Why Content is (Still) King

“The new content channels--in addition to the current availability of free channels on smartphones and tablets--are another way T-Mobile TV is expanding to meet the interests of our customers,” Torrie Dorrell, Vice President of Applications, Content and Games, T-Mobile USA says. The new Urban Zone T-Mobile TV service includes both live channels and video-on-demand content from BET, Classic Media (Fat Albert), Comedy Time (4Urban Standup), Deziak Entertainment (Salacious Streets), Rap Entertainment, Crackle TV, Hip Hop Music Video Channel and R&B Jamz Music Video Channel.

Network operators and service providers are already capturing a breathtaking amount of data on their customers. It's easy for these players to identify what their target customers watch and are willing to pay for. Buying and licensing the content is the easy part.

Freedom to Attract the Best Artists

HBO and other cable original programming has been successful precisely because of its freedom from the constraints of broadcast television. Tony Soprano, Don Draper and Samantha Jones just wouldn't have been the same on NBC. It's freedom and experimentation that tend to attract the best creative minds and some operators have taken note.

In the fall of 2012, Orange and Lexis Numérique will launch “Alt Minds” which combines a combo of web fiction and gaming. For some, that may sound like a new-millennium Dungeons and Dragons retread; but to those on the cutting-edge of this kind of art, it's an attractive experiment. At least that's what Orange hopes. "Our partnership with Lexis Numérique, a pioneer in transmedia fiction, has allowed us to combine gaming, online TV and social networks to create a new type of multi-media experience for our customers,” Jean-François Rodriguez, Head of Games and Transmedia at Orange says. “For Orange, this is an opportunity to show that the tools we offer artists can be used to bring something new and very exciting to the public."

Tired Old Ad-Supported Model is Over

The reason mainstream media is gasping for its last breath is the tired ad-supported business model. Now payments can be made through more sophisticated transactions including gift cards, pre-paid cards, coupons, redemption codes, personalized opt-ins, and micro-subscriptions. There are also many emerging proprietary payment schemes, such as the iTunes wallet and Facebook Credits, making multi-channel content selling and delivery even more complex to support. CSG International provides one of the world's leading billing and charging platforms.

"We regularly see content sellers looking for additional opportunities to give their customers interesting promotional and payment options to purchase and acquire content," says CSG's Content Direct President, Kent Steffen. "As content models evolve away from things like ad support, or TV. Everywhere that's included with a Pay TV subscription, content providers often realize that their commerce infrastructure can't scale fast enough and can't support all of the payment models they need.”