January 22, 2008 · 09:22 AM

TV Reloaded

Watching TV via IP on a personal computer is only the first step towards the television of the future. Mobile TV is the next. How people will watch clips, shows and serials everywhere you want is an important topic concerning TV managers. What are the possibilities for consumers enabled by the new technologies of broadcasting such as DVB-H? Who will succeed on the TV market dealing with new technologies? "TV reloaded" is the name of a panel discussing how the future of television will look like.

One of the outstanding participants is Niklas Zennström. Several times, he has been a pioneer in the internet. He is the the founder of Skype and is now with Atomico, a venture capital firm. Previously he also co-founded Joost and Kazaa.

Other speakers are:

• Patrick Walker who joined Google in 2006 to lead the development of content strategy and partnerships for Google Video in Europe, the Middle East and Africa,


• Delia Cohen, CEO of Pangea Day. She formerly worked as a Direction of Communication for the Clinton Administration,


• Dina Kaplan, co-founder and CEO of blip.tv. The company offers an online television network featuring and promoting popular shows on the web,


• Suranga Chandratillake, CEO of blinkx.com, who founded an innovative video search engine,

Host is

• Christiane zu Salm who will be, starting in April, member of the board of directors of Hubert Burda Media. She gained popularity as a pioneer for interactive television with the German network 9live.

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Salm is challenging her guests on their business models.

Suranga Chandratillake tells the story about how he got the idea for his company, blinkx.com. In the past, the remote control was the only interface between the user and the content. Nowadays, the problem with internet TV content is that it is presented in a terribly messy way, so that´s why Chandratillake thinks video search by meta data like tags is so crucial in the universe of internet TV. He points out that his company is now covering an enormous 18 millions hours of content on one search box.

Dina Kaplan, founder of blip.tv, states that internet television is different from traditional television distributed via IP. Her company has created a network which hosts many famous web TV shows. Within a few years, internet television has become more and more professional. "A few years ago, somebody took out a camcorder when he wanted to produce a web show", she remembered.

Niklas Zennström imagines an "amazing" future of television in the web. It has become easier to produce a program. "You don't need a studio anymore." Everybody might start his own program. Zennström does not distinguish whether new prorgams are professional or immature. He points out that the borders between those two groups are blurring more and more because amateurs are becoming more and more experienced.

Zennström says TV companies have to worry about these developments on the web. From his point of view, they should care more about new technologies and new formats. Otherwise, they would run into serious problems.

Walker adds that the future of television will be characterized by convergence. He cannot understand anymore what people want to explain if they talk about television. "Do they talk about the box or about the program?" he asks. "Or their computer?"

Broadcasting und distribution technologies change, programs and formats, too. This affects the advertising economy as well. Chandratillake mentions the enormous challenge for advertisers. They are used and expertly trained to produce 25-second spots on TV and will now have to create new innovative forms of advertising.

The value of advertisements on internet TV should be higher than the value of traditional spots, says Zennström. Users consciously choose the shows they want instead of just zapping channels, so targeting becomes more and more effective.

 

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