As TV Networks Use Web, Affiliates Seek Piece of the ActionIt's the Wall Street Journal's subscription site, but worth reading. A similar article recently appeared in the New York Times (also a subscription site). They both cite a new company called Decisionmark. A segment from the NYT article:
"Under federal law, a subscriber to EchoStar's Dish Network in Decisionmark's hometown, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for example, can receive network affiliates only from that area, because, after all, those stations own the regional rights to the networks' programming, sell advertisements against them and promote them within their own programs, such as local newscasts.
Jack Perry, the chief executive of Decisionmark, has come up with a way to limit the geographic reach of broadcast signals online, too. It is roughly similar to the way satellite companies determine where you live: by credit card billing address, although Mr. Perry adds that he can also limit a computer's access to a signal based on its Internet Protocol, or IP, address."
The impact of this on publishing and production methods is profound. If local stations web sites end up delivering national shows to their local audiences, will they also be inclinded to (fund and) deliver local productions as well?
Furthermore, these new opportunities require delivery methods beyond the current mpeg2 feed to local transmission towers and cable head-ends. How will local stations transcode and stitch on advertising to the shows they deliver?
1 comment:
Long-time listener, first-time caller. Happy to see you post about this. This technology is unbelievable, and it's too bad that CBS isn't embracing their local affiliates. There are plenty of potential social ramifications from this -- the impact it will have if local affiliates are inevitably driven out -- but it doesn't even really make a whole lot of sense from a business standpoint, at least to me, not to help out your own local affiliate. As someone who watches the local news, and who would likely occasionally watch the local news from my hometown, I hope that CBS comes to its senses.
Post a Comment