The screen, music and technology cultural festival known as SxSW was heavy on the future of TV in all its emerging forms this year.
The concept of TV Everywhere was bemoaned as not living up to its name by John Skipper, president of ESPN, Inc. and co-chairman of Disney Media Networks.
Skipper blamed clunky user interfaces and password authentication as a barrier to streamlining access.
His comments were made during the South by Southwest panel “TV or Not TV: Defining Networks in the Digital Age.”
“We need a single system and we need a system that is automatic. The technology is here, he said, so why are people still asked for passwords? We want it to be as seamless and easy as possible,” Skipper stated.
He added that mega mergers like Comcast acquiring Time Warner Cable, will be a good thing for the evolution of the industry and will move seamless authentication ahead.
Meanwhile NBCUniversal’s new executive VP and digital doyen Lauren Zalaznick declared in a session at SxSW Interactive that TV Everywhere's biggest problem was that no one can agree on what it really means.
"Most people talk about TV Everywhere as if it's one thing. I think it's three things, which is already confusing. One name should mean one thing, not three things."
The three planks according to Zalaznick is that it requires a superb on-demand platform, with a beautiful interface, the concept of delivering an enhanced viewer experience and providing the best screen available. The latter means delivering the best on demand experience for wherever the consumer is. "My company's primary concern is delivering on the promise of TV Everywhere and marrying advertising to it in appropriate and commensurate ways. That will be the next evolution of the thing we call television," she said.
Meanwhile during SxSW, Vimeo announced that it had created a US$10 million fund to help content creators pay for distribution on its streaming video platform.
Vimeo launched its self-distribution service in 2013 at SXSW, called Vimeo On Demand, which allows content creators to charge for their videos in exchange for 10 percent of the profits.
Vimeo announced at Sundance in January that it would give access to tools and distribution funds to crowdfunded films that had raised at least $10,000.
The $10 million fund extends to films that were eligible for the film festival and crowdfunding.
The service, which has more than 6,000 titles, has grown to 168 million unique worldwide viewers in January according to comScore, up 80 percent from last year.
