Could a global ad company open up streaming web content?

If there was a streaming ad company that offered the ability to target ads by location, could we open up streaming blackout and location restrictions? Would sporting event broadcasters be more open to streaming globally?

Currently the companies that are pushing ads on streaming networks are either the station themselves (Watch Hulu, while watching Hulu) or national brands that have less concerns about location, as long as they ban it for outside national IP addresses. ESPN is just showing you a black, “Be back shortly” clip. Clearly networks are struggling to figure this out, when it should be easier than what their current over-the-air tools offer.

It seems that there would be an opportunity for a ad company to manage and deliver streaming ads based on users location and potentially login info. This gives relevance and targeting to the ads that are on the screen during air time. This provides an even better model than what broadcasters provide to the companies buying air time today. In this option, if a venue wanted to stream the events, only local/relevant content will be displayed - instead of a spot for a  UK cellular company to be shown to a pub full of folks in Los Angeles.

I understand that there is value in holding a US show for a year to keep hype high before rebroadcast in foreign countries, but sports is different… it would be the equivalent of replaying the Weather Channel from last week.

The key to a connected media TV experience will be in layering content

When it comes to a connected media experience on our TVs, full screen apps will have their place, but the benefit will really be in layering over other content -A customizable sidebar would be a key feature in a connected media experience on your TV.

I’d love to have the ability to have an open bar on the side of the screen that would show when my friends are on Skype, emails in, plus a section that is adaptable to the content on the screen: Like when a movie trailer is playing on the screen that a button slide onto the sidebar that would allow me to a) Check local availability via Flixter b) Add to Netflix. When watching a sporting event then I can add a player stats bar, or a Twitter feed with a #hashtag of inline conversations (like the World Cup Tracking Page).

Local emergencies in a digital media age

We fired DirecTV about 2 years ago replacing it with a Mac Mini, running Boxee to our TV, and haven’t looked back since. One thing that came to a quick, ah-ha, was last nights Tornado warning… we had no idea, and were just streaming a movie in the living room. I think as more people look to drop the traditional broadcast TV this will become a larger issue. There is definitely the need for an alert system that can warn the user of local emergency information, probably built into the media apps OS, in order for it to jump in no matter what is being displayed.

*UPDATE* - And after last nights storm, I am going to do everything I can to build an early warning indicator into my next version of the Smart Alarm

Something to take note of, for the likes or Apple’s iTV, GoogleTV and Boxee?