...and when I say new models, I mean business models not new sets. Time after time at conferences like the TV Un-festival, the desires of some consumers for content run into the current rights regime.
The first presenter at the Un-festival wanted an open TV listing service that allowed him to pull together electronic programme guide information, information from P2P platforms like BitTorrent and new services like the BBC's iPlayer. But he was told by Brian Butterworth of UKfree.tv that republishing that TV data was technically illegal. The EPG data is covered by copyright.
The second presentation by a P2P TV service called Zattoo. Again, very soon, the discussion ran into the issue of rights and the cost of securing international rights for TV transmission over the internet.
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Zattoo is regular TV played across a broadband connection. There is no time-shifting. They broadcast 24/7. The client is free to users and works for the Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. In Switzerland, they are offering 52 channels including ZDF, TF1, Euronews and BBC World. It takes a minimum of 400kbps to receive, said Alexandra Illes, manager business development UK for Zattoo. She said:
What is different is that it is simple straight forward re-distribution. There is no chat. There is no time shifting, no video on demand, no fast forward skipping There are a number of interactive players. Zattoo wants to focus on only one thing. We don't want to compete with broadcasters IPTV offerings. They have more rights to more content than we do.
It is available on Switzerland, Denmark and Spain. They had 10,000 users in Spain a week after launch. They have some 300,000 users in the three markets they use.
It is a bridge with old-fashioned TV, Alexandra said. People say that they use the service because they have a computer but not a TV, because the TV in their house is already in use, because they want to do I use TV because it is occupied or because they are in a different place than their TV.
They see it as a complement, not a substitute. Two-thirds of their users base is 18-34 years old.
Business plan? They insert their own ads when you switch between channels. It is an interesting advertising space, Alexandra said because they say that they offer advertisers the entire attention of their viewers.
They also sell thematic premium bundles like news, culture, sport, youth and regional or country specific bundles like Turkish, Greek, Polish and Italian all at £5-£20 per bundle per month. They also offer ala carte offerings for £1-£2 a month.
One audience member said in an aside to me: "Pay for international TV rights? They are going to blast their budget in the first week."
Whether they burn through their budget in the first week, they are already entering a crowded market competing not only against several other offerings including Slingbox and P2P video service Joost, but they also in competing with the broadcasters' IPTV offerings. And the rights issues aren't just about the broadcasters, but also about the content owners.
