ON AN A LA CARTE SATELLITE TV SERVICE?

ALL THE TV, ALL THE TIME

At a time when we're focused on the potential pros, cons  and politics of a la carte cable and telco TV services (via Om Malik...also, see my earlier post), it may be time to also think about a la carte satellite TV.

Zoli Erdos has a great post titled "12 Satellite Dishes, 5000 Channels, and 32 TV sets", that illustrates two people, one with 12 satellite dishes on his porch to pick up over 5000 satellites channels from around the world, and the other with over 32 TV sets in and outside his house.

But it was the first picture that captivated me...the one with Al Jessups' 12 satellite dishes (although my aging eye could only count 11).  Nevertheless, that picture crystallizes one way the satellite companies can potentially compete with the cable and telephone industries that can offer far greater bandwidth into homes via wired connections than with wireless connections. 

See this BusinessWeek article about Rupert Murdoch's "troubles" with DirectTV for more.

But Al Jessup's set-up if of course far from a mainstream reality.  His is a labor of love, not to mention who knows how many hours of hooking up, tinkering and programming his satellite dish farm.

It strikes me that it may be possible for the tech industry to come up with a more "productized" dual-satellite dish contraption, where both dishes are highly maneuverable in an automated way. 

Then a sophisticated box programmed to receive any of the five thousand plus channels from around the world would allow the user to tune into any program he/she wanted.  While the TV is showing one program, the other one would re-orient itself to find the next desired program.  And the box could always be kept up-to-date with programming info on new channels by the satellite company.

Essentially, this box would be an "Open" box, not beholden to any satellite-TV distribution company that currently maintains "walled gardens" around their programming, much like the cable industry.  Additionally, it could even serve as a meta wholesale aggregator and re-seller for an array of satellite programming providers around the world.

And of course, it'd have a cool Web 2.0-style web site, where users from around the world could share their thoughts on the best programming and how to tune into it, tags and all.

It doesn't solve the bigger broadband internet access challenge that satellite has vs. cable and telco competitors, but does start to address the content disparity.

The above-mentioned "dream product" would also have the ability to store, Tivo-style a substantial amount of programming on a home server, AND then direct streams into ANY connected TV and/or PC in the house, both through wired and wireless connections.

As Al Jessup describes the joys of 5,000 plus channels:

“New York, New Hampshire, New Jersey, you name it,” Jessup said. “I get everything but Alaska. But if I pointed something toward Alaska, I’d probably get Alaska.

“... I can scoot one over and see what’s going on in Ohio ... or the U.S. Virgin Islands.”

His Beckley home would likely rival most government communications centers. Not only does he pick up stations from across the country, but across the world as well. He picks up stations from Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Jerusalem and other foreign locations.

“Sometimes they speak English, and sometimes they don’t,” he said. “You never know.

“It’s just interesting to watch stations from far away.”

Having grown up in the middle east, in a country with a VERY controlled two to three channel line-up choice, I remember vividly our family's excitement, whenever my Dad got the TV guy to add additional TV antennas on the roof to pick up additional channels from neighboring countries.

We'd thoroughly enjoy the sometimes very grainy programming coming through these antenna and rabbit-ear jiggling efforts. 

I remember it today as even more fun with it's static and graininess than the best HD channels I can receive through by HDTV subscriptions on the plasma screen today, although I'm sure nostalgia over old memories plays a part there.

Of course, the problem with this fictional product is NOT the technology, but the licensing/content subscription issues, especially when you're talking about grabbing satellite feeds from around the world.

But we're already in  a world where much of this type of programming is already in the air, and available to fans/fanatics like Mr. Al Jessup in the above-mentioned story. 

Furthermore, much of this TV content will increasingly be made available for free and for a fee over the broadband Internet, much like radio programming has moved onto the Net over the past ten years. 

In this context, moving in this a la carte direction may be both a defensive and a good offensive move for the satellite industry.

Comments

[john demayo]

Been some interesting comments regarding the potential of an a la carte option, but as I have read it it seems to imply no, or fewer, package options would be available to consumers.

Doesn't other industries and their respective pricing models tell us in a stable and developed industry, with low (but not no) competition from any one consumers perspective, both providers and consumers benefit from a fairly comprehensive set of package and a la carte options?

I've haven't spent ages in consumer marketing but this seems to be a somewhat accepted concept, or no?

[youcef]

je chercher les code TPS