Piracy Solution via MNP, DSO and legislation

Ol’ Pirate, Yes they rob I

Sold I to the Merchant ships

Minutes after they took I

From the bottomless pit…….

Excerpt from the song “Redemption Song” by Robert Nesta Marley

Yet another Telecom Provider Digicel Rising Stars season begins in the year 2010 AD, another iteration of possibly the greatest reality show to hit Television Jamaica since Schools Challenge Quiz, a lucrative advertising coup for Television Jamaica in term of advertising revenue, Digicel in terms of viability and branding and associated sponsors KFC, Pepsi and others in terms of product sales and prize tie-ins.

This seasonal phenomenon, now into its seventh year, has had its share of controversy, with regards to recent changes, specifically the sudden departure of its all star on set cast, namely the host Yendi Phillips and the chill room host Kerie-Ann Lewis-Thombs, otherwise known as “Kiki” as stated in the article “Rising Star Host search tomorrow - Kiki addresses rumors”, published Monday March 29^th 2010, The Monday Star.

Now the cloud of doubt hanging over the appointment of the Fluffy Diva, Miss Kitty, whose tenure as a Judge on Magnum King and Queen of Dancehall is also under scrutiny after the cursing incident in May 2010 involving Bumpa and Reggae Queen.

The schedule for Rising Stars is a nice touch, but one gets the impression of a Rising Stars that has yet more spicy surprises to reveal now with a facebook page, a possible YouTube broadcast, a Show Host being chosen by the public via voting after two (2) auditions in Mobay and Kingston respectively.

This is not mentioning the mysterious cryptic words of the show’s producer, Sharon Schroeter, who squirreled out a “surprise” that will be incorporated in the set design as hinted in the Television interview on “Smile Jamaica” aired on Friday 26^th March 2010, Television Jamaica.

Which in my limited imagination can be anything from a go-go dancing pole, touch sensitive set floor that light up when your move around or (dare I even utter this?) the use of holography in a demonstration of the usefulness of WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16d) Network to host a tele-presence conversation on stage.

This is similar to the concept used in the movie G.I Joe: The Rise of the Cobra (2009), where the technology was used to hold meetings and conversations with people very distant from the location.

Tele-presence is a practical and real technology, as demonstrated in the YouTube video entitled

Telepresence Magic involving CEO and Chairman of Cisco, John Chambers who was shown speaking to Marthin de Beer, SVP GM Emerging Technology Group who was in San Hose, California while CEO and Chairman of Cisco, John Chambers was in India.

Possibly Telecom Provider Digicel might implement this using their WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16m) Network, which they might debut at Rising Stars.

It may even be 3-D HDTV Television sets and announcements of Broadcasters plans to broadcast in 3-D as stated in the article “Samsung, Panasonic start selling 3-D TV's this week”, published Tue March 9 2010, 11:04 am ET, By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer, AP, Yahoo! News.

A Skype partnership with Television Jamaica and Digicel to introduce video calling as stated in the article “Skype on TV: Will the videophone finally be reality?” published March 2, 2010 4:00 AM PST by Erica Ogg CNET News - Circuit Breaker.

Surprises indeed!!

It seems that the Broadcasters in their revelry over the few years in maximizing profit via this and other televised reality shows.

This despite the sluggish Recession are now having to face the falling viewership, listenership and readership of the Broadcasters in Television, Radio and the Newspapers respectively as reported by the 2009 MRSL All Media Survey, now out and about scaring the “Media darlings” out of their wits like a fang toothed hobgoblin.  

The 2009 MRSL All Media Survey finally includes a section on the usage on Internet, albeit not on its impact on the traditional Media, be it Broadcasters in Radio or Television and the Newspapers as stated in the article “'Jamaica to the world' via the Internet”, published Thursday March 25^th 2010, by Marcia Forbes, The Jamaica Observer.

Further expanded upon with the article where the author ponders radio and its oh-so-obvious fate as stated in the article “What fate Radio?”, published Saturday April 10^th 2010, by Marcia Forbes, The Jamaica Observer.

She finally rounds off her triptych with an ode to experimentation by the author in the article “Twitter Twits and Tweets”, published Thursday 22^nd April 2010 by Marcia Forbes, The Jamaica Observer.

Marcia Forbes, and by extension JBC (for the new name Television Jamaica does them no justice!!), are suddenly discovering the existence – and extreme importance – of the real-time interaction that Twitter, Facebook, Hi5, FourSquare, Digg and other forms of online Social Networking afford the younger generation (read 14-18 years old and 19-30 years old).

This in keeping our busy live in check interwoven so beautifully into the tapestry and fabric of daily life for the younger target demographic!

This is the demographic which the “Media darlings” seem to be tripping over themselves, trying to woo them to watch their boring Television, listen to their boring Radio programming and read their boring newspapers when Social Networking and the Internet et al affords us bright young things the luxury of interactivity, on demand content and real-time conversation with friends all in one go.

Media darlings, eat you hearts out!

In the immortal words of Greta Garbo from the bygone Silver Screen era of the 1950’s, to the traditional Media I say, “Parting is such sweet sorrow, really it is”.

But early signs of this phenomenon could be found on reading the research note by Morgan Stanley intern Matthew Robson, aged fifteen (15) years old, which he wrote in 2009, entitled  “How Teenagers Consume Media: the report that shook the City”, printed by the Guardian Newspaper, Monday 13 July 2009 10.23 BST, The Guardian.

Alas, I guess grown-ups do not believe the ramblings of a fifteen (15) year old.

Newspapers, however, can now breathe a sigh of relief, as their savior, the Apple iPad has come as stated in the review “Early reviews: iPad is 'beautiful', 'blazingly fast', 'has a touch of genius'”, published Wednesday April 1 2010 by Ben Patterson Yahoo! News as this now marries video, audio and news (that’s text by the way) content on a portable device that is both 3G and Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) compatible.

Thus companies like Marvel can return to its roots as a big seller of its published comic book heroes both past publications and fresh new material on this new Media Platform as stated in the article “Comic Book Publishers Plot comeback via Apple iPad”, published Wednesday April 7, 2010 By Douglas MacMillan Business Week - DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT.

The New York Times is also betting on the Apple iPad as the means for its revival and Hulu is looking to serve up content on the Apple iPad.

Radio and Television might also be saved by this one device, as its introduction has brought out a lot of other companies also working on a Tablet device.

Such as HP and it HP Slate as stated in the article “HP preps its would-be iPad Killer, the Slate” published Tuesday Apr 6, 11:13 am ET by Ben Patterson Yahoo! News and the Microsoft Courier.

Thus, competition will drive prices of Netbooks down as stated in the article “iPad, Tablets expected to dampen Netbook sales”, published April 6, 2010 8:17 AM PDT by Lance Whitney CNET News – Crave and “Netbook Sales Sag as the iPad Arrives” published April 7, 2010, 12:27AM EST By Cliff Edwards, CNET News – COMPUTERS as these new devices capture consumer’s interests.

More Tablets, mostly running Google Android OS, the only game in town, are reportedly in the works, such as the soon to be debut Dell Streak as stated in the article “Dell's Streak readies for battle with iPad”, published May 25 2010 by Jim Finkle, Yahoo! News and in the article “Dell's Streak Tablet headed to UK first”, published May 25, 2010 8:12 AM PDT, by Erica Ogg CNET News - Circuit Breaker.

So, to reach to the long and short of the situation, interactivity is required, as described in my my blog article entitled “Google TV and DSO - An Example of how a set top box for Television Jamaica and CVM can be built”.

A DSO (Digital Switch Over) to HDTV is the obvious answer as now under consideration by the Broadcast Commission as stated in the article “Slow road to digital switch-over - Cable groups mum; Flow ahead but Network coverage behind”, published Saturday  August 15, 2009 by Mark Titus, Gleaner Writer, The Jamaica Gleaner as the delaying the inevitable via reality shows that only guarantee seasonal financial returns is not a wise long term strategy.

Already Google has debut its Google TV challenge to the still alive and kicking Apple TV as stated in the article “Google and partners seek TV foothold”, published April 17 2010, The New York Times in the video CNET Loaded, aired April 17 2010 by Natalie Del Conte, CNET News.

Google is further cementing its foothold in the HDTV market with Google Android as the OS on their TV as stated in the article “Report: Samsung interested in Android-based TV's”, published April 27, 2010 11:20 AM PDT by Erica Ogg, CNET News - Circuit Breaker.

Samsung being the largest seller of HDTV’s does help Google, as it means that their reach is extended into the living room, where people have already begun to use their HDTV as computer screens while surfing the internet.

Already I can see applications as it relates to Behavioral Targeted Marketing interwoven with Social Networking, where information collect by Social Networks is used to target users with ads tailored to their tastes

This as research by the NAI (Network Advertising Initiative) reveals that targeted advertisements have a 6.8 % success rate of turning a browser into a buyer as opposed to 2.8 % for non-targeted advertisements, as stated in the article “Study: Like it or not, behavioral ad targeting works”, published March 24, 2010 9:01 AM PDT by Caroline McCarthy, CNET News – The Social, which is done on their Social Networking Profiles.

Thus, in the eyes of young people there is no need among young people for the archaic Broadcasters and their Radio and Television stations and newspapers, whose shows are not relevant to them and whose advertising is not tailored to their likes or dislikes

A general trend now captured for the first time by the 2009 MRSL All Media Survey, which has now begun capturing information on Internet usage, though not on the use of Web TV and Streaming Radio, Downloaded Podcasts and Videos and online publishers.

Which is now urgently needed, as suggested by Marcia Forbes in her article “Twitter Twits and Tweets”, published Thursday 22^nd April 2010 by Marcia Forbes, The Jamaica Observer!

But there is a bigger fish at stake, and that is the pay-per-view market and the permanent eradication of Digital Music Audio and Video via leveraging a new distribution Platform using HDTV under DSO.

In a HDTV Receiver Box lies the broadcaster’s savior, as the Broadcaster can remotely access the Receiver Box and disable all the analog outputs, called Selectable Output Control, thus making it possible to push exclusive content on demand to HDTV complaint Television sets only with a HDMI output

A move similar to that of the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) to the MPAA (Motion Pictures Association of America), which of course represents Hollywood, that would allow the MPAA to provide exclusive movies just released in theatres and Digital Music Audio and Video content to Receiver Box or Set top Box customers directly, effectively making your TV a literal Home Theatre.

Even more interesting is that the Receiver Box, which would provide after the DSO via the provisioning of a Government of Jamaica imposed Radio and Television Tax, at least in my design as specified in my blog articles entitled “Web TV and 3-D TV - towards a more interactive immersive Television Experience” and “Google TV and DSO - An Example of how a set top box for Television Jamaica and CVM can be built”.

The use the Wireless Broadband Internet Provider from the Telecom Provider of the customer’s choice to carry HDTV signal, decoded by the Receiver Box and down converted to NTSC standard so that the older Television sets owners can receive digital content and rebroadcast digital radio in its original frequencies enabling older analog radio sets to receive the digital transmitted content

This could serve as a secure Platform to deliver other exclusive content on demand, such as legally purchased downloadable Digital Music Audio and Video.

The customer wound be registered using Government of Jamaica approved identification i.e. Voters ID, Drivers License, Passport, TRN, Birth Certificate under an MNP (Mobile Number Portability) situation as is stipulated by the OUR as stated in the article “OUR signals policy shift on portability - Says Jamaica running out of phone numbers”, published Friday November 20, 2009 by Mark Titus, Business Reporter, The Friday Gleaner.

It is also in keeping with the mandate by Senator Dwight Nelson, Minister of National Security under MRSI (Mandatory Registration of Subscriber Information) as stated in the article “CLARO Backs Cell Phone Tracking Plan; Digicel, LIME in Wait-And-See Mode”, published Sunday May 16, 2010 by Mark Titus, The Jamaica Gleaner.

This is soon coming from the OUR in a ruling in June 2010 as stated in the article “Paulwell calls for number portability”, published, Wednesday April 21, 2010, Daraine Luton, The Jamaica Gleaner

Thus easily allowing Broadcasters to identify customers in their duplex Network for the purpose of billing as well as guaranteeing security of their content, should users decide to attempt to tamper with the Receiver Box and illegally duplicate content that they transmit.

This by making a common Platform in conjunction with LIME, which I would call Daguerre for  Digital Music Audio and Video as I had previously described in my blog article entitled “Daguerre: A Permanent solution to Digital Music and Video Piracy in Jamaica”,

This would help to distribute Digital Music Audio and Video content, it would effectively eliminate piracy by having a means by which new Digital Music Audio and Video could be released without the need for using CD’s and DVD’s, making the process of purchasing music more transparent and easier to track.