Television is going through major changes in the ways in which news is collected, transmitted and received. Consumers increasingly want more online, on-demand services, last week’s NewsXchange media industry conference in Amsterdam heard. The old-style, prime-time evening news may not yet be dead, but news on demand is taking over. Rapid take-up of broadband means that growing numbers of people will watch the news on computer screens. News providers are also increasingly reversioning content for mobile phones.

End of appointment TV

US media industry consultant Merrill Brown said that in the US, technology-savvy young people are no longer wedded to traditional news outlets or even accessing news in traditional ways. In spring 2005, Mr Brown wrote a Carnegie Foundation report called Abandoning the News.

“It’s pretty hard to predict what news consumption will look like in 2010, but there’s no chance that people who are today 18-34 will consume the news through anything rather than digital devices,” he said.

“They’re going to want it in their pockets, in their desktops, in their cars, and in a growing range of consumer products.”

Rather than watching TV news bulletins at scheduled times, more and more people are turning to live streaming news or video on demand of latest bulletins via their PC. Some European broadcasters such as the BBC have been offering these options for some time. But they are only now gaining ground in the US, as channels like CBS move to a digital, online strategy. However, traditional scheduled news summaries will still attract “significant numbers of eyeballs”, said Mr Brown. The content of news delivered to portable devices, meanwhile, is being transformed into a snappier “made for mobile” style.

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Buffering … buffering … buffering.

Seeing these words blinking at the bottom of the postage-stamp-size screen during a download of jerky video defines the annoying experience of entertainment on a computer monitor.

However, the potential of new streaming video services — fast, full screen and in sharp resolution — is unleashing a torrent of movies and television shows, much of it aimed at narrowly defined audiences that can’t find niche programming even on cable systems with 500 or more channels.

The Independent Film Channel is streaming 22 short films called “Trapped in the Closet” by the R&B recording artist R. Kelly. The Jewish Television Network, a nonprofit television production and distribution company, is streaming music videos by Jewish performers, cooking shows and Israeli news programs. The network is also planning to stream religious services during the High Holy Days in September, the sort of broadcast that would be hard to find on mainstream television.

“There is extreme interest in streaming because it simplifies the process of getting video to the consumer,” said Ross Rubin, the director of industry analysis for the NPD Group, a market analysis company.

Streaming video, unlike downloads, never resides on a viewer’s computer. It usually cannot be replayed as a downloaded file can be, which is another reason that content creators like it.

The growing use and popularity of streaming among consumers are closely tied to the increasing popularity of broadband Internet connections in homes. The Pew Internet & American Life Project estimated that 47 percent of American households have broadband connections that make streaming possible because it transmits data faster. (more…)

The apprentice to the Murdoch family business scored one of his biggest coups to date on Tuesday when BSkyB announced an agreed takeover of Amstrad, the company founded and owned by Sir Alan Sugar.

If approved by Amstrad’s other shareholders, the £125m deal will see James Murdoch, son and presumed heir of his father Rupert’s News Corp realm, subsume the pioneering electronic goods supplier into his £12bn media company.

Sir Alan, who through his holding company stands to gain around £35m, said he was looking forward to “continuing to play a part” in the business.

However, he appeared to sound a valedictory note in a BBC interview shortly after the deal was announced. “I turn 60 this year and I have had 40 years of hustling in this business. Now I have to start thinking about my team of loyal staff, many of whom have been with me for many years.”

Amstrad shareholders will receive 150p a share under the offer, which is being formally made by Sky Digital Supplies, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BSkyB.

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Petit frère du site américain CNETTV.com, ce site français offre depuis hier une quinzaine d’émissions hebdomadaires accessibles en ligne. Sept univers, qui correspondent plus ou moins aux titres des différents sites agrégés par CNET Networks France (3,7 millions de visiteurs uniques par mois), sont mis en avant : automobile, business, cinéma, cuisine, jeux, musique et technologie.

La filiale française, qui édite les sites ZDNet.fr, news.fr, gamekult.com ou encore goosto.fr, a monté cette web télé avec une quinzaine de jeunes journalistes maison. Un studio a été construit pour produire 70 % des contenus. CNET est en contact avec des chaînes satellites et différentes maisons de production dans le but d’intégrer de nouveaux programmes. Le site travaille d’ores et déj� avec Luxe TV et 3e oeil Production, qui produira un cours de poker avec le champion Bruno Fitoussi.

Entièrement gratuit, le site doit se rémunérer avec de la publicité et du sponsoring, et prévoit d’être rentable dès la première année. Les internautes pourront intégrer des vidéos venant de CNETTV.fr sur leur blog et sur leur téléphone mobile, � un format adapté.

http://www.cnettv.fr

La Commission européenne a lancé vendredi sur le site américain de partage de vidéos YouTube sa propre chaîne thématique, baptisée EU Tube, pour mieux informer les citoyens des actions de l’UE.

“Il est très important que la Commission utilise tous les moyens qui sont � sa disposition lorsqu’il s’agit de communiquer avec les citoyens européens”, a expliqué la commissaire � la Communication Margot Wallström dans un communiqué.

“Nous ne pouvons ignorer l’évolution intervenue sur Internet ces dernières années, en particulier la popularité des sites de partage de vidéos tels que YouTube”, a-t-elle ajouté. (more…)

It was the year people had been waiting for in network news.

Finally things were going to change in a medium where so much seemed so constant — the format, the style, and for the previous two decades the faces of the anchors. Even the erosion of the audience was steady, roughly a million fewer viewers of nightly news a year.

This year, 2006, was expected to be different. One network hoped to create a new format of two young anchors, one in the field and one on the set — a dashing young man and a beautiful young mother — an arrangement conceived in part for demographics and in part for moving the news online.

Another network said it planned to rethink the evening newscast, to bring arguably the biggest name in the business from the morning and to shake up the content and the audience of evening news.

The medium’s long-time leader, meanwhile, seemed possibly vulnerable, losing its biggest star in the morning, and banking on continuity, not change, in the evening.

Two things seemed most likely to occur. With all the new attention, promotion and innovation, the audience for network news might suddenly begin to grow again. Or there might suddenly be more loss. When the past generation of respected anchors left their chairs, would the largely older audience decide they didn’t like the new faces and new styles and drop away? Change could revive the networks. It could also hasten their decline. (more…)

The following brief article answers some of the key questions readers may have about the IPTV market and technologies.

What is IPTV?

IPTV is about providing high-quality multi-channel television and streamed/downloadable video, all delivered via the web’s IP protocols and displayed on the TV set in your living room.

IPTV is currently provided by telcos around the world.

Research suggests that although there are barely 2.5 million IPTV subscribers globally today, there will be around 25 million by 2010.

The ability to pipe TV content over broadband has the potential to turn the broadcasting, film, advertising, telecoms and cable industries upside down. It’s extremely disruptive technology.

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IPTV is moving rapidly towards mass-market adoption. The involvement of incumbent telecoms operators in most major markets by 2007 (France, Spain, Italy, UK, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, for example) will provide the marketing, word-of-mouth and - for the many conservative-minded television viewers yet to switch to digital TV - the credibility that could boost the market for all IPTV providers.

Several early IPTV deployments are now reaching subscriber figures where they must be taken seriously, including Telefonica in Spain, which has over 200,000 subscribers for its Imagenio television service (launched commercially November 2004). The Spanish company is predicting one million customers by 2008. France Telecom (launched December 2003) doubled its customer count during 2005, ending the year with 200,000 subscribers for its MaLigne TV service too.

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