the BROADer issue

Internet video use soars in the UK

UK research company Hitwise says our appetite for online video is becoming voracious, with overall UK traffic to video websites up nearly 41% in the last year.

Youtube gets the most visits, while use of the BBC's iPlayer has shot up by more than 152% since this time last year. Interestingly, radio listeners account for 10% of iPlayer catch-up use.

Cisco makes a move into camera technology

The Guardian's Jemima Kiss and The Wall Street Journal's Ben Worthen report that Cisco has made another bold purchase as it breaks free of its 'network technology company' straitjacket.

While we all moan about the business downturn, this poster child of the IT industry has snapped up Pure Digital, manufacturer of the Flip video camcorder, for $590m.

Cisco also owns Scientific Atlanta, Linksys, Jabber and WebEx. With that kind of line-up, it's not surprising that some analysts are predicting the company could begin to challenge Apple, HP, and the other brands trying to play a significant part in our (wireless) networked information and entertainment lives.

Sky CEO Darroch pitches Stereo3D on 'Working Lunch'

In the final segment of this Tuesday's edition of BBC 2's 'Working Lunch', Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch and BBC News Technology Correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones gave co-host Declan Curry their slightly differing opinions on the future of Stereo3D TV.

Cellan-Jones thinks stereoscopic content could find an audience in the cinema quite readily. The (British) public hasn't really properly embraced HD yet and we're only just at the beginning of the investment required to build a proper HDTV infrastructure. He remains sceptical that we will take the even bigger leap into the third dimension until that investment has been made and HD is well-established.

Darroch, a devoted Newcastle fan, and, therefore, possibly a bit of a dreamer anyway, gives the impression that he's pinning his hopes on a Stereo3D future to inject some new life into the subscription-based 'appointment TV' model. Judging by the content that's recently been on show, there may be something to the suggestion that 3-D will reinvigorate televised sports such as football, rugby and boxing, and encourage subscribers to pay a premium to watch them.

Addressable IPTV advertising for small businesses

It's time that smaller companies began to benefit from advances in addressable and personalised advertising. says Doug Jones of BigBand Networks (pictured). He has written this interesting opinion piece on how small businesses can now, even at a local level, justify the cost of making TV commercials for delivery over IPTV networks.

"Addressable advertising is arguably the ‘hottest’ service that today’s new breed of Internet Protocol television (IPTV) operators have at their disposal. This offering will be key in enabling IPTV service providers to generate incremental revenue streams as they ramp up subscriber numbers, the ability to send commercials to specific groups of viewers also offers opportunities for advertisers.

We are not just talking about large enterprises with big budgets here. The emergence of addressable advertising over IPTV networks means that small-to-medium-sized businesses generating niche content - from legal practices to luxury good manufacturers – can for the first time reach specific regions, zones, demographics or even individual viewers with tailored messages.

Decisions can be made on which adverts to send to which groups based on anonymised demographic information or user behaviour, such as television viewing history or user ‘opt in’ offerings where subscribers voluntarily provide information about the kind of advertising that they are interested in.

Other technologies are now coming on stream, which provide an additional incentive for small locally-based businesses to advertise on television. With the growing simplicity of web technologies like HTML, the emergence of high definition camcorder devices and the enhanced bandwidth and processing speeds now available on office PCs, small businesses often have the appropriate tools and resources to create the advertisements in-house using off-the-shelf footage.

As technology advances, generating ads will become ever easier. Already, it is possible to create ads cost-effectively and quickly and arrange for them to be rapidly placed within television programming schedules.

Addressability is not a new concept and businesses worldwide are already using information about a consumer’s interests to target them through the mail or at the point-of-sale. What is new for small local businesses is the ability to tailor television adverts to audiences, using IPTV networks as a conduit. In doing this, companies need to be aware of the legal issues and public concerns. However, if they can handle these correctly, addressable advertising could prove to be an extremely lucrative new revenue stream."

Should we have to pay more to watch a film in 3-D?

 

Just under eight minutes into their 6 March review of the week's UK film releases, BBC Radio Five Live's Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo reveal that some UK cinemas are charging customers extra for 3-D glasses when they buy tickets for 'Bolt', which is also showing in 2-D.

Scandalised by this, Kermode reminds us that, if 3-D is to succeed, cinema owners have to realise "the back-end that's coming from it is going to pay all those bills", and that the practice is like charging cinema goers for a seat, or sound, or colour.

Do you know anywhere that's charging a premium to see the 3-D version of a film? How do you feel about it? Let me know, and we'll indulge in a bit of Name-And-Shame.

Snell & Wilcox and Pro-bel blend benefits broadcasters

In a merger that seems to have had a long gestation, two members of the British broadcast technology establishement, Snell & Wilcox and Pro-bel, are now one, as yet unnamed, entity.

Simon Derry, CEO of the new company, and former CEO of Snell & Wilcox, made a presentation and took questions from journalists during a 30-minute conference call this afternoon.

Among the highlights, Derry revealed that Amberfin would not be part of the new company, that a new name would be revealed at the start of NAB, where the newly united companies would have a single booth, and that the UK headquarters would be in Reading. Havant will continue to be used, as will several of the companies' current overseas operations.

For more information on what this means in terms of the combined technologies and skills, and to learn how well the two firms complement each other, visit this page, which should give you all the information you need.