Breakthrough time for taking TV everywhere

Comedy Central is using Motherload primarily to showcase stand-up comedians and other short-form comedy that wouldn’t necessarily fit on the TV network. It shows highlights of “The Daily Show,” but you still have to watch TV to get the full Jon Stewart experience, said Michele Ganeless, Comedy Central’s general manager.

Most people don’t have the patience to watch more than four or five minutes of Internet programming at a time, she said.

“I think that will change over time,” she said. “I think right now, based on my personal experience, the computer isn’t necessarily set up in a spot in the home that is comfortable for long-term viewing.”

For the most part, Internet TV is still “like the minor leagues,” Bernoff said. “It’s stuff that wasn’t good enough to get on the air, or too short to get on the air.”

Likewise, programming on cell phones is in its infancy. But NBC’s announcement earlier this month that it is collaborating with Sprint to make Leno’s monologue and comic sketches available on the phone is a sign of recognized potential.

Sprint has been the most aggressive in providing programming, working with MobiTV to make a variety of news, sports and comedy programming available on their phones, said Phil Taylor, an analyst for Strategy Analytics Global Wireless Research. About 500,000 people subscribe to a cell phone programming service in the U.S.; market penetration is more advanced overseas.

Just like on laptops, short bites of programming are most popular. So is adult fare, he said. Cell phone video is likely to spread more through convenience than any real consumer pressure, he said, because cable or cell phone companies are likely to bundle this with other services.

“I don’t think usage of the mobile phone TVs will come anywhere close to the home television as a principal viewing device,” he said. “But the evidence suggests that it’s a handy way of spending time when you’re waiting two minutes for a bus or for a friend at the bar.”

Ultimately, this fall’s most far-reaching development may be last Monday’s dual announcements by CBS and NBC that it would begin selling replays of its most popular shows on an on-demand basis through Comcast and DirecTV, respectively.

Peek into the future
It gives a tantalizing peek into a television landscape where viewers can decide when to watch their favorites. While the Internet and cell phone choices work around the margins of television fare, these deals involve the most popular programs on television.

“Mark down the date,” Bernoff wrote after the announcement. “Today is the beginning of the end of the television schedule.”

Telephone companies SBC and Verizon are also preparing to roll out Internet Protocol, set-top technology that could allow consumers to choose from among multiple camera angles while watching a program or search the Internet for information about the actors.

It all foreshadows a completely upended business environment, where TV networks can get revenue directly from consumers instead of the advertising time they sell. Business deals of all sorts will have to be rewritten to reflect all these new distribution methods. Expect some nasty negotiations or lawsuits.

Many of the new ventures are elaborate test drives. Bernoff expects a pause from the frantic series of announcements as media companies gauge consumer interest in all the options and check how it affects traditional TV viewership.

The technology and changing consumer habits have converged at a time these companies are skittish. They’re eager to be on the cutting edge but, more importantly, they don’t want to be left behind.

The transition to a new television world has only just begun.

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