| Home > Media > Challenges to the conventional television industry and the new world of mobile content |
| Challenges to the conventional television industry and the new world of mobile content | | Date Created: 21 Apr, 2005, 11:34 AM |
 Today Netvideo publishes its recent interview with a group of leading Australian television broadcast executives in the commercial free-to-air sector about drastic changes besetting the traditional broadcasting industry. (The Quicktime version for Mac users is here and the Flash Video version for PC users is here). We look at how television now overlaps with areas such as SMS (Short Message Service) telephony and 3G broadband mobile networks. We explore whether mobile content will pay off, given that it was once hailed as the saviour of many ailing business models in the conventional media but has not turned out as many commentators expected. We also talk to independent media commentator, Paul Budde, about dramatic challenges to the industry from areas such as TV over IP (the delivery of television content via the Internet through peer-to-peer file sharing and other video on demand technologies). Topics covered include:
• Rich media content producers experimenting with new mobile video encoding formats
• The business model for rich media mobile content
• The way TV networks are exploiting SMS as an interactive backchannel for competitions and polls
• How copyright affects the development of new types of mobile content around well-known brands by the Australian content industry
• The Australian MHP-based commercial free-to-air broadcast industry’s entry onto the OpenTV-based pay-TV Foxtel platform
• The crossover between broadband tournament-based games, mobile content and television
• The transition of Australian television broadcasters from a “viewer” to “customer” model in which the development of an enduring, multi-platform, one-to-one relationship with each TV viewer has become important for the first time; and
• The effect of possibly imminent changes to the cross-media ownership regulations in Australia.
Interviewees are the Ten Network, the Nine Network and the Seven Network.
Today Netvideo watched Telstra CEO, Dr Ziggy Switkowski, address lunchers at the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia, Amcham. We asked Dr Switkowski the first question of the afternoon: how did he think Telstra should exploit the merger and acquisition opportunities thrown up by the possibly imminent changes to media regulation in Australia, to drive shareholder value - given Telstra's existing media properties such as Sensis, Foxtel and Bigpond broadband, put it it in such a good position for activity in new areas such as TV over IP. Dr Switkowski was adamant that Telstra was not a media company in that sense - but that in any event, the decision to move forward with such new enterprises would need to be taken by his successor as CEO. That appointment is expected shortly (the hot rumour at today's lunch was that it will be an American from AT&T, although an executive from Singapore's Starhub was also touted.)
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