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Scenarios for the Future of Public Broadcasting
What Does Public Service Mean in the Multi-Choice Digital Age?
Channeling Public Interest Media:Reporting on the Public Broadcast System
Strategic investment scenarios
Sustaining investments Sustain the legacy business Best practices improvements Collaborations to lower costs and gain
scale
Strategic investment scenarios
Repositioning investments Often disruptive innovations (à la Clayton
Christensen) Reposition in new directions consistent
with original mission
Über trends in electronic media
Digitization Personalization Democratization
Über trends: digitization
Content meets mathematics Noiseless generations for production &
distribution Metadata – data about data
Find, manipulate and distribute content with great granularity and flexibility
Repurpose content Extend the life and value of media assets
Search
Über trends: personalization
Content meets self-organization Tagging (‘folksonomies’) XML syndication (RSS, Atom) Attention (metadata that tracks to what
people are paying attention)
Example: Tagging at flickr
Tags / norway
Sample photos from the RSS feed of the tag ‘norway’ from flickr.com
Example: RSS Really Simple Syndication (better: Really
Simple Subscriptions) It’s very easy to implement. It aggregates in one place what’s new in
web content to which you subscribe. Combined with personalization, it will
provide a powerful distribution platform for pubcasters (or, a powerful competitor).
Open a Bloglines.com account and try it.
Über Trends: democratization
Content freed from gatekeepers Inexpensive but powerful production
tools Low barriers to effective distribution Search and referral substitutes for
marketing
Example: Podcasting Works with any portable media players,
PCs, Macs, and most news aggregators. Means adding an enclosure to an RSS 2.0
item (can be a link to any file: MP3, WMV, etc.).
Specialized aggregators can automatically sync your files with the player.
Implications for how we do journalism and production.
The “long tail” meme From Wired Editor in Chief Chris
Anderson “The future of entertainment is in the
millions of niche markets at the shallow end of the bitstream.”
Real time is hits oriented. For non-real time long-tail distribution, success can come with much smaller numbers.
The “long tail” meme
Amazon, iTunes, Netflix, et al. have much larger inventories than corre-sponding brick-and-mortar stores. The average record store has 40,000
tracks, but Rhapsody has 735,000. “The average Barnes & Noble carries
130,000 titles...[, but] more than half of Amazon’s book sales come from outside its top 130,000 titles.
The “long tail” meme
Broadcasters must adapt to
A multi-platform future A multi-choice future
A multi-platform future
We’re evolving from distribution over one platform to distribution over multiple platforms: Over-the-air transmitters Internet and broadband Cable and satellite Physical media Mobile and portable devices
From Dave MacCarn, WGBH
A multi-choice future The number of “channels” through which
users will be able to access our content will continue to grow.
Increasingly, users want control over when and where they use our content.
Increasingly, users want choice and personalization.
Successful public broadcasters are morphing into digital libraries.
From Dave MacCarn, WGBH
The new media divide People are taking control over their
media usage. “My time” (non-real time) is the fastest
growing segment of media usage. “I want what I want, when I want it, the
way I want it.” So it’s less and less audio vs. video or
print vs. electronic, it’s ... Real-time vs. “my time.”
Who does “my time” serve?
People who have already left linear programming for other reasons: Career Chores Community Family
People who can’t get enough of what they like on your stations.
CPB TV primetime study
PTV viewing was small in two segments compatible with PTV: “Innovative & Inclined” “Distracted & Unavailable”
Together, they are 26% of viewers: Limited free time Frequent users of technology Medium-to-high users of public radio
CPB TV primetime study
Real-time economics
For real-time broadcasting, distribution costs scale perfectly ($ for 1 = $ for 1,000,000), but time for content is dear.
Rewards AQH listening/viewing. Programmers are tacticians.
Programming strategy is finding hits and competing with other hit-programmers.
“My time” economics For “my time” distribution, costs scale
incrementally with use, but time for content is limited only by storage. Requires a business model to cover incremental
costs. Rewards cumulative access over time. Programmers are curators.
Make the “tail” lo-o-o-ong. Programming strategy is to make content
personalized and accessible.
Public Service Publisher A “my time,” “long tail” repositioning
initiative Public broadcasting stations and
independent producers Partnering with Open Media Network
for content distribution component To include citizen-supplied media Broadcasters can serve as enablers
for community public service content
Public Service Publisher Multi-platform content delivery from a
common user interface Internet
Free Subscription Pay per use
Cable VOD DTV broadcast data caching Physical media (DVD, CD)
Station-supplied Amazon, Netflix, et al.
Public Service Publisher
Users can access via portal or station affiliated pages
B2B services Station program guides Fair use recording
New revenue sources
Member benefits (more content, convenient times)
New audience revenue (relationship building, underwriting)
User compensation for access to niche, premium or hard-to-find programming
New revenue sources Assets in permanent distribution build
record of community value, important for tax-based, foundation and philanthropic funding
B2B revenues (rights to distribute, marketing content for derivative works)
Distribution services (datacasting, load balancing, “my time” traffic)
“Pull” urgencies
Opportunities: “My time” use growing rapidly. PBCore, broadband, off-the-shelf core
technologies are in place. Long-tail businesses are succeeding. Pubcasters and partners have great and
deep content assets. There is substantial interest in use of
“my time” electronic media by other public service organizations.
“Push” urgencies Threats:
Competition for pubcasters is coming from the for-profit sector.
It’s no longer a one-platform world. If we cling to one platform, we risk our mission.
XML-based syndication to portable devices is growing and presents a real “bypass” to linear programmers.
Barriers to entry are low. If we don’t do it, someone else will.
Contact information
Dennis L. Haarsager, Associate VP & GMEducational Telecommunications & TechnologyPO Box 642530Washington State UniversityPullman, WA 99164-22530
Contact info: www.haarsager.org/contactWeblog: www.technology360.comResources: www.technology360.org