The Water Cooler Show Lives On...

I did something new this morning.  I watched a great BBC programme last night and was able to (legally) link out to it from Twitter today, because so much of the BBC's programming is now available through its Web TV platform - iPlayer.  So the show in question - Louis Theroux's chilling documentary about the gangs of Philadelphia - now has currency in a way that it didn't before.  Previously I could talk about it, but not curate it.  It couldn't become part of my personal media platform, the media space that I build everyday using tools that allow me to share-and-compare with my friends, contacts and the others I brush pass in the global mingle that is the modern social web.  Vitally, flagging my interest over coffee this morning didn't involve breaking into a strange locked-down fame silo called Theroux's Echo Chamber or the like.  Instead I created a tiny media byte to float off around the open web, for the heavy-lifting aggregation engines to thread together into a community on-the-fly.  One that will grow on the vine or reach its natural sell-by-date and naturally disperse.  This is what used to be known as a water-cooler moment, when people would gather together in the corner of an office and chat over their favourite lines from the previous night's TV.  So (surprise, surprise) water coolers are still very much alive, they just look different when media becomes networked.  Blogging at the LA Times, Jon Healey writes how Sling.com, the new video site from the makers of Slingbox, is working with this new legal, professional, TV environment.  "Much of Sling's most recognizable programming comes from almost two dozen networks and studios that Hulu supplies, but it supplements those feeds with content from about 100 additional cable networks, online TV channels and independent studios. It's an overwhelming amount of stuff, which is where the social layer of Sling comes in. Like Hulu, you can banter on comment boards about particular shows or episodes. But you can also create an electronic trail of commentary for others to follow."  Yes, TV is (finally) joining the party.

[UPDATE: Loved @beng's comment about Kangaroo's problems: "Who cares if Kangaroo will now not happen? I want proper, internet, on-demand, hypertextual, bookmarkable video services not cable tv."]

Comments

[Mike]

James,

interesting thoughts. The Water Cooler moment is something that has been mourned by schedulers and advertiseres alike, and you illustrate well how it has maybe not died, just morphed into something different. For this to get into the mainstream, there needs to be bridge over the gap between computers and the main entertainment hub at home. Whilst many of us are happy to watch video on computers, it's not a very sociable experience in the home - when I watch video at home, I want to watch it on the television with my partner/friends/family etc. Of course, it's possible to watch iPlayer on the TV (it is on Virgin anway), but there's no way to take a link from Twitter/email/etc to trigger a show to play on the television.

Of course, there are ways of hooking up the computer to the television, but it's not that much of a common approach, and it's not that convenient (yet). I'm talking about making this new water cooler moment easily available to all, rather than just the tech savvy. It's getting easier and easier, but it's not quite there yet. Running everything through a computer to the TV seems like the logical conclusion, but I wonder if there's scope for the cable guys to open up their boxes to allow control and interaction. Have a traditional style cable box for general scheduled TV watching, but also be able to send it links to video content (such as iPlayer) that it can also show? Might be a good interim step for someone like Virgin to consider ...

[Jacobo]

TV is finally joining the party and as soon as they see the profit opportunity they will bridge the gap that the previous comment talked about.

[James Cherkoff]

Thanks Mike, you express it very well. I don't think we are too far off the picture you paint. Breaking out of the early-adopter/tech bubble is always the big challenge.

Hey Jacobo, indeed, follow the money!

[Rory MacDonald]

According to marketing myth (I never actually read it as a trusted fact), The Radio Times used to be the most widely read publication in the UK. I can't remember the last time I saw a copy. But the major UK broadcasters (despite iPlayer) are still clinging to the burst, dirty globule of detergent slime that used to be their beautiful shiny bubble.

In a networked world people will watch what their friends recommend - what _is_ a TV critic? If broadcasters don't work out a ubiquitous form of linking via, computer, TV phone, they will find themselves getting overtaken by those that do:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBapD8O1Ulc
and/or getting pirated.

As for Kangaroo being a monopoly, the regulator is clearly living even further back in the past. On the internet, how much of the market for programming is accounted for by the BBC, ITV and C4 put together? I don't know, but I am guessing they would have to be that rare kind of monopoly that only accounts for about 2% of the market.

If you can merge Lloyds TSB and HBOS, calling Kangaroo a monopoly is laughable. And besides which, hasn't the BBC been an ueber-monopoly ever since its inception.

As James said a few weeks back people want online content all together in one place. It has to be a monopoly otherwise people with just use the Torrents because its more convenient.

[James Cherkoff]

"Still clinging to the burst, dirty globule of detergent slime that used to be their beautiful shiny bubble." *I think I might cry*... ;-)

I'm slightly struggling with the Kangaroo decision. The initial business plan sounded like, 'We'll be OK if we huddle and share our body warmth.' The CC seems to be saying, 'Keep your hands off each other - it looks dirty'. Meanwhile, customers keep innovating ways to share...because they can.

Hold on, this sounds familiar. http://tinyurl.com/3hswoo