When the web started, we all found out that we could have our own web page and our own blog or, if you were Jim Robinson, your own forum. But a little later we found out that we could have our own radio show (i.e podcast). And now we find that we can have our own TV show and as upload bandwidth improves with time, we will find that we can stream that video from our own attic. That is a certainly a transfroming event in the history of communications and it remains to be seen who will be the winners and losers in that very democratic (not Democrapic) environment.
Right now you can see pretty darn good HD video streaming from abc.com and, of course, tons of garbage quality video at YouTube and a hundred other YouTube clones. It is certain that competition will force the YouTubes to continuously improve the quality of their video and so we are heading for a streaming HD future on the Internet. $700 HD video cameras, of which there are many, will accelerate that trend. That certainly will dilute the customer base and therefore the influence and value of the major networks. In the end, the major networks can only hold out against this massive competition with quality content. That is why I think the writers strike is so important. Once the content quality falls (and it is doing so pretty rapidly) the customers will flow to alternatives on the net.
Is it time for a regular Jim Robinson videocast?
Blogger: New media order on the way?
The Hollywood writers strike could provide a lesson for those suffering from the mass layoffs in the newspaper industry , writes blogger Ken Doctor. The time may be right for start-ups to break through as online revenue begins to grow.
So today's story in the L.A. Times, by Joseph Menn, put a quite interesting spin on the strike and one that should resonate among news journalists. The story, headlined "Striking writers in talks to launch Web start-ups," put the issue clearly: "Dozens are turning to venture capitalists, seeking to bypass Hollywood and reach viewers directly online". Of course, this is the delayed promise of the web. Creators -- think screenwriters, songwriters or journalists -- create. Their intended audience is not all the middlemen betwixt and between, the agents, the studios, the publishers. Their intended audience is, well, the audience. TV watchers, music listeners, news junkies.
The Internet is the medium that connects the two -- creators and audience -- much more directly than was previously possible in pre-digital days. The screenwriters are turning to venture backers, and creating an alternative to being beholden to the studios.
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If anyone has been watching “Quarterlife” online....I say they need to revamp the product, not the distribution system.
quarterlife.com
also on MySpace, and will be aired on NBC in the spring.
Not by my counsel. Production values such as photo and fancy HTML tricks are one thing, and video is another.Even the use of italics and boldface and colored type can be overdone to the detriment of content. With automatic spellcheck on my Mac, there is no longer any excuse for me to ever let typos bleed thru to a post. Which means that I have to vet the spelling carefully. The production values in text and the occasional still image are cost enough - I do not prefer to see us going to video. Uses up bandwidth without adding much if anything to the intellectual heft which is the raison d'être of FR.
Think of it this way: Rush Limbaugh is a star for two reasons:
It follows that you can be an excellent analyst without being able to compete with Rush because of his talent at a form of production value which exploits the audio broadcast. If you can't compete with Rush in his audio production values, why would you think you can compete in the regime of video production values?
- his excellent analysis of current events, and
- his ability to verbally dramatize (which was grieviously threatened by his deafness).
In print the fact that I look more like Fred Thompson than Mitt Romney is perfectly opaque. And that's the way I like it.
I have my PC hooked up to my 32” lcd. Video quality by the likes of Youtube are going to be left in the dust Many new sites are starting to appear. Check http://www.stage6.com/ or www.joox.net to stream old and new movies using Divx. Amazing content and quality. Check them out.
Well, mebbe if we could get Jim to quit posting in his skivvies... ;-)