In a world of Hulu, HD TV, and online streaming, the television industry has had no choice but to embrace shifting consumer trends within the industry. Now that Internet streaming has allowed consumers to watch whatever they want, whenever they want, it is becoming harder for cable providers to keep up with consumer demand. Television broadcasters must take advantage of the bandwidth that they have available to them if they are to compete in the viewing market. With streaming sites such as Hulu, Amazon, and Netflix gaining competitive advantage in the market, television broadcasters can no longer sit back and continue to run as they always have. Accordingly, these television stations have begun making much-needed modifications. Since 2009, television broadcasters have begun shutting down their analog systems and converting to strictly digital in compliance with the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act. In February of 2009, the FCC required all hybrid television producers, including companies such as Time Warner Cable and Verizon, to shut down their analog systems and convert to digital transmissions only. Due to this transition, the analog …show more content…
The conversion allows a simpler compression of signals than analog, which in turn allows more content to be delivered to subscribers. 36 channels turns into over 400, a significant portion of which are HD, which is a bit of a waste on analog signals. This digital conversion frees up analog spectrums and allows for those spectrums to be utilized by first responders as well as fire and rescue squads. It also improves the quality of sound to because, as analog systems convert to digital, audio systems simultaneously convert to surround and enhanced sound (Dolby Digital). In short, providers are able to supply a greater amount of channels and offerings while consumers receive a higher quality product and
* Hulu harnessed existing technologies namely online video and broadcast media to create a new platform that was “focused on helping users find and enjoy the world’s premium, professionally produced content when where and how they want it”. The platform brought together professional content owners/providers, advertisers and content consumers/users in a platform mediated network.
Hulu sets themselves apart from their main competitor, Netflix, by offering the current seasons of shows as early as the day after they air on TV. But, this is starting to concern one of their main investors, Time Warner. Time Warner, is concerned with Hulu’s business model because they fear consumers will drop their “pay-TV subscriptions” (Hagey & Ramachandran, 2016). While Time Warner has a stake in the success of Hulu, they are concerned that Hulu will
TV network stations also faced changes thanks to TiVo’s innovative technology. The normal rules of placing shows on specific days at a certain time no longer applied since people could now record and watch any show at any time. On the other hand, this also led to networks being able to track how well a new show is doing before it even airs by looking at how many people were recording it.
But, unfortunately due to the enormous cost and very little public interest and demand Time-Warner decided to pull the plug on its nationwide change over to digital lines. This shows that the cable companies are surpassing the consumer demand for technology, making this industry a very hard one to market.
The most important challenges for a new television network include advertising, settling on a target demographic, building a distribution system, and market the new brand. With the case of CW, dividing the responsibilities between the former WB and former UPN networks was also a major challenge, in addition to deciding which shows from each network would continue. Distribution is the primary concern, as it’s important for the network, especially a new one, to reach as much of the country as possible. Finding affiliate stations and distributors was crucial for the CW to start off successfully. Fortunately for them, they were able to secure many of the former UPN and WB stations and distributors and broadcast to 95% of the country,
However, in the era of the Internet, the market has changed. Cable television has been challenged by many alternative venues of media consumption, most notably in the form of the Internet. "There has been some competition from satellite TV players and (in a few areas) TV over IP" (Masnick 2008). "Thanks to the rise of Netflix, Hulu and hardware like the Roku box and Apple TV, cutting the cord to cable TV doesn't mean cutting yourself off from your favorite shows and channels" (Glaser 2010). However, most high-speed Internet consumers receive their Internet connection from the cable company, which indirectly funnels money to support cable TV.
The next set of forces is the threat of new entrants and possible substitutes that the TV service providers industry faces. Possible new entrants into the industry are Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, Apple, and Amazon. All of these entries could pose a strong threat to the industry. They have similar technologies and have the
The advancement and development in delivery of media content has also affected the audience’s behavior in certain manner. In distant past, families use to gather around the only television screen in home and enjoy the prime time programs aired by these limited broadcasters. “Millions of households already have cancelled pay-TV subscriptions - up to 10 million U.S. households are currently broadband-only. And about 45 percent of Americans stream television shows at least once a month, according to research firm eMarketer. That number is expected to increase to 53 percent or 175 million people by 2018.” Anderson, Mae, and Michael Liedtke. "HBO Unleashes Streaming from Cable Contracts." The Charleston Gazette, 16 Oct. 2014. Web.
Growing competition as a challenge represents the various companies that are now entering the market of online media-streaming. Companies such as HBO, Amazon, Google, and Hulu Plus have all began to offer media-streaming on the same electronic devices as Netflix, Inc. Currently Netflix, Inc. remains in the lead amongst its competitors; however, there is no guarantee that this advancement is a permanent one. It is inevitable that emerging companies will come up with creative ideas to gain the competitive edge and receive more consumers. For example, Amazon.com has “amplified
As an individual who is looking to cut cable and pursue a streaming service, I believe that Hulu’s $39.99 Live Stream subscription, as described in the case, could be a strong supplement for pay TV. Although margins for this offering are predicted to be low, I believe that the development of such a subscription illustrates Hulu’s ability to complete market research and listen to consumers. This package indicated that Hulu understands that consumers want Live TV, but wishes to avoid costly bills and wasted
Summarise the future of the sectors of free-to-air television, retail and exhibition due to the rise of
People have this perception that they need a more powerful HDTV antenna because of directivity and amplification. This is not true. HDTV is actually more noise immune than analog television and will be able to produce high quality video at significantly lower signal-to-noise ratios. Digital TV needs less antenna gain and can tolerate higher noise levels. A HDTV antenna and a regular antenna have similar directivity/gain properties so you should receive analog or digital broadcasts with the same good quality.
Many years ago, people gathered around the TV-sets and later on families together with friends met up and watched their favourite shows. Nowadays, due to the availability of low-priced technology as well as various channels and programmes, people lock themselves in a private space watching TV. (Harboe cited in Nicole C.Stephan W.Brenda B.Christine G. 2015). As a result, people have multiple preferences in TV programmes but nowhere to express their opinions. “One-way” communication in television industry is facing a big challenge. Web 2.0 comes out and provides a revolutionary opportunity for television industry, after that, social television is born at the right moment.
The ITU document on Digitization highlights that “Digitalization of broadcasting by 2015 represents a major landmark towards establishing a more equitable, just and people- centred information society. The digital switchovers will leap-frog existing technologies to connect the unconnected in underserved and remote communities and close the digital divide.”(Akin Akingbulu & Hendrik Bussiek,(2010) as cited by T. A Kenneth, (Dec. 13, 2013).
What do we really mean by television? The way we watch television has drastically changed over the last fifteen years due to new technologies such as digital television and services providing on-demand access. These drastic changes have had a huge effect on viewers and have “allowed online streaming platforms to dominate and revolutionize the way the audience consumes” (Aliloupour) media, ultimately allowing the viewer to be in total control of how, when and where they want their content. The idea of only being able to watch television on a television set is now a thing of the past. Due to technology, the audience now has a vast variety of options on how they can access content. By using scholarly articles, research in new media and Internet sites I will be analyzing current television and where the future of television will be heading.