Some years back Gemstar-TV Guide was talking about developing an electronic program guide that would show not only what was going to be on TV but also what TV shows were on the Internet. Now wouldn’t that be great!
In the meantime, Axel Springer (one of Europe’s largest publishers) and Philips’ Aprico technology arm say they have developed something called TV Digital Personal that ‘enables viewers to create personalized TV channels that reflect their viewing preferences on the basis of both conventional TV programs and available Internet video offerings.’
‘We have succeeded in building an easy-to-use personalized TV experience for consumers, allowing them to enjoy the content where and when they want, no matter where that content originates in the literally ‘exploding’ entertainment universe, both on broadcast and the Internet,’ said Philips International executive VP Ruud Peters. He said the alliance with Axel Springer enables the two to ‘anticipate even better the future development of television in which a greater respect to personal tastes of the viewer is key.’
It is not clear whether the Internet component will include current information on every TV show that is available on the Net such as those from BBC’s iPlayer, ABC.com, CBS.com, Hulu, Joost, iTunes and the like. It certainly does not look as if, considering Axel Springer’s media business, that the service would provide information about the availability of illegal copies of TV shows.
TV Digital Personal uses the program guide technology and the editorial program information services of the Axel Springer Digital TV Guide and Aprico’s software technology.
If TV Digital Personal is only a souped up TV Guide that shows what’s coming on the TV channels that the viewer gets over-the-air or from a pay-TV service, it’ll not have much impact on the move to Internet TV.
If it does include information about what’s available on the Net such as which online video service, the period it’ll be available, the cost, if any and whether it’s available for download or streaming, it will enormously accelerate the move from sequential TV to anywhere, anytime Internet TV.
The service would also have to show which countries each episode is available in plus the language as well as provide the Web link.
Say a viewer wants to know where he could view a free copy of NBC’s ‘The Office’ or the first episode of ‘Battlestar Galactica’ 3/4 the service would save lots of time and boost the use of the Net for video entertainment.
With the abundance of devices and home networks coming to market now, it’s becoming easier for consumers to view on the TV set the content they get from the Internet with a PC. This week, for example, D-Link introduced network gear that links the PC and TV set with coax, a much better method for sending high-quality video to the TV set. Plus, unlike Wi-Fi, there are no black spots with coax 3/4 and there’s already a coax connector by every TV set. The Extenders that various companies such as D-Link make for Windows Media Center PCs connects directly to the TV set, allowing anything, unlike Apple TV, that’s shown on the PC to be shown on the TV.
Virtual Personal TV Channels
What Axel Springer and Philips say is that the service enables viewers ‘to complete their current program offering with ‘virtual’ personal television channels.’ Somehow these personalized channels are generated automatically and continuously updated to reflect the viewers TV preferences and viewing behavior. Viewers can then ‘enjoy a tailor-made personal TV experience that they can easily use thanks to an intelligent and ‘self-learning’ program profile.’
Axel Springer and Aprico say they designed TV Digital Personal for use globally with all available television offerings. They intend to sell the product and service worldwide to content owners, Internet service providers and device makers.
They point out that the service offers marketing opportunities such as new forms of targeted advertising. TV Digital Personal will run on TV sets, DVRs, PCs and many mobile devices. Axel Springer and Philips will start showing the service in 2008’s second half.
They say they researched and analyzed the present and future needs of television viewers 3/4 and tested the concept for more than two years in real households.
Dr Andreas Wiele, member of the management board responsible for m magazines at Axel Springer’s BILD Group said the service offers new opportunities for advertisers to reach their target prospects with personalized advertising with fully measurable results. He said TV Digital Personal fits the company’s plan to migrate its print TV program guide into the digital world.
Axel Springer, which we have rarely covered in The Online Reporter, is a content powerhouse. It’s Germany’s largest newspaper and third-largest magazine publisher as well as one of the leading European media enterprises.
Springer creates and distributes information and entertainment through newspapers, magazines and digital media services. Operating in 33 countries, it publishes over 170 newspapers and magazines plus has more than 50 online offerings for different interest groups and information needs.
It has around 10,000 employees and generated total revenues of € 2,578 million ($3,998 million) in 2007.
In December 2007, Macrovision, the DRM king, got TV Guide when it acquired Gemstar-TV Guide for $2.8 billion. There are about 20 million subscribers to the print version of the TV Guide magazine but most agree the future is on the Internet.
Macrovision already owned All Movie Guide (AMG) and its database of information about films – similar to Internet Movie Database (IMDb). All Movie Guide has detailed movie data, synopses and original editorial content describing hundreds of thousands of films, videotapes, and DVDs, along with information about the numerous actors, directors, writers and other professionals who helped create the movies.
Macrovision said when it acquired Gemstar-TV Guide that it intended to combine its digital rights management technologies (it’s on every VHS tape and movie DVD) with All Movie Guide and Gemstar-TV Guide’s library of entertainment programming listings to create an interactive content information platform that consumers could access through their TV sets, PCs, mobile phones and other devices.
Axel Springer and Philips’ Aprico don’t specifically provide any details about the promised Internet-delivered content in their announcement this week.
In any event, if the two haven’t developed a way to provide information about what video entertainment is available on the Net 3/4 legitimate shows produced by the major studios, then be sure that some one will.
Here’s betting that Macrovision’s TV Guide and AMG crew are working on it already.
We don’t know what’s happening with the TV Guide effort since Macrovision took it over but will try to find out next week.