Google has recently launched Google TV, which has attracted widespread attention in the industry. What implications does it bring to our domestic Internet TV industry? In short, Google TV has actually built a very complex industrial environment and established a five-level cooperative platform centered on Google's own technology. Taking out every feature of Google TV, we have them all, and the stories it tells are what we talked about years ago. For example, using a mobile phone to directly control the TV is something we proposed long ago. So, what’s new about it? In fact, it has done two things.
Firstly, Google has created its own product aggregation environment. Who provides content, who provides services, who provides distribution, who provides TVs, and who makes chips—all these are divided into five levels, with each level adopting completely different cooperation models. From the perspective of institutional economics, this is a contractual model. Under the new media industry, how we establish new structures and new contractual relationships with all parties involved is what we need to see first. Simply signing cooperation agreements is not enough. Those who succeed in this aspect always have a very good technical platform. This technical platform can realize an effective and complex contractual relationship, allowing both upstream and downstream players to benefit from cooperation. I also remind everyone that there are many new technologies involved here. We see that Google TV uses the Android operating system, which was originally designed for mobile phones. Why does Google put this mobile operating system inside? It actually shields the differences and complexities of underlying hardware, enabling application development on one platform. Not only can it unify three screens, but in the future, four or five screens can be integrated as well.
The second thing Google has done is the format and encoding of Web media containers. Some say that the profit margin for Internet TV is small. Why is that? Because its business model is broadcasting, and the business model of broadcasting is advertising—free reception, except that now we charge an additional transmission fee—cable TV fees. If we don’t break through and continue to follow the path of traditional broadcasting, doing TV on the Internet will merely carve out a piece of the original cable TV pie. The pie is only so big, and such a model has no future.
How can we solve the problem of broadcasting? Currently, the most basic encoding technology is end-to-end, serving communication and broadcasting rather than interactivity. New media needs to create a completely open new media structure. For example, Google is promoting the open-source project WebM (Web Media Project), where you can directly manipulate the media itself. This brings enormous opportunities to new media. If we remain stuck with the current end-to-end encoding method and do not make fundamental technological breakthroughs, no matter how large the scale, how open the market, or how many participants there are, the entire industry will not be profitable.
I am optimistic about Internet TV, but if we don't focus on several key points, we will gradually walk into a dead end. I believe the entire industry needs to have a clear understanding of the overall architecture and break through its key technologies. Google has actually maximized its key technologies. Additionally, I have another feeling. Our current Internet video experience is still far from satisfactory. When users watch TV, having abundant content is not the most important thing; rather, it is about how to let them get their favorite content in the simplest way possible.
Many content industries have developed valuable content, but 90% of our TV dramas cannot be broadcasted. This is due to limited channels, limited time, and the limited prices that TV stations can offer. Why can't so much creative content reach the final user? This is because the value chain has not been fully utilized, or the value system has not been realized. A simple example is the smart grid in the U.S. In the past, the cost signals of power generation were not passed on to the end users, and the end users had no way to control it.
The basic starting point of the smart grid is road pricing, and such a policy has driven a huge industry. Talking about broadcasting is the same issue, very similar to power plants. When you break through within this system, it’s not just about differential pricing; you need technical means to pass it on to the user, and let the user make choices. If the user finds it troublesome to choose, you provide services to help them choose. At this point, we can adjust the entire system to its optimal state.
For the current Internet TV, the fundamental issue lies in breaking through at the industrial level and in the technology related to industry and contracts. After achieving these breakthroughs, we can truly see the future of Internet TV.
This article is reprinted from Asia Satellite TV Portal | http://www.wxtv.org/
Original link: http://www.wxtv.org/32/20100531/727.html