TV Moves Online, But On Traditional Timetable

PASADENA, CALIF.--It's common for people in the TV and video business to talk about on-demand programming as the next big thing. But not everyone at the Television Critics Association here on Friday agreed that consumers wanted all programming on demand. Surprisingly, one of the loudest dissenting voices came from a company that offers a wide range of video on demand--Yahoo!

"There is value to having programmed [channels]," David Katz, head of sports and entertainment at Yahoo! Media Group, told the group Friday.

Internet businesses will still use traditional approaches to getting video to consumers, Katz told reporters during a session called "Distribution: TV's Future." Programming channels are how consumers traditionally negotiate their way to get specific programs. Katz said Yahoo! plans to work in both the on-demand and programming channel areas.

Media companies, naturally, also believe that traditional points of distribution will continue to be the main drivers of TV programming for some time to come. This includes the Disney-ABC Television Group--which made the first of a series of ground-breaking on-demand deals done by major media companies.

"TV is still the primary vehicle," said Albert Cheng, executive vice president of digital media for Disney-ABC Television Group, who was instrumental in putting together the iTunes deals.

To that end, Cheng said all iTunes content contains some extra marketing messaging that directs viewers back to watching--say, "Lost" on Wednesday night.

Howard Gordon, executive product of "24," who has done separate exclusive mobile phone content deals for the Fox action show, said: "Everything serves the mother-ship. You don't want to hurt that."

Still, new content will bubble up from new media distribution points in the future. Yahoo!'s David Katz said the company was working on co-developing video content with media companies and networks. One problem: Internet consumers will need to wait, just like traditional TV consumers. Although the Internet business focuses on immediacy, quality TV production still takes time.

"You can only produce content so quickly," said Katz. "I don't think you'd see the day when an entire season of programming would be available at launch. But you will see a collapsing of [distribution] windows. Networks want to recoup their investments as quickly as possible."

Early on-demand deals will center on the Internet as, in large part, a promotional vehicle for traditional TV shows. Cyriac Roeding, vice president of wireless for CBS Digital Media, said that even the most successful CBS show--"CSI"--gets just 22 percent of all network viewers at any given time. "That means 78 percent is not watching," he said.

CBS has done on-demand deals with Google Video, among others. Roeding believe real promise comes from doing new media deals involving interactivity--something that exists right now with cell phones, especially among young viewers.

For example, 64 percent of viewers ages 18-24 use their cell phones while watching TV, he said. Ninety percent of those viewers have their cell phones close by while watching TV, to be able to get messaging or other information.

As with any new business, there will be early program development mistakes in the new media business. For example, Howard Gordon, executive producer of "24," won't be doing new mobile phone episodes of "24"--so-called "mobisodes"--short two- to three-minute-long shows.

Union issues were at work here, he said. The show had to use non-union actors--not Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer--for those mobile phone episodes. "It was kind of amateurish," he said. "That's why we are not going to be doing season two."

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