Converging Media 6th Edition Pdf Free Download
Jacque Waiden
Chapter 6 analyses media concentration, arguing that it remains a major policy issue in the Internet environment. After arguing the importance of ensuring a multiplicity of voices in the media for underpinning democracy, the chapter explains why the media are particularly prone to economic pressures towards concentration. It then explores trends in media concentration and its regulation in the US and in Europe, showing how the common trend has been the progressive de-regulation of sector-specific structural rules designed to limit media concentration, the ideological force for which has been a neo-liberal policy turn from the 1980s on and the principle argument against them being their alleged inappropriateness in the converging new media environment. The chapter examines the viewpoint that the Internet has a pluralising impact, showing that concentration persists and therefore still needs addressing through policy and regulation. The chapter concludes by suggesting some policy pointers.
5G promises to transform customer entertainment, enabling completely new, immersive, real-time experiences. How can companies harness 5G to meet changing consumer demands? The authors explain key trends and opportunities and, in particular, how telcos can use their 5G strengths to build leadership positions in next-generation entertainment, based on creating partnerships with innovators in their ecosystems.
For once, the hype may be justified. In the era of 5G, the consumer entertainment experience is about to be revolutionized. Imagine if you are a sports fan able to watch your favorite stadium event live at home and pause it in real time to choose from a variety of viewing positions around the stadium while your fantasy sports team updates simultaneously. Or what if you could read an ARenabled book to your child in which animations jump off the page at exactly the right moment? What would it feel like to be Spiderman swinging virtually through New York skyscrapers with perfect rendition and timing?
All these things are possible due to the technical progress brought by 5G, such as latency (i.e., the time needed for data transfer), which is low enough to enable true real-time simulations. This opens up a plethora of new opportunities to provide new forms of entertainment, new content, and enhanced and personalized consumer experiences. In a post-COVID-19 world, such virtual experiences are likely to play an even bigger part in everyday life than anyone might have envisaged just a few years ago.
For players in the telecoms and media space, the potential opportunities are certainly very exciting, but understanding how best to position themselves for success is challenging. The new technological opportunities and expectations from consumers are transforming established industry structures, with new partner ecosystems forming; these involve a wide range of players across telcos, consumer electronics manufacturers, broadcasters, rights owners, start-ups and many others. New alliances are being formed. Disney and Verizon, for example, have announced a 5G-related strategic partnership, while BT is partnering with the VR start-up Condense Reality. The competitive landscape has become increasingly intense as convergence across technologies and sectors progresses.
Although linear television still accounts for a sizable share of TV-viewing time (e.g., 63 percent in the US in 2019), there is a major shift in viewing habits towards streaming, with longterm online video viewing stimulated by the growth of overthe-top (OTT) services and collaborations among traditional players. Given all the services available, there is also a move away from focusing on original and exclusive content towards an emphasis on the customer experience.
Users are diversifying their consumption habits and seeking increasing personalization, enabled by the emergence of a wide range of non-linear video services (e.g., Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, Disney+), which provide an abundance of content and interactivity. This interactivity is resulting in the development of a new ecosystem of players and technologies, such as AI-powered recommendation engines, targeted advertising and many others.
Bundles of OTT services are continuing their upward trend and, beyond content bundles, offering niche features, including 5G mobile cloud gaming (e.g., the Vodafone and Hatch partnership). This is spurring innovative collaborations and leading to the emergence of new and converging ecosystems.
Live events, including sports and entertainment, will continue to play a central role, with 100 to 150 events per year, and audience shares that could exceed 60 percent of households in a country. Even though the number of hours per year is limited, the value generated by these events is extremely high in terms of advertising and subscription fees; therefore, quality and reliability of the media service is of utmost importance.
Additional types of services will emerge as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies reach maturity. Several broadcasters, including the BBC, Sky and NBC, have begun to explore how they can leverage these to enhance their current offerings and expand the services they make available to their audiences. Importantly, technological advancements can help market players to remain competitive, though the use of new technology needs to be coupled with quality content to generate the desired positive effects. Additionally, immersive content is still at an early stage and the technical feasibility of large-scale distribution for such formats is yet to be demonstrated.
As is clear from these trends, consumers globally are seeking new forms of entertainment, additional content, new user experiences, and cutting-edge technologies. User experience is key and can range from simple features for making life easier to immersive experiences or emotional connectivity. High user experience is particularly important in the gaming and e-sports industry. Simplification of use and personalized experiences are important for companies to be able to differentiate. Combining new media devices such as body wearables, VR handsets and AR glasses with quality content can create an even greater experience for consumers.
This evolution of ecosystems centered around customer preferences, such as on-demand and interactive media content, has strong implications for the required infrastructure and technology for content distribution. Future media distribution networks will need to meet, in particular, three key requirements: high capacity, low latency and IP-based connectivity. Terrestrial, satellite, fiber and especially 5G mobile need to be considered:
When forming their strategies, media players should consider carefully how to combine multiple types of infrastructure and ecosystems to effectively deliver the broadening range of services to their end users.
Telcos are now a key part of the media ecosystem and in a prime position to explore new opportunities, especially given that 5G is able to deliver higher network performance than legacy technologies. Media companies need to be able to take advantage of deployment of 5G networks and new devices.
For many mobile-only telcos, the aggregator model, i.e., bundling access services, has become a viable option to enter the entertainment space at low risk, requiring a mainly OPEXdriven investment in Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) or Softwareas-a-Service (SaaS) platforms and content. For fixed-line telco operators, with legacy TV and video services under other regulatory regimes, managing an aggregator business is more complex.
Besides being the one-stop shop for entertainment, providing a seamless user interface across devices and the convenience of paying one bill, telcos also have the possibility of investing in individualization of the video offering. With a plethora of OTT services becoming available for consumers, telcos will need to adapt to meet the new media challenge.
To meet emerging consumer expectations for new forms of entertainment, additional content, streamlined/new user experiences, and cutting-edge technologies, new partner ecosystems are forming. There are direct implications for the infrastructure needed to deliver the services.
The era of 5G offers opportunities for telcos to rethink how they can engage with consumers through entertainment offerings and monetize such services. Personalized services require more commercial flexibility from content partners, focus on technology enhancements, analytics, and strong emphasis on the customer experience. Start-ups are a driver for innovation and play an instrumental role within the ecosystem. There are great opportunities for multidimensional coinvestments and defining new partnership models and scale.
To move forward in delivery of more personalized and interactive services, telcos need to adopt a strategy that places open ecosystems and partnerships at its heart, leveraging the convergence of infrastructures. Three aspects are especially important:
In the era of 5G, telcos are becoming leading players in cocreating the next generation of tangible media experiences, increasingly building partnerships in media and entertainment. Telco operators must now rise to the innovation challenge.
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