media

Hulu Not Requiring A Cable Subscription – Yet

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OK this is a rumor, and it sounds like it’s not happening/not for awhile, but there was talk of Hulu requiring a cable subscription.

This popped up yesterday, and after an initial clarification, it looks like the oft-discussed idea would mean a delay getting content. It also doesn’t sound like it has a lot of support.

I want to call this out if for nothing else so people keep an eye on this possibility. A few thoughts:

  • As a cable-cutter this is not going to get me to use cable, it’s going to piss me off. I don’t see it as a way to rope in hardcore cable cutters.
  • This could get people to stop trying the service or get less interested in it – which may be a way to kill it off.
  • I see attempts to do this could fragment the Hulu backers.
  • Attempts to do this also might lead to competitors to leap in. If you want to be a competitor or work with one, pay attention.
  • Attempts to do this might also lead to all sorts of lovely legal complications and issues. If you’r in geek law, keep an eye out.
  • Any competitors who leap in would already have their own services for streaming . . . say, Netflix or OnLive . . .
  • Note a big idea is to make it so you can only see shows after 30 days if you have no subscription.  That plays to the one and only thing the content companies have – access/immediacy.

I’m still watching this, but I’m not sure we’ll see any motion for awhile.

– Steven Savage

Media and the Future: What we bought wasn’t what was sold.

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Hollywood's movie number aren't what they seem, SOPA, PIPA, and ACTA have support that is clueless if not malicious.  We're not happy as we decry lousy media, bad law, and bad faith. It seems that people are a might distressed with some media companies – even as we geeks want to work in or with media.

I've been speculating on this divide recently.  We're glad to pay for our media – most of us have a fundamental sense of fairness that goes into "Shut up and take my money" territory.  We're glad to work with media because we like it.  Yet, too many times, various media interests dodge, engage in subterfuge, or just outright try to turn government to their interest and away from ours.

Yes, this is stupid.  Yes there's greed, malice, and inertia, but I think there's a major factor being ignored here.  I think this factor is one reason Hollywood and the rest of Big Media are caught so flat-footed.

They sold us one thing, but we were buying another.

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What Whitney Houston’s Death Teaches Us About Publishing

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I'm going to confess I'm a bit uncomfortably writing this story.  Whitney Houston's death was a troubling event, and among the love and sorrow I see over her passing are things that disturb me; snarky jokes, exploitation, disrespect for the dead.  So as I write this, if it's not the usual "Steve" please understand.

Also, admittedly, it's a bit personal; she's one of the distinct singers I grew up with.  It's a familiar voice, and it's gone, and even sadder as she had her personal demons to cope with.

Alan Cross notes an interesting phenomena in the wake of her death – fourteen books on her life appeared within seven hours of her death.  Fourteen.

Cross notes this is part of the larger trend of changes in media, and is much like what happened to music.  Those are very true words – publishing is being changed rapidly with technology, much as music was.  I recall how even a near-decade ago the rap scene was getting a lot of indie people with home studios who made a living with a small market – stuff that today comes cheaply or pre-installed.

Publishing of course is something computers have let us do for decades – it was just the publishing of a word processor and a printer.  Now technology is interlinked enough we can make books in what would seem to be an instant to an author of 20 or 30 years ago.

It's so fast that people can shovel out books the same day as an event.  I'm quite sure a lot of these are crap, but for all we know someone put out their near-finished personal work or some hidden gem of dedication.  Yeah, I doubt it, but . . . it's at least possible.

We're now in an age where book publishing and journalism/reporting (and yellow tabloidism) are on the same speed.

Think about that.  Me, I'm still a bit sad and I'm going to end this here.

– Steven Savage