Brad on Broadcast

By now, most Broadcast Engineering readers have finished their Thanksgiving meals. After all, the holiday was yesterday. Today, Nov. 27 is Black Friday. Traditionally, that means the men watch football while the women shop the entire day.

It’s called Black Friday because it is supposed to be the day when businesses finally move from operating in the red to operating in the black. Of course, that means they have to have great sale prices and lots of customers.

This season there’s even more pressure to have good sales. WalMart jumped the gun this year by having what must have been the first Black Friday sale of the year on Nov. 6. One hot sale item was a Nintendo Wii for net $99. I missed the sale because I was 650ft below ground, touring an underground salt mine. But that’s a story for another time. more

It sounds so benevolent: targeted advertising. The proper name is behavioral targeting (BT). It is becoming one of the most controversial vehicles for reaching consumers in this digital age.

The goal of BT is to deliver to the advertiser an audience interested in a particular product or service. The more accurate the targeting, the more valuable the list. Until now, most have assumed that television viewers and Web surfers would appreciate selective advertising. For instance, I don’t have little kids, so I don’t want to see diaper commercials. However, I am interested in HDTV sets, so give me an ad on the latest new LCD and plasma displays, and I’ll watch.

Until now, most have assumed that BT is a win-win for both advertiser and viewer. But, maybe it’s not. more

Tom Hanks and Shelley Long starred in the 1986 movie “The Money Pit.” For those of you under 40, it was a movie about a young couple who purchase what at first seems to be the perfect home. Only later do they discover all the many hidden problems that must be fixed. The movie leads our couple through long list of home repair disasters and their accompanying costs. Hence the name, “The Money Pit.” If you’re a homeowner, the movie is certainly worth a rental as you’ll quickly identify with Tom and Shelley as they attempt to manage an unending stream of contractors, repairmen and bills.

So, what does this movie have to do with content creation and broadcast facilities? I’ll be willing to bet you have your own money pit, but just may not realize it. Your money pit could be your facility’s storage and business computing systems. If your station or production house is using a business computer or video server more than five years old, you may be staring at a business disaster just waiting to happen. more

The boom boom began at about 8 p.m. At first, I thought I’d left a TV on in the basement. One step onto my patio revealed the true source of the racket. A neighbor two blocks away was having a pre-Halloween party, complete with an outside stereo and huge flashing lights. Although he hadn’t invited me to the party, I guess he thought I’d enjoy his party-level atmosphere. more

My friend and Broadcast Engineering magazine’s longest writer, Don Markley, died on Oct. 22 in Peoria, IL. Many longtime Broadcast Engineering readers will recognize Don for his 30-plus years of writing articles in the magazine, many under the column titled “Transmission and Distribution.” more

At the last Broadcast Engineering News Technology Summit, I asked our dinner keynote speaker, David Smith, CEO SmithGeiger, about broadcasters sharing resources and technology to reduce both CAPEX and OPEX. He replied that stations were only now beginning to change their decades-old proprietary ways and share resources. He continued that this new way of doing business must expand if TV stations expect to survive. A recent wave of articles confirms his viewpoint.

One article was titled, “Cats sleeping with dogs? Rival news orgs share content, revenue.” The article examined the experiment by AP sports editors to begin sharing sports stories among both online and print properties. The AP isn’t alone in such tests. Next year, the “Washington Post” and Bloomberg will launch a co-branded business section on the paper’s Web site, offering content from both organizations. more

An August 2009 report from In-Stat may provide some guidance for stations looking to enter the mobile TV business. The report focuses exclusively on analog delivery of mobile television. Even so, the authors claim it may offer hints at how digital mobile television may be used. more

Okay, it’s an over-the-top headline, but I wanted to capture your attention. I’ve recently been struck by the seemingly absurd ways company managers try to cut operating costs. Sure, we’ve all read or experienced the layoffs, staff reductions, salary cuts and furloughs. And most of us are now struggling to do more work in less time with smaller budgets and staff to do it. Even so, companies continue to try to squeeze every penny from OPEX budgets.

Here I’ll show you two examples, but I need you to tell me some of the things your company is doing to try to save money. What cutbacks and cost savings are you enduring? I’ll post some of the better ideas in this blog. more