Unlike the U.S., however, where DTV penetration is approaching 100% (of the estimated 120 million TV households), Europe is expected to have only 37% (85.5 million digital households) penetration in 2006 out of a total of 232 million TV households (nearly twice as many as the US!) The U.K., Scandinavia and France have been the early adopters, with existing free terrestrial broadcasters like the BBC (CBBC, Cbeebies, etc.) and France’s TF1, France Télévisions and M6 putting existing pay-TV satellite and cable powerhouses like BSkyB and Canal + behind the eight ball. Ironically, analysts agree that countries with limited cable and satellite penetration have the most to gain from DTV, leaving pay-TV scrambling (har, har) to buy into or merge with ADSL, just as they achieve breakeven after decades of investment.

TiVO, DVD, Internet, telephony, digital movies, pay-per-view, gaming, iPod, etc.: our definition of “television”— the paradigm shift — is where things are changing for we, the people, the open publisher prosumers, in a business that has historically depended on relationships. BAM! Bling! Professional, artist, activist, thinker, writer, musician, programmer, director, independent producer, hobbyist, DIY, niche… get on the clue train (www.cluetrain.com). Digital also means production, marketing and delivery are practically non-issues; a niche can make a return on a modest investment in relatively inexpensive, multipurpose gear; and information resources and an audience are a click away.

Once you’ve rethought “television,” gotta rethink “self,” converge and pioneer. So, without any further ado, let’s flesh out that business plan.

Apple’s new iPod just opened Pandora’s boom box to video.

Young Turks TV©
Exposure, visibility and low-cost marketing and distribution are what the web offer. But what are you offering? You need to know who your target audience is, whether this audience will be able to support the channel, if there is anyone doing the same or a similar thing and, if so, who they are and if they’re competing for a part or all of the same market (and, if there are none, if you’re a genius or an idiot), if the concept has already been tried elsewhere, whether it succeeded or failed and whether your business plan is flexible and can evolve.

There are four main sources of revenue: viewer subscriptions, advertising revenue, retail sales (merchandise and services) and sponsorship. Most subscriber channels will run free for three to six months to generate buzz before requiring a nominal fee.

Your content and technology are key.

What most people search for on the web is music, travel, sex, games and eBay. How many of these “themes” can you integrate into your business plan? Sources of content can be shorts, trailers, teasers, interstitials, etc. from Hollywood, independent filmmakers, amateurs, students, friends, etc.; filmed events, panels, interviews, man-on-the-street, informal discussions, market or festival happenings, webcams, studio tours, etc.; news through RSS feeds (www.bloglines.com); commercials; infomercials; live “studio” shoots; scanned materials; archival materials; station ID’s and promotional clips. The list is only limited by your imagination. Branding is extremely important: style, look, hype, rhythm, tone, humor, music, attitude, etc.

MTV’s $49 million purchase of IFILM gives us a glimpse into the future of original, viewer-created and amateur content.

What are your technical needs? Video/audio recording/playback, editing, capture, encoding, playout, hosting, etc. Work performed? Ad sales, subscriber management, order fulfillment, content rights management, website management, press releases, job offers, accounting, legal, etc. Staffing — can you do all of it alone (with the exception of taxes and legal)? If not, how many people do you need? Full-time, part-time or freelance?

Will you be using primarily archived video-on-demand as either “screen capture” video (www.ScreenCamSoftware.com) or full-motion video from a webcam/camcorder as a Windows Media Video/WMV file or a Flash Video/FLV file found in most browsers (i.e., www.jokaroo.com/extremevideos), streaming (see channel guides in annexe) and/or live, on-location webcast (how to: webmonkey.wired.com/webmonkey/01/15/index3a.html) or a combination of all of the above? Webcasts don’t necessarily require broadcast-quality equipment, as any Radio Shack enthusiast will tell you, and a simple podcast can be relatively inexpensive to create (see, for example: www.lionhardt.ca/wps/).

Your other options could include using community access television, in which case you would be shown locally or regionally for one hour on cable television (in, say, Burbank, California) and internationally on the net, paid for by the community; buying a transmitter (www.rf-links.com/tv_broadcast.htm#1) and getting a license from the FCC for “Low Power Television Service” (www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/lptv.html) that would allow you to broadcast locally (in, say, Burbank); or renting broadcasting time from a satellite, cable or regional TV space from 2:00 to 5:00 am from a local TV station (in, say, Burbank). Video files can be transferred to the playout system using the web.

Or, simply provide the visuals for an existing audio podblogger…!