Streaming Video Wars, You and Your Pocketbook:

I feel the quaking from my perch overlooking Hollywood.  

The ground has been moving underneath the television networks for some time.

But now they've all finally taken real, substantive action, driving deep stakes into what is their future:  The Internet.

The impact on you will be monumental, hitting everywhere, including the pocketbook.

Testament to the groundbreaking shift to the net and how people are increasingly turning to online videos can be found in this developing story about a new film festival based solely on footage taken from people's smartphones:

http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-syria-phone-festival-20141026-story.html

We already know the millennials largely don't view what has been traditional television.  So now the networks are finally being forced to abandon their old business model and offer their content online.

The fortress that is CBS Television City in Los Angeles:

CBS is the last of the major networks to start a paid, streaming service utilizing their branded content.  ABC, NBC and Fox own Hulu Plus, a leader in the service. Amazon and Netflix are clearly in the game to stay.  In just a few weeks, HBO, the giant that got its start with the advent of cable more than 40 years ago, will begin offering its content online.

As a veteran of the broadcasting news business, the shattering of glass can be heard all around me as cable and satellite television operators scurry around in attempt to assess the fallout from this latest battle in the television and movie streaming service wars.

For you as a viewer and consumer, the stakes could not be higher.  For example, Dish Network this last week dropped some Turner Broadcasting cable channels, including CNN, after the two failed to reach agreement on a new contract.  There's also talk Time Warner offering HBO as a stand-alone product.  I could go on with a myriad of dramatic shifts in the landscape.

But to the headline:  Your Pocketbook.  Take the $5.99 monthly charge CBS is proposing for its content.  HBO's content will apparently go for around $15 per month.  I already pay for cable, although I could get satellite.  What would you drop and what service would you take?  The playing field is shifting so fast I wouldn't at all be surprised if you take a deep breath before even venturing a guess.

The discussion gets real dicey when we throw in news and live sports.  The cost of providing coverage here is huge if we think about paying for it on a piecemeal basis.  I think Bloomberg nailed it when raising the prospect that sports fans will be hit hard:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-17/why-sports-fans-won-t-be-cheering-the-rise-of-internet-tv.html

Now to the cost of your Internet connection.  

Yes!  Internet is the key to any scenario we're talking about here.  After all, there won't be any streaming service without Internet.  Oh, sure, you can try it through your mobile's LTE connection or whatever cellular service you might have, but good luck there.  Finding an affordable plan that will allow you a reliable a cost-effective way to access the content you want will undoubtedly be prohibitive.

The way forward is clear.  The cost of your Internet connection is going to go up as companies grapple with recovering the revenue lost as more and more people cut the cable cord.  

Next up, I'll explore related issues, including how advertisers are having their own headaches as they work to find their audience.  

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In the interest of full disclosure, Henry has worked directly for both CBS and ABC over his 30+ years in media.  Most recently, Henry worked as a freelance foreign correspondent out of Berlin for the CBS News, Radio network.  He won an Emmy Award for his news writing while with ABC O&O KGO Television in 2009.  He's worked as an Assignment Editor, Writer and Satellite Coordinator for KPIX Television, a CBS O&O and was a KCBS Reporter for six years. 

Being Understood, In Any Language:

Finally, the language barrier appears to be broken thanks to a smartphone App.

The new technology raises the prospect of being able to travel almost anywhere and be understood by almost anyone.  There's also the ability to talk with any foreign visitor who might be having trouble communicating with you on your home turf.

I tested it out this weekend with a number of different people speaking no fewer than five different languages:  German, Chinese, Russian, Japanese and Korean.

The App allows for instant translation, both spoken and written.  For example here in this example, I wish one of my Korean students a nice weekend.  What I say appears on the screen immediately followed by the translation.  It's then voiced through the phone's speaker: 

 

I jumped at the opportunity to test it out since I work with people from all around the world.  In addition to my work as a journalist, I'm also a teacher and I used my students to test out the new App:

Working internationally over the last few years, I've struggled with software that promises instant translation or even transcription.  The results have always either seemed marginal or too difficult to process while on the go on an everyday basis.  For example, Google Translate, while a big help, often leaves me with tons of editing in order to clean up mistakes in grammar or misspelled or misunderstood words.

Don't get me wrong.  This new technology is not without its faults.  One of the Korean linguists I work with, fluent in both languages, pointed out that the word and phrase order is mixed up in this translation.  A native speaker simply wouldn't say it this way.  Nevertheless, the translation is understood.  But then there's the problem of the App just shutting down, refusing to do anything more:

A shut down and a reboot later, I'm back up and running.  

So it's not flawless, but I think it's a huge step in the right direction.  

My interest was particularly piqued because I've struggled all my life as I've learned other languages, only one of them enough to be considered fluent.  Imagine, finally being able to speak and be understood, even if the other person doesn't speak my language.

Here's how a dialog looked on my smartphone screen:

Notice the two buttons on the bottom of the screen.  They allow each speaker to speak in their respective language and then have it immediately translated and then spoken in the other party's language.

I'll let you imagine the various applications for this new technology, but I can tell you that it opens up a whole new world of possibilities.  I immediately think of First Responders in an emergency, being able to quickly ascertain what problems they may be up against by effortlessly being able to overcome a language barrier.

And this new development will undoubtedly cause upheaval in what has become an industry.  Take a look at this article by Deutsche Welle, the German-funded website that offers news from the European perspective.  It notes how changes in technology threaten translators livelihoods as well as possible violations of law:

http://www.dw.de/push-technology-why-online-translation-may-be-googling-interpreters-out-of-a-job/a-17979947

I hope you can try this out and comment on this posting.  I look forward to your feedback in what I think will become an increasingly interesting development in the world of communication.

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