End of the road for HD?

Well not yet anyway, but if this technology works - if they can make it smaller and clearer it may eventually be what replaces High Definition. Imagine if the entertainment center in your living room were gone replaced by strategically mounted cameras along the ceiling. Now imagine turning on the national and instead of watching a TV screen, Peter Mansbridge's desk appears where your entertainment center used to be.

It's still years away, but if they can make the machine shown in this video smaller, improve the resolution and bring down the price (which given time I've little doubt they can do) - this may be the television set of the future.

Blogosphere

A couple of blog posts today worth checking out. The first is from Colin Keigher at the Gateway, a very positive note, that discusses more funding for an ad free CBC.

With the amount of new electronics that we buy on a day-to-day basis, I’m certain the CBC could eventually wean itself off of ad revenue with such a fee in place. By not having commercials every five minutes, we could have more informative newscasts, higher-quality dramas and more in-depth documentaries.
The CBC provides us with more than just hockey and news, it provides us with culture too, thanks to its focus on Canadian content. So instead of contributing your time and, indirectly, money, to greedy and directionless private networks, consider giving a little love to the Mother Corp.


full story...

The second, while generally positive about the CBC is a little less than positive about downloading.

The 'man' in this case is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), who I normally have no beef with. Their flagship news show, The National, is one of the best sources for national and international news in North America. However, unsurprisingly their online division is run by a bunch of frigtards, hopelessly behind the times.

full story...

The article goes on to tell you how to use Quicktime Pro and flip4mac to turn streaming video into a format that you can download, edit and redistribute. Handy information after the recent announcement that on demand hockey is coming.

note to content creators, distributors and broadcasters: I hate to keep pointing out the obvious but if you don't let people have your content the way they want it, they will do it themselves and then get mad at you for making them work harder. In other words, you are not 'protecting your content' but rather 'pissing off segments of your audience'.

CRTC review of the state of Television

Basically nothing everyone didn't already know - revenues are steady but expenses are going up. This does not seem to address though spending on Canadian programming (it says how much was spent in 06 but doesn't compare it to past years and there is no mention of the effects of more channels or online media.

OTTAWA-GATINEAU, March 28 /CNW Telbec/ - The Canadian Radio-television
and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today released its statistical and
financial summaries for private conventional television, reporting on the
industry's revenues, expenditures and profitability from 2002 to 2006. While
television station revenues held steady across Canada, expenditures rose by
7.8%, which reduced profits before interest and taxes (PBIT) from
$242.2 million in 2005 to $91 million in 2006. The PBIT margin also decreased
from 11.02% in 2005 to 4.14% in 2006.

Still if you want to have a look its here http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/publications/reports/BrAnalysis/tv2006/Cover.htm

Stromboulopouless?

If anyone missed this post on the Stomboulopouli it's worth a read. Two of the shows most loyal (obviously) viewers have given up and departed over the new format.

My decision to leave has been in the making for quite some time. Unlike most, The Hour's new schedule was not a problem for me, I can still turn on the television at a variety of times to catch the show. However, what has changed, as Barbara has so eloquently outlined, is the format and the content being showcased on the show, and I no longer feel a passion to discuss the what is being represented.

Welcome Back Teamakers

In case you've missed it (I know I did for a few days) - the longest serving CBC Blogger Oimet has returned from Hiatus. The CBC will surely be better off for it.

Hockey Night in Canada Forever - Or at least the next 6 Years

Richard Stursburg, VP of English Television annouced today that a new deal has been reached with the NHL to continue Hockey Night in Canada on CBC for the next 6 years. The new contract also includes internet rights including "on-demand video streaming of all CBC broadcasts at CBC.ca, game coverage and content on mobile phones and via Video-on-Demand."

From Stursburg's Memo:
"It is with great pride and pleasure that I can tell you that at this moment, we are announcing a new six-year broadcast agreement for national English-language broadcast and multi-media rights to NHL games in Canada, beginning with the 2008/09 season.

This is tremendous news for the CBC, for hockey fans, for Canadians, for our sponsors and the NHL. Hockey is part of the Canadian fabric, and todays announcement marks what is the oldest sports rights partnership in the world--one that dates back to the very beginning of the CBC."

According to the Toronto Star the new deal is worth $85 million a year, a significant bump over the previous contract which was worth $60 million a year, but with the new internet rights the CBC's potential audience for this is now worldwide.

For the last year there has been wide spread speculation that CTV would attempt to outbid the CBC for rights to HNIC.