Viodi View – November 28th, 2005 Issue – Go to Viodi.com and Viodi.tv for current posts

Viodi View Menu

Interested in Sponsoring the Viodi View? Send an email to: [email protected]

Please forward this free publication to anyone you know who is involved in some way with independent telephone companies.

Mission of the Viodi View:

In this on-line publication, we share our analysis, opinions and direction on the interactive television news and views that we believe will be of interest and use to our friends associated directly or indirectly with independent telephone companies. For more information as to the various ways Viodi works with independent telephone companies, please go to http://www.viodi.com/alliance/

Disclaimer:

The Viodi View [Viodi, LLC] and its associates used their best efforts in collecting and preparing the information published herein. However, the Viodi View [Viodi, LLC] does not assume, and hereby disclaims, any and all liability for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions resulted from negligence, accident, or other causes.

All displayed trademarks, logos and service marks are the property of their respective owners. © 2005Viodi, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
5255 Stevens Creek, #127 Santa Clara, CA 95051

Viodi View Newsletter – November 28th, 2005

Click here to learn more about Viodi’s Local Content Workshop

By Ken Pyle, [email protected], Managing Editor, Viodi View

Advereporting – A Fine Line Between Information and Selling
A Different View Inside the Home – A $14 Million ITV Success?
Streaming or Screaming Media:
A Local Content Experiment
Meet Me in Hawaii for OPASTCO U
WiMAX Related Sessions at Telecom 05
TelcoTV Tidbits
With SA Gone, Some Questions Arise
The Korner – Don’t Call Me Scoop
Viodi Job Board

With the publication of this issue, it has been three years since the first issue of the Viodi View. The purpose of this publication, both then and now, is to help connect the Hollywood to the Heartland. In this case, Hollywood is used generically for the creative and content owning community, regardless of physical location, while the term Heartland represents the independent telcos that serve many of this nation’s rural regions. The people of the Independent telcos are my target audience and I always try to think of them when I am trying to find an angle on a story. To some extent, the Viodi View has attempted to be a voice and ears for these generally small companies that would be overlooked in this era of behemoth telecommunication and media concerns.

Like many of the independent telcos, Viodi is independent and is privately held. A question that is often asked is how does Viodi make money? In 2005, it has come from a number of sources including, advertising & sponsorships, conferences & workshops, consulting and creation of conference proceedings. Do Viodi’s various activities bias my reporting? As much as I don’t want them to, they probably do.

Advereporting – A Fine Line Between Information and Selling

My goal is to generate all of Viodi’s revenue directly from activities involving independent telcos, so at least any biases will be closely aligned with my target audience. I have a number of ideas as to how make this shift and I look forward to implementing some of these in 2006. Another potential conflict area is what I call advereporting. Advereporting, a term I just made up, is reporting on things which, while potentially valuable to the reader, can benefit the reporter or friends of the reporter. A while ago, I started distinguishing these tidbits by placing them in boxes with yellow backgrounds. The following is an example of an advereporting piece.

IP Video @ TELECOM ’05, CD-ROM About to Ship

Having spent approximately 40 hours in post-production on this CD-ROM, I have some of the talks of the IP Video track @ TELECOM ’05 almost memorized. And I don’t tire of listening to the audio, as it is now synchronized to the speakers’ overheads, such that it is like being at the conference again. Except now, I can pause, jump forward and back and listen to the various portions of the conference on my terms. This is really a good deal and I recommend the CD to anyone who wants to learn more about video in the context of telcos. To get a feel for what is on the CD-ROM, please click here.

A Different View Inside the Home – A $14 Million ITV Success?

One of the things I try to do is go to conferences and tradeshows that independent telcos do not typically attend. A few weeks back, I was fortunate to be able to attend a conference that discussed issues of great import to independent telcos, but, unfortunately, did not have any independent telcos in the audience. The Parks Associates, Fall Conference, provides a great forum for looking at the convergence of technologies and services in today’s digital home and what it means going forward. What sets this conference apart is the blend of primary research provided by Parks Analysts together with real world experience from cutting edge companies. Click here to read about some of the things I learned about, such as TIVO’s recent $14 million Interactive Television success story.

Streaming or Screaming Media:

One of the great things about living in the Silicon Valley is that conferences quite often come to me. Streaming Media West, ironically, is still a conference that inhabits the real world and not a virtual world. There is still something about meeting people face-to-face that the Internet cannot replace (at least yet). One of the things that struck me about this conference, as compared to others I go to, is the employment diversity of the crowd. There were people from school districts, insurance companies, retailers, entertainment companies and, at least one, investment guru. This was definitely not your typical telco trade show and there will be more about this in the next issue of the Viodi View.

A Local Content Experiment

A big theme of Streaming Media West was user-created content. We are always adding new sorts of content to Viodi’s Local Content Workshop, which is really about how independent telcos can embrace user-created content. I am doing an experiment with my Church to see how we can use video to further our mission. What we are doing will probably work its way into the next Local Content Workshop in some form. In the meantime, please check out our first effort of a group we formed to create videos. This is a pretty simple advertisement for the St. Nick’s Fair, this December 3rd in Saratoga, CA. Please feel free to stop by for some Gluhewein and other authentic German culture.

Click to Watch

“Joy To the World” courtesy of Big Dog Music Design

Meet Me in Hawaii for OPASTCO U

I am thrilled to be talking about local content in Hawaii in January at OPASTCO’s 43rd annual Winter Convention. More importantly, I am looking forward to hearing from the operators who will be relating how they got into local content, how it is a differentiator and a revenue generator. The dates for this event are January 21st-25th and details can be found at http://www.opastco.org/.

TELECOM ’05 had so much content that I completely missed the wireless sessions. Fortunately, Alan Weissberger was there, took copious notes and shares his analysis of the sessions in this issue of the Viodi View. Click here to read Alan’s article.

Alan Weissberger is looking for funding to pursue research and technology assessment in the following subjects:

IEEE 802.11n – for local distribution of video and multimedia content
Progression of mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e) as a potential 4G and nomadic PC technology- including VoIP and video as well as Internet access
Wireless network co-existance and assurance (especially important for unlicensed bands)- IEEE 802.19, 802.16 license exempt TG, 802.22 WRAN- impact of cognitive radios
Wireless/Wireline convergence and integration via IP Multimedia System (IMS) control plane
Please contact him at [email protected] or phone 408 863-6042

TelcoTV Tidbits

I have to mention something about TelcoTV, since it was also a feature of the Viodi View inaugural issue in November 2002 [see TelcoTV’s Terrific Turnout]. I only had a superficial look at the 2005 show, as I was there for the pre-conference workshops on Tuesday and then at the tradeshow for only a few hours. The impressive thing about the show was the number of content providers, both as speakers and as exhibitors. It speaks to the seriousness which content providers are taking the telco market, as compared to a couple of years ago.

With SA Gone, Some Questions Arise

The rumors about Scientific Atlanta on the sale block had been around for a while, so I guess the Cisco purchase wasn’t that great of a shock. The interesting thing will be to see how they meld the set-top efforts with the Linksys product line. Could Cisco/Linksys’ influence on SA mean that cable will finally realize the widespread availability of the retail set-top? And with SA no longer independent, does that mean C-Cor is the lone American-based supplier of equipment from the early days of cable? Granted, Lindsay and Electroline have both been around since the early 1950s as well, but they are Canadian.

The Korner –Don’t Call Me Scoop

I do not believe I have pretended to be a hard-hitting reporter who scoops the established telecom press. Sometimes, I do have scoops and do not even realize it until I read about it somewhere else. I bring this up because the other blockbuster telecom merger that occurred in the last few weeks was the purchase of Optical Solutions by Calix. This story was right under my nose, as I spoke to and cavorted with the OSI User’s Group the day before the announcement.

It could be that the arrival of the U.S.S. Enterprise distracted me. It was distracting to the entire OSI User’s Group, as the start of the meeting was delayed because everyone was watching this enormous ship return home. Although the size of the ship is impressive, what is more, impressive is the loyalty, the honor, and the duty shown by the men and women who serve so ably on ships for months at a time. I would like to offer a word of thanks then, at the end of this Thanksgiving weekend, to all the members of our armed services who sacrifice so much for our well being.

Viodi Job Board: (Note, these ads are provided gratis, at Viodi’s discretion)

This position will center on IP Video Product Management. Looking for an individual who has knowledge of IP infrastructure and has previous video experience. The job will involve working on all aspects of the IP Core Video which will include, but not limited to, data capturing, PEG, high definition, testing the IPTV platform, and other core video features. Experience in writing descriptive product marketing requirements is required. Experience in the technical and network aspect of video or IP video is needed. The individual will working with different internal departments and external vendors/ partners, and will be responsible for ensuring that the IP Core Video product meets/exceeds the demands of the marketplace and is positioned competitively to optimize market plan performance, revenue growth, and profitability. This will include product policy management and the implementation of strategic video marketing plans.