Infinity and Beyond

Satellite radio companies Sirius and XM try to keep critics at bay with their merger talks by announcing a new deal that will offer consumers what they want: personalized channels. The channels themselves won’t be personalized, but what channels you subscribe to will be. The ‘a la carte’ menu would allow consumers to pick 50 channels on either XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.’s or Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.’s systems. Additional channels could be added for as low as 25 cents all the way up to $6 for top rated shows like that of Howard Stern.

While the merger might be turned down by the Justice Department and the FCC as the new company would create a monopoly of satellite radio in the U.S. as no other U.S. satellite radio companies exist. This would be a great step for the customizable happy consumer. This is one more step that would allow consumers to take control of what they hear and see on electronic devices. In the same way TiVo allows consumers to pick and choose what they want to watch or not (movie ads exempt) this would allow consumers to weed out all the programming they don’t want.

Why not take it even further? This development could make it even easier to select the content you want if cable providers follow suit and make the switch to ‘a la carte’. This isn’t a new idea, it’s been buzzing around for some time now but it’s the first major announcement that brings the concept to a potential reality. In February of 2006 the FCC released a report titled [the] “Further Report On the Packaging and Sale of Video Programming Services To the Public”. This was the second report (take away ‘further’ from the title and you have the first) in 15 months on the subject and under the new FCC chairman the new version claims an ‘a la carte’ cable system would save consumers money which is contrary to the first reports findings. Without going into the complicated details of who saves and who loses money (read the new 61 page report here and the first 129 page report here) I’ll stick to commentary and not regurgitation of facts.

No matter the costs to consumers or cable providers, and channels for that matter, this could become reality in the near future. At this point in the game companies seem to be fighting each other on every level in order to be able to provide the consumer with what they want and what they want is different for everybody. I know if I had cable I’d make sure I was able to watch ‘The Deadliest Catch’ while my coworkers would rather be watching ‘What Not to Wear’. Either way, customizable radio and cable might be coming to a car or house near you.

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Film studios rejoice: your ads aren’t being skipped the way other ads are by TiVo owners. In fact, in some cases film ads are gaining higher ratings than the shows they are running during. The Hollywood Reporter (HR) sites ‘Disturbia’ as the #1 ad from late March through late April viewed by TiVo users viewing previously recorded material. The Hollywood Reporter is the parent company of The Nielsen Co., who has set the standard for ratings in television since 1950 but, has only been measuring usage of digital video recordings (DVR’s such as TiVo) since 2005.

While this TiVO specific report is reference to previously recorded material only, “launching” a trailer has become a growing trend in the industry. Often times this is done by placing a trailer in front of a high profile new release such is the case with the new untitled JJ Abrams trailer in front of ‘Transformers’.
One of the largest of these “launches” was a trailer for this summers blockbuster ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End’ (POTC: AWE). Buena Vista says that trailer reached 62 countries in more than 25 languages through television alone during its launch.

“The trailer launch began March 19 with its debut during the season finale of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” which captured a nationwide audience of more than 22 million viewers. Immediately after the broadcast, more than 13 million viewed the trailer online in a 24-hour period thanks to a synchronized online debut effort in more than 30 countries. Within 48 hours, there were more than 25 million views worldwide.”-HR

TiVo might be changing the way companies advertise, but for the moment film studios can focus on more important issues, like making advertisements for when their next trailer will launch.

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