|
Time Warner and others scared of people watching TV over the Internet
Time Warner and big telecom and cable corporations are nervous with the emergence of movie downloads and streaming television programs over the Internet. They are scared of people watching TV directly over the Internet.
Last week Time Warner said it would start testing a new rate plan in some locations of Texas that would limit the amount of data a customer could transmit or receive each month before additional fees kick in. It would replace the unlimited use plan with ones that have data quotas and impose fees if those limits are exceeded. A spokesman said packages would probably offer 5 gigabytes to 40 gigabytes a month.
Is this targeted at people who download high-definition movies from Apple TV? Time Warner says that the wants to crack down on a minority of customers who are heavy downloaders, people who use peer-to-peer network and download terabytes. They say that only 5 percent of customer account for half of the data traffic.
MySpace.com is now “a contemporary media platform”
MySpace.com , the world’s largest social networking, with 110 million monthly active users, has grown for being merely “a place for friends”, as its slogan states, to become very mainstream, truly focused in consuming content and discovering pop culture. It seeks to be a powerful tool for advertisers. What was seen as competitor to traditional media platforms is starting to resemble one. A New York Times article explains that phenomenon.
Last year MySpace added 15 local versions, and now is up to 24. In addition to expanding, MySpace is introducing new musicians, playing host to amateur filmmakers, and it is also signing artists to its own record label and developing online video series. Last week it introduced a content guide, MySpace Celebrity.
MySpaceTV has been the launching pad for a number of Web video series, and it is second to YouTube among Internet video sites. It also has an incubator, Slingshot Labs, intended to create disruptive technology at a given time.
As a result of all, MySpace resembles a portal like Yahoo or AOL as much as a social networking site. News Corporation parent company calls it a “contemporary media platform”, and says the site exists to “create content and connect people to one another”. “We envision it as a portal,” adds. However it is unclear if weather users want to watch TV episodes and chat with friends on the same site.
Its main competitor, Facebook, with cleaner interface and higher demographic profile, has leapt ahead in technology and has been accumulating user at a faster rate. It is also seen by some advertisers as a better bet.
CBS supports the idea that online music will be similar to radio
CBS thinks that music through the Internet can be similar to radio –free and supported by advertising- yet give users a choice of what they want to listen to. For that, it will expand its Internet music service, Last.fm, to allow users to listen to any song on their computer whenever they wanted, up to three times. Users will be able to select any of 3.5 million songs to listen on their computers. Song downloads will be offered through a link to music stores, including iTunes and Amazon.com
Last.fm, which was bought by CBS for $280 million and now has $280 million users, will offer users the change to buy a monthly subscription that will allow them to listen to songs as many times as they want.
In the online music industry, many consider free ad-supported service is the answer. Real Network’s Rhapsody and Napster have both offered free music on their Web sites for several years, but they have mainly tried to attract customer for subscription services that charge $10 or $15 a month for unlimited listening.
|
Favoritos 
