DTV isn't just for TV anymore..........................
tvbroadcast.com
How Quickly Will Television Take to the Web?
By Monsong Chen, Ph.D.
President
InfoValue Computing Inc.
(July 23, 1999) When the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandated that the television industry would have to switch from analog to digital broadcasting, and provided a timeline for the transformation, Reed Hundt, then FCC chairman, justified the decision by saying, "Analog broadcasting is a dead medium."
Although digital television (DTV) has been hailed as the biggest leap forward in TV technology since the advent of color, even small market stations are recognizing that DTV alone will not ensure their success. The new digital format is the key to PC/TV desktop convergence, but it is the integration of DTV and broadband Internet computing that provides the vital link for digital video content delivery over any network, including broadcast and cable networks, local area networks (LANs), and the Internet.
To meet the growing traffic demands of streaming video over the Internet, business-quality Internet service providers (ISPs) like AT&T CERFnet have upgraded their backbones and are committed to maintaining a sustained utilization rate of about 50 percent. AT&T CERFnet backs its content delivery claims by offering service level agreements (SLAs) that include a 99.9 percent network availability, an average network latency of 80 milliseconds, and an average packet loss of less than one percent.
Improvements have also been made at the end-user level. High-speed cable and xDSL modems have matured and are being deployed to provide last-mile connectivity to PC users. Television viewers receive the same digital signals with today's technically advanced set-top boxes.
New Opportunities for Generating Profits
With the ability to provide communications between the virtual world and the real world, television stations and cable companies can offer a whole new spectrum of lucrative services for education, entertainment and electronic commerce, as well as applications that require interactivity and the ability to deliver multi-program, multi-channel content.
There have already been a number of notable success stories that illustrate these new opportunities. Companies like Solomon Smith Barney and Merrill-Lynch regularly stream CNN to brokers' desktops to ensure that they are constantly in touch with activities that can impact their business. In many instances, the brokers have a number of viewing windows open so they can follow business and industry trends as well as global market activities.
Wal-Mart has multicast the live concerts of Garth Brooks and others to their stores for the enjoyment of hundreds of thousands of patrons. Millions of people watched the Clinton impeachment hearings, Princess Diana's funeral, the John Glenn Shuttle video feeds, and Victoria Secret's lingerie show from their PCs. In addition, millions of people have interactively enjoyed the Emmys, the Oscars, and live concerts.
With each Webcast, new records for viewer participation are set, confirming a ready market for DTV over the Internet.
If delivery to PC viewers isn't a priority, consider the enhanced, interactive viewing that can be provided to TV viewers. TV stations and cable operations around the country are beginning to experiment with open-platform video server software that enables them to simultaneously broadcast and record live events. This gives viewers the option of using the station's menu and video-on-demand capabilities to replay all or part of any entertainment or education program that was missed.
Integrating DTV with the Internet
Because viewers will expect the same high-quality with digital TV that they have enjoyed with analog broadcasting, station managers should evaluate their options carefully when choosing a broadband video solution. Real-time streaming, such as a live video feed, is very sensitive to network latency, and any delay or interruption will cause a loss in quality and content. A dedicated video server that has been optimized to keep files moving smoothly for concurrent viewing by multiple viewers will eliminate these problems.
To optimize the many opportunities that are available through the convergence of DTV and broadband bandwidth--while minimizing equipment, software and integration costs--select a scaleable system with an open architecture. An open architecture not only ensures full compatibility with cable, teleco, and ISP industry standards, it protects the station's investments in client/server technology, applications, and integration with existing legacy systems.
Deploying different proprietary solutions for each video-streaming application required won't offer this protection. Nor will it ensure interoperability between the existing applications or applications that are added in the future.
Return-on-Investment
Now that DTV/Internet integration and delivery problems have been addressed, the overriding question for most station managers is where will the revenue come from in this new environment?
E-commerce, advertising and pay-per-view (from advertisers and viewers) offer excellent possibilities. By adding streaming media services to standard definition TV broadcasters can provide advertisers with a new platform to entice viewers to become "involved" with commercials interactively.
According to industry analysts at Forrester Research, the new digital environment will enable broadcasters to offer a greater number of "avails." This will give broadcasters the opportunity to boost their advertising revenues while giving advertisers what they have been increasingly demanding--accountability.
With the modular video-enabling solutions that are available today, small market networks can offer their advertisers (and viewers) the same features and benefits of DTV over the Internet that the major network affiliates provide. These open, scaleable systems enable the flexibility of starting with a basic video server and adding applications incrementally until you have a complete solution that fully integrates all of the major video streaming applications: video-on-demand, multicasting, Internet/intraweb management, and video archiving.
The Internet has become so powerful that any company that doesn't have a website is conspicuous by its absence. Unlike the mandate to switch to digital broadcasting, TV stations and cable companies don't have to take their television programming to the Web, but is it a gamble you want to take?
|
