So, what is up with SHVERA? How does February 17, 2009 (DTV Day in the U.S.) impact it?

Fact: The current SHVERA legistlation does account for satellite delivery of both analog and digital distant network services.
 
The restriction on determining eligibility of a consumer to receive such service rests solely on the analog signal coverage of the local broadcaster(s) involved, irregardless of the nature of the service being offered. Therefore, the determination of eligibility of receiving a distant digital signal is based upon a broadcaster's analog signal parameters, not a broadcaster's digital signal parameters, even after February 17, 2009 (at least that is where things stand today).
 
The dilema is that broadcasters will turn off their analog signals by February 17, 2009, but the legislation will not be enacted to address this situation until November 2009. So what is going to happen?
 
The broadcasters and the DBS industry have been discussing an interim solution, or agreement, but to date nothing has come to fruition. The nature of the agreement might be to use the analog parameters until legislation directs us otherwise. In that case, the technology we provide would not change. Eligibility and waiver requests would be processed under the current SHVERA guidelines. Another twist on this would be that both sides would agree to some twist, or tweaking, to the way our technology works to essentially replicate the DTV airwaves. In essence, we'd tweak things a bit and be done with it. The machine would run itslef just like it does today.
 
In lieu of such an agreement, two things could happen: First, satellite companies could opt unilaterally to operate as if such an agreement were in place. Again, there would be no change in how our technology would operate. A broadcaster could still expect to get waiver requests even though their analog signal is now "dark". The second, and least likely possibility, is that a satellite company could deem the absence of an analog signal as being "white area" under the prevailing legislation and attempt to legally provide distant network signals into your market. We are ready for that, too. Our ChallengeTV technology (which has been used by every ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC affiliate for years) would identify those potentially illegal subscribers during the challenge process. As a local broadcaster, you need to make sure your particular network remains set up with us (Decisionmark) to process these subscribers!

So, what am I going to do? I've directed our technology group to leave Geneva (the backbone technology of SHVERA) as is until either Congress or both industries (together) direct me to do otherwise.To me that just makes the most sense.

Feel free to email me jack.perry@titantv.com or call me (day or night) if you'd like to talk about it. If you're reading this you most likely have my number.

Chief 

My letter to the Chairman of the FCC about using the White Space for unlicensed devices

In 1996 as a young entrepreneur I went to Washington D.C. with a plan for how to solve a vexing problem in the then fledgling direct broadcast satellite business (DBS). I spent the better part of the next 3 years on the Hill talking to anyone who happened to leave their door open; member of Congress, staff member, association person or FCC staffer. In the end, our company played a significant role in crafting legislation to assist broadcasters, satellite companies and perhaps most important, consumers. On a personal side, I learned that you can actually head into "the beltway" and make a difference. Our company did just that.

Yesterday the FCC voted 5 - 0 to allow internet services in unused TV bands, i.e. White Space. While the debate over whether or not this is prudent is sure to rage on for some time, I thought it might be helpful if I shared just exactly what I told FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on the topic. Not unlike what we did starting in 1996, there is a means to handle the White Space issue which is broadcaster, provider and "viewer friendly".

 Here's what I told Chairman Martin:

October 31, 2008

The Honorable Kevin J. Martin
Chairman
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street SW
Washington DC 20554

Re:     In the Matter of Unlicensed Operation in the TV Broadcast Bands,
    ET Docket Nos. 04-186, 02-0380

Dear Chairman Martin:

I am writing today to discuss geolocation technology and how it can be used as a method for avoiding interference with television broadcast signals.

Unlicensed White Space Devices (WSD) need to make a determination of what local television frequencies are in use, using this information to avoid interference. All of the devices tested by the FCC use some sort of spectrum sensing to scan the television frequency range. The time per channel for this scan ranged from 0.1 seconds per channel to 185 seconds per channel; signal detection sensitivity was highly variable in the testing, with detection thresholds degrading by up to 70 dB in the presence of adjacent-channel signals. Failing to detect a protected television transmission is likely to result in interference with the television signal. Clearly, any technology that can improve the performance or reliability of the WSD spectrum scan, or replace it all together, would benefit end users, broadcasters and manufacturers. Decisionmark has been providing such technology to the satellite, broadcast and consumer electronics industries for over a decade.

Decisionmark can provide an Internet-based service that will take an estimated location from a device and return a list of predicted signal strengths for all television channels (the service could also be hosted on one or more private networks). The device can use this vector of signal strengths to reduce the number of channels that it needs to scan, concentrating its limited scanning resources on the frequencies that are most likely to be usable; this translates into a faster channel scan and a better user experience, as well as more robust protection against television interference. Our Geneva geolocation technology is flexible enough to allow the use of any of a variety of signal strength prediction algorithms, and can work with any network-capable client device.

Keeping in mind that the details of signal strength prediction, location determination and network communication are quite flexible, an example may help to illustrate the system:

•    A user enters his or her zip code as part of the WSD setup (or, a more seamless experience might use GPS).
•    The device transmits this location to a geolocation server.
•    The server then calculates predicted signal strengths at that location, as well as a number of nearby locations (the distance and number of locations is determined by the location uncertainty).
•    Predictions are performed for all of the television stations in the United States, as well as Mexican and Canadian stations in border regions.
•    The technology returns a list of the strongest signal for each of the channels that are accessible to that device (the number of channels can be customized for the device; a UHF-only device for example, would not receive VHF channel predictions).

The entire prediction typically takes less than 0.5 seconds. The device can use this channel list to pre-screen the channels that need to be scanned: channels with a strong predicted signal strength could be skipped in the initial scan.

Depending on the accuracy of the location determination, geolocation technology could supplant the use of spectrum sensing (channel scanning) altogether.

It is critical that the Commission have a full understanding of the strengths and history of geolocation technology. Decisionmark’s geolocation technology has virtually replaced signal strength testing for determination of SHVERA eligibility in the Direct Broadcast Satellite industry. It can play the same role here.

Thank you for your consideration of using geolocation in conjunction with or in lieu of spectrum sensing.

Best wishes.

Sincerely,


Jack Perry

CEO, Decisionmark Corp. 

cc:    The Honorable Michael J. Copps
    The Honorable Jonthan S. Adelstein
    The Honorable Deborah Taylor Tate
    The Honorable Robert M. McDowell

 

Preparing for 2009...the most critical year ever for our Customers and for Titan

Considering the fact that I started my first software company within months of graduating from Iowa, you might say I grew up in this industry. While my wife would ague with the "grown up" part, she wouldn't contest the notion that this is what I do. In fact, I wouldn't even consider doing anything else. I run software companies. We live by the credo; business is about making money and having fun and without Vision you have nothing. We also subscribe to the thought; you can have the best products in the world but if you can't sell them you are in deep *&^%.

So, to ensure we have a shared Vision...that we build great products we can sell...that we can make money and have fun, at Titan we are in a continuous process of planning, measuring and adjusting. After 20 years I think we're pretty good at it. Sure, like any company, we've had a few brief hiccups, but for the most part we've stayed true to the Vision. In preparing for 2009 I recently sent out an All Titan memo asking the team to complete the following question/statement:

 "2009 is our most critical year EVER because..."

Here's a few responses I got back...most within minutes:

...our broadcast customers are heading into the DTV transition. We must stay focused on developing tools that make their work more efficient and easier to accomplish.

...with the analog train about to reach the end of the track, we must focus on making sure our broadcasters know we are here to help and that our core products are ready to serve them through this difficult time.

...broadcasters will more than ever need simply powerful software solutions for grappling with the complexities of the DTV transition.

...we MUST capitalize on the DTV transition and continue to grow our revenue streams. We cannot leave any money on the table.

...this will be the most challenging year ever for our customers.

...we need to make it easy for broadcasters to know what we do. They have enough to think about in 2009...

...SHVERA is up for rewrite. We need to hit the Hill. The digital transition will not only impact our customers, it will impact our technology. We need to be ready.

Building a shared Vision is tough. It takes relentless attention to detail and consistent internal communications (OK, sometimes called debate). The focus must be on the customer. Based on the above responses (and the 15 or so I didn't share) I think we are on track to help the broadcast community with the digital transition year. In helping broadcasters we help consumers.

With the build-out aspect of the digital transition pretty much complete (local stations buying, installing and lighting up digital channels, sub-channels, and etc.), the opportunities now are going to create solutions around that build out. For example, the vast majority of stations, on average, have 2.7 digital channels: 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, etc. Those channels take approximately 15 - 17 Mb/s of their of the allotted 19.4 Mb/s. The balance will be used for ATSC M/H. Our MediaStar product must (and will) be ready for ATSC M/H. More channels means more content. Our products must (and will) be continually refined to assist local stations in managing their programming and programming contracts. Analog is going dark. Our antenna selector technology (AST) and SHVERA Compliance tools need to "go all digital" by 2.17.09. 

There you have it. Our focus. Without looking too far into the future, I'm guessing that where 2009 is the year of the digital transition, 2010 will be the year viewers get connected to broadcasters not only over-the-air and over-cable and over-DBS, but over-the-web on any device from any place. Live...

We still have our game...baseball.

I am not a Phillies fan. I am not a Rays fan. I am a lifelong Detroit Tigers fan. So, I guess what I am saying is this year I had little...check that...really no interest in the outcome of the World Series.

Moments ago however, as I scanned the channels looking for Obama, it was the final out of the Fall Classic that reminded me of how important baseball is. It is our game. What FOX did on covering the last pitch was nothing short of magnificent. If you watched the game then you know what I am talking about. After the throng of players piled on each other at the pitchers mound FOX went into recap mode for the final out. The first camera angle showed the catcher catching the pitch, tossing his catchers mask and charging the mound. FOX replayed that moment from the vantage point of the pitcher. Same thing. They then went on to show a total of 12 shots - one of each player, coaches and the owner - as the final pitch and dash for the Championship Mound started. It was truly special coverage.

In today's crazy time with the economy and the election it was a moment captured by FOX and the story quickly retold by FOX which reminded me how lucky we all really are. No matter how bad things are, or get, we still have our game...baseball.  

Don't you hate it when TV listings are wrong?

Yes. I absolutely hate it. I know what you are thinking, “Hold on there Chief, doesn’t TitanTV create television listings?” No. Yes. Well, sort of… Actually no, we do not create television listings. Just like everyone else in this space we get our listings from one of three providers. TitanTV is a technology.

Gemstar-TV Guide, Tribune Media Services and FYI Television are the guys who provide TV listings to 100% of the industry. While we’ve worked with all three, today we work with FYI Television. The truth of the matter is these guys have a very complex task to do which is only getting harder every day.

Back before TitanTV.com burst onto the scene in January 2000, getting television listings right was far easier. The vast majority of the listings data was used to create print grids in newspapers. The balance was used by cable set-top boxes, which, because they are so hard to navigate, tended to hide inaccurate date.

Sometime next week TitanTV will eclipse 1,000,000 fully registered users since inception. We do millions of “quick guide” sessions for people who don’t register, but these 1 million are the power brokers of web-based television search.

I get emails daily from the loyal TitanTV user base.  Just this past Saturday LaLa Wang in New York wrote me to say, “I subscribe to Time Warner Cable (premium)… everything was fine until a month ago when the channel line up disappeared…” I feel for LaLa. I feel for all TitanTV users when things like this happen. The problem is, it isn’t our data.

So, here is what we do when something like that happens. We actually have a guy named Data Titan. We also have a Quality Titan and QT has an extremely competent partner named Cadillac Titan. These three (along with several others) are the true heroes of the TV listings industry. They are relentless in their pursuit of perfection and nary a day goes by where they don’t place dozens of calls into FYI Television with data issues collected from the field. To FYI's credit, they gladly take our calls, emails and recently came to Titan for a site visit to discuss my goal, TV listings data perfection.

So, keep the emails coming. You are the power users this industry needs. TitanTV will continue to support local television stations, which will in turn get you even richer data for DTV. We’ll continue to work with FYI Television daily to make sure they hear about problems with the data. We will not leave people like LaLa in a lurch.

A few smart things about antennas...Smart Antennas

When it comes to getting network television you have a few options. Most of us get it ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and others from cable or satellite, but some of us use antennas...or at least we used to. I remember as a kid we got cable simply because we could get a more consistent picture over cable than we could with our rooftop antenna. It wasn't until years later that we mixed in CNN, The Weather Channel and MTV. Over time we forgot about the antenna on the roof and simply relied totally on cable. As more new houses were built it became more and more common to make sure each room could get cable as opposed to installing an off-air antenna. And so antennas started to get a bad reputation because all they ever did was sit on the rooftops of older homes and look ugly.

The pending digital transition (February 17, 2009) is going to change all that. Now, instead of antennas which are being used by "that cheap old man down the street" they are going to be used by the more savvy homeowner.  Why? Three reasons: 1) using an off-air antenna is simply the best way to get a digital signal (including HD), 2) the vast majority of local stations are already broadcasting hyper-local content on two-to-three digital sub-channels, and 3) all of the content is FREE. Now, I am not abdicating going out and dumping cable. Not in the least. But I am suggesting you should try out an antenna just for kicks.

1. Most antennas are under $100 bucks. Most cable bills are over $100(...and monthly at that). 
   
2. New "Smart Antennas" are starting to come out that work indoors. Sweet.
   

It's pretty certain that cable is only going to carry the main channel from each television station so using an antenna may be the only way to get that great hyper-local content we all like. Also, you might think of using a digital converter box (about $50) to convert your old analog sets for getting digital signals. Either way, an antenna is a smart thing. 

Smart antennas are just that...smart antennas. RCA has one which is sleek in design and sits right next to your television. The nice thing about the RCA Smart Antenna ANT2000 is that it essentially tunes itself every time you change the channel. It looks for the best way to capture the DTV signals. How cool is that? FREE TV is cool TV.

RCA gets it for you for $64.88. 

The state of the state in digital television

One of the things which is most commonly misunderstood about the pending transition from analog to digital is the state of the transition from analog to digital broadcasting. Since February 17, 2009 is the cut-off date many people mistakenly think that on February 16, 2009 we are all going to be scrambling to get ready. Not true...

Here's what I know:

1. Well over 1,000 local television stations are already broadcasting in digital and have been for several years. Add in PBS and that number grows exponentially.
   
2. Most, if not all, are broadcasting at or near FULL power. What that means is with the aid of an antenna most local viewers can watch digital television (including HD) for free.
   
3. Most of those channels, something like 97% are doing something called multi-casting. That means they've gone out and, in addition to equipping their main channel to broadcast in digital, they've added an additional channel, say 9.2.
   
4. These channels are tied internally to traffic systems and are starting to make money.
   
5. Something like 70% of those stations have almost entirely completed their digital build-out by building a x.3 channel.

The things viewers are most likely to see happening now are local news broadcasts migrating to HD broadcasts. WRAL has been doing that for years. The next big thing after that is something called ATSC M/H, in long form: advanced television systems committee - mobile/handheld. Now that the stations for the most part have their primary channel and sub-channels in place they will start the move to simulcasting to your M/H-enabled cell phones.

That's the state of the state in digital television. 

When does a Blog make sense?

When doesn't a blog make sense? I started blogging back in June of 2005. Like Michael Jordan leaving the Bulls briefly to play baseball, I walked away from the blog game several months ago to write screenplays, though I never actually made it into the minor leagues...at least not yet. Alas, I am back writing with the Titans...

At a recent industry event a person I respect very much in the press asked me, "How come you quit blogging?" After searching the annuls of my brain for an answer which would play well in the press I realized there wasn't one. I simply told him I'd be back. So, here I am.  

The Jordan analogy has another connection. In 122 days, on MJ's 46th birthday (February 17, 2009), our nation transitions entirely to digital broadcasting. That is something I know a little about AND something the people I have the pleasure of working with everyday know a lot about. We've been preparing for digital since I first learned about KCRG TV-9 getting channel assignment 55 digital back in 1996. That day we started working on a strategy to build a business around the pending digital transition. It is time to start talking about not only the problems created by this all important shift, but the solutions and many opportunities which abound because of it.

I'm back and ready to blog. The screenplay can wait. 

When you spend a year in an insane asylum you learn a lot...

I also did a stint at Leavenworth…about 12 months. No kidding.

Back in 1978 (or thereabouts), my family lived briefly in a place called Leavenworth, Kansas. Leavenworth is known for two things. First, it is the town that produced Melissa Etheridge. She was a year ahead of me at LHS. Second, it is the home of our nation’s largest federal penitentiary. I guess my parents always thought I’d one day be incarcerated, so they got a place close by just in case.

It wasn’t until years later came the insane asylum.

Along about 1992, I took over sales and marketing for a very cool software company called Powercore. True to the startup way of life, Powercore rented cheap space at a former insane asylum in Manteno, IL. As legend has it, during the Carter administration, the asylum lost funding so one day they just opened the doors and let everybody go. True? I don’t know for sure, but my neighbors on both sides seemed a little off kilter.

So as I sit here in my unique vantage point on the world –  looking out at a corn field in Cedar Rapids, Iowa – I can’t help but think about what an absolutely crazy time this is. Have I been here before? Yep. Was it at Leavenworth? Nope. Was it in the insane asylum? Yep.

Back in 1992 was the great software land grab. Think about the world before you used Outlook. If you did calendaring and scheduling (later dubbed Groupware), you used us. We became #1. We were #1. No one quite knew where the market was going so we joined forces with the market-leading Macintosh email company at the time, CE Software. While we immediately made them a better company, Microsoft eventually kicked our butts. We took our eye off the ball. All Microsoft had to do was say to themselves, “Hmmm, calendaring, scheduling and e-mail all in the same package? Hmmm…, very interesting….” Well, you get the point.

Today the landscape looks familiar. The big guys are out there. They’ll do well. No question about that. There are new guys. Who ever heard of Brightcove, Revver, Roo, or Joost a year ago? You probably haven’t even heard of a few of those yet. YouTube blasted on the scene so fast that most of us hadn’t even had time to check them out. Game over. Or is it? I don’t think so. There are partnerships, secret handshakes, guys in their basements writing code, VC’s trying to keep the next big thing under wraps, etc, etc, etc. out there right now. The stage is being set.

So the question begs, is it 1992 all over again? Nope. That was, in a word, insane.

Today, it is more like the late eighties where a guy in his basement could create a software package called Quattro Pro or Quicken or Turbo Tax and, because we used to buy machines (sometimes called “clones”) without software pre-loaded, the rise to super-stardom for some of these guys was almost overnight. We all had machines. Those machines needed applications. Guys like Philippe Khan or Scott Cook were all too happy to sell us their wares.

Will Titan play a role in what’s become akin to the Wild Wild West? You bet. One thing is for sure, and while it may sound stupid to say, we are all somewhere. I know, thanks Jack. That was really insightful.

I think that the winners in this new Wild Wild West will be the viewers. Whether you’re coming out of a basement, an insane asylum or from the federal penitentiary, it is the guys who figure out how best to reach the viewers that will win.

How will Titan do it you ask? What am I crazy? This isn’t 1992…

Stay tuned.

The penalty box is a good place to collect your thoughts...

The penalty box is a good place to collect your thoughts...

The future of broadcasting will be defined in 2006. Next year is going to be an extraordinary year for television. Nearly every station has made the transition from analog to digital. Broadband penetration has reached nearly every home. We carry cell phones, PDAs and other devices capable of high speed Internet access. PCs are starting to ship with built-in ATSC TV cards capable of receiving both data and video.

Decisionmark (aka TitanTV) has been laying the groundwork for this shift for nearly ten years. We saw back then that one day broadcasters would have two ways to reach viewers and that neither route involved cable. Like is so often the case, our vision started on a napkin. It was a moment of clarity. It was a flurry of phone calls, activity, grease board drawings and scribbling in notebooks that led to the vision. Clarity leads to vision. Vision leads to direction. Direction leads to execution. Execution leads to success. It all starts with clarity.

The vision then is exactly what it is today - connect every broadcasters to every viewer.

My first moment of clarity came twenty-two years ago. At Christmas, I got in my car and left Michigan. The night before I had spent more time in the penalty box than I did on the ice in what turned out to be my final college hockey game. I was 20. Sitting alone in the locker room midway through the 3rd period I had a moment of clarity.

I could hear my uncle Bob, who had passed away unexpectedly years earlier, saying "Jackson, today is the first day of the rest of your life..." It was then I finally understood what he meant. You might say it hit me. If today really was the first day of the rest of my life then tomorrow would be, too. I didn't want anymore days like today so I decided I was pretty excited about tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day.... All I needed to do was get that day over with.

So, I called all my friends over for an auction. I suggested they bring beer and money. With the exception of my hockey gear (which I couldn't bring myself to part with) I sold everything I owned. Sometime in the wee hours of the night I fell asleep. I awoke to the first day of the rest of my life.

I left town with $278 to my name and headed for California. Hope had sprung eternal... When I got to LA I met my first guardian angel. Throughout our careers we all have guardian angels. Mine was Carol Swanson, the vice president and general manager of Charles Schwab in Century City. I started in the mail room. Whether she knows it or not Carol convinced me to believe in myself. She taught me that a key component of leadership is investing in people. She taught me to give people a chance.

So here we are on the cusp of the most significant change in entertainment that the world has ever known. Decisionmark is going to change the way everyone watches television. We assembled the most talented, driven, focused and visionary group of software engineers, data engineers, QA staff, product managers, operations people and broadcast consultants found anywhere. Our vision, to connect every broadcaster to every viewer, will change the face of television forever.

Consumers will watch whatever they want, whenever they want and on whatever device they want by getting content from their favorite broadcasters both over-the-air and over-the-web. Sure, cable and satellite will be around for years to come. No question of that. My job, our job, is to ensure that the relationship, the long standing relationship, between viewers and broadcasters survives this momentous shift.

Ten years from now you'll still get great network programming, news, weather and sports and you'll still get it from your local broadcaster, regardless of whether you get it via cable, over-the-air, satellite or over-the-web. Why? Because we're going to make sure it happens that way.

Sometimes clarity is the best gift of all...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Is it a TV? Is it a PC? Is it a Mac? Is it a Phone?

 Is it a tv? Is it a pc? Is it a Mac? Is it a phone? What is it?

It doesn't matter. What matters is that it is connected to YOUR entertainment universe.

Questions, questions, questions… We all ask them. We all get asked them. The industry right now is grappling to answer questions about content, entertainment content, as opposed to the feeling of being content. Both are important though, aren’t they? Who wouldn’t want to be content? Questions…

The industry has finally figured out that convergence is upon us. It isn’t just about television anymore it is about entertainment. It is about the consumer benefiting from connectivity. It is about the billion device universe. The questions that have been asked or should be asked are about keeping order in this billion device universe. How do you do that? How can a content owner have any warm and fuzzy feelings about YouTube? Does Google spending in excess of $1.65 billion for YouTube suddenly bring order to an otherwise order-less universe? Nope. Is there hope?

Questions… The funny thing about questions is that unless you ask the right person the right question then getting the right answer is really hit-or-miss. But, if you ask the right person the right question, perhaps even at the right time, then you’ll get the right answer you are looking for.

Here are some of my all time favorite questions (I took the liberty of answering them):

What is the meaning of life? I don’t know.

What does it mean to be average? Not sure I can answer that.

Is there anyone else out there? Probably...

The lights are on, but is anyone home? That depends. Let me check it out.

What about Bob? What about Bob?

Does anybody know what time it is? Does anybody really care?

Over the last several days Sunny Titan has had me doing final interviews with candidates hoping to join our broadcast sales team. This morning one of the applicants set down on my desk what looked like every tattered page of my Blog, complete with highlighting and bound together with a rubber band. Clearly, he had been doing his homework. I was impressed. This was going to be a good interview.

And it was a good interview, except for when asked me how I felt qualified to talk about the future of television. He immediately caught his faux pas and restated something along the lines of “What can you tell me about the future of television?” Hmmm… What can I tell him about the future of television? And why am I in a position to tell him? Was I second guessing myself? Nope.

In that instant I was immediately time-shifted into a reverie which starts about twenty-two years ago when I first met my eventual father-in-law. Rightfully so, he was quite interested in finding out what I thought the future looked like.

Up until the time I met my wife, she’d been dating a med student (every eventual father-in-law’s dream come true). I, on the other hand, was a washed up hockey player, who held little interest in med school. Everything I owned was in my car and the bank owned that. Still, I knew I was eventually going to do something. It’s just that I couldn’t explain exactly what it was. [Note to potential son-in-laws: It never pays to be inexact about your future when talking to potential in-laws.]

Well, as I am sure you’ve surmised, back then those of us who didn’t go to med school got into creating software. When we weren’t developing software, we were watching television. Over the next few years we started using bulletin boards or using ELM to send messages to our developer brethren. The television was always on in the background, waiting, lurking, or being used for video games, and etc.

Long about 1992 it became clear to me that the PC and television were on a collision course of unprecedented proportions. Factor in the inherent connectivity created by the Internet and there you have it. Back in the very early 90’s, electronics giant Philips created a technology known as CDi (Compact Disc Interactive). I was president of Interactive Resources, the leading CDi authoring tools and plug-in company. Had the CDi technology been connected to the Internet we’d all have one today. Instead, it wasn’t. Most titles tended to be niche in nature. Very few purchased the titles which were created for the general populous. CDi thrived briefly in Europe only to be rendered obsolete by the Web.

In 1996 I was fortunate enough to be sitting in a conference room listening to lawyers fight over copyright. The meeting lasted eight hours. When it ended, and before I made it to the cab line, I heaved my lunchbox-sized cell phone to my ear and called Mini Titan. I told him that if this copyright issue was as big an issue as it is today for satellite, imagine what it will be like when everyone is streaming everything on the Internet. He agreed. We built the solution, now called TitanCast, and we waited.

So you see, the future of television is about connectivity. Sure many of us will get cable for the duration of our lives. Most of the others of us will get satellite. Others will use over-the-air antennas. ALL of us will have an Internet connection and ALL of us will have multiple devices which are high speed enabled. Like an outstanding assistant, most of our devices will be capable of multi-tasking.

Advertisers, content owners, rights holders, and broadcasters will all vie for the best position on the screen, your screen. Your screen will be a connected screen. If you missed My Name is Earl, all you’ll have to do is point, click and stream it from your local NBC affiliate. Content owners will create video syndication deals for delivering content over-the-web, most likely with the same guys who pass their content over-the-air, over-cable and over-satellite. Simply put, the system that works today will be replicated for delivering content over-the-web.

The best part? You are in control. You’ll see great content for free like you do today. The ads you’ll see will be different because you’ll be using a connected device to get the content. That means a smart company that places itself in the middle of that mess will make the content owners feel happy because their content is protected. They’ll make advertisers happy by delivering timely and relevant ads. They’ll make the broadcasters happy because they have content and they have ads. You’ll be happy because in the future of television you, the viewer, are CONNECTED and in CONTROL. Any questions?

How a 91 year-old has enjoyed his Detroit Tigers

When my grandfather, now 91, grew up, he listened to his favorite baseball team on the radio. That radio was in the kitchen of a very small farmhouse in a place called Middleville, MI. His team was the Detroit Tigers. Today, all these years later, his team is still the Detroit Tigers.

With championships from ’35, ’45, ’68 and ’84 in our fond but distant memories, we are yet again in the World Series and perhaps on the verge of becoming World Series Champions. You see, if you didn’t know it already, I am a Tiger fan, too. I have been one for as long as I can remember. My grandpa gave me that gift.

While I don’t know the exact year it happened, my grandfather eventually moved to watching the Tigers on television. He probably left the radio on too, as he always liked radio announcer Ernie Harwell the best. Even though he was a successful business man for Firestone, I’d suspect his family wasn’t the first on the block to get a TV. Nevertheless, for a period of time, many, many years in fact, grandpa watched Tiger games in black and white.

Sometime in the 60’s, I’d suspect, my grandparents purchased a console television and put it into their rarely used living room. While they didn’t think of it that way, it was their first convergence device…radio, turntable and a black-and-white television. Groovy…

Probably in the 70’s, their original device (console TV) was replaced with exactly the same model, except this time it had a color TV in it. Cool… Like most people in the late 70’s and early 80’s, Grandpa eventually got cable and purchased a small set for the bedroom. Awesome…

Like 30 million other folks in the late 90’s, Grandpa got satellite. Now with a dish no bigger than a pizza and an atennna, Grandpa had it all, his local television channels and hundreds of others. Sports channels to no end. Dude…

Last year, 2005, Grandpa got a laptop. I gave it to him. Whether or not he ever moves to HD I don’t know. If I have anything to do with it, he will. Nonetheless, it is important to note that over the years the content followed my grandfather. The content is today following you. I am sure there are days where Grandpa would just as soon close his eyes and listen to the Tigers on the radio. He can do still that. He can even do it using the Internet. In the end, like he has followed the Tigers, the Tigers will follow him.

So Grandpa, if you are reading this (or your helper is reading it to you), enjoy our Tigers. Enjoy this time. We’re back…

Charging for HD is wrong

If you think charging for HD is OK, look in the mirror. You are a cable executive.

In 1981 I graduated from high school and got my first stereo. It had a tuner, turntable and an 8-track tape player – all in one box. It had speakers that, when cranked as far up as they could go, were… well… not so great… but they were loud. Come to think of it, in life as our ability to buy bigger and better speakers [the ones capable of crystal-clear cranking up] increases, our need to crank them up actually decreases. Hmmm… But this Blog isn’t about speakers. It is about continuing to pay the cable company an extra ten bucks a month just for HD. It just isn’t right.

In the past ten years I’ve spent more time on Capitol Hill than most people spend in their backyards. While not a lobbyist in any sense of the word, I do have the ears of our lawmakers. Last week I blogged about having to pay cable extra for ESPN-HD. The response was 99-to-1 in agreement. Like it or not, Disney (the owners of ABC and ESPN), Monday Night Football is an American Institution. Readers tend to agree that SNF is a luxury, but MNF is a right. It ought to be free, HD or otherwise. But the problem isn’t with Disney. The problem is with your local cable company. They are choosing to charge us.

Thinking back to 1981, we’ve actually been here before. After fulfilling her duties of "raising" me, my grandmother left town. She left behind her 19” Philco black and white television. I was now free to watch television AND listen to my stereo (favorite album: Tubes - Completion Backwards Principle) as loud as I wanted, as long as I wanted, and if I wanted, BOTH at the same time.

In my house, if it had an "on" switch, then you can bet it was on. If it had volume dial then you can bet the dial was turned all the way up. My life was complete: TV, stereo, an amazing girlfriend and a car. What more could a 17 year-old guy want? On August 1st I found out. That was the day MTV became MTV. I wanted my MTV. By the end of the day nearly everyone I knew was buzzing about getting their MTV.

My best friend Dave’s dad actually had the cable company hook it up so he could run it through their home stereo. He was a stereo-phile. He was an early adopter. Watch MTV on the TV and listen to it as loud as you want through your home stereo. Brilliant…. Unfortunately, like switching back to analog from HD today, once you watched and listened to MTV with the aid of a home stereo it just wasn’t the same without the stereo.

As a young man with limited means, August 1st was also the day I learned what a splitter was. Almost to the minute I learned about MTV I phoned my local cable company because I had to have it. I wanted my MTV. MTV was cool, but imagine the experience of cranking it through my stereo? Unfortunately, my cable company informed me that they were charging for the ability to listen to MTV over the stereo. I think it was like $3.95 per month. To me, that was a lot. It just didn’t seem right. I had to take action. At the time I knew where Capitol Hill was, but not much more than that. I needed another plan.

Since I knew I was never going to pay my cable company for getting MTV on my stereo, I decided to go to Dave’s house to see how the cable company managed to get the sound into the stereo. What I found there, and what I subsequently deduced in the next hour, stays with me to this day. All the cable company had done was use a splitter at the wall with one cable running to the television and the other going to the stereo. The stereo was then set to an FM channel which carried MTV. The splitter, I found out later that day at Radio Shack, cost all of fifty cents. Fifty cents! How can the cable company charge us?

Using money I’d raised from can returns (pop cans, I swear), that night I bought every splitter Radio Shack had in stock, twelve in all. I wanted my MTV. My friends wanted their MTV. We got our MTV…. We took matters into our own hands.

My house became not only a Mecca for post-hockey game parties, it became the place where everyone went to enjoy MTV in stereo. None of us had any idea that we were the MTV Generation. Overnight our televisions (and stereos) became always-on devices. We now had Sting, Madonna, Duran Duran, and yes, Michael Jackson, to keep us company 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The arrival of MTV (no offense CNN, but I was only 17) was the single most important event in the history of television. While our parents got cable to get better reception, our generation got cable to get MTV. Unfortunately it was the early adopters who had to foot the bill. And, like the situation with ESPN today, it is the cable companies who were sticking it to the consumer.

So now it is 2006. We no longer pay for MTV. Thankfully that practice was short lived. I am sure the cable executives that came up with the MTV “up charge” have long since retired. After abusing their near monopolistic positions and banking the monies they bid us adieu. Unfortunately the college interns that were following those guys around back in 1981 are now the guys in charge. Apparently they learned their lessons well and finance their futures on the backs of the early adopters. What is happening with ESPN-HD is not the fault of ESPN, or Disney, or ABC.

What is happening with HD over cable is the fault of the cable executives who know all too well that watching anything in analog on an HD set is a truly poor experience. Their remedy is simple. For a mere $10 MORE per month they can solve all your worries. Yesterday, you could get MTV in stereo…for a fee. Today, for a mere $10 more per month you can actually make your HD set get HD. The cable companies know that this time around it takes more that a fifty cent splitter to get HD. It takes a subscription. Just having an HDTV apparently isn’t enough.

Charging for HD is wrong. Any blogger disagreeing clearly works for a cable company. It is time to take it to the Hill. Many of us have done our part. Local broadcasters have done their part. Nearly every local TV station is placing pristine HD content FREE over-the-air. Several cable networks like Discovery, National Geographic, HD Net, and etc have made outstanding HD content available to us. Consumers by the millions are buying HD televisions.

We could vote with our pocket books and not subscribe as several bloggers stated last week. Go ahead. That is your right. Or, we could let our local cable provider know this fight is going to Capitol Hill. Charging early adopters is wrong. Holding the ESPN-HD signal ransome is just plain wrong.

It is time to tell cable we will not stand for it. It is time to tell Congress that we shouldn’t have to pay extra for HD. I’ll share any and all applicable comments on the Hill as this story unfolds.

I want my HDTV…

Can we listen too much to our customers?

 Business 101 - Can we listen too much in the Internet era Business is about Vision. No question. Everyone who has worked even a day with me knows that I repeat the same credo each and every morning and sometimes multiple times throughout the day – in business without vision you have nothing. Still, there is something that comes in a close second to vision…listening.

A business that doesn’t listen to its customers won’t be around long. I learned that years ago from an outstanding sales manager named Brad Johnson. Brad used to hire account executives based on their ability to listen. He’d tell me “Jack, it doesn’t matter how smooth their pitch is…if they can’t listen to their customers, I don’t want them on my team.” Brad was right. Businesses are built on listening. How can you possibly hear what your customers need unless you let them tell you? You can’t.

Still, in the era of the Internet when anyone can hide behind a pseudonym email address and say just about anything they want without any repercussions, does listening hold the same weight?

Last month I received the following anonymous email:

From: Dummy Account [mailto:dummy-account@cox.net]
Sent: Saturday, August 05, 2006 6:57 AM
To: Chief Titan
Subject: Nobody else listens - will you?

Let me put this gently and with proper respect: You are useless idiots. I’ve sent 6 e-mails to the “wrong/missing channel” address complaining that MASN (Mid-Atlantic Sports Network) Cox Fairfax (VA) channel 102 is not listed. Nothing.

After the third, I began to offer help: Special-needs people who could probably do a better job (if we cut their Thorazine dose a little). It’s likely they would drool less than the jerks who keep ignoring the e-mails. I’ve also asked if I could have Titan’s “stuff” when you go out of business next month due to incompetence.

How about you? Are you just another American Business scam? Promise/tout/advertise the best service but in reality ignore customers with gusto.

OK. How about this. MASN is owned by Peter Angelos who also owns the Baltimore Orioles (whose games will be carried on MASN next season). He’s a (reportedly nasty) lawyer. Should I send a note to his office regarding your inability to list HIS channel? OR, with a name like Angelos, are you willing to bet he doesn’t have a personal assistant named Guido? Do you like your kneecaps? Who starts your car?

Have I effectively communicated my irritation? Should Titan sleep with the fishes?

Maybe it’s because I’ve played hockey my whole life and I’ve never been afraid to throw my gloves off. Or maybe it’s because my Dad was a career Marine, I don’t know. I do know this…I hate bullies. To really know a bully is to know that they are most likely actually a coward.

In the era of the Internet you can’t have millions of users without attracting a few nuts. So, can we listen too much now? Nope. Have the crazies, the cowards, the impotent dirt-bags put us in a position where it is just better to tune out all customers? Nope. Did this guy impact our business in any way? Sure, though not anymore than anyone else. MASN was already in the pipeline, had been in the pipeline, for inclusion into TitanTV listings. Once Quality Assurance signs off that the feed is reliable then it makes the list. It makes the listings…

Business remains about vision. Business remains about making money and having fun.

Business remains about listening to your customers…You know what? Nobody does that better than us.

Chief

MNF ought to be FREE

 MNF ought to be FREE...especially in HD Week 1 of the NFL is finally in the bag. The fragmentation of the American football experience in now underway. Watch games live? Sure. With DirecTV you can watch all of them. Watch games encapsulated down to every play and only 30 minutes long? Sure. Watch entire game replays a la carte, yet another reason no one needs a TiVo (or someday soon you won't)? You bet.

The NFL Network is underway and stretching their content to reach any viewer, on any device, at any time, AND wherever you want. Done. Football is as ubiquitous as baseball.

Watch Monday Night Football in HD for free? Nope. In case you didn't know MNF moved from ABC, where it was available FREE in HD, where it had been since the beginning of time, to ABC's sister-network ESPN. Since most Americans subscribe to either cable or satellite television then, I guess, making us tune in to a cable/satellite channel is OK...but just barely. Most of us don't realize we actually pay for ESPN. We don't realize this because it is part of most basic cable offerings. It feels free.

All of that said, the HD version of ESPN is not FREE. Both cable and satellite companies routinely charge for the "HD Package" which is nothing more than an HD broadcast of channels, which for the most part, we already all pay for like ESPN.

Isn't charging for the HD broadcast of MNF (or any show for that matter) penalizing the early adopters? Shouldn't a longstanding institution like MNF -something I can remember watching on a bean-bag chair on green shag carpet in footie pajamas - still be free? Yes.

Even this morning I still found myself perplexed by this inequity as I dropped my little boy off at school. Charging early adopters for HD of an already broadcast channel is wrong. Funny. In the rear view mirror I saw my son engaged in a conversation with his Principal, Mr. Schnick. I couldn't help but wonder if Mr. Schnick was telling him he had to pay to come into the school...