One reason people seem to like devices that let them place- and time-shift content is that it allows them to watch television without being interrupted by ads. TiVo even sold a model called the "Ad Buster." Slingbox, which works with TiVo to allow you to watch any of your recorded content from Internet-connected computers (as well as offering an inferior live TV mode for non-TiVo owners), will take a different approach, according to Sling Media's co-founder/CEO/chairman Blake Krikorian.
At a panel called "Portable Digital Media Content Anywhere, Anytime" at the the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) conference in Las Vegas, he said that the Slingbox and other such devices will give video advertisers more opportunities to continue to show consumers the sort of untargeted, time-consuming ads for which broadcast media is known, as well as branded wrappers for shared content:
"Krikorian says consumers don't care about content producers'
bottomlines. 'They don't understand that stuff,' he said. 'They want theircontent wherever and whenever they want it.' That increasingly extendsto in-home viewing, using the Slingbox to extend TV to laptops aroundthe house.
"Krikoriansaid technologies such as Slingbox can actually benefit broadcasters.
By turning every computer into another TV, he says the device hasactually tripled or quadrupled the number of places consumers can watchTV content.
"He said the company’s newest offering, avideo-sharing service called Clip+Sling,
will offer TV networks moreopportunities to sell advertising and reinforce network brandingsurrounding the video content on the computer screen [that your friendswill see when you share TV clips with them using Clip+Sling]."
However, he did not seem oblivious to consumers' needs either:
"Krikoriansaid broadcasters need to understand that challenging new technologiesand trying to fight them with legal action doesn't work in today'sworld, when consumers won't be dissuaded from adopting the technologythey want."
(via tvtechnology; image from cesweb)
