TV Becomes the Sexy Side Hustle: Lessons from Cable (TV) Internet

Little voice in my head: Oh boy, here he goes again with that NextGen TV stuff.

Bigger voice in my head: Friend, I can’t see the future, but I can see the past. In the world of media and entertainment, tech advancements have shaped, for the better, our industry. The painfully long transition from black & white to color TV, the painfully slow transition to DOCSIS (IP Data Over Cable) and now our latest impatience with ATSC 3.0.?

Disruption is never allowed use of the "Diamond lane."

Little Voice: Here he goes. The analogies. Always the analogies.

Bigger Voice: Well, I can’t imagine our homes without high speed internet and our TVs without the bright red & gold of the Kansas City Chiefs or the midnight green of the Philadelphia Eagles. And, so it will be with NextGen TV and datacasting, I think, as history suggests we’ll look back and ask, “how did we ever live without it?"

Little Voice: C'mon man, the transition from black & white to color television was obvious and like turning on a switch.

Bigger Voice: No and you might be surprised. It was gradual, rocky and took two decades. Color TV was invented in the 30’s, but adopted as an FCC standard in the mid 50’s. NBC actually fought against it (because CBS had the technology). Manufacturers had to retool and, believe it or not, all broadcasters had to convince America that color was better than B & W.

Color was not an immutable truth, until it was.

My Grandparents bought a new color TV. But, wow, it was worth every penny for them to see his Bonanza and her Ed Sullivan in color. And, for them to watch me and my brother revel in Disney’s Wonderful World of Color.

Little voice: Ok, but cable’s transition from a one-way service to the DOCSIS standard was faster, right?

Bigger voice: You would think, but not really. Perfecting data over cable, which is an up-gradable standard like ATSC 3.0, has been evolving for 26 years, as it was engineered to evolve. Sound familiar? After being introduced in 1997, fast data-over-coax, required an entire industry to make significant and expensive infrastructure and marketing investments.

My Dad had to be convinced by his children that he needed something called a modem. Some cable operators used that as an inflection point to exit handsomely, while others doubled down.

Another Philadelphia-based organization, Comcast, can trace its explosive growth to a standard change. It knows very well that Cable isn’t dying. It’s residential and business internet services are extremely high margin businesses. TV service has become its sexy side hustle.

Internet over cable was not an immutable truth, until it was.

Little voice: Yep, but data distribution is so boring and such commodity.

Bigger voice: Perhaps broadcasting needs another boring, recurring, high-margin revenue stream. We sure like retrans!

I think ATSC 3.0 is the next game changer for broadcasters. But, hear me out. NextGen TV may ultimately become the sexy side hustle, while larger profits from high-margin mobile wireless datacasting may be what makes us wildly, and perpetually, more valuable. I know, boring ol’ commodity services, but they can fund local journalism, emergency alerting and free ultra-high-def entertainment.

Little voice. But it’s taking soooo long.

Bigger voice: Not compared to color TV and DOCSIS. That’s my whole point. Superior technologies and associated standard changes take time and money; Too much for some and perhaps an inflection point for exit. But, for those doubling down, be heartened, as history suggests opportunities far outweigh short-term angst.

This is not like catching-a-falling-knife by investing in RSNs.

Little voice: Too soon.

Bigger voice: Maybe. I take it back. But, I will not give back my color TV and free programming. Nor will I give back my high speed internet from my cable company.

Little voice: What about your cable TV services?

Bigger voice: Already gone. DOCSIS was the giant leap allowing cable operators capabilities to compete with big telecom and keep me as a paying internet customer. Black & white to color television kept television manufacturers and media companies relevant. ?ATSC 1 was our broadcast-baby-step toward our digital future. I'm grateful for HD, 16 x 9 formats, multicasting and big, thin, TVs that hang on the wall.

But, ATSC 3.0 is leaps above that, making TV a full fledged part of the internet, allowing broadcasters to better compete, and not just with each other, but with:

• Free NextGen TV alongside paid streamers
• Low cost wireless data alongside big wireless

Little voice: Here we go. This is where is says...

Bigger voice: …this is our color TV moment.?Our DOCSIS moment. Our DOBSIS moment.

Little voice: Should have seen that coming.

Bigger voice: D-O-B. Data over Broadcasting

Little voice: Are you really going to publish this?

Bigger voice: (silently counting to 10 then...)