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No a la carte TV option? Then you lose a customer

March 19, 2012 By Dan Thornton

I’m a pretty big motorsport fan, and have been since I first started being taken out to circuits by my parents at the age of 3 or 4. Weekends were either spent watching bikes or mainly cars dicing at high speed on TV or standing in the cold and rain at places like Brands Hatch and Lydden Hill, and I always loved it – I dreamed of racing and still regret not having quite enough determination and focus as a kid to give it a proper try, or making more of the potential chances I had when I started at Motorcycle News. One of my remaining ambitions is to enter a full competitive race in the next couple of years.

But in the meantime, I indulge myself with taking racing far too seriously in videogames, and watching as much as I can on TV, work and family permitting. So I was pretty excited about the start of Formula One again this weekend.

Well, at least I was. Because this year the coverage is split between the BBC and Sky, meaning that for many weekends, the BBC will be showing highlights packages that are pretty comprehensive, but that’s just not the same as live coverage.

Nevermind, I thought. I’d forgotten to check, but figured that in 2012, there must be a way to purchase live access. Sky obviously have it bundled with annual subscriptions to a load of stuff I’ll never watch or need, so those options were out – £30 for a couple of races per month seemed a bit excessive. So I checked the official site.

And you can buy live timing. You can buy access to highlights videos. But there’s no way to purchase access to live broadcasts.

How to do internet TV right:

When it comes to motorcycling, there are two options. The first is that World Superbikes is available via Eurosport for a more reasonable max of £34.99 for a year, or £3.99 per month, which is far better if all I’m watching will be on two-wheels. I’m guessing their approach and data suggests most people aren’t spending all day streaming, hence the low cost, so I just hope it doesn’t rise as more and more TV-connected devices are in use.

But for years, the premier motorcycle championship has had a great service for those obsessed with two-wheels (which is ironic as it’s also been available free via the BBC for a few years now). At MotoGP.com you can pay 99.95 Euros for a year, and you get HD live and archive video, live timing, interviews and an on-board camera experience, allowing you to control the cameras. I know quite a few UK fans who have signed up every year for probably close to a decade for the live timing and on-board extras, even when they could be watching on TV for free. Plus you can watch via iPhone and Android handsets.

Creating piracy:

Sadly I can’t find a link to a recent report on piracy in Latin American countries which noted many of the most popular pirated shows were ones which simply weren’t broadcast in those territories. But my instinctual reaction to being unable to legally purchase a way to watch Formula One races online is that someone is bound to be sharing it via a video sharing site – I’d put money on the typical game of ‘whack-a-mole’ which goes on during most large sporting events was taking place on Sunday.

But I don’t want to have to visit 10 different streaming channels to try to find the best one showing the race with the least delay, be part of copyright infringement and risk running out of streams before the race ends.

I’d like to be able to pay a reasonable fee and be able to legally watch decent coverage of a sport I enjoy. The cost/hassle ratio for music and films means I’d rather buy a decent quality download quickly and easily.

The exception to the rule:

There’s one exception to my desire to pay for only what I watch – a free-to-air ad-free service which provides a mixture of content both for me and for the wider benefit of the public. In the UK, I honestly believe the BBC does a pretty good job of this for TV, radio and online, although there’s always room for improvement, so even if the TV Licence wasn’t required, I’d be happy to pay a wider-ranging subscription, but for everything else, just let me pick what I want, when I want, in what format I want.

3 quick productivity tips for the weekend

March 17, 2012 By Dan Thornton

If you’re like me, you’ve probably skimmed through a variety of productivity tips every week, planned to take a closer look, and then forgotten about them by the weekend. But recently, I’ve made 3 key changes which have really helped my productivity by reducing the information overload we’re all experience between email, social networks and the constrant stream of new content being published.

1. Archive all emails older than 2012:

With the amount of emails I get on a daily basis, Inbox Zero seemed about as likely as taking a vacation in Narnia this year. Prior to the last two weeks, I’d kept trying to delete or respond all emails, but the number never seemed to drop below 1500 which was pretty overwhelming. By archiving I can reassure the librarian squirrel instinct in me the email is still searchable, but now I’ve got a far more manageable 200 emails left for 2012 to action or file for responses. Much less stressful, and suddenly my email looks more like an actual action list, rather than a mess.

2. Cut down on RSS:

RSS is not dead – it’s still the most effective content delivery system around. The problem is it’s too effective in allowing me to hoarde every possible website I enjoy, but noone has come up with a way to de-dupe the echo chamber that is particularly bad for tech blogs. So in addition to removing a number of sites I rarely get useful information or great entertainment from, I’ve also cut down on the number that constantly publish ‘me too’ coverage.

I’ve also resolved to only check RSS at the end of the day, when everything else is done or scheduled for the following day – I love keeping up with the latest news and the best articles and features, but I’m not running a site for breaking news, so I don’t really need to check RSS every 30 or 60 minutes these days.

3. Kill cross-platform duplication

I’ve suddenly realised that I read some sites via RSS, see their updates on Facebook and their tweets on Twitter, as well as an occasional appearance on Google+. And there are very few people in the world who I need to pay that close attention to.

I’ve finally been making use of the ‘Hide All By’ option next to every Facebook update, and it’s definitely helping in making it a more usable social network, and letting me actually use it to keep up with my friends. The brands I like still get a ‘Like’ for their page for what it’s worth, and I don’t have to be bombarded by updates from a 10-year-old film I listed on my profile years ago.

OK, so this isn’t the most comprehensive productivity toolset you’ll see, but importantly I’m getting much more done with probably 30 minutes of effort to archive emails, unsubscribe to some sites and hide some Facebook posts. That’s short enough that you don’t have to wait until next weekend to get it done…

ORGCon 2012 – a day on digital rights well worth your time

March 14, 2012 By Dan Thornton

Whether you’re a content creator, publisher or just have an interest in the future of the internet, it’s well worth checking out the ORGCon 2012 event on March 24, 2012, which is organised by the Open Rights Group to cover everything around digital rights.

Not only is it an important topic, but they’ve also got an impressive line-up of speakers (including Cory Doctorow and Lawrence Lessig, Google UK’s Manager Theo Bertram and Mozilla Privacy Expert Tom Lowenthal amongst many others), panelists (it’ll be interesting seeing the likes of Bill Thompson debating copyright enforcement), and some workshops and other stuff. You can see the full programme on the ORG site.

It’s £26 if you’re a non-member of ORG, and free if you sign up to support ORG now. So it’s a cheap way to see some very intelligent people on very important topics even if you’re not planning on becoming more involved with the Open Rights Group. Then again, if you’re not considering it following on from SOPA,PIPA,ACTA etc…

I’ve bought a ticket, so if you do plan on going, let me know as it’d be great to grab a drink either during the day or in a pub afterwards.

Sample ‘Paid Owned Earned’ by Nick Burcher

March 13, 2012 By Dan Thornton

In the spirt of recommending others, I realised I’d somehow forgotten to mention ‘Paid Owned Earned’, a new book on marketing in a socially-connected world of paid, owned and earned media. It’s by longtime digital acquintance Nick Burcher, and rather than talking about it, here’s a handy sample to see if it might be helpful to you:

Paid Owned Earned by Nick Burcher by Paid Owned Earned

And if you’re tempted to make a purchase, here’s a handy link: Paid, Owned, Earned: Maximising Marketing Returns in a Socially Connected World. It’s available in both print and Kindle editions. And here’s a link for non-UK purchases.

Orange Different Business – win investment for your new idea (Sponsored Post)

March 7, 2012 By Dan Thornton

I don’t often write about competitions and promotions, but the fact that Orange is offering up to £200,000 of investment capital for a new business idea was worth sharing, particularly as it also comes with legal and business planning advice, plus mentoring and marketing consultancy.

They’re looking for creativity and innovation in your idea, and it could be a great chance to get a handy kickstart in pursuing something you’ve thought about for a while. Thinking about the last 18 months, it’s certainly assistance that might have made starting my own business a lot easier, rather than trying to slowly bootstrap my way up. And it’s also not a bad brand to be associated with given that Orange have always done things a little differently, including with some memorable advertising and promotions.

The examples of how to be different are interesting, as they cover everything from a revolutionary new product, improving an existing one, communicating or working in a different way, etc.

Aside from the fact you’ll need to be 18 or older and your business will need to be UK based, the criteria for entry is massively open. There’s a checklist to help hone your pitch on the Win Your Business website, along with a more detailed entry guide.

It could be particularly brilliant if you’re currently in a job but dreaming of doing your own thing. If you’ve got a mortgage or family commitments, it means a no risk way to get financial and business help to get started with slightly more of a safety net. Certainly it should help you avoid the kind of mistakes I’ve made, whether it’s getting your finances straight from the start. If nothing else it’s good practice for crafting a business pitch.

Being sneaky, there’s also another good way to benefit – if you’ve got a friend who is always coming up with unusual ideas, why not send them the link to Different Business. That way, they might either end up running a successful business which you could benefit from in the future (They’d at least owe you a nice meal or some drinks as a thank you!)

Sponsored Post