Abstracts


Building Public Value - Renewing the BBC for a digital world This document, created by the BBC, expresses the renewed purpose and goals of the BBC as they apply to today’s quickly changing media environment. The renewed BBC will continue to stay true to the purposes outlined by its founders, and the BBC will put the public-interest above all else. “If it is to build public value in the emerging digital world, the BBC must combine bold new strategies with enduring values. It must keep faith with existing audiences and their expectations yet discover a new spirit of reform and re-invention. In many ways, the new era calls for a new BBC.”
What Makes Pubcasting Public is Engagement By Pat Aufderheide and Noëlle McAfee; Current; Sept. 19, 2005 “Public engagement is the semisecret success story of public broadcasting, and it shouldn’t be… It is becoming clear that public engagement is the heart of public broadcasting- and the best argument why taxpayers as well as donors and foundations need to support their public media.”
The End of TV As We Know It With an increase in choices over where and when consumers access video content, TV audiences are becoming more and more fragmented. Consumers are beginning to have different demands on channel requirements: one type of consumer is content to accept media as it is presented, but another type will force radical change with demands for content anytime, anyplace anywhere. For those in this second group it is increasingly rare to engage in “appointment television” and increasingly common to focus on niche content. “The industry is confronting unparalleled levels of complexity, dynamic change and pressure to innovate.” <Read Article>
New Media To Take Full Control in 2006 2005 brought an onslaught of new media technologies that have caused major shifts in consumer behavior and major shifts in media companies’ rush to meet new consumer demands. Through that process, the entire concept of "value" in media and entertainment is constantly changing. How that value is redefined and redistributed—based on the value of companies’ products and services, their advertising time and space, and their customers—will be the next big step in the media industry. “The focus in 2006 will be how quickly media players adjust by embracing the powerful digital transformation with more enterprise and less frenzy.” <Read Article>
"Networks Go Boldly - and Fearfully - Into TV's Future build As evolving Internet and digital technology continues to put video content at consumers' fingertips, broadcasters scramble to secure a foothold in a quickly changing industry. Now threatened by the increasing popularity of Video on Demand, DVRs, and download services, cable and satellite operators are finding that traditional business and distribution models may soon become inadequate. Major networks are struggling to stay on pace with changes in the media landscape by forming partnerships and embracing new distribution strategies. <Read Article>
"Outside the Box" build As broadband connections proliferate, so do the opportunities for niche video content providers. Video on Demand services and online video distribution are allowing consumers the opportunity to find what they want, when they want it and over a wide variety of platforms. This article provides several examples of companies that are adapting to a multiplatform environment and exploiting the "long tail" of TV and video demand. <Read Article>
"How To Build Scenarios" build This article, by Lawrence Wilkinson of Global Business Networks (GBN), which originally appeared in Wired in 1995, outlines the concept and analysis of scenario planning, and describes how scenario planning may be used to implement positive business models in times of change. <Read Article>
"Scenario Planning: A Snapshot of Four Futures" scenarios This document, which was distributed at the 2005 Round Robins to aid small group discussions, summarizes the four scenarios in a one page, grid format. <Read Article>
"Tools to Think By" tools Throughout the planning process, we hope to introduce different ways to think about our business. This document reviews three tools we will be using at the Round Robins during small group sessions. <Read Article>
"Tech Briefing" tech This is a very well done and rich presentation CPB put together on technology and the media landscape. It is set up as a PowerPoint presentation with links that can take you as deep into the information as you wish to go! <Watch the show>
"We are the Web" Bookmark Kevin Kelly has mapped the conception and development of the Internet, starting with the first hints at the core idea of the Web in 1945, to better understand what it has become in 2005. By examining the birth and growth of the Internet, we may better understand the implications of how the Internet will continue to develop in the future. Kelly predicts that, by 2015, the Internet will be dominated by “prosumers,” users who consume and produce content all at once. Furthermore, Kelly describes the developing global Internet network as its own entity, the Machine. The Machine, in its growing complexity and reach, is currently taking on the characteristics of one enormous computer system still in primitive form. In the future, as individual computer models become further advanced--as do the connections that link them, the programs that run them, and the people that use them-- the Machine begins to look more and more like the human brain, capable of anticipation, adaptation, and of learning. The resulting implications may have a profound impact on the role the Internet plays in media distribution and consumption at local, national, and international levels. <Read Article>
"The Long Tail" LongTail Developing Internet technology has allowed many online media distributors the ability to create large online catalogues that appeal to multiple niche markets. In this way, they are able to explore the "long tail" of consumer demand--that which trails after the main body of popular consumer interest. The Long Tail of media-- whole shelves full of CDs, DVDs, and books that have been otherwise forgotten or overlooked by the majority of consumers-- would demand far too much physical space in a store on the street to be stocked there. However, these non-mainstream media items provide an enormous market, one that can only be truly tapped online. Chris Anderson uncovers some surprising statistics that illustrate how online companies such as amazon.com, Netflix, and iTunes are able to capitalize on media distribution on a whole new level. <Read Article>
"Cable Ops Ramp Up Local On-Demand" This brief article provides concrete examples of how developing localized video-on-demand has helped cable companies build a loyal customer base and compete with satellite and telco systems. <Read Article>
"New Beginnings for Newspapers?" A potential sale of Knight Ridder, Inc. may mark a first step in the consolidation of the newspaper industry. As newspaper advertisers and readers have continued to defect to the internet in recent years, many successful newspaper companies have stayed in the newspaper business in part by expanding to other markets. Now it is difficult to determine the value of Knight Ridder, and difficult to predict who will invest in the company in an industry with a dim outlook. The situation tests the value of local media, where newspapers still dominate local news and advertising in many markets, and it may be a leading indicator for the future faced by Public Television. The degree to which the newspaper industry is suffering may have relevant implications for the sustainability of a PTV strategy that is dependent on the importance of being local. <Read Article>
"Open for Business" (a disaster planning toolkit) The Institute for Business and Home Safety (a nonprofit initiative of the insurance industry) developed Open for Business, a disaster planning toolkit for small to mid-size business owners. Although not written specifically for public television stations, the document may serve as a useful guide for station managers in increasing their protection from disasters. <Read Article>
"Looking for the Proceeds in TV-On Demand" As Video on Demand services and DVRs continue to gain popularity in today's media landscape, new challenges are emerging: what business models are going to work? Who will be paid for what? A major power struggle is developing between stakeholders, as consumers rush to provide demand for emerging technologies and services that push television in new directions. <Read Article>

Public Television Affinity Group Coalition