The Best of Streaming Media East 2004
Content Protection Strategies: Beyond Streaming Media
Digging into the issue of content owners’ expectations versus those of end users, this panel warned that adding too much digital rights management can increase the barriers of entry that reduce consumers’ interest in DRM-protected content. All the panelists, including Sun Microsystems senior manager Pallavi Shah and Speedera Networks marketing VP Gordon Smith,agreed that someday there will be a "tipping point" for DRM after which everything will be standardized (although some disagreed on when this will occur). While most of the discussion stayed away from comparing the various methods of protecting content, one member of the panel spoke highly of watermarking, or embedding a unique identifier inside of the video stream. Watermarks are virtually invisible to the end user, stay with a file for the life of the content, and can be used effectively to track down and identify copyright violators.
TV Networks & Streaming: The Role of Web Video
Representatives from a diverse collection of content providers—including Showtime, Comedy Central, and the Weather Channel as well as news portal The Feedroom—described numerous issues which their specific networks had to address when implementing streaming media delivery. Showtime vice president of new media Robert Hayes said the network has seen hits to its streaming media content double in the past year, but is still hesitant to make full-length, premium content available, as there are still tremendous DRM issues to address.
"It used to be buffering that slowed things down," added Comedy Central video producer Rich Sullivan. "Now it’s digital rights and legal issues." Sullivan said the network uses streaming exclusively as a cross-marketing tool, with the Web site driving viewers to the the TV shows while TV promotion drives people to the Web site. "People will flock to video they can’t get anywhere else," he said. "Delivering unique content is the key."
Most of the panel agreed that streaming high-quality, full-screen entertainment to a home theater is still a few years off, but Feedroom president and CEO Jon Klein is positioning his company for that reality in the not-too-distant future. All the panelists were in agreement that while the technology may not be quite ready for primetime, the business models and rules surrounding delivering TV via streaming still have even further to go.
Next week, we’ll look at highlights from the business track. For a report on the pre-show workshops, see "Workshops Kick Off Streaming Media East 2004."