Editor’s Note: Welcome to On the Margins, a feature for RCR Wireless News’ new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week, the RCR Wireless News staff considers events in the wider business world and how they could affect the wireless industry.
–NBC and Fox announced plans to show advertising-supported programs through an online video site in an attempt to compete with online video sites like YouTube and others. The move follows NBC’s decision earlier this year to pull its content from Apple Inc.’s iTunes in favor of showing its primetime lineup through its own Web site. The move shows how serious television networks are becoming about retaining control of their content, and what formats that content can be viewed.
–Microsoft Corp.’s $240 million investment in online social networking site Facebook shocked many as the investment put a $15 billion valuation on Facebook. Despite the big money involved, the move shows that the age of user-generated content is still going strong and a broader move into the mobile space is just matter of time.
–Comcast continues to come under pressure for restricting Internet content streaming over its cable broadband network. Last week Virginia congressman Rick Boucher piled on noting the cable giant was mistaken for trying to dampen peer-to-peer, file-sharing sites, though noted that the company did have the right to manage its network in order to provide quality service to all of its customers. The tide should give wireless carriers pause as they too have been cited in the past for restricting network access.
–This week’s pending Hollywood writer’s strike could spell bad news for the nascent mobile content market. The strike, which is scheduled for Thursday, would impact the production of shows that do not yet have scripts. Networks claims they have enough content in the bag to continue to show television series well into next year. The impact on mobile shouldn’t be excessive, though mobile broadcast providers like MediaFLO USA may feel a pinch.
