Lammers on VOOM & Satguys
Selling HDTV to viewers watching standard TV is tricky
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Bill Lammers
Plain Dealer Columnist
How do you sell new and better technology when customers are plenty happy with what they already have? That's a problem that Madison Avenue has been facing in selling everything from Cadillacs to Viagra. It is also one of the problems in selling HDTV to Americans today, according to recent research.
More than three-fourths of people surveyed in November and December by Lyra Research said that they were very satisfied (49 percent) or extremely satisfied (30 percent) with the picture quality and performance of their standard-definition televisions.
The other big problem, writes Steven Hoffenberg, Lyra's director of electronic-media research, is that the high quality of an HDTV picture cannot be demonstrated on a standard-definition TV.
It's like trying to show people what a ViewMaster picture (if you're old enough to remember those) looks like by showing a photocopy of its 3-D picture. It's just not going to work.
Such a problem has been overcome at least once before, according to Hoffenberg. When Bose Corp. began selling its Wave radio on the QVC shopping channel, company execs found that no matter how great the Wave sounded, people wouldn't be able to tell that by listening to it on their tinny TV speakers.
The solution: Bose never let us hear the Wave radio on TV.
"The sales pitch was based almost entirely on testimonials from satisfied customers, who offered glowing remarks about the product," Hoffenberg writes in an online commentary. "These comments were all sincerely delivered by well-spoken but otherwise average people. Phone-order lines at QVC rang off the hook."
A salesman once told me that during HDTV coverage of the Masters golf tournament, dozens of husbands dragged to the mall by wives were lined up outside his store watching the spectacular pictures through the showroom window. The picture, literally and figuratively, stopped (foot) traffic.
Too bad the HDTV industry can't round up all the bored husbands for a sales pitch.
As the Voom turns:
When we last visited the Dolan family, Cablevision CEO James had wrestled control away from his father, founder and chairman Charles, and sold the Rainbow 1 satellite out from under Voom, Cablevision's satellite-based high-definition television service.
With 26,000 viewers on the edge of their seats, the end seemed near.
Two weeks ago, though, Charles Dolan and another son, Tom, signed a letter of intent to take over what was left of Voom from Cablevision. With its main satellite sold, what was left of Voom was 21 homegrown HD channels, a lease on another satellite and the subscribers.
Charles and Tom Dolan said they hoped to secure financing by next week to operate Voom as a separate company, Newsday reported. Cablevision had delayed a move to spin off Voom with Charles in charge in December. In January, the Cablevision board of directors voted to try to sell Voom.
Last week, USA Today reported that Charles Dolan was considering selling his share of Cablevision to finance Voom. The Dolan family owns 76 percent of Cablevision's voting stock, the paper said, and the company might be worth more than $12 billion. In addition to the cable systems, Cablevision owns Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks and two cable TV channels, American Movie Classics and the Independent Film Channel.
How will this story turn out? Will the best service that HDTV has yet seen continue to operate? Is this move just voodoo mathematics to shift shutdown costs from Cablevision to another company? Check back again for future installments of "As the Voom Turns."
For Voom updates:
If you are a Voom subscriber and can't wait for my time-shifted summaries, the Satellite Guys forum on the Internet offers an interesting blend of up-to-date facts and subscriber fantasies. It's at voom.satelliteguys.us.
Posters there don't especially like what they read about Voom in the press, this column included, but I can't fault their wishful thinking and creative spins on even the worst news. Charles Dolan recently sent them a thank-you e-note for their support. I'm a lurker there, so please be kind.
You also can keep up with published reports on Voom by visiting OnHD.TV (that's the name and the Internet address). Media analyst Phillip Swan offers links to HDTV technology news as well as daily viewing suggestions. You even might find a link to this column, which could send you on a loop that keeps you busy all day.
Lammers is a Plain Dealer assistant news editor.
To reach this Plain Dealer columnist:
blammers@plaind.com, 216-999-4162
Selling HDTV to viewers watching standard TV is tricky
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Bill Lammers
Plain Dealer Columnist
How do you sell new and better technology when customers are plenty happy with what they already have? That's a problem that Madison Avenue has been facing in selling everything from Cadillacs to Viagra. It is also one of the problems in selling HDTV to Americans today, according to recent research.
More than three-fourths of people surveyed in November and December by Lyra Research said that they were very satisfied (49 percent) or extremely satisfied (30 percent) with the picture quality and performance of their standard-definition televisions.
The other big problem, writes Steven Hoffenberg, Lyra's director of electronic-media research, is that the high quality of an HDTV picture cannot be demonstrated on a standard-definition TV.
It's like trying to show people what a ViewMaster picture (if you're old enough to remember those) looks like by showing a photocopy of its 3-D picture. It's just not going to work.
Such a problem has been overcome at least once before, according to Hoffenberg. When Bose Corp. began selling its Wave radio on the QVC shopping channel, company execs found that no matter how great the Wave sounded, people wouldn't be able to tell that by listening to it on their tinny TV speakers.
The solution: Bose never let us hear the Wave radio on TV.
"The sales pitch was based almost entirely on testimonials from satisfied customers, who offered glowing remarks about the product," Hoffenberg writes in an online commentary. "These comments were all sincerely delivered by well-spoken but otherwise average people. Phone-order lines at QVC rang off the hook."
A salesman once told me that during HDTV coverage of the Masters golf tournament, dozens of husbands dragged to the mall by wives were lined up outside his store watching the spectacular pictures through the showroom window. The picture, literally and figuratively, stopped (foot) traffic.
Too bad the HDTV industry can't round up all the bored husbands for a sales pitch.
As the Voom turns:
When we last visited the Dolan family, Cablevision CEO James had wrestled control away from his father, founder and chairman Charles, and sold the Rainbow 1 satellite out from under Voom, Cablevision's satellite-based high-definition television service.
With 26,000 viewers on the edge of their seats, the end seemed near.
Two weeks ago, though, Charles Dolan and another son, Tom, signed a letter of intent to take over what was left of Voom from Cablevision. With its main satellite sold, what was left of Voom was 21 homegrown HD channels, a lease on another satellite and the subscribers.
Charles and Tom Dolan said they hoped to secure financing by next week to operate Voom as a separate company, Newsday reported. Cablevision had delayed a move to spin off Voom with Charles in charge in December. In January, the Cablevision board of directors voted to try to sell Voom.
Last week, USA Today reported that Charles Dolan was considering selling his share of Cablevision to finance Voom. The Dolan family owns 76 percent of Cablevision's voting stock, the paper said, and the company might be worth more than $12 billion. In addition to the cable systems, Cablevision owns Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks and two cable TV channels, American Movie Classics and the Independent Film Channel.
How will this story turn out? Will the best service that HDTV has yet seen continue to operate? Is this move just voodoo mathematics to shift shutdown costs from Cablevision to another company? Check back again for future installments of "As the Voom Turns."
For Voom updates:
If you are a Voom subscriber and can't wait for my time-shifted summaries, the Satellite Guys forum on the Internet offers an interesting blend of up-to-date facts and subscriber fantasies. It's at voom.satelliteguys.us.
Posters there don't especially like what they read about Voom in the press, this column included, but I can't fault their wishful thinking and creative spins on even the worst news. Charles Dolan recently sent them a thank-you e-note for their support. I'm a lurker there, so please be kind.
You also can keep up with published reports on Voom by visiting OnHD.TV (that's the name and the Internet address). Media analyst Phillip Swan offers links to HDTV technology news as well as daily viewing suggestions. You even might find a link to this column, which could send you on a loop that keeps you busy all day.
Lammers is a Plain Dealer assistant news editor.
To reach this Plain Dealer columnist:
blammers@plaind.com, 216-999-4162
