Media Bites-July 7 2010

If I believe everything I see and hear, then broadcast television continues to grow even in this competitive environment.

PricewaterhouseCoopers notes that ad spending on TV in the US will grow to $80.3 billion in 2014 from $62.1 billion in 2009 and a recent Magna Global research paper points out that TV's share of media dollars continues to expand to 36.8% in 2015. Emerging technologies will also have an impact on viewing as the introduction of HD sets that deliver better quality picture and sound actually encourage more consumers to watch more TV.

The problem is technology and choice. (1)Hulu recently launched HuluPlus for $9.99 month and will make programming available on the IPhone, IPad and soon enough on the Playstation3 and Xbox game consoles.

(2) Netflix just signed a deal with Relativity Media allowing them to stream up to 14 movies per year to their 13 million subscribers.

(3) Viewers skip ads through DVRs and other devices. In fact, Comcast just launched multi room DVR technology in select markets.

(4) Premium nets HBO, Showtime and Starz continue to develop original programming ( 'Spartacus', 'Tudor', 'True Blood' 'Hung' 'Pillars of the Earth')

Its still fragmented viewing and as yet no one has developed a technology that has one access point, one password, one bill so that I can choose when, where and how I watch TV.