Cuban Still Batting For High Definition

Mark Cuban is quick to point out that Vincent Dureau, Google’s head of TV technology, said “The Web infrastructure, and even Google’s [infrastructure] doesn’t scale. It’s not going to offer the quality of service that consumers expect.”

What I don’t think Cuban understands, and what Vincent has left unsaid, is that people are willing to suffer a lack of quality in exchange for greater flexibility. The quality of television shows downloaded via peer-to-peer are about as good as video. Sure they’re not HD quality, like Cuban’s HDNet video (in other words, read everything Cuban says knowing that he is heavily invested in high definition video). However, when you’re deeply engrossed in a show you don’t notice how crystal clear an image is, or isn’t. Even YouTube viewers are willing to forgive crappy quality for the flexibility of seeing a hugely diverse range of content.

In the case of peer-to-peer the shows are also not streamed, but then they can be watched whenever the consumer wants. If a one hour show takes several hours to download, it really doesn’t matter, because you can download it when you want–like in the middle of the night–and watch it at your leisure. In other words, bandwidth doesn’t have to keep up with video “streaming.”

So unless new technologies improve bandwidth or video compression, we’ll not be “streaming” high definition video. But I’d argue that we don’t necessarily need to stream anything. When you can subscribe to a video service–a la videocasts–and watch whenever and wherever, it still offers much more flexibility than broadcast: like HDNet.

I’ve also got to wonder why Google has a “head of TV technology” if they don’t think they can jump into the video business.

Mass of Niches

The second annual survey of broadcasters’ Web efforts by the US Television Bureau of Advertising has found that local television’s online revenue was up 41% in 2006 to $399 million (from Broadcasting & Cable).

Though I found their recommendation more interesting.

Among the study’s recommendations to help grow online revenue even more: think of the Web not as a mass medium but a “mass of niches,” hire Web-only salespeople, and consider launching spin-offs that may not necessarily carry the station’s brand.

A “mass of niches.” Perhaps they mean “think of the Web not as a mass medium but a mass of individuals.” After all, the people on the end of a broadcast, webcast, or web site is a human being. Perhaps they need to get in touch with their audience, instead of wondering about a collection of niches.