Cancel Your Cable Blog Launches as a New Voice for the Cord Cutting Movement

With the growing trend of TV viewers moving from cable television to online video a new voice has emerged to help navigate that transition. My friend Reed Kavner has launched, Cancel Your Cable, a new blog devoted to covering stories about watching TV over the Internet, without cable. In his first post, 2009 is the Year of the Connected Living Room, Reed provides an update from CES 2009 and highlights the current trends for this year as "ecotech, quasi-3D, and broadband connectivity in the living room."

Reed pointed out that he's not the first blogger to cancel cable then write about it. TVWeek's Daisy Whitney and PC Magazine's Sascha Segan are two notable predecessors. "I'm sure there are more," he said noting that, "It was Daisy's experiment with canceling her cable that first gave me the idea for a whole blog devoted to online cable alternatives."

Being a self-described journalism school dropout Reed took the idea and ran with it saying, "After two years of talking the web video talk, I've decided to walk the proverbial walk and cancel my cable. I am trying to document how it is possible to remove the monthly cable bill (for me, $80) from one's life and still have access to the same programing, sometimes for a nominal cost, but often for free. Device manufacturers and content producers are starting to get it and are continuously making it easier. I want to share this with consumers and promote the idea that cable providers are an unnecessary step in the delivery of television. When I say "cable", I'm really referring to any multichannel provider of television: cable, satellite, certain IPTV services."

The focus of "Cancel Your Cable "will be primarily on stories that are directly applicable to the consumer. There will be no talk of CDNs or ad networks. "I would like a friend of my mom's to be able to read the blog, understand it, learn something new, and ultimately feel comfortable freeing themselves from their cable provider."

The idea of life without cable may take some rewiring for some, but Reed, Daisy Whitney, Sascha Segan and many other have "cut the cord" and opted for a brighter future without the cost of a monthly cable bill. We've already seen many companies move into the living room to provide Internet video content which Reed covers in his blog. If you're interested in freeing yourself from the grip of the cable companies and explore the endless possibilities that online video has to offer, subscribe to Cancel Your Cable via RSS, email and follow the latest updates on Twitter.

Contact Reed at: reed ·at· cancelyourcable ·dot· com

Related:

• Column: Cast a Vote: Should I Go TV-Free? - TVWeek - News
• Column: TV Cord-Cutters Are Not the Enemy - TVWeek - News
• How I Slashed My Bills with Tech (Part 1) - PC Magazine
• How I Slashed My Bills with Tech (Part 2) - PC Magazine
• Cable Marketing: The Jugular Perspective: Join Daisy Whitney's Cable-Free Army.
• Ditch Cable? Hells Yeah! « Kent’s Official Blog

Also check out Tilzy.tv and Tubefilter News for guides and reviews of the latest web shows.

VideoNuze Launches Weekly Podcast, Featuring Will Richmond and Daisy Whitney

VideoNuze editor and publisher Will Richmond just announced a new weekly podcast called "VideoNuze Report," that he'll be doing with Daisy Whitney, new media reporter for TV Week and writer for OMMA, AdAge and other publications, She is also the host of the audio podcast “This Week in Media” as well as her "New Media Minute."

Richmond talked about how the podcast came together:

"Daisy and I have talked about the industry's goings-on countless times, and it finally dawned on us that maybe we should record some of our musings and record them as a podcast... So here we are! We're still tweaking the format, but initially we're each trying to add a little more color and back-story to a couple of the articles/posts we've written in the preceding week. It's pretty informal and definitely a work in progress. So we'd love to get your feedback on how we can improve the format and make it even more interesting.

Here's the "maiden podcast" they recorded on December 23, 2008 along with the stories they discussed.

• "Web Video Hurdle: Good Recommendations" - Daisy, 12/21/08
• "International Market a Growing Opportunity for Web Series" - Daisy, 12/21/08
• "Recapping 5 Broadband Video Predictions for 2009" - Will, 12/22/08

Daisy Whitney's New Media Minute: 2009 Predictions and Cutting The Cord

In this final episode of the New Media Minute for 2008, Daisy Whitney offers her 5 predictions for online video in 2009. She says cellphone advertising will take off, Netflix is a company that should be watched, web producers will go international with their web shows, for the Grey's Anatomy fans (which excludes me) George will get boot and, the new trend of cutting the cord will grow as more people get rid of cable and digital satellite to watch video online.

This last prediction may be more likely as Daisy points out in her article, Column: TV Cord-Cutters Are Not the Enemy - TVWeek - News, "Media companies are painfully aware that they need to adapt to the changing consumer. While cord-cutters might be the avant-garde today, they’ll be mainstream when our kids grow up. A better understanding of what they want, how they watch TV and whether they skip ads can help networks, studios, even cable and satellite operators stay relevant, and maybe even a step ahead."

She's made it her mission in 2009 to help media companies better understand why consumers are cutting the cord and shifting their views to broadband-powered video. She's enlisted her Twitter friends and followers to develop a 2009 online video wish list and said on Twitter yesterday, "My cable-free army could be growing soon! Liz Shannon Miller may take the cord-cutting plunge next no thanks to Via-TWC: http://bit.ly/147F" 11:46 AM Dec 31st, 2008 from web.

Although a deal was reached between Viacom and Time Warner, who had been in a contract dispute in which Viacom threatened to pull 19 of its cable channels, including Nickelodeon, MTV, VH-1 and Comedy Central, we could see more disruption in the future with other contract disputes of this scale. NewTeevee has a cheat sheet to tell you where to watch your favorite Viacom-owned shows online if you're ready to cut the cord.



Daisy was also interviewed by Sam Bradley on the blog Communication & Cognition - New Media Expert Advises: Build Brand You — Communication & Cognition, where she expands on her 2009 predictions, how she got started in new media and her advise for college students interested in this field.

Watch Daisy's other episodes about what's in store for 2009:

• Tighten Your Belts the Online Video Way
• My Online Video Crystal Ball for 2009
• Five Online Video Startups to Watch in 2009
  

Online Video Gets Religious, A JellyTelly Christmas Tale

This post comes by way of an Ooyalagram: VeggieTales Founder Phil Vischer Stirs up Holiday Spirit with Online Christmas Videos by JellyTelly.

Faith-based media production is big business and online video is no exception. It's been almost 20 years since Phil Vischer created the popular animated faith-based VeggieTales in the early 1990s which conveyed Christian moral themes and taught Biblical values and lessons. Some may recall the controversy in September 2006, when VeggieTales aired on NBC and the network edited out most references to God to comply with broadcast standards. Notably missing was the program's signature sign-off, "Remember kids, God made you special and he loves you very much."

Fast forward to November 2008 when Jellyfish Labs, Vischer's new media startup, released a series of Christmas videos now available through its website, Jellytelly.com. The one- to three-minute web videos were created to spur dialog regarding the meaning of Christmas. Vischer, with a five-person startup, is racing to get ready for his company's official mid-January website launch. He felt compelled to create the videos after surveying this year's holiday programming lineup offered by the major media outlets.

After analyzing the analytics and listening to feedback from viewers, they realized their original content was more popular than the licensed content. They decided to use puppets for the Christmas videos because they were the most popular. The analytics also helped firm up their decision to show their daily shows on their homepage (vs. through the subscription). They'll be doing that soon.

With Jellytelly.com and its video technology partner, Ooyala, Vischer has essentially created his own "mini-network'' -- and in doing so, the freedom to "narrowcast" his message. With Ooyala's video player, Jellyfish Labs will be releasing the new holiday content daily until year's end on the Jellytelly.com site. Since November, JellyTelly has been quickly growing its audience, many of whom were fans of Veggie Tales.

Ooyala: How do you hope parents and kids watch these?

Phil Vischer: "Any way they want! We're trying to give parents the controls. We're giving them access to a weeks worth of content at a time, and within that week they can watch any segment at any time. Didn't quite understand our explanation of Hannakah? Go back and watch it again! And again! If we make it funny, kids will watch again and again. The more kids watch, the more they learn. The more they learn, the more parents appreciate what we're doing and blog about it and spread the word to their friends. Answering kids questions topically around the year (What's Valentine's Day? Who came up with the Easter Bunny?) brings our "mini-network" to life and tells families they need to keep tuning in to see what we're going to explain next. In the old days, only the broadcast networks could program this way, so niche audiences were out in the cold. Now, if you can find an audience, you can have a network. It's a whole lot of fun."

Some sample videos, including the Christmas content, can be previewed at the bottom of this link: http://www.jellytelly.com/marketing. Other videos can be viewed for free over the next 30 days by subscribing to the videos on the JellyTelly homepage.

Read the full press release Hot on Video: HO! Ho! JellyTelly Christmas Online Videos

About Jellyfish Labs
Jellyfish Labs is the creative shop founded by Phil Vischer to develop faith-based projects for kids and families. Prior to founding Jellyfish, Phil started Big Idea Productions and led the team that brought VeggieTales to life. With a small group of veterans from Big Idea, Jellyfish Labs is working on new Christian family media projects. In November of 2008, the company began previewing Jelly Telly, an interactive, online "mini-network" for Christian families. The official launch of Jellytelly.com is scheduled for early January 2009. For more information, visit http://www.jellyfishland.com and http://www.jellytelly.com.

Contact: Allison Martin, allison@propellerconsulting.net 615.599.9392 x. 2000

About Ooyala
Ooyala is a video technology company that provides an integrated platform enabling the delivery, management, and monetization of high quality video content. Committed to providing the most accessible and comprehensive video solutions to companies worldwide,Ooyala's services are easy to use, quick to deploy, and customizable. Its modular and distributed framework allows Ooyala to integrate seamlessly with existing systems and scale to millions of concurrent users. Ooyala's partner portfolio includes 100s of media companies including Bebo, TV Guide, Glam, and Electronic Arts. Free trial Backlot accounts can be created by clicking here: http://www.ooyala.com/products/install. For more information please visit www.ooyala.com.

Contact:
Alexa Lee, Ooyala Marketing, 415.707.9467