Pillow Television

The BBC has been testing a prorgam called iMP that allows British viewers to download and consume television and radio programs on their computers. After three months of collecting data on 5,000 trial subjects the BBC says virtually all the content consumed was television and that prime time seemed to be the bedtime hours of 10 pm to 11 pm.

BBC’s Director of New Media & Technology Ashley Highfield provided additional details of consumption habits in a press release which he introduced thus:

“This research gives us the first glimpse into viewing behaviour in the on-demand future. It provides the first significant clues as to how TV programmes over the internet could revolutionise broadcasting, and prompt a wider, cultural shift in television consumption.”

If this bedtime consumption habit is indeed the shape of things to come, it will be one more nail in the coffin of reading. Thanks to Paid Content for pointing to the BCC announcement.

Media and Info Mergers Accelerate: The first quarter of 2006 saw an uptick in deals and an even bigger spike in dollars says the Jordan, Edmiston Group, an investment bank that specializes in media and information companies. Compared to the like period in 2005, mergers and acquisitions rose eight percent to 168. The dollar value of those deals surged $14.6 billion, a 35 percent increase over the 2005 comparison.

The press release carries details of the 11 submarkets that flow into the comparison, including the Knight-Ridder newspaper deal. A strong M&A market creates an updraft that sucks venture capital dollars into the space. The next question: will the M&A frenzy that appears to be underway heat up the market for initial public offerings?

Tom Abate
MiniMediaGuy
‘Cause if you ain’t Mass Media, you’re Mini Media