The Catalyst Code

Media companies are engaging in a bit of co-opetition as they form ad networks for selling advertising across member properties. (See the recent AP article Media Groups Share Content in Ad Deals.)
Sometimes competitors are getting in bed together because they figure, I guess, that they don’t want to lose the money for selling […]

Steve Jobs has taken a lot of flak since his speech at MacWorld on Tuesday. Of greatest concern is whether Apple’s streak of luck in the digital media space has run its course. The content providers that make its iTunes store valuable and get people to buy those pricey iPods have been bailing in […]

Comcast announced today its ambitious new plan to allow on demand access to a “nearly limitless” supply of movies and TV shows via both television and the internet. Dubbed Project Infinity, the goal is to bolster Comcast’s competitive position with satellite and telcos - and it hopes its stock price in the process - […]

What’s it going to take to get people to watch Internet video on their televisions?
Today’s Wall St. Journal has an interesting article that talks about the problem and offers some suggestions based on talking to executives in the business. These range from reducing the number of boxes, keeping it simple, and making the Internet […]

Getting everyone on board is one of the biggest problems faced by the catalysts that are trying to shake up and create new industries. Randall Stross’s article in Sunday’s New York Time—Pass the Popcorn. But Where’s the Movie.—highlights the problem faced by video-on-demand. The cable television guys needed to get content owners—the studios that make […]

VuDu, which was profiled in the biz section of today’s New York Times, is the latest entrant into the race for viewing movies at home on television. With some ex-TiVo execs in control, this new company is going to be challenging Apple, Microsoft and a host of others.
Using computers to distribute and play movies […]