New Technologies Make Affordble Niche Music TV Possible

Death Metal TV, Folk Music For Families, and Mandolin Mania – niche programming (or even entire channels) "to please any taste or whim – we’ll be seeing much more now that broadband internet has finally become a more reliable conduit for the delivery of broadcast-quality video," writes Wired.com]

These broadcasters have "a vision of a video universe of endless variety that will dwarf traditional television and pay-per-view offerings even as new players — regional Bell phone companies among them — emerge to vie for viewers with cable, satellite and other providers," continued Wired.

As an example, "DaveTV will offer more than 100 channels featuring 100,000 hours of licensed programming, much of it specialized fare such as illegal street racing and bedtime stories read by an on-screen narrator."

…"Initially, DaveTV will only be available for viewing on a computer. But the company promises a set-top box for about $200 that will allow downloads to be played on televisions."

"Also getting into the act, a company called Brightcove Networks will let customers avoid buying a separate set-top box and instead link their TVs to newer computers that run Microsoft Windows Media Center software."

"…the Cambridge-based firm says it plans to begin offering a platform to deliver all manner of programming — supplied by everyone from traditional TV producers to video bloggers to video-on-demand start-ups — sometime in the second half of the year," according to Wired.

Read the full article here.