Action/Thriller, Crime & Punishment, Drama, Major Networks
MORE INFORMATION: IMDB, Wikipedia

The show that reinvents itself every year has reinvented itself again. Back for a fourth season when many assumed its super high concept could only last one, Prison Break continues to captivate its loyal audience and invent new and seemingly impossible scenarios for Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows to escape.  This year’s focus is revenge, both for the death of a character (an event that sparked much controversy with fans - we won’t spoil it for you) and for the always evil “Company” that has ruined Michael and Lincoln’s hopes for a normal life.

Check out these reviews: Metacritic

3) SHOW: Fringe
NETWORK: Fox
CATEGORIES: Drama, Major Networks, Sci-Fi
MORE INFORMATION: IMDB, Wikipedia

From Lost creator J.J. Abrams, comes an exploration into the dangers of science.  And much like Abrams’ past hit shows, Fringe also wraps itself up nicely in conspiracy and plot twists.  This combination resulted in a thrill-a-minute pilot episode that won the night for Fox, and viewers are likely to tune in to see how the plot unfolds in future episodes.  The main character is FBI special agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) who struggles to unwind the details of some borderline paranormal events, including a commercial flight full of inexplicably dead passengers that lands in Boston.  In an effort to understand what might have happened, she enlists the help of the brilliant mind of Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble), who just so happens to have be in a mental hospital.  In order to get access to the mad scientist, Dunham has to blackmail his son Peter (Joshua Jackson), who has spent some time on the wrong side of the law himself.  WIth this unusual trio working together against plenty of resistance from within the FBI and a likely corporate conspiracy, Fringe should have plenty more cliffhangars to come, but early signs seem to indicate the show may be more accessible than Lost’s notoriously twisted narrative.

Check out these reviews: Metacritic, New York Times

More Season Premieres from FOX:

4) SHOW: Gossip Girl
NETWORK: The CW
CATEGORIES: Drama, Major Networks, Romance, Sex & Seduction, Womens
MORE INFORMATION: IMDB, Wikipedia

Gossip Girl may be known to the general public as the show with the provocative advertising, but to its fan base, it’s simply the best teen soap on television.  Season 2 brings the cast back to the Hamptons before the school year starts and undoubtedly the series will continue to challenge records for television breakups and hookups.  Perhaps it’s the good looking cast, but it’s genuinely fun to watch as even the snobbiest of the rich behave badly.

Check out these reviews: Metacritic, Variety (season 1)

5) SHOW: 90210
NETWORK: The CW
CATEGORIES: Drama, Modern Trainwreck, Romance, Teen Flavor
MORE INFORMATION: IMDB, Wikipedia

One of the most anticipated shows in the short history of The CW paid off with huge ratings for the first episode.  While early reviews haven’t been as positive, you can’t help but be intrigued by a new generation of drama at West Beverly Hills High.  It’s only been eight years since the the original 90210 ended, but the return of former stars Shannen Doherty and Jennie Garth for multi-episode storylines makes it seem like yesterday.  And as a special treat for Arrested Development fans, tune in for Jessica Walter’s character, which is so similar to her role as Lucille Bluth, you’ll feel right at home.

Check out these reviews: Metacritic, Variety

More Season Premieres from The CW:

6) SHOW: Sons of Anarchy
NETWORK: FX
CATEGORIES: Action/Thriller, Cable Networks, Crime & Punishment, Drama
MORE INFORMATION: IMDB, Wikipedia

FX continues to break new ground with its shows, and Sons of Anarchy is no exception to the rule. A dark and gritty drama, territory FX knows well, focuses on a notorious outlaw motorcycle club.  The gun running gang is at odds with drug dealers in both California and Mexico and trying to defend their small town in the process.  Certainly seems like plenty of action to go around and the intriguing casting of Charlie Hunnam and Ron Perlman may get many to tune in.  Helping matters further is series creator Kurt Sutter’s experience on FX’s last huge, gritty hit, The Shield.

Check out these reviews: Metacritic, Variety

7) SHOW: The Hills
NETWORK: MTV
CATEGORIES: Cable Networks, Fashion, Lifestyle, Modern Trainwreck, Reality, Womens
MORE INFORMATION: IMDB, Wikipedia

The Hills has truly become a phenomenon for MTV, with questions about realism tossed aside and each and every “cast member” becoming a legitimate tabloid personality.  You can’t help but enjoy watching the drama unfold, with new faces entering the picture seemlessly, relationships falling apart left and right, and work promotions even challenging the status quo every once and and a while.  Certainly all of America has an opinion about the characters, especially the ubiquitious Heidi and Spencer.  Credit MTV for keeping the previous three seasons online in full for new fans to catch up rapidly.

More Season Premieres from MTV:

What is Modern Feed? Modern Feed is your guide to the best premium video on the web (and iPhone/iPod Touch). To set up your free account head to www.modernfeed.com.

Welcome to the Daily Feed from Modern Feed  - your guide to the best programming on the web.  Today we continue our look into the summer’s hottest shows.  From creative reality shows to a growth in new dramas from both the major and cable networks, summer is no longer a dead time for great programming.  In addition, it’s the perfect time to browse through Modern Feed’s deep archives to catch up on shows you may have missed in time for the fall premieres.

Please comment and let us know if you’d like to contribute. If so, find great stuff on Modern Feed and send us an email with the links and some editorial color. Tell us a bit about who you are too. We’ll let you know if we’re featuring your submission. Send it to guestblogger@modernfeed.com.

Be creative for gosh sakes. And dig deep amigos. There are tens of thousands of programs in the Modfeed world. And If there’s something out there that makes your submission great but for some reason we’re missing it, . . .tell us. Make sure its legally available; not UGC (we love it but its just not our thing); and not a clip. We like the real deal around here.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy some of the newest and best, available free through Modern Feed.

1) SHOW: The Secret Life of the American Teenager
NETWORK: ABC Family
CATEGORIES: Cable Networks, Drama
MORE INFORMATION: IMDB, Wikipedia

ABC Family’s newest summer hit follows the life of teenagers including Anne, a good girl band geek … who just happens to be pregnant.  Following the Juno buzz to success, Secret Life has scored some of the highest ratings in ABC Family’s history, second only to the season one finale of Kyle XY.  While its plot lines have raised a few eyebrows (teenagers have sex?!), the show continues to have a faithful following.  For older viewers, the casting of Molly Ringwald as Amy’s mother, who encourages her kids to enjoy their youth, is an enjoyable irony.

Check out these reviews: Variety, Metacritic

2) SHOW: 30 Days
NETWORK: Hulu
CATEGORIES: Cable Networks, Powerful Stuff, Reality
MORE INFORMATION: IMDB, Wikipedia

Though he’s lost his extra McDonald’s weight, Morgan Spurlock has been quite busy, completing another feature length documentary and continuing work on his FX series, 30 Days.   The show challenges its subjects to spend a month living a radically different life than their own and challenges pre-conceived notions along the way.  The best episodes are often when Spurlock himself faces the challenges, and season 3 sees him attempt living as a coal minter and on an Indian reservation.  Other participants experience a month in a wheelchair, as a same sex parent, and as a gun supporter.

Check out these reviews: Variety

3) SHOW: High School Musical: Get In the Picture
NETWORK: ABC
CATEGORIES: Dance, Major Networks, Reality, Teen Flavor
MORE INFORMATION: IMDB, Wikipedia

Disney’s smash hit property expands to give one prize winner the chance to star a music video shown in the end credits of this fall’s High School Musical 3: Senior Year.  Hosted by Nick Lachey, who has re-invented himself as a suitable TV personality, the show combines teenage angst with the themes well-established by contest shows like American Idol.  With its young stars growing up quickly, Disney is smart to find every angle it can to expose a hot property while it can.

Check out these reviews: Variety

4) SHOW: Burn Notice
NETWORK: USA
CATEGORIES: Action/Thriller, Cable Networks
MORE INFORMATION: IMDB, Wikipedia

Burn Notice begins its second season to strengthen USA’s summer lineup and its place as cable’s highest rated network.  The story follows a former spy, Michael Western (Jeffrey Donovan), who is forced to remain in Miami when he’s blacklisted in the middle of an operation.  Stranded and alone, Western provides a running how-to commentary on spying, fighting, and surviving on the run, adding a nice bit of humor and charisma to the action.  Bruce Campbell fans will enjoy his role as Michael’s not entirely friendly ex-Navy Seal buddy.

Check out these reviews: Variety, Metacritic

Also see the rest of USA’s summer lineup: Pysch, Monk, and In Plain Sight.

5) SHOW: The Line
NETWORK: Crackle
CATEGORIES: Comedy, Web Originals

The Line is a seven-episode web series from SNL’s Seth Meyers, Bill Hader and Simon Rich following the lives of two friends waiting in line for the world premiere of a summer blockbuster: Future Space.  Undoubtedly it is one of the better web series to result from the writer’s strike hiatus as it benefits from the SNL talent in front of as well as behind the camera, including Lorne Michael’s production company Broadway Video.  The inspiration, according to the New York Times review, is Bill Hader’s epic experience waiting to see the first of the new Star Wars trilogy:

Mr. Hader knew the part he was writing. He waited in line for “about 20 hours” to see “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace” in 1999. During that wait, he watched a woman break up with one of his fellow moviegoers, a fate that befalls his character in Episode 2 of “The Line.

Check out these reviews: New York Times

What is Modern Feed? Modern Feed is your guide to the best premium video on the web (and iPhone/iPod Touch).  To set up your free account head to www.modernfeed.com.

Welcome to the Daily Feed from Modern Feed  - your guide to the best programming on the web.  Today we continue our look into the summer’s hottest shows.  From creative reality shows to a growth in new dramas from both the major and cable networks, summer is no longer a dead time for great programming.  In addition, it’s the perfect time to browse through Modern Feed’s deep archives to catch up on shows you may have missed in time for the fall premieres.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy some of the newest and best, available free through Modern Feed.

Please comment and let us know if you’d like to contribute. If so, find great stuff on Modern Feed and send us an email with the links and some editorial color. Tell us a bit about who you are too. We’ll let you know if we’re featuring your submission. Send it to guestblogger@modernfeed.com.

Be creative for gosh sakes. And dig deep amigos. There are tens of thousands of programs in the Modfeed world. And If there’s something out there that makes your submission great but for some reason we’re missing it, . . .tell us. Make sure its legally available; not UGC (we love it but its just not our thing); and not a clip. We like the real deal around here.

1) SHOW: Greatest American Dog
NETWORK: CBS
CATEGORIES: Game & Event, Major Networks
MORE INFORMATION: IMDB, Wikipedia

Clearly we were long overdue for a reality show with dogs as contestants.  In this case twelve dogs, from pageant veterans to loyal pets, compete against each other in challenges that also test their owners’ training abilities.  We’ve certainly enjoyed the clever episode titles (”He’s A Farter, Not A Fighter”) and familiar reality show spoofs (”Top Dog Model”), but unsurprisingly, the dogs steal the show.  With rivalries both human and canine causing a stir and eliminations to narrow down the competition in the Canine Academy mansion each week, only one dog will earn the title of Greatest American Dog (oh, and win his owner $250,000 in cash).
Check out reviews: Variety, Metacritic

2) SHOW: Scare Tactics
NETWORK: Sci Fi
CATEGORIES: Cable Networks, Reality
MORE INFORMATION: IMDB, Wikipedia

An entertaining show got even better with the introduction of Tracy Morgan as host.  We dare you to watch his various show disclaimers without laughing (“Welcome back to Scare Tactics, where we scare the hell out of innocent people, just for your pleasure”).   The premise, of course, is a brilliant expansion of the candid camera tradition, albeit a bit meaner.  Friends and family set up the victims for elaborate horror hoaxes, all caught on tape.  Though we must admit, we wish that the big reveal would come from Tracy Morgan himself.  It would certainly make the contestants/victims a little happier in the heat of the moment.
Check out reviews: The Futon Critic

3) SHOW: Hopkins
NETWORK: ABC
CATEGORIES: Documentary, Major Networks, Reality
MORE INFORMATION: IMDB

One of the more original shows to have completed its run this summer is Hopkins.  Produced by ABC News, the six episode cinema-verite style documentary packs more emotional punch than most full seasons of fictional hospital dramas.  It also doesn’t hold back when it comes to showing stomach turning moments, making sure that the real-life drama hits home.  Hopkins is a true throwback, allowing the viewer to enjoy the everyday miracles of a Baltimore hospital life without the distractions of most “reality” shows on TV today.
Check out reviews: Variety, Metacritic

4) SHOW: Swingtown
NETWORK: CBS
CATEGORIES: Major Networks, Modern Trainwreck, Romance, Sex & Seduction
MORE INFORMATION: IMDB, Wikipedia

CBS’s provocative summer series breaks new ground in the world of network TV, and while the advertisers haven’t been so excited, loyal viewers have already cropped up.  Analyzing an era just as much as it’s characters, Swingtown offers an unusually frank portrayal of casual drug use and marital relationships in the 70s, and all without showing anything too inappropriate for its 10 pm timeslot.  It’s been an extremely popular show with curious Modern Feed users, and the odds are you may be the next to give in to the temptation…
Check out reviews: Variety, Metacritic

5) SHOW: Fear Itself NETWORK: NBC
CATEGORIES: Major Networks, Mystery, Sci Fi
MORE INFORMATION: IMDB, Wikipedia

It’s been quite some time since horror anthologies like “The Twiglight Zone” graced network television screens, but when NBC decided to bring Showtime’s “Masters of Horror” to a bigger audience, it lined up considerable talent including directors John Landis (“An American Werewolf in London”) and Darren Bousman (“Saw II, III, and IV”).  Hour long episodes are created by individual auteurs and stand-alone plot wise in the tradition of the successful genre.  Stories range in topic from ghost stories to monster stories and vary in effectiveness, but true horror fans should be sure catch up on Fear Itself online.
Check out reviews: “The Sacrifice” on Variety, Metacritic

What is Modern Feed? Modern Feed is your guide to the best premium video on the web (and iPhone/iPod Touch).  To set up your free account head to www.modernfeed.com.

Today we’re launching a little ditty which will undoubtedly evolve into something bigger and better in no time at all. We call it (. . .drum roll please. . . ) “The Daily Feed” from Modern Feed. Its our way of guiding you to the best of the best; the baddest of the bad; the new; the noteworthy; or stuff we think is simply worth a shout-out.

Each day we’ll point out the best around some sort of theme, guest blogger, historical event, etc. Please comment and let us know if you’d like to contribute. If so, find great stuff on Modern Feed and send us an email with the links and some editorial color. Tell us a bit about who you are too. We’ll let you know if we’re featuring your submission. Send it to guestblogger@modernfeed.com.

Be creative for gosh sakes. And dig deep amigos. There are tens of thousands of programs in the Modfeed world. And If there’s something out there that makes your submission great but for some reason we’re missing it, . . .tell us. Make sure its legally available; not UGC (we love it but its just not our thing); and not a clip. We like the real deal around here.

Today we start with a look at some of the summer’s hottest shows. Pat, the human swiss army knife of Modern Feed, writes the inaugural post. Summer is no longer the deadzone for programming, — those bummer months when the couch potato or desk jockey is forced against their will into the mosquito filled and globally warmed wilderness. No no no friends, -Do Not Fear. Now is the perfect time to browse through Modern Feed’s deep archives and to catch up on new shows. Day or nite. Think of this as the Modern Feed picnic and you are invited. -Where I grew up in the land of Wisconsin they called it a smorgasbord.  Here at Modern Feed its a Daily thing. The Daily Feed.

So snuggle up with laptop, sit back, relax, and enjoy some of the newest and best, all available free through Modern Feed.

Enjoy. — J.D.

Take it away Pat, . . . .

The Daily Feed - Best of Summer

1) SHOW: Wipeout
NETWORK: ABC
CATEGORIES: Game & Event, Major Networks
MORE INFORMATION: IMDB, Wikipedia

The first of two goofy game shows from ABC, Wipeout challenges 24 contestants to brave wild and inventive obstacle courses, all designed to maximize wipeout potential.  What really makes the show though is the inventive narration.  Gone are the stiff and boringly complimentary announcers and in their place is a sarcastic, wisecracking duo (John Anderson from ESPN’s SportsCenter and John Henson from Talk Soup) making sure to poke fun of each contestant’s agility… or lack thereof.
Check out reviews: Metacritic

2) SHOW: From G’s to Gents
NETWORK: MTV
CATEGORIES: Cable Networks, Reality
MORE INFORMATION: IMDB, Wikipedia

From MTV and executive producer Jamie Foxx comes a show rounding up 14 “rough-around-the edges young men.”  A familiar formula follows – a mansion, eliminations, makeovers – but it’s comfortably entertaining territory for MTV, as in-house fighting becomes the focus even as the men are supposedly on their way towards style and class.  “I have a history of violence,” one contestant states matter of factly.  Good to know! From G’s to Gents also offers valuable lessons in fashion and manners, including a detailed analysis of how low a gentlemen might acceptably wear his pants in different social situations.

3) SHOW: Flashpoint
NETWORK: CBS
CATEGORIES: Action/Thriller, Men’s
MORE INFORMATION: IMDB, Wikipedia

Moved from Fridays at 10 to Thursdays at 10 to capitalize on the bigger audience, Flashpoint fits in perfectly with the long history of action dramas from CBS as it follows the lives of cops in the not-as-cool-sounding-as-what they-do Strategic Response Unit.  Inspired by the real life events of Toronto’s Emergency Task Force, the unit rescues hostages, busts gangs, defuses bombs, and gets inside of suspect’s heads to calm even the most dangerous of situations.  Not sold yet?  Well what if we told you that you might recognize actress Amy Jo Johnson (Jules) from her role as the pink ranger in the global smash hit “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers”?  See, totally a worth a view now!
Check out reviews: Metacritic

4) SHOW: I Survived a Japanese Game Show
NETWORK: ABC
CATEGORIES: Game & Event, Reality
MORE INFORMATION: IMDB, Wikipedia

Following the viral success of those zany YouTube clips from Japanese game shows, ABC decided to… wait for it… develop a Japanese-style game show!  Great moments of zany cultural confusion follow as ten Americans are whisked away to Japan to compete for cash in ways they never thought possible.  I Survived a Japanese Game Show meshes competition and reality show nicely by providing a look at the behind the scenes drama as the contestants try to survive elimination.
Check out reviews: Metacritic

5) SHOW: America’s Best Dance Crew
NETWORK: MTV
CATEGORIES: Cable Networks, Dance, Modern Trainwrecks, Reality
MORE INFORMATION: IMDB, Wikipedia

America’s Best Dance Crew is another great effort from MTV, and while it might confuse those who are unfamiliar with the pop and lock, there’s no denying the popularity of Randy Jackson’s competitive dance show.  Searching the country for street and studio dance crews, the show features the familiar panel judging formula with a much more original presentation.  You’ll definitely recognize A.C. Slater…err Mario Lopez, in one of his many hosting roles (seriously, he’s everywhere now isn’t he?).

What is Modern Feed? Modern Feed is your guide to the best premium video on the web (and iPhone/iPod Touch).  To set up your free account head to www.modernfeed.com.

What it takes to bring the Olympics to the PC | Beyond Binary - A blog by Ina Fried - CNET News.com

Stage 8H is best known as the place where Saturday Night Live is filmed. This week, though, it’s been turned into an ad-hoc data center as part of NBC’s efforts to stream thousands of hours of live Olympic coverage over the Internet.

Instead of the usual crop of comedians, NBC will have dozens of people watching every hour of the games, looking for highlights that it can chop up and make available on-demand. It’s just one piece of an elaborate arrangement that shuttles the events in Beijing back to the U.S.

From each of the dozens of Olympic venues, a high-definition video feed is delivered over fiber-optic cables to the International Broadcast Center that has been set up in Beijing. A bunch of encoders and Windows Media servers get the video into an Internet-ready format. From there, it travels via satellite to NBC’s headquarters in New York.

There, NBC actually adds a one-minute delay, allowing its cadre of live bloggers in Stamford, Conn., and elsewhere to write their text and have the video and commentary synchronized. Once ready, it goes from NBC to Limelight Networks, a content delivery network, which has 1,000 servers just for the live events sending the content to various Internet service providers, who then shuttle the content directly to their customers. (See chart below)
Bringing live video from Beijing Olympics to your PC(Credit: Susan Dove/CNET News)

Making it play
Limelight Chief Strategy Officer Mike Gordon said his company is prepared for this to be the biggest live event the Internet has ever seen. “I would not be surprised at all to get 1 million viewers,” he said. “We’re certainly prepared for whatever the audience turns out to be.”
Mike Gordon, Limelight Networks

Mike Gordon, chief strategy officer, Limelight Networks
(Credit: Limelight Networks)

That said, there is clearly an element of risk in all this, considering NBC’s history of live Olympic streaming has been limited to broadcasting a single game, the gold medal ice hockey match in Torino, Italy, two years ago.

“NBC has always taken risks and is always trying to do more than it has in the past,” said Perkins Miller, the NBC senior vice president in charge of the Internet push. “It does keep me up at night when I think about streaming 2,200 hours (of live coverage).”

The massive effort has come together in a remarkably short amount of time. Microsoft’s deal to power NBCOlympics.com dates back only to January.

NBC had a pretty good idea what they wanted to do and had built some mock-ups of the player prior to deciding to partner with Microsoft.

Initially, they expected to use Adobe’s Flash, given that is the standard for video delivered over the Internet these days. But, as they began to hash things out with Microsoft during a series of all-day meetings at NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza headquarters, Microsoft was able to show NBC some ways it could do more using its homegrown Silverlight technology.

Silverlight, Microsoft said, would be key to enabling NBC’s vision of a “control room” in which a viewer could watch multiple live streams at once.
Perkins Miller, NBC Universal

Perkins Miller, senior vice president, NBC Universal
(Credit: NBC)

Even within Microsoft’s team, though, there was some apprehension of whether it was doable.

“Can we actually pull this off?” Senior Technical Evangelist Jason Suess recalled thinking. “Is the user’s machine going to be able to maintain four connections at one time?”

The key, Suess said in an interview at Microsoft headquarters last week, is using an approach known as adaptive streaming in which the player has the ability to customize the bit rate of the video stream based on a computer’s connection and processing power.

By Valentine’s Day, they were ready for a test. It was pretty important that the test work out, given that NBC was getting ready to crate up the gear to ship it off to Beijing.

“That was the first time the player came to life,” Suess said. “Obviously the player was extremely crude.”

Making it pay
One of the last pieces to fall into place was the advertising. Initially, NBC and Microsoft were hoping to be able to insert full video ads into the live streams, but doing so is tough work.

“You don’t have any way to pause a live stream,” Suess said. “Trying to deliver a video ad on top of that, you hit the limits of a user’s bandwidth.”

As of mid-April, they were still struggling with what to do and began considering that perhaps they would have to just rely on companion advertising around the video stream. Then they came up with an idea. Rather than insert full videos into the live streams, what if they stuck a display ad into the video, particularly during dead times in the action.
Jason Suess, Microsoft

Jason Suess, senior technical evangelist, Microsoft
(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET News)

That, approach, which is ultimately what’s being done, solved several issues. It was less bandwidth-intensive than video ads, but still got the advertiser directly in front of the viewer, all without interrupting any of the coverage. The amount of advertising will vary, Suess said; “It depends what is happening in the sports. We just wait for a dead space.”

By early May, NBC made the basic player available on the Internet, using a variety of prerecorded Olympic video, and by early June the enhanced Silverlight player was made public as well. The Olympic Trials, at the end of June, offered the companies and the public a chance for a test drive.

At this point, it’s come down to a triage of the few remaining known bugs. Each day, the bar is being raised in terms of what is a big enough deal to warrant such a late change. Suess, meanwhile, sent his wife and kids to visit family in New York so he could work 18-hour days.

In an interview last week, Suess said he had been at work until 1 a.m. the night before and gets in every morning by 8 a.m., so he can chat with the folks in Beijing before they sign off for the night.

“If I am not online and pushing things along, then I am introducing delay,” Suess said.

An admitted type-A personality, Suess is a stickler for organization–the kind of guy whose desk is always clean. (His wife would probably use the word “compulsive,” Suess said.)

Suess said he hopes things will be enough under control that he can actually watch some of the games, particularly sailing, of which he is a big fan. “I sure hope so,” he said. “When I got involved in this project, that was one of the reasons.”

Streamed TV Shows Attracting Their Own Audience - Advertising Age - MediaWorks
Survey Finds Viewers Watch Online Instead of on TV Set

By Brian Steinberg

Published: July 29, 2008
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The computer isn’t just for “snacking” any more. Conventional wisdom these days holds that consumers use their computers to watch short snippets of video online. Now a new study from Integrated Media Measurement Inc., a company that tracks consumer media exposure, suggests that approximately half of the viewers who watch TV programs online are using the web as a replacement for watching those programs on traditional TV.
At present, there is no standardized measure for audiences of specific programs spread across TV, the web and various digital devices.
At present, there is no standardized measure for audiences of specific programs spread across TV, the web and various digital devices.

According to the IMMI data, more than 20% of people watch some amount of prime-time TV programming online. Within that group of online viewers, 50% are watching programming as it becomes available and appear to be beginning to use the computer as a substitute for the TV set, the company said. The other 50% are using the web as a tool to watch past programming they have missed, or to re-watch segments of episodes they have already seen.

Herding squirrels
The shifting patterns have distinct consequences for marketers and media outlets. Advertisers typically pay for TV advertising based on audience ratings for the commercials that appear on the individual networks. At present, there is no standardized measure for audiences of specific programs spread across TV, the web and various digital devices.

The problem was illustrated earlier this year when the fledgling CW network, facing ratings declines, refused to stream the last five episodes of the season of its flagship program, “Gossip Girl.” The network instead chose to air the shows on TV only, in an attempt to boost ratings. Likewise, CBS pulled “Jericho” off the air after admonishing fans of the cult favorite that watching it online or played back via a digital video recorder didn’t help the TV ratings.

Overall viewer consumption patterns appear to be in flux, IMMI found. “In May for the first time, data show that a significant portion of the online audience for prime-time episodic content is NOT also watching some portion of the show on TV,” according to the company’s report. The data also showed that, in several instances, online viewing of a particular program was higher than DVR viewing of that same program, suggesting that the fairly large segment of non-DVR owners are adopting the computer for time-shifting rather than buying a DVR.

Numbers to back speculation
“This is the first study to show there are a significant amount of people watching prime-time shows online who are not watching some portion of those shows on TV,” said Amanda Welsh, co-founder and senior VP-research for IMMI, in a prepared statement. “Everyone’s been talking about the internet becoming a substitute for TV; however, this is the first single-source passive data to show that the migration from one platform to another is actually occurring — and it’s happening fast.”

Characteristics of the online-TV audience are also starting to emerge. IMMI found that the audience skews female (55%), is largely between the ages of 25 to 54 (58.4%) and is primarily Caucasian (76.8%). Online viewers are also more affluent than live network prime-time viewers, with people who earn $40,000 or less a year 75% more likely to watch a TV show live than online. The majority of online viewers — 56.8% — have completed four years of college or more.

IMMI collects its information by means of a random sample of 3,000 teens and adults in six key markets: New York, Denver, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Houston. Members are given a cellphone that runs proprietary software that tracks individuals’ media consumption.

NFL, NBC Plan Kickoff of Free Football on Internet - WSJ.com
NFL, NBC Plan Kickoff of
Free Football on Internet
Sports World to See
How Online Offering
Affects Viewership
By SAM SCHECHNER and MATTHEW FUTTERMAN
July 26, 2008; Page A3

Football fans will soon be able to watch some of the biggest professional games on the Internet.

The National Football League and General Electric Co.’s NBC Sports will announce Monday that they plan to stream on the Web 17 regular-season games, mostly Sunday night matchups — the first time the league has widely distributed complete games live on the Internet in the U.S.
[NFL]
Associated Press
Cleveland Browns quarterback Brady Quinn (10) discusses a play with quarterbacks coach Rip Scherer during practice at the NFL team’s football training camp Friday, July 25, 2008, in Berea, Ohio.

The deal, which kicks off with the season opener on Thursday, Sept. 4, is the biggest step so far by the NFL to wring some value out of the Web. But it is a tentative step, covering only games that air on NBC, excluding the NFL’s 239 other games that air on other networks, including CBS, Fox and ESPN, during the regular season. Nor does it include the league’s playoffs or the Super Bowl, which will air on NBC next year.

The league and NBC say it is an experiment. They hope to prove they can lure new viewers and people who are already watching at home by adding interactive elements. Viewers will be able to choose from among at least four live camera angles and review statistics that update during the game, according to the league. The league and the network will share in ad sales.

“I think the consumer of media is more and more interested in a greater sense of control over their media experience,” said Gary Zenkel, NBC Sports’ executive vice president of strategic partnerships. “Whether that translates to sports viewing or not, no one knows. But this is certainly an opportunity to experiment.”

The move will help the NFL demonstrate how much value there is in the online rights to its games, potentially giving it another bargaining chip when its broadcast deals next come up for negotiation. Several major sports organizations already allow some live games to be shown on the Web. CBS Sports has streamed the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s March Madness basketball tournament. At the Olympics next month, NBC is streaming 25 out of 34 events online. And Major League Baseball has its own Web site, MLB.com, that has created a lucrative business selling subscriptions to MLB.tv, which streams out-of-market games.

The NFL has been slower to embrace the Internet, largely because its national broadcasting contracts with four networks and DirecTV Group Inc. bring in more than $3.7 billion a year, according to people close to the league and networks, far more than revenue other leagues earn. Its Web site, NFL.com, until now has offered an exhaustive supply of information and statistics but it hasn’t streamed complete games online for broad U.S. viewing. It does sell subscriptions to streaming of the games to people overseas.
[TV Deals]

The NFL owns the online rights for its games but its broadcast TV deals have restricted the league from streaming footage of those games while they are in progress.

Part of the NFL’s challenge is the nature of its season, which lasts just 17 weeks and includes 16 games for each team, with the vast majority of the games played Sundays or in the evening on weekdays and broadcast nationally, at least via satellite. An Oakland Raiders fan living in Florida merely has to sign up for the NFL’s Sunday Ticket on DirecTV and tune in to each game for about three hours a week to keep up with his team.

Baseball, on the other hand, has a 162-game season, and the flexibility of mlb.com, which provides everything from graphically conveyed pitch-by-pitch coverage, to streaming video, to condensed versions of games, has become the avenue of choice for fans to keep up with their teams from anywhere they are near a computer. Rather than cannibalize television revenue, the access to baseball has helped to drive the Major Leagues to record attendance and revenues no one expected just a few years ago.

By beginning to stream games on the Internet, too, the NFL is recognizing that fans want to interact with teams more than simply by watching the games on television, and in doing so the league is trying to become a master of the 21st-century technology in the same way it mastered the preferred technology of the 20th century.

The NFL approached NBC in recent months to hammer out a deal to stream its games, in part, it says, because NBC’s nationwide broadcasts, which averaged 15.9 million viewers last season, make for a clean test of whether online availability will boost or shrink viewership.

“Does it cannibalize, or is it incremental?” said Brian Rolapp, the NFL’s senior vice president of media strategy and digital media. Mr. Rolapp wants to know: “Does it make sense to use it to go out and build new products and new businesses?” NBC, for its part, said it doesn’t believe the streams will cannibalize its broadcast viewership.

NFL to stream Sunday-night football games online - Los Angeles Times
NFL to stream Sunday-night football games online
David Duprey / Associated Press
LISTEN UP: NBC’s Andrea Kremer with New England Patriots Tom Brady, right, and Randy Moss in November.
The live feeds, which start in September, will bring the nation’s most popular TV sport into the digital age.
By Meg James, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 26, 2008
The National Football League, signaling a major shift in strategy, will stream live broadcasts of Sunday-night football games beginning in September, making the contests widely available on the Internet for the first time.

For much of its history, the NFL has kept a tight grip on the rights to its games and the use of its images. But with more consumers, particularly younger viewers, turning to their computers for entertainment, the NFL wants to steer the nation’s most popular television sport into the digital age.

“We are taking a big leap here,” said Steve Bornstein, chief executive of the NFL Network.

“We are looking at this as a learning opportunity to see what applications work online. We are trying to be innovative and creative to make the viewing experience better for our fans.”

He said the league was interested in learning what elements scored best with viewers. All programmers, from the major Hollywood studios down to mom-and- pop producers of two-minute “webisodes,” are grappling with how to make money online.

NBC, which broadcasts “Sunday Night Football,” will make its television feed — including Al Michaels’ play-by-play and John Madden’s commentary — available on websites run by both the network and the league. The websites will offer blogs, statistics and other interactive elements along with the broadcast of the game.

The network will sell advertising for the venture and share the revenue with the NFL.

NBC declined to comment. The NFL declined to discuss financial terms of the deal. Bornstein called the venture a one-year “experiment.”

The online streams will begin with the Sept. 4 season opening match between the Washington Redskins and the New York Giants (which falls on a Thursday), followed by regular-season Sunday-night games. Playoff games and the Super Bowl will not be offered online, nor will the regional games televised by Fox Broadcasting and CBS.

Until now, the NFL has proceeded cautiously into the digital world, in part to avoid antagonizing the networks that collectively pay the league $3.7 billion a year in fees for exclusive rights to carry its games.

“The NFL’s most important constituency has been the television networks, but the world is moving online,” said Bobby Tulsiani, an analyst at market research firm JupiterResearch. “They haven’t wanted people to watch games online because that could mess up their television deals. . . . This is going to get interesting as they move forward.”

In a report this month, Tulsiani found that nearly 20% of online users who considered themselves “serious sports fans” were young men, typically ages 25 to 34. That’s an elusive group that many marketers pay premiums to reach.

“With young men leading the pack in video activity, and with sports content translating well into the short-clip, ’snacking’ environment of Web video, sports sites have a perfect opportunity to emerge as leaders in online video,” Tulsiani wrote.

However, online streams of Sunday-night games could ruffle the feathers of the peacock network’s traditional partners, the television station groups that carry NBC programming. NBC executives recently told their affiliate-station partners that they would be asked to help the network pay for its programming when their affiliation agreements come up for renewal.

NBC spends $600 million a year for the rights to the Sunday-night franchise, which doesn’t make a profit for the network, according to people familiar with the situation. It represents the network’s biggest expenditure for a single program.

Television station owners have worried that they might be losing their place in the industry food chain as the Internet becomes an equally potent distribution outlet. In recent years, TV networks have tried to see whether offering popular shows online would cut into their audience and damp ratings.

The industry will be watching to see whether online streams of NFL games cannibalize the enormous audiences that faithfully tune in to watch the games on TV. However, the NFL expects that most viewers will prefer to watch games on their high-definition TV sets rather than on their computer screens.

“Many of our fans watch games on television and they are on the computer at the same time,” Bornstein said. “We think the online streams will be additive and complementary.”

The NFL is not the first sports league to try to harness the Internet. Major League Baseball, for example, has wired ballparks with digital cameras and offers a subscription service for fans who want to watch the games of out-of-town teams online.

Last season, DirecTV subscribers who paid extra to receive a premium package of Sunday football games also had access to online streams of those games.

“It was really for the convenience factor, when people were watching at the office or were over at their mother-in-law’s,” said Eric Shanks, DirecTV’s executive vice president for entertainment. “People think it’s cool, it has been a great add-on, but we don’t think that we’ve acquired new subscribers because of it.”

meg.james@latimes.com

Study: Consumers Will Trade Ads for Web Video Content
The data is based on the responses from 1,100 digital video users aged 12 and older

July 24, 2008

-By Katy Bachman

mw/photos/stylus/33754-GENERIC_People_Laptop.jpg
A vast majority of consumers find advertising a reasonable tradeoff for free online video content. According to data from Motion, Ipsos MediaCT’s ongoing digital video tracking study, three out of four digital video consumers are amenable to advertising in exchange for long-form video such as TV shows and movies.

The data, collected in February, is based on the responses from 1,100 digital video users aged 12 and older.

Advertising becomes less acceptable to consumers as the video content becomes shorter. Around two-thirds of respondents say the inclusion of advertising would be reasonable with free music videos, short news items or sports clips. Just slightly over half of the respondents (52 percent) said that advertising would be unacceptable accompanying amateur video content or homemade video.

“As might be expected, digital video consumers generally find it more acceptable to have advertising included within longer, professionally produced video offerings such as full-length movies or TV shows. Fewer are ready to accept this ‘price of admission’ for shorter-form content or less-professional polished content,” said Adam Wright, director of Ipsos MediaCT.

The findings may have implications for free video sharing sites, such as YouTube, which has begun to diversify its amateur and homemade video with professional video.

“As advertising starts to appear within their offerings, it has the potential to alter attitudes, perceptions and usage of these sites,” said Wright.

Motion Picture Assn. going viral - Entertainment News, Film News, Media - Variety

hmmmmmmm . . . . interesting. . .


MPAA developing Website devoted to movies
By BEN FRITZ

The Motion Picture Assn. of America is developing a one-stop website on behalf of its studio members that will help users find movies online without resorting to piracy.

Currently unnamed site would let users search by film title and then provide links to options including purchasing theatrical tickets, buying or renting the DVD and legally downloading the pic.

All of the major studios are expected to support the site, which fits into the MPAA’s overall strategy to fight online movie piracy.

According to a studio source, the new website is a response to research that found consumers sometimes have trouble differentiating between legal and illegal ways to watch and buy movies via the Net.

It’s believed that the site will link to any legit partner. That could benefit Netcos ranging from Fandango to Netflix, Apple’s iTunes and Sony’s PlayStation Store.

Website will essentially be a directory run by the MPAA. The not-for-profit venture should help studios avoid the legal and business headaches they have encountered on past joint ventures on the Net such as Movielink, which they eventually sold to Blockbuster.

An MPAA spokesman declined to comment on the plans but noted, “We’re always looking for ways to provide consumers easy access to legal alternatives.”

According to a survey the MPAA recently conducted online, names currently under consideration for the site include Movie Market, Red Carpet Flix, Film Depot and Flickz.

TM Forum Community - Blogs

Online Video Usage Scoreboard: YouTube thrashing iPlayer
Telco 2.0

Online Video consumption is booming. The good news is that clearer demand patterns are beginning to emerge which should help in capacity planning and improving the user experience; the bad news is that an overall economic model which works for all players in the value chain is about as clear as mud.

We previously analysed the leffect of the launch of the BBC iPlayer on the ISP business model, but the truth is that, even in the UK, YouTube traffic still far outweighs the BBC iPlayer in the all important peak hour slot - even though the bitrate is far lower.

Looking at current usage data at a UK ISP we can see that the number of concurrent people using YouTube is roughly seven times that of the iPlayer. However, our analysis suggests that this situation is set to change quite dramatically as traditional broadcasters increase their presence online, with significant impact for all players. Here’s why:

Streaming Traffic Patterns

Our friends at Plusnet, a small UK ISP, have provided Telco 2.0 with their latest data on traffic patterns. The important measurement for ISPs is peak hour load as this determines variable-cost capacity requirements.

iplayer_7_days.PNG

iPlayer accounts for around 7% of total bandwidth at peak hour. The peaks are quite variable and follows the hit shows: the availability of Dr Who episodes or the latest in a long string of British losers at Wimbledon increase traffics.

Included within the iPlayer 7% is the Flash-based streaming traffic. The Kontiki-P2P based free-rental-download iPlayer traffic is included within general streaming volumes. This accounts for 5% of total peak-hour traffic and includes such applications as Real Audio, iChat, Google Video, Joost, Squeezebox, Slingbox, Google Earth, Multicast, DAAP, Kontiki (4OD, SkyPlayer, iPlayer downloads), Quicktime, MS Streaming, Shoutcast, Coral Video, H.323 and IGMP.

The BBC are planning to introduce a “bookmarking” feature to the iPlayer which will allow pre-ordering of content and hopefully time-of-day based delivery options. This is a win-win-win enhancement and we can’t see any serious objections to the implementation: for the consumers it is great because they can view higher-quality video and allow the download when traffic is not counted towards their allowance; for ISPs it is great because it encourages non-peak hour downloads; and for the BBC it is great as it will potentially reduce their CDN costs.

youtube_7_days.PNG

YouTube traffic accounts for 17% of peak-hour usage - this is despite YouTube streaming at around 200kbps compared to the iPlayer 500kbps. There are about seven times the amount of concurrent users using YouTube compared to the iPlayer at peak hour. Concurrent is important here: YouTubers watch short-length clips whereas iPlayers watch longer shows of broadcast length.

P2P is declining in importance

The real interesting part of the PlusNet data is that peak-hour streaming at around 30% far outweighs p2p and usenet traffic at around 10%. Admittedly the peakhour p2p/usenet traffic at Plusnet is probably far lower than at other ISPs, but it goes to show how ISPs can control their destiny and manage consumption through the use of open and transparent traffic shaping policies. Overall, p2p consumption is 26% of Plusnet traffic across a 24-hour window - the policies are obviously working and people are p2p and usenet downloading when the network is not busy.

Quality and therefore bandwidth bound to increase

Both YouTube and the iPlayer are relatively low-bandwidth solutions compared to broadcast quality shows either in SD (standard definition) or HD (high-definition), however applications are emerging which are real headache material for the ISPs.

The most interesting emerging application is the Move Networks media player. This player is already in use by Fox, ABC, ESPN, Discovery and Televisa — amongst others. In the UK, it is currently only used by ChannelBee, which is a new online channel launched by Tim Lovejoy of Soccer AM fame.

The interesting part of the Move Networks technology is dynamic adjustment of the bit-rate according to the quality of the connection. Also, it does not seem to suffer from the buffering “feature” that unfortunately seems to be part of the YouTube experience. Move Networks achieve this by installing a client in the form of a browser plug-in which switches the video stream according to the connection much in the same way as the TCP protocol works. We have regularly streamed content at 1.5Mbps which is good enough to view on a big widescreen TV and is indistinguishable to the naked eye from broadcast TV.

Unlike Akamai there is no secret sauce in the Move Networks technology and we expect other Media Players to start to use similar features — after all every content owner wants the best possible experience for viewers.

Clearing the rights

The amount of iPlayer content is also increasing: Wimbledon coverage was available for the first time and upcoming is the Beijing Olympics and the British Golf Open. We also expect that the BBC will eventually get permission to make available content outside of the iPlayer 7-day window. The clearing of rights for the BBC’s vast archive will take many years, but slowly but surely more and more content will be available. This is true for all major broadcasters in the UK and the rest of the world.

YouTube to shrink in importance

Online Video Distribution and the associated economics is a key area of study for the Telco 2.0 team. We are planning on producing a full report in time for the next Executive Brainstorm in November.

This Blog is republished from www.Telco2.net/blog. The Telco 2.0 Initiative is a new industry program focused on helping with this thorny question: “How do we (telcos, handset manufacturers, Media companies, IT players, NEPs, etc) make money in an IP-based world?”
Published Wednesday, July 16, 2008 9:19 AM

CBS: 46% of TV Audience Watch Network’s Shows Online
CBS: 46% of TV Audience Watch Network’s Shows Online
Study is good news for CBS, which has been aggressive in offering full-length episodes of its shows on its site and also in syndicating these shows all over the Web

July 21, 2008

-By Mike Shields

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CBS has provided more evidence to support the much-repeated theory that streaming full-length episodes of prime-time series is mostly additive for the broadcast networks and does little to threaten TV viewing.

According to a new report issued by CBS Interactive, less than half of the network’s online audience (46 percent) primarily views their favorite shows online, and most say that the wide availability of these shows across the Internet does not impact their TV viewing. In fact, 35 percent of the nearly 50,000 streamers survey by researcher Magid Media Labs on behalf of CBS reported that they are more likely to view shows on the network as a result of having been exposed to content on the Web.

That’s particularly good news for CBS, which has been aggressive in both offering full-length episodes of its shows on its site and also in syndicating these shows all over the Internet as part of the CBS Audience Network, which includes everything from Yahoo to Bebo. “These findings confirm what we’ve believed all along,” said David Botkin, senior vp, research & audience analytics, CBS Interactive. “Online viewing is complementary to broadcast viewing, so making our programming more accessible to people drives awareness, interest and ratings both online and on-air.”

Online viewing also appears to be driving down CBS’ new median age. While the network draws the oldest average audience on TV—54, according to a recent report issued by Magna Global USA—the median age of CBS’ streaming audience is 38, according to Magid.

Fallon Will Start ‘Late Night’ on the Web - NYTimes.com
By BILL CARTER
Published: July 21, 2008

LOS ANGELES — With a new round of shake-ups in late-night television set to begin next year, Lorne Michaels has decided to try to get a jump on things by starting NBC’s next edition of “Late Night,” with its new host Jimmy Fallon, as a nightly entry on the Internet.

Mr. Fallon has been named as the replacement for Conan O’Brien when Mr. O’Brien takes over the “Tonight” show from Jay Leno next year, and Mr. Michaels, the long-time boss of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” who also serves as executive producer of “Late Night,” told television reporters here Sunday that he wants Mr. Fallon to work out as many of the rough spots in his presentation as possible in performances on a website.

Mr. Michaels said he did not know yet which site he will use to post the shows with Mr. Fallon, but he was sure of several of the plans:

The web performances will likely begin in the fall, long before the transition from Mr. Leno for Mr. O’Brien is set to take place. The entries will not constitute anything like an entire hour-long show. “I expect that we’ll do something like five or 10 minutes,” Mr. Michaels said.

But he said they most likely will be on every night, to try to establish the rhythm of a nightly show. And he said, “I’m going to post them at 12:30 every night, so people will begin to look for Jimmy at that time.”

NBC is expected to announce the schedule for the transition from Mr. Leno to Mr. O’Brien and from Mr. O’Brien to Mr. Fallon here tomorrow. NBC executives have previously said that Mr. O’Brien will probably stop production on his “Late Night” show in February, while he moves west and prepares to lead “Tonight” from a new stage now being built on the lot of the NBC Universal studio.

Mr. Leno is expected to continue until perhaps June. Mr. Michaels said Sunday that Mr. Fallon will definitely get some time on the air following Mr. Leno before Mr. O’Brien takes over “Tonight.” He pegged the likely start date for Mr. Fallon on the television version of the show as “sometime in the spring.”

One reason for trying out the show online, Mr. Michaels said, is that the Internet will allow Mr. Fallon more freedom in terms of what he can say and do, “more opportunity for experimentation,” Mr. Michaels said. But he added that he didn’t expect the show to push the line too far in terms of content. “I think we’re our own censors,” he said.

But the main reason for the idea, he said, was the experience of Mr. O’Brien, who endured a long period of uncertainty about whether he would survive after he assumed the desk on “Late Night” succeeding David Letterman. “Conan needed time to find his show,” Mr. Michaels said. “I think this will help Jimmy to do that.”

Internet TV passes cable in France - Entertainment News, TV News, Media - Variety
ADSL viewers reach 8.5 million
By JOHN HOPEWELL

In its latest MediaCabSat Gallic pay TV report, which includes IPTV data for the first time, Mediametrie estimates French ADSL TV viewers at 8.5 million for June 15.

Cable TV viewership dropped from 6.1 million Feb. 17 to 6 million June 15.

Stats do not include sub-cable feeds with fewer than 10-12 channels.

Results underscore France’s status as Europe’s most vibrant Internet TV market, energized by deep-pocketed aggressive IPTV operators such as France Telecom-Orange, Free and SFR-Neuf Cegetel.

“ADSL TV is free for broadband subscribers, and it will continue to grow. Cable will most probably stagnate,” said Francois Godard, an analyst at London-based Enders Analysis.

Mediametrie’s report also highlights the continued erosion of broadcasters market share, even in a multi-channel universe. TF1 took a 23.4% share Jan. 1-June 15, down from 25.3% first half 2007. France 2 dropped from 13.5% to 13.3%, France 3 from 9.6% to 9.1%. Only M6 managed to claw back share, rising from 8.5% to 8.8%.

“The decrease of the share of historical broadcasters is not only a result of the launch of cable, satellite and Internet TV. It’s happening within the multi-channel universe as well,” Godard said.

Gaul’s share-challenged broadcasters can take some small comfort from two trends.

Fragmentation is beginning to hurt some of the original fragmenters: Weekly viewership at a clutch of star pay TV channels is leveling off or even declining as more pay TV rivals with a similar focus launch.

Eurosport has held out another four months as France’s premier niche pay TV channel, but weekly viewers stood at 6.7 million, down on February’s 6.8 million and way down on 7.5 million a year ago.

And, in another recent report, “TV in the World: Continuity and Rupture,” Mediametrie claims that France is the major Euro territory “where established channels are holding on best to share.” New channels since 2000 have 17.5% share, as compared with 36.5% in the U.K.

Advertising - Whichever Screen, People Are Watching - NYTimes.com
By BRIAN STELTER
Published: July 8, 2008

SOMEHOW, despite more distractions than ever, we’re finding even more time to plant ourselves in front of screens.

The first in a series of new “three-screen” reports by the Nielsen Company shows an emerging shift toward a more video-centric use of the Internet, but not at the expense of television viewing. The report, an initial effort by Nielsen to “follow the video” as consumer viewing habits shift, is scheduled to be released Tuesday.

The average American spent 127 hours of time with TV in May, up from 121 hours in May 2007; and 26 hours on the Internet, up from 24 hours last year. More than 282 million people watch television in a given month and nearly 162 million use the Internet.

Perhaps most important, the data reaffirms that online video viewing is no longer a novelty. Two-thirds of Internet users in the United States, 119 million people, watched video in May.

The amount of online video viewing is low compared with TV — 2 hours and 19 minutes a month on average — and Nielsen does not have a comparable estimate for last year. But given its popularity, it has attracted much interest from media companies and advertisers. All that viewing, 7.5 billion streams and 16.4 billion minutes in total, amounts to new advertising time for the taking.

“We’ve seen that certain events generate very high video viewing,” said Paul Donato, the chief research officer for Nielsen, citing last March’s N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament as an example. CBS streamed 4.9 million hours of audio and video content during the tournament, up from 2.7 million hours in 2007.

“Obviously those streams were either coming from people at work or from people who wanted to watch multiple games,” Mr. Donato said.

The report also suggests that mobile video viewing is becoming significant. A Nielsen survey of about 2,000 Americans projects that 4.4 million subscribe to mobile video on their phones. With 217 million people carrying mobile phones in the United States, wireless video is still far from the mainstream. But the survey found that the average user watches 3 hours and 15 minutes a month, a significant amount of time to be watching such a comparatively small screen.

With the “three-screen” reports, which will be released quarterly, Nielsen seeks to compile a complete picture of consumers’ media habits. The television networks and Web site operators that are Nielsen’s clients have been demanding three-screen measurement as they try to understand the relationships between TV sets, computer screens and mobile devices. But measuring consumer behavior in an age of convergence is proving to be difficult.

“Every single provider of alternative measurement has disappointed us,” Alan Wurtzel, the president of research for NBC, said last week.

Without a third party to produce multi-platform ratings, NBC will combine Nielsen television ratings, internal Web site statistics, and mobile data to produce a daily report about the total reach of its Olympics telecasts next month.

“What we need is a currency,” a ratings metric to base multi-platform advertising rates on, “and no one’s done that yet,” Mr. Wurtzel said.

Almost two years ago Nielsen announced an “anytime anywhere” measurement initiative, but the tracking of individual consumers from the living room TV to the office computer to the mobile phone is still years away. Before the end of the year, Nielsen will begin a test of combined TV and Internet measurement and will roll out an experimental mobile phone measurement device.

Currently Nielsen fuses together its television ratings data and Internet video measurements to show how the two platforms influence each other. The “three-screen” report was produced in a similar way. Mr. Donato said the three-screen report represents progress and noted that there is increasing interest in knowing how consumers move among different devices.

“If you’re a network today, you’re desperate to know when somebody downloads your program on Amazon or iTunes, were they buying it as a replacement to their broadcast experience or as a supplement?” Mr. Donato said. “Is cannibalization taking place, or do these different platforms work in a harmonic way to support the business?”

To some extent, the report will reassure television executives and advertisers who worry that online video viewing will impact TV consumption. For every hour of online video viewing, consumers spend 57 hours watching TV. “Americans are watching more traditional television than ever,” the report concludes. The average consumer time-shifted — watched TV recorded earlier — almost six hours of programming in May, up from under four hours last year.

At the same time, the Nielsen data shows how pervasive online video is becoming in the lives of younger consumers. Children ages 2 to 11 use the Internet far less than other age groups, but they spend almost one-third of their online time watching videos.

“Their definition of the Internet is being formed by this high consumption of Internet video,” John Burbank, the chief marketing officer for Nielsen, said. “As these kids mature, networks are right in foreseeing that they’re going to use the Internet as a primary source for TV programming.”
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