1 Cable, Satellite, and Internet Television Chapter 11 © 2009, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Dec 22, 2015
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Cable, Satellite, and Internet Television
Chapter 11
© 2009, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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CHAPTER OUTLINE
• History of Cable, Satellite and Internet TV
• Cable, Satellite and Internet TV in the Digital Age
• Defining Features of Cable, Satellite and Internet TV
• Organization
• Ownership
• Internet Television
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HISTORY OF CABLE, SATELLITE AND INTERNET TV (1 of 2)
• Cable: 1950s; brought TV to remote areas. – Satellite TV transmissions gave people more
reasons to subscribe to cable– MSOs: Multiple Systems Operators; large
cable systems dominate industry
• DBS: Direct Broadcast Satellites• 1992 Cable Television Consumer
Protection Act– Must carry vs. retransmission consent
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HISTORY OF CABLE, SATELLITE AND INTERNET TV (2 of 2)
• Telecommunications Act of 1996 – Telephone companies could provide cable TV– Cable could provide telephone service
• VOIP: Voice over Internet protocol
• New cable networks find it hard to gain access• Cable TV audiences are fragmenting• Internet TV (webcasting); late 1990s
– Buffering & broadband have helped– Podcasts
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CABLE, SATELLITE AND INTERNET TV IN THE DIGITAL
AGE• Satellite and cable systems use digital
technologies to support– Video on demand, interactive program guides, high-
definition TV, digital video recorders– Compression of signals, increasing channel capacity
• Cable systems can also provide telephone and Internet service– Bundling multiple services
• Easier for telephone or cable systems than satellite systems
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Mobile Media
• Cable and satellite content can be sent to– Cell phones, PDAs, laptop computers
• User-generated content on cell phones
• Mobile video-sharing web sites
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User-Generated Content
• Cable and satellite networks increasingly turning to user-generated video– CNN I-Report
• The Internet is biggest place for user-generated content– YouTube
• Used by politicians, advertisers, aspiring entertainers
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DEFINING FEATURES OF CABLE, SATELLITE AND
INTERNET TV
• Requires extra equipment
• Extra fees for service
• Specialized channels, appealing to highly differentiated audiences– Even when mass appeal content (TV shows,
movies) is available on the Internet, the audience is not mass
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ORGANIZATION
• We will first consider the organization of the cable and satellite TV industries, then turn to Internet video
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Structure: Cable TV
• Head end
• Distribution system– Trunk
• House drop– One-way or two-way
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Programming and Financing: Cable TV (1 of 2)
• Local operators – Program sources
• Local origination, local broadcast TV stations, superstations, special cable networks, pay services, pay-per-view channels.
– Income sources • Subscription fees, local advertising
– Expenses• Hardware (installing/maintaining system), content
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Programming and Financing: Cable TV (2 of 2)
• National operators– Program sources
• Original productions, movies, syndicated programs
– Income sources• Subscription fees, carriage fees, advertising
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Pay-Per-View (PPV)
• Sporting events, movies, concerts, adult content
• Though the potential for big money remains, PPV has fallen on hard times due to – Video on Demand (VOD)– Digital channels
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Video-on-Demand (VOD)
• Users search for content stored on cable/satellite company’s server– Select desired content, and it becomes available,
usually for a fee
• VOD has been slow to catch on– Relative lack of content; complicated user interfaces
• VOD use is up, but VOD is lower priority for cable/satellite companies– YouTube content creates more “buzz”; more
competitors are appearing
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Structure: Satellite TV
• Content providers
• Broadcast centers
• Geosynchronous satellites– Signals are encrypted
• Small satellite receiving dish
• Satellite receiver
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Programming and Financing: Satellite TV
• Programming sources carried by major cable companies are also distributed by satellite– Difference: satellite networks are national, with no
local generation of programs• Revenue sources
– Subscription fees, extra charges for DVRs, HDTV, etc. Local advertising not significant revenue.
• Expenses– Hardware, content
• Challenges– Competing with cable’s ability to bundle voice, video,
high-speed Internet access
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OWNERSHIP
• Ownership trend is toward consolidation
• Cable– Comcast & Time-Warner
• Satellite– DirecTV and Dish Network
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INTERNET TELEVISION
• Starting an Internet channel requires only– Camera, computer, software, website
• Convergence between TV set and computer is well under way
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Structure: Sources and Content
• Sources of web video– Amateurs– Professionals
• Content– Original– Repurposed
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Microcasting
• How broad of an audience is being sought?– Broadcasting– Narrowcasting– Microcasting
• As it evolves, will the Internet be used more for broadcast or microcast applications?
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Feedback
• Cable/satellite networks– Nielsen Media Research
• Same techniques as with broadcast TV
• Internet video– ComScore Media Matrix– Nielsen/NetRatings
• VideoCensus
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Audience
• 85% of US households subscribe to cable or satellite providers– Subscribers tend to be younger, more affluent, and
have more children.
• Demographic makeup of cable/satellite networks varies, due to the specialized content
• 25% of Internet users watch online videos at least once a week– People who share videos tend to be male, and young