Jason Hirschhorn Talks Clip+Sling - Changing How Big Media Thinks (Page 3 of 4)
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MW: On that topic, since the Clip+Sling announcement at CES, what has been the reaction of the content owners? CBS is obviously behind what you and Sling Media are trying to do, but what about other networks?
JH: It’s been phenomenal. There hasn’t been one media company that hasn’t loved it. There are obviously some concerns over rights issues and other things, but they want to do it. We’re in deep, deep discussions with about ten of the major network and cable network owners, and I imagine when we launch we’ll have most deals done, if not a lot of the major ones.
It’s also important to remember my background. While I am an entrepreneur, and a bit out there from a big media guy, I do come from Viacom. I think what they like about me is that I understand their concerns and paranoia... but that doesn’t mean I’ve been compromising. I'm basically saying to them, “You have to embrace the fact that your content is everywhere whether you like it or not, and that’s probably a good thing. The problem is you can’t find it, and you’re probably not able to make money off it yet. We just came out with a really cool technology that allows the audience to do exactly what they’re doing, but now it turns the business model around for you. It’s not going to be un-painful from a corporate standpoint, and there are going to be rights issues, but the alternative is much worse. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle. And considering I came from your side of the fence, trust me… I have your interests at heart."
MW: It sounds like you’ve given that speech before.
JH: [Laughs] Yeah. Well, it works. One of the things I try to say to the media companies is that whatever is good for the user is good for you, and if your model is broken you can’t try to keep it going if you get “disrupted”, sort to speak.
MW: That makes sense. Clip+Sling also has the potential for people to upload clips of popular movies just as much as television shows. What has Hollywood’s reaction been to this?
JH: I have not met with the film studios yet, though I have friends at many studios that I’ll be meeting with over the next several weeks. I will say this though; I’m cognizant of the fact that not just with TV, but also in film, that these are artists who are creating content that want it to be seen as a whole piece of work. The reality is that technology has stopped that from being a reality anymore. While a whole piece of work will always be there, and always be available to watch in long form, these things are happening everywhere. Go to any site by doing a search for The Godfather baptism scene, and it’s cut up on the Internet.
I would argue that there are at least two benefits here for the movie industry. One is that the movie industry has very few revenue streams. One huge revenue stream that it does not have is advertising. If you were ever going to take a film and cut it up into pieces, you can create a convergence with digital advertising where there was none, and I think that’s very compelling for their business.
If you think about it, there’s so many films out there, and we advent that the Internet allows things to be put out there and become more accessible, but if it’s solely in the long form, you can only buy it or stream it at the subscription level. The people that are actually going to have access to it are much fewer than it should. So, imagine if you cut up a film into one hundred cool scenes. That’s a hundred new ways for that user to be introduced to that film, versus the six to eight ways you can now promote a film.
If I saw The Godfather baptism scene, and I had never seen The Godfather… this is some amazing filmmaking and I want to watch the long form. How do we make sure this is all linked together so when you’re watching the clip on the Sling portal, you can buy the movie, download it, watch it on demand through your cable system? How do we close the loop so that the short forum buoys the long form?
And if you’ve heard anything about VOD systems or clips on the Internet, CBS will tell you that the amount of clips they put on the internet has had a direct reflection on viewership for their long form shows. Video on demand on cable systems has had a huge impact, positively, on people being introduced to television shows that they weren’t watching. It’s radical compared to the old way of doing things, but it's not only great for the users, it’s great for the company in promotion and marketing, as well as from a revenue standpoint.
MW: Will clippers be encouraged to upload self-created content like on YouTube, or is this intended solely for commercial content?
JH: I think there’s so much content out there on television all over the world and in local markets that we really want to stay true to television in the early days. That means that users will be able to cut up clips, and there will probably be some limited amount of time they can cut them up; we’re hearing from the media companies anywhere from two to five minutes, and we want to respect that. We think that most scenes can fit within that time. --continued on page 4--
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