Category Archives: Entertainment
Adapting TV Channels For The Internet
Television networks are finding ways to stay relevant in a time when they have to compete for eyeballs with other forms of media. Namely, the internet. Saw this story about how the traditional networks are incorporating their online offerings and portals when trying to sell advertising space to companies.
The CW pitched itself on Thursday as “the first fully converged network” — but it has competition on that front. TBS and TNT, two cable channels owned by Turner Broadcasting, rather dramatically said that two years from now, they won’t be linear channels, they’ll be “branded video destinations” that just happen to have a linear component.
This is exactly how I believe the “networks” and television channels will exist in the future. No longer do you have a list of channels with scheduled programming. People want to watch programs when they want to watch them, on-demand. However, it is difficult to find “new” things to watch. One of the undervalued aspects of networks is that they curate shows. When you turn on a channel that you liked before, you are buying into the idea that the network will put out more product you like. Think HBO building a rapport with Sopranos so you trust that Game of Thrones will be good.
It could be difficult to do this with random websites. Do you google “cop drama” and hope you find something good, and not some 5th grader’s home movie project? Networks could serve as these curators. TNT already is moving to this with their “We Know Drama” slogan. TBS is “Very Funny”. So, if I am in the mood for a sitcom, I could go to TBS’s iOS app, or website, or TV channel – whatever my preferred medium, but know I was getting a certain quality and type of program.
Like this:
Piracy and Game of Thrones
Over the week I’ve seen the headline over and over describing how HBO’s Game of Thrones show is set to be the most pirated TV show ever.
Most of these people blame HBO, because the only way to get the show rightfuckingnowthissecond is to subscribe to HBO. Which means you have to subscribe to Cable, since you can’t just pay HBO to stream their programming over the internet. Otherwise, you have to wait 6 whole months for the series to come on DVD (or iTunes). So, the only solution is to illegally pirate/download it. Of course.
This idea has been discuss ad naseum over and over lately.
“HBO hasn’t helped the problem by making the show tough to watch online for the young and cable-less,” notes Greenberg. “The show isn’t available through Hulu or Netflix, iTunes offers only Season 1, and using HBO’s own streaming site HBO Go requires a cable subscription.”
For the millions of Americans who don’t subscribe to HBO, or who may not even watch shows on a television, this means there is no legal way to watchGame of Thrones. If you only watch TV on your laptop, there’s no way you’re going to pay $50/month for cable and another $15/month for HBO. -Forbes
My favorite response to this idea is by Andy Ihnatko:
The single least-attractive attribute of many of the people who download content illegally is their smug sense of entitlement.
Here’s the terms of use for commercial content: you have to pay for this stuff. This means either you need to wait for it to become commercially available, or if you torrent it today you need to buy it when it gets released. So long as you buy it as soon as it’s possible to do so, I can confidently reach for my “No Harm Done” rubber stamp. Some content is commercially unavailable because the publisher or distributor has no desire to ever release it. I’ll even go so far as to say that downloading it illegally is a positive thing; you’re helping to keep this creative work alive.
If you avoid purchasing the media in some form, however…you’re just one of those people who prefer to steal things if they think they can get away with it. Simple as that. Get off your high horse.
The world does not OWE you Season 1 of “Game Of Thrones” in the form you want it at the moment you want it at the price you want to pay for it. If it’s not available under 100% your terms, you have the free-and-clear option of not having it.
But, I’ll ignore the “I demand HBO’s awesome well crafted expensive to produce content on my terms immediately instead of in a method that makes money for them” argument.
The other aspect of this argument is “See, HBO, look at all these people who want your show? That is money on the table because you won’t give it to them in an easy to access format.” There is of course the idea that they would have to give up lucrative licensing deals and start a whole new consumer services division.
If HBO were to break off and do a stand-alone service they would be giving up those subsidies and would incur huge additional costs in terms of support, billing, and infrastructure that they currently aren’t burdened with. This would make producing the content they produce now – including extremely expensive shows such as Game of Thrones - impossible. At the very least, it would be a huge risk.
Not going to happen. But let’s skip that part too. What I like to focus on is the hypocrisy. Pirates and piracy supporters (sigh) argue that if HBO would just offer this up, then all these people would just start paying HBO for the content. Except, that when its convenient, they make the exact opposite argument. These same proponents argue that Hollywood’s losses are overstated because “not every pirated copy equals a sale.” Not everyone who downloads a song on BitTorrent would have bought that song on iTunes they argue. They are sampling/getting something they wouldn’t actually buy. So, why would this change when it comes to Game of Thrones? No one seems to be able to address this shortcoming. You simply cannot argue both ways.
New Girl Doppelgangers
There is a show on Fox called “New Girl” that has fantastic writing and is actually quite funny. But I am convinced it could be easily titled “The Doppelgangers”. Every actor on this show seems to be a twin of another celebrity. Check it out:
Zooey Deschanel and her twin, Katy Perry
Jake Johnson and his twin, David Krumholtz
Lamorne Morris and his twin Dave Chappell
The only one I haven’t figured out is Max Greenfield. Any ideas? Maybe a young Tom Cruise?
Like this:
How Apple TV Should Work
The rumor mill has been pulling overtime shifts with reports that Apple is really focusing on making Apple TV a priority. Many suggest this to be a brand new TV. However, I think that is misguided, mainly for the reasons Gruber and others have pointed out. Namely that people don’t replace their TVs very often. And an Apple TV wouldn’t be cheap. People who are nerds and would be interested in paying the premium for an Apple branded TV probably have already spent good money on decent flat panel TVs recently and aren’t looking to upgrade any time soon.
I think Apple should instead relaunch Apple TV the service. Just like the iTunes store and music, it is far more effective to provide a good solution for distributing material and just collect fees. This is how I envision Apple TV should work.
Instead of launching a cable network or a hardware TV, Apple needs to address the problems people have with their current cable company. Chief of those complaints is paying for channels no one watches.
Apple should launch a rebranded “Video Store”. Much like their Newsstand app, it will focus on specific content that is delivered automatically and presented in a central location. Content providers can then make Video Store compatible apps that users open and stream their “channel”. So, in Newsstand, I subscribe to GQ. Every month the latest GQ issue is downloaded to my iPad. I’m notified and the cover changes in the Newsstand. Whenever I’m ready, I open the GQ app and read it. I’m able to pay my subscription through iTunes using the same account I use to buy apps. Simple.
The Video Store would be similar. I could have the HBO app downloaded. I pay a set amount per month for the subscription and open the app when I’m ready to watch. Let’s say I don’t want to pay for all of AMC. I could simply buy the “Mad Men” subscription, and every week when the latest episode comes out, it shows up available to stream on my device.
This doesn’t sound groundbreaking, but it gets to two issues. First, is the universal cord cutter wish of “a la carte” cable choices in subscriptions. Second, it gets around the storage issue of buying episodes in iTunes and having to sync your device to download them. These video files take up huge amounts of space, so it is far easier to put all that server space Apple bought in NC to use and just stream on demand to subscribers. We can see Apple is already doing this with the current version of Apple TV, allowing you to stream episodes you have previously downloaded.
It also allows users who complain about live sports and news to get that content as well. The CNN app streams live CNN and you can subscribe to MLB at bat or NBA Season Pass. The content providers could still get paid – and get it directly from users instead of charging fees to cable operators.
Obviously, it is also necessary to get the content on television screens. Apple should utilize the standard that they already put right in front of our noses – Airplay. So, for those who only want to use Apple for TV – buy an Apple TV plug it in your screen of choice, and subscribe. For those on iPads and iPhones, you can subscribe on your device and “push” to your device the shows you want to watch. This is a key point, because suddenly your television and video content becomes truly mobile. No longer do you have to be home scrolling through your DVR to watch last week’s episode of Community. Now you can catch Boardwalk Empire at the gym and then How I Met Your Mother when you get home on the big screen.
This appeases complaints that content is too locked down in current offerings like Hulu with “PC only” restrictions. No longer do you have to hope that the episode you missed three weeks ago is still on Hulu, or that the one you missed last night is available on Fox.com only after a week has passed.
Will this work? If anyone can do it, it is Apple. They were the only company that could push the music companies into online distribution. Now with even more clout, they might be ready to gently guide the video content companies toward the future.
Like this:
Difficulties of Copyright
Admittedly this title is a bit of link bait. Most people will click this post thinking I am going to go on a rant of how stupid and difficult copyright law is. But I’m not.
Instead, I’m going to point to an example of why it is important and necessary and that it is difficult because it is very hard to be an artist and make a decent living by selling your works when we live in the age of the internet and easy copying and distribution.
Louis CK is a fantastic comedian. He was wildly popular as a “comedian’s comedian” for a long time during the early 2000s, but is finally getting some big recognition. Check out his early hour long HBO comedy specials, or his FX show “Louie”.
Many don’t know that he actually directs, shoots and edits “Louie” himself. He has explained how he puts it all together on his own mac which lets him express his creativity and keep his budget low or allow him to use it on other things, like a freaking helicopter in the pilot.
Anyway, he recently decided to put out his latest stand up special out on video using his website as the distribution method. And, he is doing so against lots of strong opinions that he is being dumb. See this disclaimer on his own website:
To those who might wish to “torrent” this video: look, I don’t really get the whole “torrent” thing. I don’t know enough about it to judge either way. But I’d just like you to consider this: I made this video extremely easy to use against well-informed advice. I was told that it would be easier to torrent the way I made it, but I chose to do it this way anyway, because I want it to be easy for people to watch and enjoy this video in any way they want without “corporate” restrictions.
Please bear in mind that I am not a company or a corporation. I’m just some guy. I paid for the production and posting of this video with my own money. I would like to be able to post more material to the fans in this way, which makes it cheaper for the buyer and more pleasant for me. So, please help me keep this being a good idea. I can’t stop you from torrenting; all I can do is politely ask you to pay your five little dollars, enjoy the video, and let other people find it in the same way.
Sincerely,
Louis C.K.
Already he is admitting it is almost futile to fight pirates who are going to steal his material. It is rare to see an artist address it so openly. Normally, they want to appear cool to their audience, so they let the distribution arm take the heat of enforcement.
In order to make a living, an artist needs to sell their work. But in order to do that in a digital world, it takes money and requires technology that restricts easy usage. That makes the product cost more.
Louis CK is in a unique position because no one (other than his kids) rely on the profit from this experiment. If it fails there is little risk of big loss. But, when a big media studio makes a film requiring a director, several writers, actors and technical experts like editors to pull together the risks of putting something out without protections are far too great.
I would also argue that people feel worse when it feels like a more direct stealing of a piece of work. When you illegally download this special you are very aware you are taking money from Louie. When you download the latest studio film from some faceless corporation it is far easier to rationalize that no one is getting hurt.
Edit: A few days later and Louie’s experiment seems to have paid off. He has sold many copies. However, I still argue this is an outlier. Giant media corporations couldn’t pull this off, for exactly the reason I articulate in the last paragraph above. And Louie agrees:
Fascinating, wide-ranging group interview with Louis C.K. On piracy and bootlegging:
To steal from someone and not feel bad, you either have to be a sociopath or view the act differently. One way is to remove “Someone” from the equation. You’re not stealing from a person. Big companies do a lot to help people view them as less than human. I heard a speech by Noam Chomsky who said that corporations are like super humans. They cannot be hurt like a human can and they never die. They are not susceptible to scrutiny or accountability. This makes them more profitable. If companies want to enjoy these benefits to some degree they have to live with what else comes with being not human. You miss out on compassion, forgiveness, camaraderie, empathy, trust all kinds of shit.
Childish Gambino
Saw Donald Glover (of Community fame) in concert last night under his musical alter ego Childish Gambino.
Sometimes you feel like you are listening to his therapy sessions set to music. But I also think this unbridled license to explore raw emotions is what allows fans to connect to Gambino unlike other artists they listen to.
Fantastic show. Sharing two songs off his album which drops Tuesday. You can listen to it in its entirety at NPR. You can also buy it over at Amazon.
First is my current hype song – You See Me. Filthy, misogynist, braggadocio which is exactly what you want in a hip hop psych yourself up to go out song.
Second is what is Gambino’s strong point. Emotional songs about girls. Check out both to see the complexity and lyrical skill of this up and coming rapper.
