Just for kicks, we drove over the meadow and through the desert to Fort McDowell Casino to see a large group of game show wanna-bes try out for Jeopardy. (Side note: with the FBR Open in town, it's hard to get from here to there). I was heartened by everyone's enthusiasm and dreams of being declared a winner after Final Jeopardy. Day one was test day, and the top finishers in that portion are invited back to play the game after which a few lucky folks get to go on the game.

In 1984, I was on Jeopardy. Yep, check the video archives of Game Show Network if you don't believe me. How'd I do? That's a story for another day. One thing I will say, Alex is no Art Fleming.

What’s there to say about CES—it’s exhausting, exhilarating, a pain in the ass and there’s a lot of waiting in lines. My feet hurt, but I saw the immediate future of the media-technology world. It’s a world going in opposite directions. We are looking to connect everything together and we’re looking as having the freedom to roam. We want portability but we want to have all our gadgets and gizmos connected to alow us to play anything, anytime, where.

This “clip” is long, but has lots of cool stuff inside. Enjoy.

In today's installment, we go over Allen's run-ins with YouTube regarding his postings to the site. Before listening, note that ALL OF ALLEN'S FOOTAGE USED IN THE VIDEOS WAS PERSONALLY SHOT BY ALLEN WITH A STANDARD VIDEO CAMERA AVAILABLE IN VIRTUALLY ANY CONSUMER ELECTRONICS STORE. This was not video captured via TV-tuner card or stream ripper. The video was edited using standard editing tools available in many general-purpose consumer software packages.

After listening to Mike and Allen's drivel, consider the following: Will media companies and major "entertainment" brands e.g. Major League Baseball ever fully leverage the explosion in consumer-generated content and commentary if they continue to rely on extending copyright laws created for an analog era?

Respectfully, we say NO!

 

NBC is stepping up to show its ability to peer into the future. The Peacock Network is offering free Apple iTunes downloads of the pilot episode of “Conviction,” a new show from Emmy-winner Dick Wolf, set to debut on March 3^rd. Given the ratings success NBC has had for “The Office” by selling downloads, this move is a logical progression of its future digital strategy.

 

When incumbent media companies team up with smart partners (such as Apple) the net result is powerful.

In today's installment, Allen and Mike 'cast about the evolving online video market -- a subject we'll be returning to regularly.  For today, we'll focus on Apple's iTunes vs. Google's online video offering. Will consumer-created content be a deciding factor in who owns the online video market?

Here’s some more footage from the various halls at CES. Focus areas are portable media players, offshore electronics and other cool gadgets.

Today, Allen and Mike return from the holdiday weekend after  extended travels to places like Phoenix Muni and the western suburbs of Chicago (Mike, that is).  What do we have to talk about? TV over the Web which is different than IPTV. Yes, yes it is different. 

Listen and see what we mean.

 

 

 

I admit I just don’t get this deal between Comcast and the networks. From my I can tell, the deal allows users to download recently aired programs for 99 cents. Is that right? Who is the target market…folks who cannot properly operate their digital video recorders? As a sample of one, I cannot think of a single program in my rotation (Miami CSI, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Vacation Challenge…) that I watch live. If I had to pay 99 cents per show to watch it the next day versus time-shifting it on my DVR, I’d hook up my old VCR and buy a bunch of blank VHS tapes from Radio Shack ®

 

The other point of confusion—can you download these shows on your PC? Everything I have read says no, but in watching CNN an hour ago, the network implied/inferred you could download the shows to your PC and maybe even put them on your iPod. I must have misunderstood.

 

Either the messaging here is bad, or I totally miss the point here. Can someone explain?

From 1980-1987, I had the dream job of writing a weekly sports broadcasting column at The Everett Herald. In addition to taking potshots at local sportscasting figures, I also had the privilege of interviewing some of the top national sportscatsers (as well as up and comers such as Bob Costas and Chris Berman). Among the nicest and most professional of the big guys was Chris Schenkel, a classy ABC sports stalwart. I remember speaking with him on the phone for an hour from his home in Indiana. Schenkel was an icon from the ABC Wide World of Sports days and an era without slomotion instant replays and myriad camera angles. It was an era when economy of language that bristled with insight was far more important that hubbub about team squabbles and police blotter activities. Schenkel will be missed.

In the midst of the plight facing our nation, I found great humor in the Fall Preview issue of everyone’s favorite TV weekly. I hung up the keyboard as a newspaper TV critic more than 15 years ago, but I watch with great amusement as the roster of new shows makes its way to the consumer each Fall. This year is a special one. No, not in programming, but in the rapid countdown to oblivion facing commercial TV, and the end of a business that perpetuates itself with planned obsolescence.

 

As I leaf through the guide, I note the return of Angie Harmon and Holly Robinson Peete. Both are/were married to pro football players, now well past their prime. The football players, that is. I never was clear why Harmon left “Law and Order,” but she’s back and NBC has her. Peete is on UPN on a show about wingwomen. Seriously. Those are women who take guys out on dates in an effort for them (the guys, that is) to meet other women. Difficult to explain, but I did see wingwomen as a theme on a “CSI Miami” episode. TV can be educational.

 

Michael Rappaport who was in a bunch of Woody Allen movies and the underrated film, “Beautiful Girls,” as well as “Cop Land,” is in a show called “The War at Home.” Bow wow. There’s also a show called “Kitchen Confidential,” based on the book of the same name. The book was written by Anthony Bourdain (a fav in our house) of Food TV and Travel Channel fame. Sadly, the show is a wobbler, probably only marginally better than Emeril’s ill-fated sitcom.

 

Neil Patrick Harris, who was a teen star as “Doogie Howser” has a new sitcom called “How I Met Your Mother.” Harris, who was outstanding in “Harold and Kumar go to White Castle”, seemed destined for more outrageous things than a tame comedy. His former Doogie Howser co-star Max Casella was brave enough to step out and take a role on “Sopranos” as a murderous sidekick to Paulie Walnuts. (as well as Tony’s latest driver).

 

Personally, I am rooting for a new show called “Out of Practice.” It’s on CBS at 9:30 p.m. on Monday (I think that makes it a lead-in to “CSI: Miami”). It stars Henry Winkler who not only is funny, but one of the most level-headed, self-effacing talents in Hollywood. And how can you not love his role as Coach Klein in “Waterboy?” I am hoping he has a hit on his hands.

 

But what did I know? I panned “Cheers” as the worst TV show on NBC the year it launched. You never can tell.

Sorry for the delay, folks.

In this installment, Allen and Mike expound upon the future of sports TV programming with the ESPN-COMCAST hook-up for hockey games as a discussion point. We follow that up with some chatter on Yahoo Music's (mostly) permanent low-low pricing for music subscriptions; and finally we go after the Oakland A's. We use the adjective "short-sighted" a lot in that last entry.

In today's episode, Allen and Mike admit that the past few days worth of news in the media world have left them slack-jawed at the speed with which world of TV is morphing.

I have mixed feelings over TV Guide’s reinvention. Even though I have not read TV guide in a few years, I have to admit: I used to collect TV Guides.

 

It started out in the mid-‘70s when I just kept them, and then I answered an ad in Broadcasting magazine and purchased some other darned fool's collection. The collection dated back to issue No. 1, but was not complete. I drive to Maryland to buy them for a few hundred bucks, and the collector had them strewn about his house in bags and boxes. Unlike the collection of Gourmet magazines I bought a few years prior, at least these didn’t smell from mildew.

 

I lugged these boxes of TV Guides around the country (east to west to southwest to west to southwest) for countless moves. Honestly, I rarely dove into the boxes to relive history or sneak a peek at some precious pop culture moment. They were, until move number 30, when I honed the collection down to the “Fall Season Premiere” issues and a few assorted others, dead weight. People have asked me over the years what they are worth…I am not sure, but not very much. Occasionally, I will look on eBay to see if anyone else collects TV Guides, and generally they are few and far between.

 

So, who else collects these magazines? Well, there’s (fictional) Frank Costanza, who is still upset that Elaine took his copy of the TV Guide with Al Roker on the cover. If he needs a spare, I might have one.

At long last, the hiatus is over. Allen's back from vacation.

In today's MADCAST, Allen and Mike engage in rampant speculation regarding NewsCorp's future after its purchase of Intermix and the company's announcement of an Internet division to handle online business for its sports, news and entertainment properties.

Why it seems like just yesterday that we were reading about Rupert Murdoch telling his fellow captains of the media industry and the Internet was changing everything...

 

To absolutely nobody's surprise, it appears that the MPAA  is refusing to drop the cudgel, to give up the ghost as it were, in its efforts to force the broadcast flag on CE manufacturers and consumers.

So I guess we'll continue to get more and more litigation and legislation and less and less innovation.

Sigh.

 

Well, I guess somebody had to stand up for TV's really old market-release windows.  Bless the MPAA.

Perhaps paying attorneys to chase down these nefarious file-traders really is cheaper than figuring out a quick way to get this TV content to foreign markets in less than 8 months after it is originally broadcast. 

Perhaps, but I really doubt it. 

Then again, maybe this is just a smoke-screen and the networks are really trying to figure out a way to take advantage of P2P technologies to create low-cost, high-velocity distribution networks that can be monetized.

Perhaps.

Looks like networks and content providers can't rely on the FCC to force hardware manufacturers to include software (the "broadcast flag") preventing what content providers deem to be illegal "copying" and "redistribution" of digital TV content.

Anybody for developing new business models? Anybody for innovation over litigation?

What will the radio market look like over the next few years? Can anyone be a radio star?

Also, we ponder why we haven't heard anything on the Podcasting front from Mark Cuban, founder of broadcasting.com.

And, as an extra bonus, we sing the theme to "Have Gun Will Travel."

Note: We're working on a theme song--well, more of an intro--for show.

 

I was just reading about a drama being produced for BBC-One called ‘The Girl in the Café.” It was written by Richard Curtis, the screenwriter for “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Love Actually”, “Notting Hill” and (I think) “Bridget Jones.” The show will air this summer as part of BBC’s celebration of African culture.

 

In the U.S., we cannot get BBC-One; we do get BBC America, but I tend to doubt it will air this program. On the other hand, with the sad state of sitcoms and other network fare, wouldn’t American audiences (who are fans of Curtis’ films) be eager to see this TV-movie? I would.

 

The answer? (You saw this one coming)—let me download the show on the Web. I’ll even pay for it. Given the difference in TV formats (PAL vs. NTSC), downloading the file makes sense.

 

Anyone listening?

It's not that Moviebeam was not a good idea. The growing trend of offering TV and video content over the Web is a far better idea and far more efficient.

Mike and I talk about Infinity's plans plus the impact of some new distribution models on content creators. Are we all going to be the next round of Dot.Com millionaires or just a bunch of pretty faces (and voices)?

Plus, is it true consumers are starting to realize network sitcoms are...well...not that good?

I am reading a lot about Major League Baseball’s lumbering plans to offer blogs (not sure if they will be by fans or players) and how the NFL is shifting gears to become more fan friendly on the Web, but the revolution will start in the minor leagues.

 

If you follow Minor League Baseball (and most people have better things to do), you already know it’s an exploding market. Yes, it has consolidated, but 20 years ago there were far too many teams, and now it’s down to a manageable two or three leagues in each division (Low A, High A, AA, AAA and Independent). There are three or four new sponsored stadiums/palaces being built each year in each league and there are serious owners spending serious money to draw fans looking for good entertainment at a fair price.

 

Minor League Baseball is the perfect place for the digital revolution to start. Every baseball fan wants to hear about future stars, especially if they are players on the way to help their team. And every team wants to build a base beyond their market to make their teams/stadiums a draw for baseball-hungry travelers. Check out the baseball fan blogs—many are devoted to minor league teams.

 

Each minor league team should have its games broadcast on the Web and offer a blogosphere for fans to put up stories, pictures and video. Any revenue they may think they will lose will be made up on merchandise sales. Baseball America, the bible for baseball nuts (like me) has a story in each issue about the painstaking care minor league teams take in crafting new logos and designing hats, t-shirts, etc..

 

This summer, I hope to have video from at least a few minor league games. I wish it were more; some summer, my wife and I will hop in an RV and cruise the country seeing as many minor league games as possible. and posting video, of course.

So, I am walking back to my hotel when I stumble upon a “news event.” Some folks from a new company—“I Know”—are handing out souvenir coins on Avenue of the Americas at 48^th St. Given the age and high-tech demeanor of the group, my hunch is it’s some sort of new Web content business. They plan on launching next week, and were excited that a random videoblogger (me) was anxious to shoot some footage of them (as well as ask questions).

 

The coin is cool and bears the slogan—“This coin is the key.” The website is up with some teaser material; it might not be totally live until next week. Check back.

 

 

I am a sometimes fan of CNET and its News.Com site. Back in the Dot.com heyday, when I lived in the Bay Area, I used to be a periodic guest on some of their TV shows. I like Richard Hart, ex of KRON and a number of how-to videos sponsored by Esquire we used to sell at our video store in Seattle.

 

Anyway, News.com has this wiki that asks people to add their comments about the future of TV. Yikes, everyone’s on board predicting its demise. And here I thought Mike and I were just being curmudgeons.

Along with a lot of people talking about the future of TV news, there are some people actually illustrating the de-politicization of the news process. To see the future of TV news, check out the Full Disclosure Network.