Pipe dreams…
Some may think, sure… online video. Sure… Mobile TV. Hah, like that’s really gonna fly! Some have even called it a “Pipe-dream”.
To the non-believers we say just one thing. “You are ABSOLUTELY right! Pipes.”
It’s all about pipes.
When you flop yourself down on the sofa, turn on the TV, and tune in to Fox’s latest Prime Time line-up, you’re essentially opening up a virtual pipe between your brain and Fox’s executives who make the decision on what shows are in fact “prime time”, at which time they should air, on which days they should be shown live and on which days they should be re-run. Furthermore, they make the call on which advertisements get placed in which time-slots, in order to optimize their advertisers’ return on investment for each ad.
If you think about it, when you commit to this kind of interaction, you are giving away an INCREDIBLE amount of control of your brain, to someone whose primary interests are in getting you to lower your intellectual defenses enough to start buying products from their advertisers and sponsors. This is what drives more and more advertisers to their “Prime Time line-up” and thus allows them to buy their Lamborghini’s & Ferrari’s, and kick back on tropical beaches about 5 or 6 times per year.
Now, in the past, people have tuned into Fox, NBC, ABC or even Disney, for a number of reasons, but typically, TV is watched to do one of three things:
Introducing BCmoney MobileTV
BCmoney MobileTV logo, with motto
Let me tell you a little bit about the newly launched BCmoney MobileTV site.
I wrote a paper in University back in 2003 about an idea I had for a site that allowed a typical, non-technical web user to share and view old nostalgic content (i.e. 70s, 80s TV shows, music and favorite little clips from homemovies) that no longer had a place on the mainstream media broadcasts (aka. Live TV). I was talking expressly about old programmes that were no longer enjoying syndication (i.e. re-runs or filler spots); likewise for Radio broadcasting, which always produces fresh new content everyday and makes little to no use of previously aired shows (to the deficit of those who didn’t have time to catch their content on the first airing, most don’t even archive, although at least some Radio programs do offer archives for download/streaming on the web or via mail request for a copy).
Though I had simply wanted to explore the possibility to preserve a digital footprint of my own (and others’ if they were interested) viewing behaviors and interests, to make it easily accessed for generations to come, I realized there was some business potential in the idea as well (not to mention some important privacy and legal concerns to tackle). Then along came YouTube in 2005, which quickly took over the Online Video market with some innovative approaches at the time. In particular, they had an extrememly innovative use of Flash to play videos across browsers and operating systems, instead of the more bulky RealMedia, WindowsMedia or Quicktime embed codes), and best of all they made their videos shareable on blogs and websites all over the web.
As YouTube exploded in popularity, I knew I missed a big opportunity, but took it in stride (after briefly kicking myself for not being faster). Don’t get me wrong, I realize YouTube wasn’t even close to the first online video site, many others including AdCritic, iFilm, UGO, CollegeHumor, ebaum’s World, the P2P world (napster, kazaa, torrents, etc), IRC servers and even plain old message forums, made early efforts at enabling their users to share videos. What set YouTube apart though, was that they were the first to simplify it and make it extremely accessible and simple to the average user (even today, they are leaders in accessibility with Closed Captioning, Subtitling, and their transition to an even more cross-browser and cross-device-friendly HTML5 video player).
BC$ = Behavior, Content, Money
The goal of the BC$ project is to raise awareness and make changes with respect to the three pillars of information freedom - Behavior (pursuit of interests and passions), Content (sharing/exchanging ideas in various formats), Money (fairness and accessibility) - bringing to light the fact that:
1. We regularly hand over our browser histories, search histories and daily online activities to companies that want our money, or, to benefit from our use of their services with lucrative ad deals or sales of personal information.
2. We create and/or consume interesting content on their services, but we aren't adequately rewarded for our creative efforts or loyalty.
3. We pay money to be connected online (and possibly also over mobile), yet we lose both time and money by allowing companies to market to us with unsolicited advertisements, irrelevant product offers and unfairly structured service pricing plans.