Development of mobile DTV is moving slowly, and while I'm not ready to write it off, it's comforting to know that work on a Plan B is well underway. The Big Four networks and their affiliates are actively discussing live streaming of broadcast signals. Another incentive to begin streaming is Aereo and other startups that think they can stream broadcast signals without the permission of broadcasters and that's created a sense of urgency among station owners. It’s nice to know that if mobile DTV fails to launch, live streaming is there to keep broadcasting in the mobile game.
JESSELL AT LARGE
Live Streaming A Solid Backup To Mobile DTV
I’m not quite ready to write off mobile DTV. Proponents say they are still trying to pull together the pieces necessary to make broadcasting directly to smartphones and tablets possible and practical, but progress has been painfully slow and some have given up. It’s clearly time for Plan B.
If mobile DTV is, indeed, a bust, broadcasters will need an alternative way to get their linear signals to mobile devices — the screens of choice, or at least the screens of convenience, for a growing number of Americans.
Fortunately, work on Plan B is well underway.
The Big Four networks and their affiliates are actively discussing live streaming of broadcast signals via the Internet and wireless networks. The talks are mostly about copyrights. Before stations can stream their signals, they must secure the streaming rights of the networks as well as of syndicators and of any other owners of programming on their schedules.
Over the past few weeks, we have reported — exclusively, I might add — that ABC and CBS have taken significant steps toward live streaming. Earlier this year, Disney told the ABC affiliates that it wants to include them in the TV Everywhere services that it has been providing some satellite and cable operators.
TV Everywhere is live streaming. To keep subscribers happy, operators invite them to download an app that allows them to watch live streams of some of their favorite TV channels on their mobile devices. Disney has already cut TV everywhere deals for several channels, including ESPN and The Disney Channel.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
Disney will charge affiliates for the rights to offer TV everywhere with the understanding that they will be able to recover those fees and perhaps make a profit in selling the rights to the operators. It’s the basic retransmission consent model.
CBS, meanwhile, says that it has been experimenting with the Syncbak live streaming platform, which allows stations to live stream while restricting reception to their over-the-air market, a fundamental condition to all rights negotiations.
One of the heroes of the live streaming story so far is Jack Perry, the founder and CEO of Syncbak. He has not only created a streaming platform tailored to broadcasting, but he has also helped convince programmers — networks and syndicators — that their programming will be safe on the platform. “Our mantra here is to just get the content flowing and see what happens,” he says.
Dozens of stations are now on the platform, hoping to eventually secure the necessary programming rights. “We are excited about it,” says Hoak Media COO Rich Adams, a Syncbak acolyte. “We want to provide content to our customers, our advertisers, our viewers in any shape, form or fashion whenever possible.”
That ABC and CBS are out in front on live streaming is not surprising to me. Both have more or less ignored mobile DTV, damning it with their indifference.
On the other hand, NBC and Fox have invested considerable time, effort and money into developing mobile DTV. They have led the Mobile Content Venture coalition of major station groups that has been trying for three years now to get a service branded Dyle off the ground.
So, it is significant that they, too, are talking to their affiliates about live streaming. Jordon Wertlieb of Hearst Television and Steve Pruett of Sinclair Broadcast Group, heads of the NBC and Fox affiliate boards, respectively, tell me that discussions have been fruitful. “NBC has come to realize that doing it in partnership with the affiliates is the best way going forward,” Wertlieb says.
As I have argued here many times before, TV stations must get their signals out to mobile devices, one way or another. It’s a whole new world of TV receivers that should not be ignored. If in real estate, the mantra is “location, location, location,” then in broadcasting, it’s “ubiquity, ubiquity, ubiquity.”
The business models are clearer now. The ABC O&Os and affiliates will make money by charging cable and satellite operators that want to include the stations in their TV Everywhere packages. Stations on the Syncbak or similar platforms will profit from the bigger audience that mobile will deliver. This assumes that Nielsen makes good on its promise to measure the mobile viewership, of course.
Another incentive to begin streaming is Aereo and other startups that think they can stream broadcast signals without the permission of broadcasters or the rightsholders.
The broadcast networks have been playing a game of Whack-A-Mole, using the federal courts and copyright law to bop the online signal bandits just as quickly as they pop up.
But so far, the networks have not been able to make Aereo disappear. With unique technology and a different legal theory, the Barry Diller-backed startup has been able to continue streaming TV stations in New York and charging consumers $80 a year.
There is still a lot of lawyering left to go, but the fact that the courts just might give Aereo the green light has some broadcasters thinking the best place to beat Aereo and its ilk is in the marketplace.
“Aereo’s the gift that keeps on giving because it really has created some urgency,” says streaming evangelist Jack Perry.
Mobile DTV and station streaming are not mutually exclusive. And I can see how they would be complementary. Each has unique attributes that would make it appealing to broadcasters and consumers.
But it’s nice to know that if mobile DTV fails to launch, live streaming is there to keep broadcasting in the mobile game.
Harry A. Jessell is editor of TVNewsCheck. He can be contacted at 973-701-1067 or[email protected]. You can read earlier columns here.
Comments (11)
Yong-Chan Kim says:
March 15, 2013 at 3:49 pm
It is ironic for broadcasters to be thinking streaming when they have a non-congestible point-to-multipoint distribution network that will not be subject to the problems of a wireless industry that cannot keep up with the demand for video despite LTE and other innovation. Additionally, consumers will look for alternatives once data plan consumption charges start to kick in for cellular and Wi-Fi. Mobile DTV makes the broadcasters transmitter relevant again. It is a huge opportunity for an industry that has been left behind in many respects, but the rapid growth in smart devices and demand for video represents a significant expansion in potential viewing and an important new revenue stream.
Matthew Craft & David K. Randall says:
March 15, 2013 at 5:22 pm
I would agree with Tom and amplify his point: How can broadcasters successfully argue for protecting their spectrum turf if they plan to become big time users of wireless data? That’s the basis of the phone carriers and Consumer Electronics Association argument for commandeering broadcast spectrum in the first place!
Wanda LaCroix says:
March 15, 2013 at 5:50 pm
I agree with both. Why would broadcasters want to reach their viewing public via streaming? Haven’t they learned the lessons from Katrina, Sandy and other disasters when the only way to reach the viewing and listening public was “over
Ellen Samrock says:
March 15, 2013 at 7:48 pm
For the same reason radio stations are streaming their signal; to be where their audience is. But I would make my station’s programming (or at least some of it) available online if for no other reason than to be able to tell my clients that, ‘yes, we’re streaming our programming; yes. we have an iPad app and yes, we can embed your ad in the stream.’ Admittedly, most of our audience is older and I doubt many would be streaming our shows. But clients love the idea that they can reach eyeballs on many platforms. But given the high cost of installing mobile DTV, it’s out of reach for most small broadcasters like myself. And frankly, with the looming incentive auction and repack threat, many stations have frozen their capex spending. We certainly have. I know a lot of equipment manufacturers who are crying the blues or have left the industry because of the government-induced uncertainty surrounding TV broadcasting. If anything is going to kill mobile DTV, the government with its pro-wireless/anti-broadcaster policies will.
Wanda LaCroix says:
March 15, 2013 at 5:51 pm
the air”
Matthew Craft & David K. Randall says:
March 16, 2013 at 3:05 pm
To be clear, I think that broadcasters SHOULD offer their signal via streaming — but to AUGMENT Mobile DTV not replace it. The NAB needs to make mandatory inclusion of Mobile DTV chips in all mobile devices a condition of supporting spectrum auctions. They also need to educate the public and the carriers as to why the vastly more efficient one-to-many technology is in everyone’s best interest.
Eric Koepele says:
March 17, 2013 at 7:19 am
Agree with Arthur. The kicker is that mobile DTV doesn’t work technically. The industry realized shortly after implementing digital transmission that their new standard wasn’t robust enough to reach receivers on the move. Streaming can be an interim step that stymies Aereo and other providers of subscription broadband TV. The industry appears to be racing to create a new standard to overcome the mobile issue but it will take time to finalize and implement it. Mobile DTV will be an important alternative to broadband, which is subject to outages in periods of overuse during disasters and severe weather events. The public deserves and needs an alternative to broadband.
Blair Faulstich says:
March 18, 2013 at 10:13 am
I agree with Ms. Haley–what the industry needs is to be able to move to another modulation scheme. I didn’t say go hell-bent into another delivery scheme, but slowly transition. DVB-T2 is being demo’ed in Baltimore, as we speak, will take care of all the deficiencies inherent with the present mobile DTV system. The thing holding back innovation is the same thing holding broadcasters back from being relevant–our esteemed FCC. Until we are unshackled, we will be increasingly marginalized.
Bill Greep says:
March 18, 2013 at 2:23 pm
Arthur… well said. Streaming should be presented in conjunction with OTA mobile TV services. My issue is with mobile and the (2) groups trying to successfully launch their two products. My hope is that the NAB’s taking over the OMVC will soon results in a merge of the MCV (Dyle) and the 500 Alliance before it’s too late. GM’s considering flipping the mobile switch simply do not know which way to go and the truth is that both systems have advantages. If mobile can get it’s act together and a the networks move to TV Everywhere offerings for affiliates, then I have a bullish fealing towards tv’s future. And additional re-trans revenue will help as well.
Christina Perez says:
March 18, 2013 at 4:59 pm
Harry: Think Occam’s Razor. The simplest, most economically efficient, elegant solution is to make full service ATSC-HD more robust — robust enough to be received on mobile devices without degrading picture quality. Toss overboard the purposely dumbed-down ATSC m/h in favor of an ATSC digital upgrade that is backwardly compatible, so that existing digital TVs are not rendered obsolete. An Occam’s Razor solution won’t please those who seek to turn broadcast TV into a pay medium — but in my book, they are traitors to the cause of universally available,and free, broadcast television. As I’ve stated here before, I bought one of those little hand-held full-ATSC digital sets over a year ago, and it works just fine — if the unit is kept stationery. In Europe, the existing standard tolerates movement. So don’t tell me that full ATSC can’t be upgraded, and quickly. The only thing standing in the way is GREED — a force that threatens to destroy what built American TV broadcasting, its ubiquity. If this industry could transition to color TV with a backwardly compatible standard, it can turn the same trick by making full ATSC, in all its HD glory, a robust mobile medium.
Stewart Huntington says:
March 22, 2013 at 9:53 am
Tablet TV is coming and will provide the ability to watch all ATSC TV channels plus PVR plus VOD on tablets. No streaming needed.