What ever happened to LIVE streaming news on the web?? (1 Viewer)

[Vince Maskeeper]

In the height of the "net is the future of media" craze, I would regularly tune into streaming audio from CNN and CNN headline news. I got addidicted to ongoing, neverending free ability to tap into any one of CNN's networks (CNN FN, CNN SI, Even the Foreign CNN channel).

On or about September 11th of last year, I found that CNN's streaming audio pages were taken down. At the time, I assumed it was due to site overload in the aftermath of the news frenzy that was September 11th 2001. But, months later, the site had not returned.

I discovered the MSNBC streaming audio via the windows media site shortly after losing CNN. I quickly grew addidicted to this as well. I have bouts of insomnia, and I find having a TV show or Audio Book playing in the background helps a ton. I found myself playing MSNBC streaming audio nightly to fall asleep.

Well, recently MSNBC has gone away from streaming the actual content of their station to providing a cheesy news loop of headline stories. Gone is the ability to listen to the actual LIVE MSNBC program-- instead you find yourself popping into a repeating news ticker.

And, of course, CNN returned with "CNN SELECT"- a service you must pay for in order to access any of their multimedia content on the web.

So what happened? Is the MEDIA obsession with the web finally over? It seems that the only people co-broadcasting on the web anymore are a few talk radio stations. I'm wondering how long it is until I cannot listen to Cleveland Browns football games on the net anymore.

-Vince

 

[Bill Slack]

Without efficient multi-casting to a more local site (i.e., within your ISP, hopefully) it just doesn't scale very well. It's possible to do. What Akamai does with caching is the whole drive in streaming, but no one is terribly good at it yet, though some folks seem to be getting better, and (finally) Akamai is entering the market as well, and even advertising their presence.

I used to work in the web-casting/streaming industry as a software engineer. The tools and software are a bit unrefined, at this point, to say the least.

 

[Daniel Swartz]

The economics of video streaming still aren't there. The technology, while rough (as pointed out above), is in place. There just aren't enough revenue sources to pay for bandwidth. Everyone is pulling back from video streaming simply because it costs them too much. Broadband is on the rise though... so it's only a matter of time though.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

The problem with this is that these sites didn't pull streaming feeds- they simply pulled live streaming feeds (or CNN started charging for theirs).

In the case of MSNBC- the engine is in place, and the bandwidth is still used- the only change is they just swapped what was being piped out. It used to be audio fed direct from the channel feed, now it's a specifically recorded headline feed.

I could certainly see the pitfalls you describe, but that would be solved by removing the content. Instead, I assume the shift is caused by a "we're giving away our channel for free" complaint.

-Vince

 

[Travis Hedger]

Ah I remember with great fondness.
Windowsmedia.com used to have a link to BBCONline, a 24 hour 350kbit streaming broadcast. It was invaluable during the fall last year as I did not have access to a TV and watching the stuff in Afganistan was nearly as clear as what could have been on TV at the time. Then the link got yanked earlier this year with no warning, after digging around the BBC site there was a very small mention of pulling it due to it not being worth their time paying for nothing in return. I miss it and want it back!

 

[ThomasC]

i loved bbconline...when i first discovered it, i realized that the world did not revolve around america. there was so much more world news and a lot less news from america...i'd like to have it back again.

at least the bbc still has live streams of their radio stations...

 

[Travis Hedger]

They do?

Post it post it post it!!!!!

 

[Jon_W]

Vince If you don't mind Canadian news try www.ctvnews.com

 

[ThomasC]

all you had to do was go to their website and click on a link at the top, but fine, if you're that lazy...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/
thanks a bunch for that ctv link, jon!

 

[Bill Slack]

I'd guess that what they provide now is less popular/useful, so they safe on bandwidth, but can still put impressive looking things in their annual reports to show their investors, and not lose money doing it.
That said, give it a few years. Bandwidth prices will fall astronomically, the software and infrastructure will improve, and it will all kick ass. It is disappointing it's taken as long as it has though (hey, it cost me a job! )