Marc Canter, founder of Macromedia and countless startups since, is master of the art form that is the video blog. In this edgy episode, he asks a serious question — and one that has serious implications. Check it out. And welcome to aNewDomain, Marc. Man, you fit right in.
Marc Canter: Are We Reinventing Television or Is TV Reinventing Us?
Marc Canter, yet another teamBYTE vet, today joins aNewDomain as our intrepid, high-end video blogger. Founder of Macromedia and based now in Cleveland, you just can’t get more informative and entertaining than Marc Canter. And wow. What a message. Check it out. You’ll be addicted.
As a former TV correspondent — ABC News, national — I can tell you that industry is scared stiff. Ten years ago, I was standing in the office of the exec producer of 20/20 — he said, you know, the Internet will kill us off within 15 years.
As for your question? Reinventing us, I’m afraid.
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Sastipe! =) We’re re-defining what “television” is, based upon changes in content delivery. Perhaps the packaged delivery by the big cable companies may be the dinosaur that is in danger of extinction. The big kvetch when consumers are “cutting the cord” (as I have done more than five years ago) because they’re weary of paying for content they don’t care to consume, like hunting, fishing, shopping and religious channels, as well as having to endure a barrage of advertising. The big buzzword today, is “content on demand” where the consumer only pays for what she or he cares to. Robert.
I’d like to see a digital equivalent of the Glass Steagall act, requiring the Comcasts, Time Warners, AT&T’s, et. al., to completely isolate the bit-moving part of their business from their content & services offerings. (Why not–We The People gave their monopolies, we should be able to tweak the terms in the national interest.) The success, and even the permit-to-operate, of the former (bit-moving) side should be entirely based on its ability to deliver the stable, fast network Marc describes at the lowest possible cost. The content sides of their operations will have to fend as well as they can without the advantage of a monopoly. (I expect that there would be a certain amount of morbid entertainment to be obtained from watching them try.)
And by the way, great job Marc! That I have to admit though that I kept wondering how much of it was Jamaica talking and how much was you…I can say from experience that an escape to Jamaica in mid-winter has always filled me with a certain air of irrational exuberance. I guess I’ll have until you file from Cleveland to find out.
Hey Paul – I did file five videos from Cleveland and one from Amsterdam for Gina and BYTE.com
You can find all six on my blog home page @ marc.blogs.it
:-)