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Send an email to: sponsor@viodi.com<\/strong><\/p>\n Please forward<\/strong> this free publication to anyone you know who is involved in some way with independent telephone companies. <\/p>\n Mission of the Viodi View:<\/strong><\/p>\n 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\/<\/a><\/p>\n Disclaimer:<\/strong><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n All displayed trademarks, logos and service marks are the property of their respective owners. \u00a9 2005Viodi, LLC<\/a>. All Rights Reserved. Viodi View Newsletter – August 31st, 2005 <\/strong> <\/p>\n By Ken Pyle, ken.pyle@viodi.com, Managing Editor, Viodi View<\/p>\n At one time, sometime in the last century, vacations<\/strong> used to be synonymous with recharge<\/strong>. People actually went on vacation to forget about work. Employers believed that workers who took a well-deserved break would come back refreshed and brimming with new productivity. It used to be pretty easy to get away as the cost of staying connected to the workplace was prohibitive and the options for connecting were very limited. The class of 2009 may find this hard to believe, but it actually used to cost a great deal of money to make a long-distance call.<\/p>\n Technology has changed the vacation equation by making time and place meaningless. It had been years since I had been on a vacation that was not somehow related to work, so I thought a houseboat excursion <\/strong>could free me from the technology treadmill<\/strong> I find myself continually turning. As a veteran of countless houseboat trips, I figured this was one place where I would be away from that most addictive technology of all; the Internet. What I found out is that I have friends who are as addicted to the Internet and work as I am. <\/p>\n One of the first things I noticed about the houseboat was DirecTV satellite dish<\/strong> pointing towards the heavens (interestingly, it was DISH Network\u2019s service<\/strong>). Upon boarding the boat, I was struck by a home entertainment center which was more modern than the 1980s vintage equipment I have at home. Complementing the video service was my not so trusty cell phone service. The one thing that was missing was Internet access. Actually, I was relieved the cell phone service was not so good and that the Internet access was non-existent, as I am a weak person and knew I would be tempted to connect with the wired (or wireless world) if these tools were available. <\/p>\n For better or worse, one of my houseboating friends had a cell phone equipped with 2.5G and blue-tooth. With his blue-tooth, enabled lap-top, he was soon connecting to the Internet at twice, dial-up speeds. I looked on at my friend in a mix of pity and envy as he proceeded to download 150 emails that first day. I felt proud of my self-restraint as I made it through a day without succumbing<\/strong> to this wireless Internet temptation<\/strong>. By day 2, we were lamenting how we could have brought a Wi-Fi access point and set up a mobile Internet caf\u00e9<\/strong>. By the end of Day 2, I was like an addict in search of his drug and was busy downloading and responding to my web mail via my friend\u2019s computer. <\/p>\n Wild Hare Scheme or WildBlue<\/strong><\/p>\n By day 3, we were scheming of ways to improve the houseboat Internet experience. Speed and sharing were the two big improvements we decided we need for the next trip. At some point, it struck me that this would be the perfect WildBlue application<\/strong>. WildBlue is the recently launched, high speed Internet via Satellite that is reasonably affordable and is adding 1,000 connections a week. This could present itself as an interesting opportunity for independent telcos, as house boating lakes are quite often in locales served by independent telcos and the WildBlue service. We figured there must be between 400 to 500 rental houseboats in a place like Lake Shasta. At $50 per month, this could represent a $20,000 to $25,000 per month opportunity. <\/p>\n This really is not such a crazy idea, as there is a rumor that John Malone\u2019s sailboat was an alpha test site for the WildBlue service. Granted, the Internet service might only work when the boat is beached on the shoreline and not moving, but that is how houseboats spend the majority of their time. There is precedence for independent telcos being involved in such ventures, as tiny Beehive Telephone<\/strong> in Utah was the only telephone company that would consider providing telephone service to the remote marinas of Lake Powell<\/strong>. The addition of high-speed Internet access<\/strong> would be a logical next step to the houseboat experience<\/strong>. <\/p>\n The Kino Telecom Connection<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n While I was exploring the waters and shores of Lake Shasta, the working world continued on without me. Roger Bindl<\/strong> was busy producing a short video that points to another way independent telcos can tap the creative vein that already exists in their communities to generate original video content. Roger introduces Kino to telecom<\/strong> with this short video<\/a>.<\/strong> Kino is an international movement to create videos quickly, well, and now ! (1min 49 seconds). The page includes full text from the script.<\/p>\n Also, here\u2019s a link<\/a><\/strong> to Roger\u2019s video that was one of the few selected for screening in the Milwaukee Art Museum<\/a><\/strong> \/ Milwaukee International Film Festival<\/strong><\/a> 24 hour competition. This is similar to the Kino Kabarets that he describes in the video.<\/p>\n IP Video @ Telecom 05 Preview:<\/strong><\/p>\n One of the activities that Viodi is involved with is helping to produce the IP Video track at Telecom 05<\/strong>. We have sessions dealing with peer to peer <\/strong>technologies and services, HDTV<\/strong>, on-demand<\/strong> success, IPTV standards<\/strong>, consumers as producers<\/strong>, operator success<\/strong> stories and IPTV<\/strong> as an interactive edge. The moderators of these panels, which include, Paul Bertino <\/strong>of Hickory Tech<\/strong>, Allison Dollar <\/strong>of the Interactive Television Alliance<\/strong>, Steve Hawley<\/strong> of Advanced Media Strategies<\/strong>, Leon Hofer<\/strong> of Iowa Network Services<\/strong> and Marty Lafferty<\/strong> of the DCIA<\/strong>, are busy helping to shape and finalize their particular sessions. More information will follow in subsequent issues. <\/p>\n The IPTV Market According to Parks Associates <\/strong> On August 25th, Parks Associates held the Webcast “The Telcos Strike Back: The Parks research also suggests that telcos are more likely to capture Armed with an understanding of these groups, the Telco<\/strong> can tailor and market<\/strong> its service offerings to each individual group. The researchers also pointed out how the consumer profiles and preferences differed from country to country by comparing US consumers to those in Spain and Italy<\/p>\n To satisfy those with a hunger for forecasts, Parks predicts there will be 21.7 million IPTV subscribers<\/strong> by the end of the year 2009. Asia\/Pacific is expected to have the largest percentage of Telco IPTV subscribers, followed by Europe. The US is lowest for two reasons: first, because of the earlier and more aggressive IPTV investments outside the US, and second, because cable is such a dominant competitor within the US.<\/p>\n [Thanks Steve for the report.]<\/strong><\/p>\n Mediacom and CenturyTel Bundling It Out in Missouri<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Good article that appeared a few weeks ago, but did not seem to appear in any of the usual online trade publications, dealt with the triple play competition<\/strong> between Mediacom and CenturyTel in Columbia, Missouri. CenturyTel is using Dish Network as their video solution. The article makes the point that Mediacom will be rolling out telephony to all of its customer base by the end of 2006. This should be of interest to any independent telco that shares a footprint with Mediacom.<\/p>\n Some Gossip for Independent Telcos:<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Click here<\/a><\/strong> to read some observations<\/strong> that independent telcos<\/strong> will find of interest<\/strong>. One must be a Club Viodi member to view these juicy tidbits. Club.viodi membership is only open to independent telcos and is made available at the sole discretion of Viodi, LLC. To obtain a user ID and password, please contact us at clubviodi@viodi.com<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Video IPOD or Video ARCHOS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Ironic that with all of the buzz and rumors that Apple<\/strong> will soon announce a video iPod, that ARCHOS<\/strong> and CinemaNow<\/strong> beat them to the punch. Industry visionary and Myrio<\/strong> founder Tony Atwater<\/strong> sat in the Viodi View offices a few years ago and talked about just such a service. This has some interesting potential as both a portable DVR<\/strong>, as well as device that has the potential to make Internet video<\/strong> easily accessible to TV viewers. Click here<\/strong><\/a> for the full release.<\/p>\n Corrections and Follow-up<\/strong><\/p>\n In the last issue of the Viodi View, Bob Treadway\u2019s <\/strong>methodology of predicting future outcomes was mislabeled<\/strong> as a \u201cCone of Uncertainty\u201d, instead of \u201cCone of Certainty<\/strong>\u201d. I am really not certain if it matters, as both describe a range of possible outcomes. <\/p>\n The last issue<\/a><\/strong> of the Viodi View discussed San Jose State University\u2019s new dormitories. The Fiber to the Washing Machine feature that was mentioned in the article seemed to strike a nerve, as it was picked up on a DSL Reports blog. There were some pretty funny comments that can be found by clicking here. I especially like the comment asking what happens if the washing machine gets a virus <\/strong>(maybe it spews spam on your clothes)? Click here<\/a><\/strong> to see this blog….<\/p>\n The\u00a0Korner: <\/strong>How Chair-Noble Got Its Name <\/strong><\/p>\n As a veteran of countless houseboat trips, I could probably write a booklet on the do\u2019s and don\u2019ts of houseboating<\/strong>. In fact, I came close to creating this booklet ten years ago when I authored an 11 page trip report that documented my adventures with a group of friends at that houseboating nirvana<\/strong> known as Lake Powell. All was well on the lake, but, as we found out, not everything was well with our sewage-challenged house boat. Read on to see how the houseboat we lovingly called the \u2018tilt\u2019in hilton\u2019 lived up to its name and why we had to invent something called Chair-Noble. <\/p>\n Excerpted from an October, 1995 Houseboat Trip Report<\/strong> <\/p>\n Our story started out innocently enough when we pulled into port at the “Dangling Rope” marina. We needed to replenish important supplies, dump trash and empty our sewage<\/strong>. Although none of us had emptied sewage before, we felt qualified since we seemed to deal with this sort of thing all of the time in our regular jobs. <\/p>\n We should have been suspicious as other boats docked, pumped and left, while we were still pumping our boat clean. After an hour or so of pumping, we ignored the indications<\/strong> that the houseboat was still full of waste and all pumping activities were halted. At approximately thirteen hundred hours, we headed off to the Rainbow Bridge National Monument.<\/p>\n Fast-forward to the next day, when we were docked at what will become known as Honey Bucket Harbor. Both toilets had plugged up and, even worse, literally started to rear their ugly heads. Drastic measures were needed and were taken. Of course the first thought was to plunge the toilets to make sure the pipes leading to holding tanks were not clogged. The bad news was that we didn’t have a plunger. <\/p>\n Several suggestions as to how to pump the toilets, including siphoning, were given. Finally, the clever use of a water-pump squirt gun<\/strong> allowed me to pump the toilets to an acceptable level. Because of my youth and inability to say no, I was selected for the honor of dumping the honey bucket. <\/p>\n I was later given the honor of digging the houseboat trip’s first latrine<\/strong>. While I was digging the hole in a secluded spot in the woods (OK, behind the one lone bush at Lake Powell), a few of my house boating colleagues (names not given to protect the innocent) were fabricating a toilet seat out of one of the deck chairs. <\/p>\n The site of our latrine was aptly named “Chair-Noble”<\/strong>. This name was chosen as it represented several things that made our latrine special; 1) “Chair” referring to the specially modified chair that protected our seats, 2) Chernobyl, which refers to the nuclear power plant that was buried and sealed for 30 years, 3) every noble King needs a throne.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Next Article<\/a><\/p>\n Back to Top<\/a><\/p>\n Previous Issue<\/a><\/p>\n Viodi View Subscribe<\/strong><\/p>\n IP Video @ SC What You Missed<\/strong><\/p>\n Listen to the audio for all of the presentations from the 40+ speakers at the IP Video @ Supercomm conference.\u00a0 This CD-ROM includes the indexed presentations. Click here to see the contents.\u00a0 Contact Sean Sullivan of USTA at 202 326 7260 to purchase this CD.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Network PVRs Are Desired, But Operators Have Doubts<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n
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Ken Pyle Proudly Displaying His Houseboat Internet Connection (Bonus Question – Where did the Tee-Shirt Come From?)<\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/newsletter\/050802\/btn_kino00.jpg\")
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by Steve Hawley of Advanced Media Strategies <\/strong><\/p>\n
The Outlook for IPTV<\/strong>.” Unlike so many of the research reports on IPTV these
days, this one focused mainly upon the consumer.<\/strong> Parks surveyed more than 2,000 consumers in US Internet households and concluded that while consumers taking premium channnels increased from 22% to 28% from 2004 to 2005, VOD subscribers nearly doubled, from 9% to 15%. This led Parks to conclude that there is an increasing trend toward “everything on demand<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n
subscribers if they better understand the demographic and psychographic
characteristics of their consumers. Parks researchers surveyed about basic TV features, communications services, content, interactive services and personalization. Not only did they identify four distinct types of media consumers <\/strong>but they also demonstrated how different service bundles appeal differently to different consumer groups.<\/p>\n\n
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