Content is not king

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The end-user, not content, is king as content doesn't necessarily drive revenue - convenience and ease-of-use are key to a good experience and enticing the customer to pay.

Jeff Miller, president and CEO of ActiveVideo Networks, said at a plenary session at Broadband World Forum Asia yesterday that content providers and cable TV network operators are under a similar threat that the music industry faces in selling music in the digital world because the increased availability of broadband connection enables end-users to get almost all the content, from music to movies, virtually free from the internet.

 "Having content alone doesn't mean you will get paid for what it cost to produce that content, because content is now available in so many ways and so many places," Miller said.

For instance, in the US, consumers can pay $30 for a broadband connection service and download their favorite TV episodes from internet via a PC laptop and watch them through the TV screen, instead of subscribing to $100/month pay TV service from a cable network operator.

This is happening all around the world, and it's essentially replacing high-value customers with very low-value customers, he said.

To get consumer to pay for content, he said service providers should provide what consumers want: "They want convenience and their content library easily accessible across devices."

Ming Chow, project management manager of product development and management at PCCW, concurs, saying simplicity and user-experience are key to wins customers back.

Although end-users can get free content from the internet via applications like BitTorrent, they will pay for the content if a service provider can provide them with ease-of-use and a good user experience.