The convergence of different media forms has been growing rapidly, the biggest being watching videos online. With the start of Youtube in February 2005, this meant uploading videos could never have been easier. The popularity of you tube, and watching videos online has started a revolutionary convergence. Channel 4 released 4 on Demand (4OD) which started the ball rolling. BBC released the iPlayer and ITV has there on demand service, and Channel 5. Online TV is becoming a huge business, and even computers are being sold with TV antennas built in. PC world started to sell small desktop computers with 42” HD TV’s as watching online TV and videos are becoming so huge, why not combine them? Many companies now use the power of the internet to promote themselves. This links in with Coventry Blaze TV because we are producing a service, not just highlights of the week’s game but also to promote the sport, make more people aware of the sport and Coventry Blaze. More fans the better, and with the size of youtube ever growing, this is the best place to put this TV channel. Youtube’s statistic speak for themselves, with 2.5 billion videos were watched in June 2006 and 50,000 videos been added daily. This makes for massive viewing figures and audience numbers, and this is what we want. Within 1 week, our first set of game highlights were up, we had over 1000 views, and that was with no advertising.
Mobile phones, smartphones and PDA’s are becoming so jam packed full of features, including the internet, MP3 players, digital cameras and video cameras. The combination of these different media forms has impacted this market hugely. Most mobile phones have the internet now, meaning anyone anywhere can access our channel on youtube, there are no restrictions. We want the channel to be able to be accessed by anyone, anywhere, and youtube is the place for this. Most café’s now have Wifi, and some restaurants, the internet is everywhere.
