NATPE 2012

I was reminded of two things yesterday:  1. take your shoes off before walking on the beach and 2. Hollywood is smart.  I’m in Miami Beach at NATPE (National Association of Television Programming Executives), the annual convention where content deals get made.  I’m past the sand in my shoes business, but I’m still stuck on the really simple idea that the more content is seen, heard and read the more money a rights-holder makes. Eyeballs equal money. Hollywood gets that.

When I contrast NATPE 2012 with my first NATPE in 1997 the evolutionary change is remarkable. Hollywood has awakened to the fact that content is created to be consumed over and over again, not put a shelf for admiration.  And, based on the presence of technology at NATPE, Hollywood has also figured out how to make money on their content. In a word, it’s the internet.

Here’s the new rub: SOPA/PIPA. Rights-holders need protection. Law abiding websites need protection. Legislation that protects all law abiding parties in this internet entertainment ecosystem is likely needed. I think Congress will figure it out, just the way Hollywood has figured it out.

The collision course between Hollywood and technology has been coming for awhile. I remember testifying before Congress with Jack Valenti, then head of the Motion Picture Association of America. It was clear to us then that Hollywood was preparing for change.

Of course, as you can guess, I’m all for content getting consumed over and over on the internet. We all make money. I also strongly believe in using technology to protect things that are mine or rights that I have been granted. Hollywood and Syncbak are going to work on this together, right now, in fact, at NATPE, as soon as I put my shoes back on.

Photo by: jodimarr

CES Day Four

The end is near. I can feel it. Our feet hurt. Day four at CES 2012. It’s approaching 7AM…again, and the place is empty. Today is a short day. The show ends at 4PM. By about 4:01 we’ll have the boxes out. Let the shipping begin. Time to roll up the sidewalks. Chaos reigns supreme as smiles give way to hurried panic as we all set out for home. Before that we’ll likely sit down as a team and ask the question, “Did we accomplish what we set out to accomplish?” For us, the answer is yes. We got ink. We generated buzz. In fact, the coverage we received far exceeded my expectations.

Tonight the countdown to CES 2013 begins. The future of TV beckons…

CES Day Three

My assessment of trade shows invariably follows the same path. On set-up day I say “this is going to be great.” On day one I say “isn’t this great.” On day two, I say “wasn’t yesterday great.” On day three I say “trade shows are hard.”

Your days start early and then, when all is said and done and the last person has left your booth, you get to go eat. Because many trade shows are in Vegas, you have to spend a little time paying your respects to the gambling gods. If you’re lucky, you get to your room with more than a ChapStick in your pocket. This year we are in “Eureka Park” which is part of my friend, CEA CEO Gary Shapiro’s, push to nurture innovation in America. It is all startups, most you’ve never heard of and likely never will. Still, the CEA’s focus on innovation is a good thing.

I am today, as most days, in the booth by 7AM. Other than the occasional security guard walking by, it is eerily quiet. I like that. It gives me time to think. I also tend to walk around and look for booth ideas. There are very few good booths, especially with smaller companies. I notice a lot of them don’t spend enough time thinking about messaging because I have no idea what they do. I have one simple rule of thumb. Virtually every person at a trade show will ask you the same question, “What do you do?” So, to really nail it at a trade show you need to cheat. Answer that question before they ask it. No matter how small or large your booth, make damn certain the messaging answers that question before it is asked. That way your conversations get off to a fast start.

Yesterday we had visits from a lot of potential strategic partners, which, along with generating press coverage, is why we are here. Interestingly, we had visitors from both CableLabs and Comcast so our messaging must be spot on. We are an Internet Television Company.

CES Day One

As big shows go, the opening days of CES 2012 went well for Syncbak. Our long first day is behind us and now the work begins to see everybody we didn’t see yesterday.

We’re over at the Sands Convention Center, booth 73108. If you’re here in Vegas and want to experience LIVE mobile OTT, you can see that in our booth. If you’d like to see our authentication technology and social networking hooks cranking away, you can see all that, too.

For Syncbak, this year’s CES will mark the time we went from building, deploying and testing our technology to the time we made it commercially available. Over the coming weeks users in several markets will experience LIVE mobile OTT. I was only asked once yesterday what the “value proposition” was and, as it turns out, that guy was only in our booth to get a free mint.

TV belongs on all devices and in consumers’ hands. Even Time magazine says so (see “Control Freaks”, Harry McCracken, January 9, 2012) and that means mainstream America is thinking about TV on all devices, not just the early adopters.

Here’s my big prediction for 2012: mobile OTT is going to follow the same trajectory as cable and satellite did once they started carrying broadcast televison. Adoption exploded. Mobile DTV is another important step in making sure each new platform “extends the reach of broadcast” television. I see our mobile OTT mission as much the same…a way to make sure free TV is available on all devices.

On to day 2.

It all began with a 13″ BW Zenith TV

The best Christmas present Santa ever brought me was a 13″ Zenith black and white television, even though I had asked for a Big Wheel like the rest of my friends. While they made it down hills unscathed on their new toys, I simply tried to not die from the cockpit of my Radio Flyer limited edition wagon from the year before. I’m still reeling from the humiliation of being the only kid using “old technology”. How quickly things change. A year earlier, with all of its potential uses, my wagon was all the rage. I was immediately anointed Master of the neighborhood. When the year of the Big Wheel came around, quite frankly, I was caught off guard. Technology does that. It sometimes catches us off guard. Hauling capacity gave way to sheer speed in the winter of 1973. Little did I know, though, that all those nights spent in my bedroom in front of my new 13″ Zenith plotting my return to neighborhood stardom, would eventually pay off.

My bedroom TV meant freedom. No longer was I constrained to watching TV in the Living Room with my parents. While I was no longer Master of the neighborhood, my TV made me Master of my visual entertainment.

I think about that old TV fondly; wished I never gave it to my girlfriend’s sister when she went off to Law School at Michigan. Today I have a better TV, though. That TV is in my pocket right now; it is my Apple iPhone with the Syncbak app. When I’m done writing this I’m heading down to a casino, where I’ll take my TV. Then I’ll head to the Las Vegas Convention Center, where I’ll take my TV. From there, I don’t know where I’ll head, but I’ll have my TV.

2012, while long thought to be “the end of the world” is really a new beginning at least for TV. Broadcasters should be giddy with anticipation about the future of television. Their viewers will never be without a TV. Let’s give them something to watch folks. If it’s the end of the world, so be it. However, I think it’s just the beginning.

CES 2012, Here Comes Syncbak

CES 2012 is just around the corner. As is often the case this time of year, I find myself thinking back to CES 2000, my first. That was the year I launched TitanTV.com, a short 9 weeks after it was born on my kitchen table. Our booth was right next door to another company launch that year, TiVo. Needless to say, their booth was a little larger than ours. Still, our t-shirt line was just as long as their stuffed TiVo thing-a-ma-jigger line.

At the time I was absolutely certain about two things. First, I was convinced that consumers needed a single point of navigation for all their entertainment needs. Second, as cool as TiVo was, it seemed to me a technology which would very quickly become obsolete. Even in the nascent days of the Internet, it was clear to me that a consumer would eventually never actually come into contact with their digital assets. With offerings like Hulu, Netflix and the emerging SilverLight, that prediction appears spot on. Not sure where TiVo goes from here…

I also learned over time it is more important to deliver content than it is to simply show someone what’s on. Therein lies the opportunity for over-the-top. Syncbak, while tiny and mighty, has figured out one thing very well. That is, search is a two way street. While everyone else, including Google, has focused on making it easy for consumers to search for content, we’ve focused our efforts on making it easy for content to search for consumers.

Think about it. For OTT to really become OTT, companies need to look more like Match.com and less like Google, Hulu and others. Syncbak, I think, does that. I’m excited to start unveiling that vision at CES 2012.

If you’ll be there, stop by our Syncbak booth or set up a meeting with us by emailing info@syncbak.com.