March 4, 2009, 8:49 am ZillionTV: Another Set-Top Box, With Ads By Saul Hansell NY Times
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/zilliontv-another-set-top-box-with-ads/?pagemode=print A company called ZillionTV is pulling the covers off yet another set-top box Wednesday that will let you watch movies and other video from the Internet on your TV. Yawn. That’s right, it’s just like boxes from Apple, Roku, Vudu, 2Wire and so many more. It won’t even be available until the fall. And at first, it will have much the same content you can get from other places — recent and old movies and some network shows starting the day after they air. Still, it does have an interesting take on the market that makes it an interesting experiment. Here’s what I gleaned from an interview with Mitchell Berman, the company’s chief executive: The box is very cheap: Actually the company wanted to offer the box free, but their tests showed that consumers didn’t respond as well to free, so it will cost well under $100. The device is simple because it has no hard drive and plays video by streaming, not downloading. It costs a bit over $100 to manufacture. There is free and pay-per-view content: For some programs, you’ll get a choice of free with ads or uninterrupted for a fee. You can also “buy” movies, which gives you the right to stream them any time you want (until ZillionTV goes away or changes business models). The pitch to advertisers is precise targeting: To get high ad prices to pay for all this, ZillionTV will watch your viewing habits, merge them with data about you it buys elsewhere, and use all that information to aim ads at certain groups of viewers. Users will also be asked to select categories of products they would like to see ads about. The ad-supported content will have half the number of commercials as broadcast television, which is still more than online services, like Hulu, have now. And you can’t skip past the commercials. It has a nifty pointer remote: Wave the remote in the air and a pointer moves around the screen, much like a mouse pointer. This uses technology from Hillcrest Labs. It’s the nicest interface on a set-top box I’ve seen yet. It will be distributed only by Internet service providers: Like 2Wire, the company sees that the best way into the market is to package its service with broadband service from phone companies that don’t have TV offerings. Trying to make friends in many places, the company has also taken investments from Visa and five movie studios (Warner Brothers, Sony, NBC Universal, Disney and Fox). The company has some other ideas about buying products you see online with the remote (the Visa connection) and a points rewards program. It also claims it has deals for other content, including music and sports. I won’t even call those interesting until I see them. Over all, there are a few tricks that may appeal to viewers here. Ad-supported old movies may provide a nice alternative to the Netflix subscription model. (The company has to prove that its scheme can add enough value for advertisers, without scaring off consumers, to pay for the content.) And I love the pointer remote. I wish every television and TV gizmo would use this technology instead of the annoying arrow buttons. The ties to the Internet providers and studios could also be a problem. Mr. Berman, who has worked in cable and satellite TV, says he can get more content and a faster start that way. But I wonder if the conflicts between all these parties will wind up slowing him down. -- ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 Mail: antunes at uh dot edu *********************************** * POST TO [email protected] * *********************************** Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
