Viability of content as business still relies on technology. (Digital Hollywood -- Picking up the Pieces).As the former senior vice president of business development in charge of venture investments for Liberty Digital, Craig Craig , Edward Gordon 1872-1966. British theatrical producer, director, and designer whose innovative productions and simplified stage designs influenced modern theater. Enenstein has seen a fair amount of Internet Internet Publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the ventures -- including some spectacular flameouts. Liberty Digital put money into retailers such as HomeGrocer.com, Drugstore.com drugstore.com is an internet pharmacy headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. Its web operations were launched on February 24, 1999. Partnerships with other companies allow customers to pick up prescriptions at Rite Aid stores, enables drugstore. and Priceline.com (priceline.com Incorporated, Norwalk, CT, www.priceline.com) A Web-based travel shopping site launched in 1998 where buyers submit the price they are willing to pay for airline tickets, hotel rooms, vacation packages and rental cars. , in addition to content sites such as Ifilm and Sportsline USA. Enenstein has since taken a position as chief investment officer of Omninet Capital in Beverly Hills Beverly Hills, city (1990 pop. 31,971), Los Angeles co., S Calif., completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles; inc. 1914. The largely residential city is home to many motion-picture and television personalities. . Question: Is there going to be a digital Hollywood? Answer: Will people use their PC as a primary entertainment device? The answer is it's unlikely. However, digital delivery of content as an overall thesis is a very strong one. Today, roughly a third of cable set top boxes out there are digital. Digital recorders See DVR and CD-R. like Tivo and Reply are real and relevant right now. Q: What role will movie studios play in filling the pipes? A: After they feel the technology is appropriate and protected and the economic model is appropriate to make it financially rewarding, they will provide content and it will come in whatever ways one may want to watch it. Q: What's limiting it right now? A: We have very few homes that are technologically enabled, which means that there is not a viable economic model, which means the studios can't make money on it, And the security is not worked out. Q: So much of the delay is limited to the content side, not the technology? A: The two things have a meeting point. You have technology and you have business relationships. Technologically, video-on-demand can be delivered in multiple ways to your home today. Q: So the business relationships are the kink? A: It's the roll out of the technology. Although VOD See video-on-demand. VoD - video on demand is now in a lot of cities, it's only the beginning. They don't have it in 100 million homes. Getting something to be prevalent in all these homes has to happen. Then the studios have to say "Where does this fit into my windows?" When a studio makes a movie, the first place it's going to show up is the movie theatre. Then it finds its next home, which might be the hotel circuit. Then it might go to pay-per-view. Then maybe DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. and video. Then it might go to cable television. The windows have been very clean, and they don't yet have a place for VOD. The most likely place will be after the theatres but before it reaches premium TV, some time around the pay-per-view slot. Q: What will the economic model look like? A: It depends on what you mean by "pay." If I watch commercials, I'm paying with my eyeballs The number of users. "There are 110 eyeballs" means there are 110 users currently online. See eyeball hang time. and somebody is making money. VOD doesn't have to mean I have full control. It can mean I can watch it when I want, but I still have to watch it in a linear fashion. For example, for a dollar you could watch an episode of a show and skip the commercials. Or, if you don't want to pay the dollar I'll give it to you for free but sorry, you have to watch the commercials. There is no one answer. Q: So the payment methods could evolve with the technology? A: That's right. And it's going to be everything from the traditional meaning of pay to all kinds of other interpretations. It's going to be a synthesis of business models that collectively match up against each type of content. Q: When will VOD be available in most homes? A: When will two thirds of homes have televisions that are digitally enabled? I think that is something on the order of five years away. That includes electronic program guides and digital delivery of content. It may include video-on-demand and some interactivity. When will the TV become a high-speed portal to all interactivity? That's a lot further off. That may be 10 or 15 years away. Q: What's the short-term Short-term Any investments with a maturity of one year or less. short-term 1. Of or relating to a gain or loss on the value of an asset that has been held less than a specified period of time. future for digital content? A: More and more digital homes, more set top boxes. Those digital homes will allow for set top boxes with electronic program guides and potential interactivity. They will also become the set top boxes that later allow video-on-demand. And market by market, we will see video-on-demand roll out. Companies like Charter Communications Charter Communications NASDAQ: CHTR is an American company providing cable television, high-speed Internet, and telephone services to more than 5.7 million customers in 29 states. It is the third-largest publicly traded cable operator in the U.S. , Comcast, Cox, they have made the statements and continue to spend the money -- it will happen. And we will continue to see battles over things like piracy piracy, robbery committed or attempted on the high seas. It is distinguished from privateering in that the pirate holds no commission from and receives the protection of no nation but usually attacks vessels of all nations. . Q: What about content sites? A: Again, each thing has its role. I'll use Ifilm as an example. It's a decent sized site and there is a role for what they do. Is there a role for an Ifilm out there for a long period of time? I think possibly, if people want to watch short subject matter Ifilm may end up a leader in providing that service. Q: What was the best Internet idea that didn't work? A: I'll say one that didn't fail but is somewhere in the middle: Priceline. Liberty Digital was an early investor in Priceline, and we actually made quite a bit of money because we exited at the right time. But they took the core model, which was taking fixed inventory and trying to match people up with the price model, and went too far. They tried to make it work with things like gasoline gasoline or petrol, light, volatile mixture of hydrocarbons for use in the internal-combustion engine and as an organic solvent, obtained primarily by fractional distillation and "cracking" of petroleum, but also obtained from natural gas, by . They took a model that worked in airlines and hotels and overreached. As a result, they ended up doing not as well as they could have. |
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