Newsletter May 2002, Issue 55
Published by Sonaris Consulting, Felix Bopp, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Conference Highlights: A) Streaming Media: IWA / Intervox, ntl:home B) TV meets the Web: Submarine, BBC, Windows Media Platform 'Corona'
- Who owns digital property?
- Internet2
- Conferences & Events
Conference Highlights
A) Streaming Media
http://www.iir-conferences.com
IWA / Intervox
Peggy Miles, Vice Chair, IWA / CEO, Intervox: "Major concerns slowing
down deployment are lack of billing and implementation of ip-multicasting,
insecurity over rights issues, and sustaining revenue models. In light
of these challenges, it's apparent enterprise and select entertainment
sites are making a go with it, enough to sustain their businesses and
grow at a modest rate.
Interesting to watch - is the growth of subscription based entertainment
services, in particular Real One with 600,000 consumers paying about $
9.95 a month, and with CNN and ABC also offering their news and others
special interest offering independent at about $ 5.00 per month.
There is a lot of talk about the deployment of webcasting over mobile
environments and the interest is from the carriers. What hasn't been determined
is the exact business models that will enable webcasting over wireless
or mobile environments, because it is too soon to tell.
However, if morpheus, kazaa and other p2p downloading systems are an indicator,
people will demand access to content, the same way. The challenge for
carriers and mobile streaming services is to make it as easy to use and
have the same selection as the illegal downloading sites. If that can
happen, convenience, ease of use, selection, and micropayments - the market
will evolve in a robust manner whether music, movies, games or sending
photos of your friends. But, if one of these elements is delayed, it will
be a challenge for the growth of webcasting over mobile and wireless environments."
http://www.webcasters.org
http://www.intervox.com
ntl:home
ntl:home is the residential division of the UK's largest cable company
and offers digital TV, telephony and internet services to 2.84 million
customers and pass 9 million homes. ntl:home have 845,000 internet customers
and lead the UK broadband internet market with over 200,000 customers.
6 million homes are now broadband ready.
Chris Bunyan, Head of Internet Services, Content:
- Content relationships are assuming increasing importance for BSPs (Broadband
Service Provider). - There are strong synergies for BSPs and content companies
in working together.
- The Building and Differentiating Phases are merging - as the market
picks up this process will increase.
- Broadband content companies should begin building relationships with
distribution and marketing partners well before the market hits one million
broadband customers.
http://www.ntl.com
ichoose.TV has a carriage agreement with NTL to be on their broadband
Internet service. ichoose.TV is a free, independent, Internet television
network, allowing you to watch what you want, when you want, at the click
of a mouse. As well as offering a broad range of programming to viewers
who are fed up with conventional TV programming schedules, ichoose.TV
produces original and exclusive content using new technology to customise
programmes. You can use their video-on-demand service for music, short
films, reviews, sports, news, animation, games, information, comedy, alternative
comedy, fashion, the natural world and more.
http://www.ichoose.tv
B) TV meets the Web
http://www.tvmeetstheweb.com
Submarine
Presented by Femke Wolting, Founder.
Submarine was founded in 2000. With Submarine Femke Wolting produced various
cross-media productions such as www.12x12.nl, a youth program on television
and Internet, and documentaries for Dutch national broadcasting networks
such as MTV Voorbij, a documentary about the art of music videos. From
1995-1999, she was staff member of VPRO-Digital, a research department
focusing on the effect of information and communication technology on
production, distribution and consumption of media within the context of
a Dutch public broadcasting organisation.
SubmarineChannel.com is an online channel for and about digital media
culture in its broadest sense. From design to Internet, from short digital
films to animations and interactive graphic novels, SubmarineChannel.com
provides a showcase for formats targeted at a young, critical audience
with a global perspective.
http://www.SubmarineChannel.com
BBC
The UK is probably the most advanced iTV market in Europe. Frank Boyd,
as Director of Creative Services in the BBC's Innovation and Learning
Department, is watching its development closely: "I think that the overall
rate of growth in uptake for digital will slow down slightly. There will
be a steady but not spectacular growth in the number of broadband-to-PC
subscribers, although PC usage in the home is probably already near maximum
penetration. I suspect that British Telecom may cut the cost of domestic
ADSL subscriptions in the next few months. The early adopters of digital
TV (DTV) also have, by and large, already adopted. It's hard to see what
new applications will attract more subscribers unless there is a very
significant demand for the free to air channels. I doubt that even the
launch of the new BBC services will offset the cost of upgrading or replacing
analogue sets for many of the consumers who have not already converted
to digital.
The BBC is in a unique position (and has a unique obligation) to develop
services across all digital platforms because of its funding and because
it has a mandate from government to develop digital services. The signs
are that the organisation will maintain its reputation as a quality producer
of content across a wide range of platforms and that it has a pretty good
understanding of a mediascape that continues to change rapidly and radically.
It has developed one of the most successful websites in Europe, it has
pioneered innovative programmes and applications for interactive television
and is rolling out a pretty convincing slate of new services on digital
platforms. It is altering one of its key mission statements from 'inform,
educate and entertain' to 'inform, educate, entertain, connect'.
http://www.bbc.co.uk
Windows Media Platform 'Corona'
Presented by Erik Huggers, European Business Manager for the Microsoft
Windows Digital Media Division.
"Corona" improves Internet streaming by introducing Fast Stream, which
gives an instant-on, always-on experience, bringing home-theater-like
audio and video quality to broadband PC users.
The new WMA Professional codec enables Web-based delivery of 6-channel
surround sound with full-spectrum, full resolution audio (24 bit / 96
kHz sampling). A new version of the Windows Media Video (WMV) codec provides
a 20% efficiency boost compared with the previous version and now introduces
the ability to provide HDTV-like video quality at file sizes half that
of today's DVDs, for local playback on the PC.
'Corona' beta version in 2002, commercial version beginning 2003. More
at:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/thirdgen/default.asp
Sonaris supports IWA - the International Webcasting Association http://www.webcasters.org - http://www.webcasters.org.uk |
Who owns digital property?
The IPR-Helpdesk
The IPR-Helpdesk was launched in 1998 as a European Commission pilot project
aiming to assist potential and current contractors taking part in Community
funded research and development projects with IPR issues. The Commission
subcontracted this activity to an external entity for a three-year period,
ending in August 2001.
The IPR-Helpdesk is now providing services once more, this time under
a different contractual form with the Commission. The new project started
officially on 1st January 2002.
The Consortium now running the IPR-Helpdesk decided to enhance its services
by, among other things, creating a new website. The website will be progressively
developed and completely operational by the end of June 2002. The Consortium
running the project is made up of the following partners: Universidad
de Alicante (Coordinator) and Universidad de Alicante, Queen Mary & Westfield
College, Facultés Universitaires Notre Dame de la Paix, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität
(Content providers).
http://www.ipr-helpdesk.org
Internet2 is a consortium being led by over
190 universities working in partnership with industry and government to
develop and deploy advanced network applications and technologies, accelerating
the creation of tomorrow's Internet. Internet2 is recreating the partnership
among academia, industry and government that fostered today's Internet
in its infancy. The primary goals of Internet2 are to:
a) Create a leading edge network capability for the national research
community
b) Enable revolutionary Internet applications
c) Ensure the rapid transfer of new network services and applications
to the broader Internet community.
Internet2 Newswire:
New Intercontinental Internet Performance Records Set in Internet2 Land
Speed Record Competition
Washington, DC-May 7, 2002 - An international team set a new record for
Internet performance by transferring the equivalent of an entire compact
disc's contents across more than 7608 miles (12,272 km) of network in
13 seconds. The rate of 401 megabits per second achieved in transferring
625 megabytes of data from Fairbanks, Alaska to Amsterdam in the Netherlands
is over 8,000 times greater than the fastest dial-up modem.
http://www.internet2.edu