The future of Internet TV is here and I think I have seen it.
The change in technology is amazing particularly with regard to transfer of internet over to other mediums such as TV, mobiles, digital radio and PDAs (personal digital assistants).
The digital transfer of information from the Internet over a new digital transmission has been slow. In Ireland, this has been seen with the slow change of current audio FM/analogue based TV spectrum frequency over to digital wavelength.
The current downturn in the economy has not helped matters either. The BCI (Broadcasting Commission of Ireland) has been slow to find a new company to fill their contract for a new transmission out to tender amongst private consortiums. The whole DTT strategy was looking good last year until the bottom came out of the market. This has been undone partly due to the fact that the DTT/Communicorp/Boxer group failed to keep their bid up and have fallen off with the downturn. The contracts given would have meant that the group had the right to operate three different commercial multi-plexes along with RTE multi-plex free to air service.
I find that along with the example of internet TV, broadband roll out has been slow along with existing infrastructure in Ireland, with large areas in Ireland with no broadband at all. The comparison to America is noticeable. America is partnering cable operators and media corporations together with the telephone networks to get a cut off the expected increase in use of internet bandwidth data capacity over to computers away from TV. Industry analysts say that there is expected to be a major trend towards TV content watched on the internet along with mobile phones.
The question is, is Ireland prepared for this eventual transmission shift? Not by current statistics. There could be arguments about existing contracts between new parties awarded DTT license and RTE as the main semi-state national broadcaster in getting revenue through ads. RTE clearly wants the biggest piece of the pie. There are issues about how quickly the infrastructure can be rolled out to meet the expected eventual demand but financial constraints restrict this. The public tax-payer will be forced to pay out 50 euros on top of the annual TV license for the set top box should RTE set up a free to air package covering the three main basic channels already available. People might not pay the bill. A government intervention to rescue the state broadcaster is not impossible given the financial straits RTE is in along with the Irish Government, already in billions of euros in debt. Interesting times ahead.
Recently, I met a man who wants to set up his own local Fingal Internet TV website to cover localized community events such as sports, news, social events and business on specific channels streamed live over the net. RTE have this service player in place but it is a national broadcaster. This is an area that will take off hugely when the economy starts to take off again. I am a big believer that more localized community media in all its various forms will take off soon into little networks away from the mass media model which has been made redundant by the rapid rise in social networks of people and the collaboration model changing the rules of the game. I think Fingal Internet.tv is a great idea and will change the way people watch the news. There is more of an opportunity to allow people to work around their own time rather than having to be conformed to watch a certain item at a certain time which is not always possible given the busy lives people live now. It is all about time and control over peoples use of it. The internet has changed how people are living their lives and allowing greater degree of mobility and flexibility. In addition, I see even an niche opportunity for people to set up their own Fingal TV in a specific district, and creating a Christmas tree of little networks of internet TV/reporting models in their community.
I hope to contribute to Tony's blog and vice versa.
