Video RSS

A lot of effort is being made today to build supply chains for movies and TV channels. We have already, to mention but a few

- Cinemas
- DVDs
- iTunes
- Seesaw
- BT vision

... and many other up and coming streaming and downloading internet offerings from media, broadcast and telecom companies. And yet the illegal downloading of movies is booming. Why?

It is the same kind of mess that the music business has been through and which the publishing industry is going through.

The problem lies with the media companies (studios, distributors, broadcasters). For too long they have both relied on distribution to control the market and to give them feedback about users. And their obsession with DRM control of end user experiences. But this has to change, the "middle" man who they represent is falling to the every increasing influence of the open internet. We are on the cusp of having a enough bandwidth to be able to get all the media we can watch by our broadband connections.

But still the media people don't get it.

Especially the entrenched ones, for example the BBC. They have controlled TV broadcasting for so long, they cannot imagine giving up the supply chain, they built and ran the transmitters, they switched us to digital, terrestrial and satellite. Now they are pushing another set top box at us that they call YouView, which has a number of partners who see just enough money in it for them to get on board, or who want to have a say in its development. But youView is just another box providing a mixture of Freeview reception, Pay TV and internet streaming in one new box. It is 3 years late in delivery and now not expected until 2012!!!

Is it what people want, and is it the right way to go?

For years we have had a superb system for pushing out web site contents, called RSS - really simple syndication. This is all based on a common public standard and has led to a lot of venture development of readers that grab the RSS streams and format them for consumption, often making the result look like a published magazine, but one that updates every minute!

So why not for video? Every media creator could provide streams of their content, and many software developers could grab these to make an IPTV, movie-on-demand system. The media streams would be both linear programming and specific on-demand steams requested by users.

So what is different?

- It is a standard just for the delivery of content (video codec, etc)
- It does not require a set top box, any computer can be the terminal with the correct software loaded.

And a final big plus. The computer is obviously connected to the TV which becomes a simple display, thus reducing its cost, and the computer can present not only the media but also allow a user to sit it on his lap and browser related web sites at the same time as he is viewing the media. This is a crucial point as more and more people today watch the TV, but at the same time have their browser open to get a second channel for information. And the advantage of using the computer for video and web content at the same time is that they can be linked, so that a user can get web pages relevant to the video he is watching, this is the holy grail!

But note that the way it has to be done is video has to be streamed in a standardised format (say MPEG4/H264), that computer programs have to developed to grab these video RSS streams and be able to transfer them to the TV Video Display. If plain old linear TV reception is also required then a TV tuner can be attached to the computer, not built in the display. The computer can also act a DVR to record programs. Obviously the streaming should be done wirelessly, no one wants their computer to have a cable running across the floor to the TV. Apple have the making of this with their Apple TV box which is very cheap, and simply connects your WiFi to your TV HDMI input (it actually can also browse the iTunes movie store and You Tube etc, but that is a side line, best done by your laptop and streamed across). Other makers are thinking the same way and starting to offer similar, very low cost interfaces, Apple is thinking to licence its AirPlay system directly to display makers to integrate the system without a box.

What has to be sorted to get this going?

1 Broadcasters and studios/distribution companies have to give up their middle man role of commanding the delivery chain. They have to focus on media creation, which is what we all want fro them anyway

2 A standard delivery technology has to be agreed

3 Rights owners have to accept that their media will be used by consumers in many ways which they cannot control. No longer can they release a program for viewing on BBC2 at 7:30pm on Wednesday viewable only on your TV by Freeview reception. This slicing and dicing of copyright has to stop.

Will it happen? Not while the granddad of them all, the BBC, continues to have the wrong strategy for the future of broadcasting. They are such a strong influence that they could easily change everything, and they should do it. Does it need Ofcom and government action, probably, especially in the revision of copyright laws and ISP behaviour.