Viodi View – April 13th, 2005 Issue – Go to Viodi.com and Viodi.tv for current posts

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Viodi View Newsletter – April 13th, 2005

Local Content Workshop

Field Trip To the Heartland
Impressions of the National Show
An Interactive Awards Ceremony
A Day at Digital Hollywood
Monetizing Free VOD
See You Soon
It Clearly Is A Mixed Up, Muddled up, Shook Up Viodi View
The Korner – Thousands of Miles from the Sea

My favorite thing about grade school was the occasional field trip. A field trip was an interactive adventure into the real world; a break from sitting in uncomfortable wood chairs, while listening to the teacher drone on and on. Thus, I jumped at the chance to go on a field trip with USTA and many of its member companies last week. The bus trip took us from ADC’s manufacturing plan in the suburbs of Minneapolis to the rural environs of Hutchison Telephone.

This field trip was part of USTA’s Small Company Caucus. As usual, the USTA staff did a great job of putting together a program that was relevant and timely. The important message from this conference is that the industry must work together on many fronts; particularly in the quest to achieve a level regulatory playing field. And the regulatory bodies need to figure out how to keep pace with industry changes, otherwise, they may find that independent telcos will figure out creative ways to restructure the playing field.

Field Trip To the Heartland

Viodi synchronized the audio from the various speakers to their overheads. USTA is generously making these presentations available online, at no charge. The USTA URL has not been established yet, but this link will take you to their site when it is up and running in a day or two. Click here to read some of the things that were not recorded, such as the field trip to ADC and Hutchison Telephone and the live demonstration of pre-standard, WiMAX gear that is currently being deployed by at least one independent telco.

Just prior to USTA’s Small Company Caucus, Viodi held the Local Content Workshop in Eden Prairie, MN at ADC’s headquarters. We really appreciate ADC opening their facility to us and to Entone for supplying the textbooks. This was our best workshop yet, because noted Intellectual Property attorney, Thomas Crowell, joined us, we had a brainstorming session that involved the attendees and Chuck Lehrke of New Ulm Telephone explained the challenges and triumphs of producing local content. Email me at [email protected] to learn more about the Local Content Workshops we are planning for Oregon and the Midwest.

Impressions of the National Cable Show

The bad news about my travels to Minnesota is that my visit to the National Cable Show was cut short. The National Cable Show is one of the few that mixes content providers and hardware vendors in the same venue. I once did booth duty at the National Show where I had to contend with the loud noise caused by the pounding of bodies hitting the mat in the booth of one of the wrestling channels. This problem was pretty much eliminated at this year’s show, as the cable programmers and equipment vendors were segregated in different halls. To read some impressions from my whirlwind tour of this event, please click here.

An Interactive Awards Ceremony

One of the many events I missed at the National Show was the 2nd Annual ITVT Awards for Interactive Television. ITVT is Tracy Swedlow’s newsletter that is the premier destination for news regarding Interactive Television. Fortunately, the video of the awards ceremony is online.

It is not like a normal awards ceremony, as there is some good insight from industry luminaries, such as Mark Hess from Comcast. Hess pointed out that Comcast delivered 92 million on-demand streams last month, so iTV is happening. Congratulations to the winners of these awards, particularly Don Dulchinos from CableLabs for his efforts with OCAP. We had the privilege of hearing Dulchinos speak at the IP Video @ Telecom 04 conference.

A Day at Digital Hollywood

The company serving up these video streams for ITVT is Continental Vista Broadcasting Group. Continental Vista Broadcasting Group provides an interesting way for niche programmers to stream their content over the Internet. I had a chance to hear Greg Demetriades, CEO, of Continental Vista Broadcasting Group speak at Digital Hollywood’s spring conference a few weeks back. As usual, Digital Hollywood presented an interesting mix of speakers from the entertainment, distribution and advertising industries. Please click here to see the latest on Akimbo, as well as to read some of the insights from speakers such as Amy Friedlander of SBC, Sean Riley of Fox Cable Networks and Patricia Karpas of AOL TV.

Monetizing Free VOD

Advertising is becoming a critical element for MSOs and others as they roll out interactive services like the ones discussed at Digital Hollywood. Cox’s press release regarding their efforts to monetize their “free” VOD offering is very insightful. The following parameters are what they will be providing advertisers, which is much more detailed and accurate than what could be provided via traditional reporting mechanisms.

Unique households viewing the content
Average duration content was viewed
Total views
Share of enabled subscribers viewing the content
Number of views per zip code
Number of views per psychographic profile
Propensity to view based on psychographic profile
Number of views per day part
Number of repeat views per household
Share of active subscribers viewing the content

Click here to read the full release.

See You Soon

Advertising, especially of the interactive kind, will bet the subject of a couple panels at the IP Video @ Supercomm conference in June. This is self-serving, but I highly encourage you attendance at this event. Additionally, Viodi will try to organize a special get together for Sunday afternoon, June 5th for friends and families from Independent Telcos. Please email me at [email protected] if you are interested in attending or sponsoring such an event.

I am disappointed that I will miss this week’’s VoIPossibilities. It promises to be bigger than last year’s event. Viodi will be attending the California Telephone Association’s Supplier Showcase next week in Sacramento, on April 19th and 20th. On the 26th of April, we will be attending the IPTV 2005 conference in San Jose. Give me a shout if you are going to be in town for this event.

It Clearly Is A Mixed Up, Muddled up, Shook Up Viodi View

Again, I am looking forward to participating in the Telecommunication Association of Michigan’s (TAM) Politech 2005 conference in Lansing, Michigan on May 11th and 12th. They have invited some heavy hitters, such as FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, to speak at this event.

I am impressed with the folks at TAM, if no other reason than they found subliminal references (references I didn’t even know were there) in the last issue of the Viodi View. From the April 1st issue of TAM’s newsletter:

KINKS CAUSE KINKFREETELECOM CONSPIRACY: The Association’s KinkFreeTelecom site received a very nice review in the Viodi View newsletter this week. But something subliminal seems to have slipped into the author’s consciousness. Discerning readers will note two references to “kinks” in sprinkled into the newsletter. Coincidence? We think not. Clearly, it’s a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world. (TAM reference in “Make Your Voice Heard” section.)

The Korner: Thousands of Miles from the Sea

His answer was 14.7 miles. The question he posed was how many navigable miles does the Minnesota River have? This led to a number of other interesting queries, such as just what is the definition of navigable. This would seem to be sort a strange conversation to have on a bus, driving in the middle of the fruited plain, thousands of miles from any ocean. It seems even stranger that the person with such an encyclopedic knowledge of boating and homeland security would be the owner of a Minnesota-based independent telephone company.

My bus mate, as it turns out, is the equivalent of a Navy Lieutenant in the Coast Guard Auxiliary. What I did not realize is that the Coast Guard Auxiliary is staffed by volunteers. Over 30,000 volunteers support this organization that serves as the civilian, non-military component of the Coast Guard. It provides more than just safety training for boaters, as each year, according to their web site, Auxiliarists save almost 500 lives, assist some 15,000 boaters in distress, conduct more than 150,000 courtesy safety examinations of recreational vessels.

The Coast Guard Auxiliary is integral to national security, as evidenced by its inclusion as part of the Homeland Security Department. In the year following 9/11, my bus mate spent 1,975 hours volunteering for the Coast Guard Auxiliary. This is the equivalent of a full-time job in addition to his full-time income-generating career. Much of this time spent with the auxiliary was spent on weekends and nights; time taken away from family and other activities.

So, a heartfelt thank you to the volunteers of the Coast Guard Auxiliary for their unsung role in helping to protect America’s navigable waterways.

What is not surprising is that the people who work for and own independent telcos routinely put the community’s interest above their own. Whether it is the provision of broadband services or helping to build a new playground, independent telcos are often the difference between growth and decline in rural communities. The Coast Guard Auxiliary is just another example of how the people associated with independent telcos are helping both their local and national communities.

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