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So, what does the future hold for broadcasting?
Just now, in
fact, everyone is passionately discussing the "merging of communication with broadcasting."
During prime time, TV programs must have a viewing rate of 10% to be considered successful. If the number drops below that, the show is quickly dropped.
Unlike NHK(Nippon Hoso Kyokai), all the private broadcasting companies rely on high charges for commercials during peak hours, when advertisers expect to get the simultaneous collective attention of ten million households.
Even so, communication starts from one individual to speaking or writing to another.
Even e-mail communication is limited to one individual communicating with about
100 others at best. Even though technology capable of simultaneously distributing
text, photos, and images, and other content on the Internet has appeared, it
is simply not possible to distribute content at the ten million-household level
in the same way that broadcasting can. Using current technology, live or other
transmissions over the Internet can, at most, reach thousands to tens of thousands
of viewers. We must meet the challenge of building new businesses by taking advantage
of the potential to distribute content to hundreds of thousands subscribers over
the Internet. There must be new business models awaiting discovery. Such an opportunity
is the kind of thing that the broadcasting and communication industries are eagerly
looking for. If a good opportunity comes up, they will go for it. So far, no
compelling model for realizing such new business has been formulated. Everything
remains to be done. Consequently, you cannot really say that broadcasting and
communication will merge. It is more accurate to say that the broadcasting and
communication industries will venture into virgin territory.
We often hear about new companies starting to distribute content..
Yes, but none of these are currently making a profit. They may be showing movies and other content, but they are having difficulty increasing their subscriber levels.
I am really not enthusiastic about watching movies on a PC either...
That's is what everyone feels. Although we may be watching the same movie, our feelings and attitude when doing so are completely different depending on how we view it. Most people can just relax when watching TV, usually from some distance away. When watching a soccer game with your team in action, you get totally absorbed. But all this is in a passive mode. That's how we watch TV. We have to play a more active role with a PC. When we look at a monitor, we are actively involved in some activity, like typing e-mail or finding and looking at web sites. Will people really watch a two-hour movie on a PC, I wonder?
It doesn't have any reality, does it? You need an environment like a home theater to watch movies at home.
Those kinds of things are also issues we must address in the future. Content offered on the Internet will be divided into two categories. One is conventional forms of media such as broadcast content, movies, books, and art that can be circulated in a digital form. The other is completely new media that are created for network distribution. For example, people have already started talking about network games and short films. Even if you feel too busy to watch a movie for two hours, you might feel like watching a shorter 15-minute drama or comedy over the Internet. We can, in fact, use the broadband network to generate its own form of content. |
