Business Model: Corus Entertainment Risks

The production and distribution of children's television, books and other media content is very competitive. There are numerous suppliers of media content including vertically integrated major motion picture studios, television networks, independent television production companies and children's book publishers around the world. Many of these competitors are significantly larger than Corus and have substantially greater resources, including easier access to capital. Corus competes with other television and motion picture production companies for ideas and storylines created by third parties as well as for actors, directors and other personnel required for a production

Further, vertical integration of the television broadcast industry and the creation and expansion of new networks, which create a substantial portion of their own programming have decreased the number of available time slots for programs produced by third party production companies. There can be no assurances that Corus will be able to compete successfully in the future or that Corus will continue to produce or acquire rights to additional successful programming or enter in to agreements for the financing, production, distribution or licensing of programming on terms favourable to Corus. There continues to be intense competition for the most attractive timeslots offered by those services. There can be no assurances that Corus will be able to increase or maintain penetration of broadcast schedules.

Corus Entertainment 2006 annual report Page 38

Article: Video may not be best way to monetize online

Online video is hot and everyone is scrambling to figure out how to best monetize it. Google just launched their “adsense for video” product, Advertising.com has Instream, and there are a host ofstartups attacking the problem as well. I think these online ad network plays are very interesting, as are all the infrastructure plays betting on the underlying rise of online video.

http://lsvp.wordpress.com/2007/05/25/video-may-not-be-best-way-to-monetize-online/

Article: Nearly 60% of Consumers Surveyed Watch Online Video

59 percent of those surveyed claimed to watch online video, and more than half said they engage in some sort of response activity, such as visiting a Web site, going to a physical location or making a purchase.

http://www.pr-inside.com/nearly-60-of-consumers-surveyed-watch-r133840.htm

Article: Joost

First they Kazaa’d the music industry. Then they Skyped the telcos. Now Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström want to Joost your TV.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.02/trouble.html

Quote: What's the Business Model

Interesting article on P2P vs. CDN.

http://newteevee.com/2007/05/18/p2p-streaming-and-cdns-what-will-really-work/#more-1316

Quotes: NetFlix TV

"And yes, there are download services available, but they all kind of suck for one reason or another. So what do I want? I want Netflix to put out a set-top equivalent of the excellent service they already provide."
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/all-giz-wants-the-netflix-settop-box-221288.php

Commentary: Why Parents would like this service

1. Safe TV
2. Parents select the progamming that can be watched
3. Parents select the time content can be watched
4. Commercial Free
5. Content from around the world - different languages, different cultures
6. Content from leading providers as well as new, up and coming and independent creators
7. Build profiles and play lists for each child
8. Receive viewing reports
9. All administration is done via the Web - at home, at work, on the road....
10. No need to purchase DVDs - it is portable and can be used anywhere you have an internet connection.
11. Ability to manage multiple boxes under one account - Living room, grandma's house, cottage, etc...
    

Quotes: Investment in Kids Content Declining

“Ofcom's new figures show that across the public service broadcast channels, spend on first-run original children's programming has declined by 20%, from US$217 million per year in 1998 to US$177 million in 2006.

Interestingly, however, Ofcom's research shows overall demand for children's television has remained constant, while there has been a decline in kids watching adult programming.

Pact, the organization that represents UK independent producers, also released research that indicates that investment in new UK programming from non-BBC channels has plummeted by approximately 80% from 2001 numbers, following the withdrawal of ITV and Channel 3 from commissioning.”

http://www.kidscreen.com/articles/daily/20070517/pactuk.html

Quotes: Download Reluctance

“The reason for download reluctance, the British survey found, does not come as a surprise: the process is too slow and unreliable. If downloading was quick and easy, two-thirds of respondents said they’d be interested”

http://thebrowser.blogs.fortune.com/2007/05/11/why-we-dont-download-more/

Quotes: Future Advert Potential

“What we really need is to come to market with a one-play service that focuses on video,” Agostinelli said. In addition to revenues from typical services like VOD, gaming and premium shows, he said there are also some “very interesting experiments with direct marketing” that Fastweb wants to try.

http://newteevee.com/2007/01/18/fastwebs-iptv-lessons-learned/

Quotes: Parental Control

“The kids [VOD] thing solves the problem of wondering how much time your children are spending in front of the screen,” Agostinelli said. “This way, the parents can control what kids see at what times.” (Who could have guessed that technology could let parents be better nannies than the FCC?)

http://newteevee.com/2007/01/18/fastwebs-iptv-lessons-learned/

Quotes: Italian Kid TV VOD Stats

• Kid vid is tops, accounting for more almost 50 percent of their VOD consumption;
• Triple Play ain’t all that — what customers are really looking for is a focused video offering;
• Offering 3-day replays of regular TV broadcasts is immensely popular;
• The long tail of content (niche programming or Internet video) is still short and stubby when it comes to user acceptance.

http://newteevee.com/2007/01/18/fastwebs-iptv-lessons-learned/

Quotes: Digital NetFlix

“What I’d really like to see in this category is a digital Netflix service that automatically rents, downloads, and deletes movies from my computer for a flat monthly fee.”

http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/10/15/itunes-movies-v-the-rest/