RVRambler
01-12-05, 06:04 PM
All credit goes to http://www.skyreport.com/
Here is the article:
OUTSIDE THE BOX: Tech Makeovers on the Way
By Steve Blum, Tellus Venture Associates
Most people worry that they won't leave a legacy behind. In the digital services business, they worry that they will.
Unfortunately, it's inevitable. Both EchoStar and DirecTV have faced the past, and reached the same conclusion: The once leading edge systems that launched a worldwide DBS revolution can no longer support the advanced television products that flooded the Las Vegas Convention Center last week. Technological makeovers are on the way.
By combining MPEG-4 technology (and the associated DVB standards) with new satellites and orbital assignments, DirecTV and EchoStar will be able to offer a large menu of HDTV services that will only grow as time goes on. The new standards also offer a more flexible and stable environment to nurture next generation interactive services.
EchoStar's platform has always been somewhat more advanced than DirecTV’s pre-DVB technology, and the worldwide DVB development base has allowed it to gradually expand its services while keeping costs down. Migration to MPEG-4 will keep that strategy viable for many years to come.
The technology-driven Hughes culture allowed DirecTV to more or less stay even, but now that it has joined the News Corp. family, engineering achievement is no longer at its core. So DirecTV will join the same path as EchoStar.
The short-term irony is that EchoStar will be able to offer interactive services that more fully mimic News Corp.'s most advanced platforms in Australasia and Europe than DirecTV. Online gambling, mosaics (that offer thumbnail looks at several channels at once), karaoke and interactive shopping are mainstays of overseas DTH systems. EchoStar intends to add those features in 2005, along with an expanded HDTV line-up and digital video recorder-based video-on-demand service.
DirecTV intends to match some of those offerings immediately, but the smart move will be to wait for the MPEG-4/DVB upgrade before stepping out aggressively with new services.
Both companies are also making tentative steps into the market segments served by satellite radio. DirecTV is touting a rooftop car antenna the size of a small surfboard as its entryway to the mobile electronics business. EchoStar is coming out with a gizmo that looks like a clock radio that can independently play Sirius and other EchoStar-delivered audio services. Its new hand-held video player is also a natural fit with the mobile market.
XM and Sirius are as likely to benefit from these products as suffer, because anything that promotes satellite-delivered audio and advanced mobile electronics will help build the overall market. But everyone in the digital services business should keep a sharp eye on EchoStar and DirecTV. Each is reaching beyond the television set and into home networks, media centers, cars and, literally, the hands of consumers.
The migration to new standards and platforms lays the foundation for a new generation of services, and not just for upgrades to existing lines of business. Since DirecTV and EchoStar will be bearing a large portion of the cost of upgrading customers' set top boxes and other equipment, each company will push hard to find ways to use that investment to generate new revenue sources. For other players in the industry, the challenge is to stay in the middle of that new cash flow, and not be relegated to a legacy backwater of their own.
Steve Blum is a consultant specializing in DBS market research and analysis, and business development. He can be reached by e-mail at SteveBlum@TellusVenture.com, or via his company's website at http://www.tellusventure.com. (Please note, the opinions expressed in "Outside the Box" are that of the author and not necessarily of the editorial staff.)
Here is the article:
OUTSIDE THE BOX: Tech Makeovers on the Way
By Steve Blum, Tellus Venture Associates
Most people worry that they won't leave a legacy behind. In the digital services business, they worry that they will.
Unfortunately, it's inevitable. Both EchoStar and DirecTV have faced the past, and reached the same conclusion: The once leading edge systems that launched a worldwide DBS revolution can no longer support the advanced television products that flooded the Las Vegas Convention Center last week. Technological makeovers are on the way.
By combining MPEG-4 technology (and the associated DVB standards) with new satellites and orbital assignments, DirecTV and EchoStar will be able to offer a large menu of HDTV services that will only grow as time goes on. The new standards also offer a more flexible and stable environment to nurture next generation interactive services.
EchoStar's platform has always been somewhat more advanced than DirecTV’s pre-DVB technology, and the worldwide DVB development base has allowed it to gradually expand its services while keeping costs down. Migration to MPEG-4 will keep that strategy viable for many years to come.
The technology-driven Hughes culture allowed DirecTV to more or less stay even, but now that it has joined the News Corp. family, engineering achievement is no longer at its core. So DirecTV will join the same path as EchoStar.
The short-term irony is that EchoStar will be able to offer interactive services that more fully mimic News Corp.'s most advanced platforms in Australasia and Europe than DirecTV. Online gambling, mosaics (that offer thumbnail looks at several channels at once), karaoke and interactive shopping are mainstays of overseas DTH systems. EchoStar intends to add those features in 2005, along with an expanded HDTV line-up and digital video recorder-based video-on-demand service.
DirecTV intends to match some of those offerings immediately, but the smart move will be to wait for the MPEG-4/DVB upgrade before stepping out aggressively with new services.
Both companies are also making tentative steps into the market segments served by satellite radio. DirecTV is touting a rooftop car antenna the size of a small surfboard as its entryway to the mobile electronics business. EchoStar is coming out with a gizmo that looks like a clock radio that can independently play Sirius and other EchoStar-delivered audio services. Its new hand-held video player is also a natural fit with the mobile market.
XM and Sirius are as likely to benefit from these products as suffer, because anything that promotes satellite-delivered audio and advanced mobile electronics will help build the overall market. But everyone in the digital services business should keep a sharp eye on EchoStar and DirecTV. Each is reaching beyond the television set and into home networks, media centers, cars and, literally, the hands of consumers.
The migration to new standards and platforms lays the foundation for a new generation of services, and not just for upgrades to existing lines of business. Since DirecTV and EchoStar will be bearing a large portion of the cost of upgrading customers' set top boxes and other equipment, each company will push hard to find ways to use that investment to generate new revenue sources. For other players in the industry, the challenge is to stay in the middle of that new cash flow, and not be relegated to a legacy backwater of their own.
Steve Blum is a consultant specializing in DBS market research and analysis, and business development. He can be reached by e-mail at SteveBlum@TellusVenture.com, or via his company's website at http://www.tellusventure.com. (Please note, the opinions expressed in "Outside the Box" are that of the author and not necessarily of the editorial staff.)