Television networks spend $500 Million to a $1 Billion per year on pilot episodes. The rise of User Generated Content sites, such as Grouper, represent a new, lower cost way for TV networks to bubble up talent and ideas. Festivals and contests are another way for networks to find content. We met up with AJ Tesler, the Executive Director of the Independent Television Festival, www.itvfest.org, at the ITA’s 2008 NAB Press breakfast. The ITV Fest includes name brand sponsors, like Budweiser.
"It’s not about television anymore. It’s about video across multiple touchpoints," so says Tim Hanlon, Executive Vice President of Duneo Ventures in this interview at CableNEXT. He discusses how quickly online video is doing the things that cable VOD has promised for years. He and his group bring an interesting perspective to advertising and its impact on new media.
Ian Blaine, CEO of thePlatform, discusses how Internet Video can be used as a proving ground for television applications. He points out the importance of applications in creating a sticky service.
Industry consultant and former Sun Microsystems executive, Bill Correll, provides an overview of the panels he moderated at the CableNEXT conference. Additionally, he provides some interesting perspectives on the state of interactive television and advertising.
Kelly Anderson of the TM Forum and Kshitij Kumar of Tellytopia summarize their CableNEXT presentations regarding the concept of the "Electronic Megastore". Anderson talks of the importance of the back-office, while Kumar suggests that the online world has set the bar for electronic commerce.
