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My Back Pages: What Hath Jobs Wrought?

Cable World, Nov 7, 2005

By Paul S. Maxwell

Got back to the States to find much gnashing of teeth, wailing and general consternation about the future of cable TV ... and satellite TV ... and telco investments in TV.

"Why bother?" lots of folks were lamenting, "when an iPod can be a TV?"

Gee.

VOD on an iPod.

As if no one knew it was coming.

Anybody notice that Archos has had similar products for months, with bigger screens and a branding deal with DISH?

Wouldn't be surprised to see a branding deal with TiVo, too. Or DirecTV. Or, for that matter, Comcast and/or Time Warner. Via a portable Akimbo-licensed piece of hardware?

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What the crybabies missed is: the incumbents are leading the way. The new video iPod really doesn't work without a very high-speed broadband connection.

That's why companies such as Comcast have deals with companies like Landmark's totalvid.

Love to see how the mainstream press falls all over Steve Jobs. Thing is, he deserves the attention and praise. As one of the many, many stories noted, the new version of the iMac with the remote control has just six buttons ... all easy to use and intuitive. The Microsoft Media Center has 42 buttons.

The real key: thinking like and being the user. Of course, that's easier when you're like Apple and vertically integrate everything ... including the hardware, the access to content and the interfaces.

(An Aside: over on the content side, the equivalent is ESPN as it line extends ad infinitum. Even CableWORLD sister publication min magazine - which covers the magazine world - noticed and named ESPN The Magazine a "most intriguing brand extension." And they ain't seen nothin' yet.)

Meanwhile, Wall Street and the pundits just don't get it. They ought to read the CNET blog roundups about the iPod ... one predicts a podcasting explosion. Another notes that porn site Suicide Girls has launched a weekly porn podcast.

Sort of parallels the initial developments of VHS tapes.

Besides, everything Jobs does doesn't necessarily work. Look at the initial problems with the Motorola partnership ... a "stinkr" say many.

The key again: the willingness to try.

A good lesson for cable.

Addendum: Television in Africa ... I think I was the only FOX News correspondent on the continent last month. Of course, I wasn't really a FOX News reporter/photographer. I just had a FOX News luggage tag on my camera backpack. Makes for interesting conversations with fellow travelers (that's a joke, son). Spent the last month in South and East Africa escaping from TV. Did take a look at Multi-Choice's offerings while I was in Cape Town (terrific city, what a location!).

Only watched the BBC, CNN Int'l and CNBC Europe ... all terrific, except when you're trying to ignore the world beyond your own horizon. Their guide is called "dish." -- The cheetah on the hood of the Land Cruiser is for real. Was in the Maasai Mara National Park of Kenya. I pulled its tail (no kidding, got it on film; John Goddard took the picture).

About FOX News: (1) I was asked if I was "fair and balanced" thrice; (2) got told "we've decided!" twice; (3) was asked once why we couldn't cover up the anti-Republican stories about the DeLay and Miers "matters"; and (4) was queried about Roger Ailes.

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My Back Pages: What Hath Jobs Wrought?

Cable World, Nov 7, 2005

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