[Fmpro] Gates: Internet to Revolutionize TV in 5 Years - Comments?

[Mark Northam]

Hi All -

Interesting comments by Bill Gates - given ASCAP and BMI's inability so far
to establish a  performance royalty for downloadable audiovisual works
(film/TV shows), we all should be checking our contracts for downloadable
audiovisual royalties and mechanical royalties.

Given ASCAP and BMI's choice to offer, via their Unilicense proposal
(see http://www.filmmusicworld.com/dl/Joint-NMPA-ASCAP-BMI-Proposal.pdf)
to concede there are no performance royalties on music-only downloads, it
may be an uphill battle to reverse-course from that dangerous precedent and
try and establish performance royalties in audiovisual downloads. Plus, as
evidenced by the Unilicense proposal, the publishers clearly would prefer to
keep all the royalties from downloads to manage as they'd like, with their
various deductions, etc. instead of the royalties being paid through ASCAP
and BMI where a 50/50 split with writers is enforced.

We can only hope ASCAP is successful, but in the meantime, must look out for
ourselves contract-wise in this area...

Any comments on the story below?

Best,

Mark Northam


Internet to revolutionize TV in 5 years: Gates

DAVOS, Switzerland  - The Internet is set to revolutionize television within
five years, due to an explosion of online video content and the merging of
PCs and TV sets, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said on Saturday.

"I'm stunned how people aren't seeing that with TV, in five years from now,
people will laugh at what we've had," he told business leaders and
politicians at the World Economic Forum.

The rise of high-speed Internet and the popularity of video sites like
Google Inc.'s YouTube has already led to a worldwide decline in the number
hours spent by young people in front of a TV set.

In the years ahead, more and more viewers will hanker after the flexibility
offered by online video and abandon conventional broadcast television, with
its fixed program slots and advertisements that interrupt shows, Gates said.

"Certain things like elections or the Olympics really point out how TV is
terrible. You have to wait for the guy to talk about the thing you care
about or you miss the event and want to go back and see it," he said.

"Internet presentation of these things is vastly superior."

At the moment, watching video clips on a computer is a separate experience
from watching sitcoms or documentaries on television.

But convergence is coming, posing new challenges for TV companies and
advertisers.

"Because TV is moving into being delivered over the Internet -- and some of
the big phone companies are building up the infrastructure for that --
you're going to have that experience all together," Gates said.

YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley said the impact on advertising would be
profound, with the future promising far more targeted ads tailored to each
viewer's profile.

"In the coming months we're going to do experiments to see how people
interact with these ads to build an effective model that works for
advertisers and works for users," he said.

Advertisers are already racing to adapt their strategies to the growing
power of the Web, and more and more promotional cash is tipped to migrate
from television to Web sites in future.