Consumer Guide for Today's Media

VS.

By: Michael Smith

Blu-ray format has taken clear lead and pretty much throws a KO punch to the HD DVD format in the battle the video format for many years to come. With the latest events happening in the movie and electronic world Blu-ray seems to have taken over the popularity vote and gain many more supports than that of its competitor HD DVD.

This battle between both formats is seemingly leading to the ultimate defeat and end of one style of format and that in my mind is the format of HD DVD. This is the same thing as the battle between the VHS and Sony’s Betamax in video formats back in the 1980’s.
Blu-ray has become supported by five major companies in the movie business which are: Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., Walt Disney Co., Twentieth Century Fox (a News Corp. business), Buena Vista Home Entertainment. These companies have decided to produce their movies only in the Blu-ray format. There is still the Paramount and Universal Studios Home Entertainment companies that produce movies in HD DVD. But with five major companies using Blu-ray, the format looks to have the major share in support by movie companies between the two formats.

My belief that Blu-ray will and already is heading in the direction of being the winner in this battle is backed up by multiple things. Like the Sony Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. both choosing to back the format of Blu-ray. Also recently Toshiba, who is a major developer of HD DVD, announced that they are no longer going to produce the HD DVD format players and movies, thus focusing on the Blu-ray format.

Thus with major movie companies coming up with the decision in to go with Blu-ray format as the key format this has led to many retail business to take initiative in deciding what to do with the products they carry. Corporations like Wal-Mart, Target, Blockbuster and Netflix will all stop selling the HD DVD format and strictly deal with the Blu-ray format.

So what will happen to all those HD DVD format products, well they will still be available but will not readily endorsed by major companies like Best Buy and Amazon.com. Best Buy and Amazon.com with the recent trend in a majority of things going to the Blu-ray format will start in persuade their customers to purchase the Blu-ray format.

Well it looks like the fight between these two formats in my opinion looks like it is coming to an end and the victor looks to be the Blu-ray format. So everyone who was smart enough to put off buying a new DVD player with these formats good job now you can go and get the one that looks like will be in use for years to come. For those who bought an HD DVD format player well looks like your technology will be out of date soon because you won’t have any newer movies produced for it and since most movie companies have choose Blu-ray has the format of their choice it is only a matter of time before the rest of the companies convert to that format to.

Well it looks like Blu-ray has thrown that KO punch to HD DVD and HD DVD is down for the count looking like it is out.

ESPN is one of the most valuable channels in cable and is also widely known for their web content. ESPN always has up to date sporting news on their website, all this news is give to users by articles or short brief clips of highlights of games or their TV shows. ESPN is now looking to the web to deliver new content and reach more audience. ESPN is looking to provide more web exclusive content like longer video clips which could be web exclusive shows.

In an article on Forbes.com, Ed Erhardt, president of customer marketing and sales for ESPN and ABC Sports talks about how he believes that there is the audience on the web that would support these web based shows, because the short brief clips on ESPN of like SportsCenter highlights get heavy traffic. Also he points to ABC airing full TV episodes over the web and their success. He believes that this will drive in more advertisers and he also wants to be able to provide advertisers the capability of connecting with a strict demographic, like just football fans for example.

I believe that with ESPN doing this they will gain more viewership though their website because people will like to have the interaction of the shows and clips. Being a avid sports fan myself I watch the content produced by ESPN with the brief clips right now and I know I would watch shows that they produce on the web also. For the reasons of getting sports news and the fact that people can watch the video at any time through the internet.

With the web being a widely used base of gaining information for knowledge and entertainment, it has progressed over the years and one big craze of the web seems to be that of web videos or video on demand. With things like YouTube and TV shows being put on the web, it only seems logical for the most popular sports programming company and one of the most valuable channels, ESPN, then to come up with its own web video shows and longer video clips to expand their audience even more and become more dominate in their special niche of sports by utilizing all alternative means for showing their content to any audience.

Hulu.com, an online video website, is opening its doors to the public. This website which is ran by NBC Universal and Fox as a joint cooperation is going to publish their archive of TV shows and video clips. Hulu has content for NBC, Fox, and 50 other major companies like Sony Pictures and more. They do not have content available from two of the major affiliates CBS and ABC, but are in talks with those companies.

This online video site will was looked upon as something that was trying to challenge YouTube, which right know can be easily said be the most dominant online video site. But Hulu is different from its counterpart in YouTube because of its content. The content that is provided by Hulu is all content from companies like NBC and Fox like their TV shows. Then also Hulu has partnerships with Warner Bros. Television Group, Lionsgate, NBA, NHL, and others. So other content that will be provided on Hulu will not only consist of TV shows but also have feature films, full length games from the NBA and NHL, and other online video content like the Onion News Network. Some of specific shows that Hulu will have available for viewing are like The Simpsons, Prison Break, and movies like Ice Age, The Girl Next Door, and more. For a list of all shows and movies included on site, here is a link:http://www.hulu.com/press/launch_press_release.html

Hulu allows users to share and embed clips in social networking sites and others; Hulu as video on sites like AOL, Comcast Fancast.com, MSN, Myspace, and Yahoo. This and the fact that Hulu as some high quality content as attracted multiple big name advertisers like: Best Buy, Intel, GM, Nissan, Wal-Mart, and more. Hulu while putting ads into the content they provide are making money but they are also thinking about the users by doing certain things with the ads. They are making available for users to choose which ads they would like to see or watch a two-minute preview and then skip all the other ads during the shows.

I think this site provides some good content and especially allows viewers to view things on demand. This I believe is a huge key for content because people are busy but still want to watch certain shows and other things. Hulu I believe is making a huge move for online video content by pretty much becoming one of the biggest providers of online video content that was produced for other things like the TV and movie world.

I think you all should next out this website seeing that it is free and provides you with the entertainment of shows most people like and even full length movies, so check out Hulu.com.

DVR and On Demand penetration has gain significant growth in the past three years.

According to a recent study done by the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM) earlier this year. According to this study DVR penetration is now up to 23% of U.S. households, from 8% in 2005. Then there is On Demand which is also growing; now being available to around 28 million U.S. homes and around 54% of those households order On Demand movies and/or programs.

This research I believe just indicates that people are moving to alternative ways to obtain their entertainment and information now. I believe that the gaining prominence of DVR and On Demand services are largely is because of the convenience factor that these services can provide. With having DVR or On Demand service you are allowed to record or look up a show for later viewing at a time which is best for you. I personally love the concepts of these services and use the On Demand services which are on the Internet. Like ABC post episodes of their shows online for viewing, so if you missed and episode you can look it up and watch it via the web.

DVR and On Demand service has grown which is obvious with the percentages mentioned earlier. And I only believe that these services will continue to be developed and enhanced and used in more and more ways.

AT&T looks to challenge Verizon Wireless in Mobile TV business. AT&T plans on finally launching their Mobile TV service in May, after a delay in the original launching.

AT&T will have its Mobile TV provided by the same company as Verizon which is Qualcomm MediaFLO USA. MediaFLO service is made up of eight channels which include: ESPN mobile TV, CBS mobile, Comedy Central, NBC 2GO, NBC News2Go, FOX Mobile, Nickelodeon, and MTV. Also with the AT&T service there will be 2 channels that will only be provided by their service. AT&T will offer this Mobile TC service on their Vu phone and Access phone at first but will branch it out to other phones over time.

While the market for Mobile TV will become bigger soon with this introduction of AT&T’s services, there are still some questions about consumer demand for this service. Analysts believe Mobile TV is taking longer to catch on with consumers because the lack of coverage and service for the whole country and the fact there are not many phones that have support this service.

In my personal opinion I think Mobile TV will take off more when there are great devices to support the service. I think it will work especially in the fact of sporting events being broadcasted to mobile devices. If we compare it to the sensation that is the internet with it being an alternative to watch shows, movies, sporting events and extra, I believe Mobile TV will take off somewhat like internet viewing of TV shows and more. But I don’t necessarily think it will be as big of a deal as on the internet because I believe people will not necessarily want to watch something on small screens a lot so it will not be as big as viewing TV shows and other events on the internet.

With the NCAA tournament dwindling down there is something everyone should know. You can watch the NCAA tournament or any other show you want from any where there is internet access. All you need is a Slingbox. A what? A slingbox is a maching that will take television shows from your home and send them to your desktop or laptop. There is a regular slingbox, an HD slingbox and a slingbox that can DVR. Plenty of choices for any kind of consumer.

Having this technology around makes watching sporting events or your favorite prime time television shows feasible where ever you might be. Taking a business trip anytime soon and have a 2 hour layover. Airports have wi-fi and you will be able to watch the Royals on your laptop while you wait for your plane. This technology is relatively new but does have some marketing power. Listen to Rome is Burning and you will hear 2 or 3 advertisements for the Slingbox. It is a revolutionary invention that should quench the TV watching thirst of many people in the future.

Content broadcasted over the Internet, mobile phones, IPTV networks and other alternative delivery systems look to become a huge revenue generator. According to Insight research streaming media will generate $70 billion in revenue over the next six years. The Insight researchers believe that the on-demand audio and video concept will help generate this revenue greatly, because they are expected to boost the market, which will possibly grow at a compound annual rate of 29% through 2013. Which means the reach of these technologies will be greater and greater by 29% each year. But even Insight said they believe that their predictions for the industry could be tremendously surpassed if the consumers take to the technology faster than expected.

This research report that was done by the Insight Research group just indicates in my mind that the age of alternative delivery will continue to prosper. Because if people hear about these huge amounts of money that can be made in this business, I believe companies and people will just continue to branch out the technologies and develop more and more higher quality alternatives to obtain your media.

Video content via alternative sources seems to be taking off pretty well. People seem to getting into watching online video content. According to a survey done by Internet measurement firm comScore, U.S. Internet users viewed online videos 10.1 billion in February, which is up 66 percent from last year. Google’s YouTube gathered most of the traffic with 34 percent of the viewers.

With content being so readily available now all over the internet I personally believe that people will tend to view things more and more via the internet. With the internet things are available on demand thus you can gain access to multiple types of content. I mean you can watch TV show episodes that you possibly missed, movies, or even special content like on YouTube. All the major corporations such as NBC, CBS, ABC have their TV shows available online with other internet special content.

For the month of February of the measurement there were around 135 million internet users who spent an average of 204 minutes of viewing online. The top 10 sites that users view internet video content are—Google (1) with YouTube, Fox Interactive Media (2) with Myspace.com, Yahoo (3), Microsoft (4), Viacom Digital (5), Time Warner (6), Disney Online (7), AOL (8), ABC.com (9), and Comcast (10).

All these companies provide many types to media and entertainment varieties to people. I think the internet media world will become a primary source for people to watch shows, serve as an entertain media, and overall just provide us with content. The internet just seems to be ever expanding right now and I think the video content aspect will only continue to grow in many ways.

This can be seen in my opinion by the new sites and content being produced and started up. For example Hulu.com recently opened letting internet users gain access to some movies and television shows. Also Adobe just recently decided to launch a media player themselves. Adobe’s media player is said to be full of content from MTV, CBS, and Universal Music group. It can be downloaded at Adobe.com/go/mp.

Video content seems just to be a really popular thing, with many people; I know that I readily view internet videos. Also according to CTAM they believe up to 44 percent of teens view online video content. I would argue that this figure is actually more because all the people that I know that are teenagers like my sister and her friends all view online videos all the time.

Internet video continues to gain popularity and become wide in variety. How will the internet video content expand more and affect media? That’s a good question, and I really don’t if I know if I can answer it. But it will be interesting to see what happens.

No your actual TV screens aren't getting smaller, but TV content is going to a smaller screen. That would be the screen of many mobile phones. Mobile TV seems to be taking off with many services expanding and luanching new programs for their services. Companies like Sprint Nextel, Verizon and AT&T are all now having mobile TV content provide for some of their phones.

The service provides believe that mobile TV will be a success because it will allow people to view things anywhere at anytime, even though only about seven percent of mobile subscribers watch video on their phones. But with a recently started plan to sets their TV content at a flat-rate fee and the fact the revenues for mobile video have gone up in the last three months, from $112 million to $308 million now, media groups seem to think that mobile TV will be a successful venture.

The players in the mobile TV market are mainly just Sprint Nextel, Verizon and AT&T. Sprint Nextel's offerings include NFL network, Weather Channel, E!, CNN and more. Verizon offers ESPN, NBC, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comdey Central and CBS. And then we have the most recent ventures into the mobile TV business, AT&T which offers the same programming as does Verizon because of a partnership with Qualcomm MediaFLO the same company Verizon partners with. But in addition to the same channels as Verizon AT&T will exclusively offer the channels PIX, a Sony movie channel, and CNN Mobile Live.

With mobile TV seemingly gaining popularity at a steady pace and providers thinking that the content will succeed over the long hual. There has seemed to be another innovation come along, that is the Blu-ray technology seems to be steming over into the mobile world. A company called NetBlender has come up with a way to blend Blu-ray technology with an iphone, thus being able to enhance the quality of content provided.

Mobile TV I believe has just begun in the stages of becoming something that will be at anyones disposal at anytime. I think it will succeed greatly because people have their phones with themselves almost all the time and this will alone themselves to be entertained will waiting for a haircut, at the airport, or other things. So TV screens are getting smaller, they are going to the mobile phone screens.