Streaming for Dummies A definition, some possible uses, and resources online.
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Streaming Media: Primetime and Online

By Ron Chepesiuk

Early this year, Ron Victor was astounded by the huge viewing response to the Web cast his Internet media company made of a Hindu ceremony in New Jersey. Not only did 6000 people in New Jersey view the religious production, several thousand more in other parts of the United States, as well as Pakistan, Australia, the United Kingdom and other countries around the world, also watched or listened.

“The Webcast wouldn’t have been possible without the availability of a hot new technology known as streaming media,” Victor revealed.

“Streaming media is empowering the public because people no longer have to be glued to a radio or television,” he explained. “They can watch TV or listen to radio programs wherever, whenever they want.”

Victor is CEO and president of the San Jose, Calif.-based Homeland Networks Corporation (HLN), which he founded in September 1999 to deliver audio and voice streaming content to Asian American communities worldwide. Globally, there are 15 million non-resident Asian Indians, with two million of that number residing in the United States. The purchasing power of the 15 million non-resident Indians is estimated to exceed $63.5 billion.

“We noticed a big void in the Asian-Indian market that no one was filling,” Victor revealed. “That’s because most online content tends to be Western-centric, with a generic ‘one-size fits’ all approach.”

To fill the void, HLN formed two companies in September 1999: tvofindia.com and radioofindia.com, services that are streamed in real-time over the Internet to Asian Indians. Tvofindia.com offers a mix of sports and entertainment previously unavailable outside India, while radioofindia.com provides round-the-clock news, sports and media coverage from India.

“There is no reason for people to come to the Internet to see videos or listen to radio if the content is available on conventional TV or radio,” Victor said. “But they will come to the Internet if it isn’t available conventionally and if the viewing and listening experience is better. Streaming media is making that possible.”

Streaming Technology and Increased Bandwidth Capacity

Streaming media, the dynamic new technology that will surely impact the Asian American business community, permits listening and watching continuously as the signal is transferred to your computer system from a remote Web site. It requires a high degree of compression to transfer audio or video (or both) and still retain quality music and smooth video play. If stereo sound is desired, there is a trade-off in the sound quality. The technology of sound and video sampling and compression is constantly improving.

Streaming media has been around since the Internet’s beginning, but its development has been hindered by low-bandwidth infrastructure, meaning that, until recently, only AM-radio quality audio has been streamed across the Web. Furthermore, streaming video and multimedia presentations were largely impractical. That is changing, thanks to the arrival of broadband delivery systems, such DSL and b.p.s. modems.

Bandwidth is a term for the amount of data that can be sent through a circuit. The greater the bandwidth, the greater the amount of data that can travel in a given time period. When the bandwidth of a signal is large, it can simultaneously carry many channels of information. Fibre optic cable is referred to as broadband because it has high bandwidth.

According to a 1999 study by Fortune magazine, the total mileage of U.S. long-distance telecommunication networks will increase from 111,000 miles in 1996 to 231,000 miles this year. Meanwhile, total bandwidth is expected to expand from 1.2 terabits per second in 1996 to 99.8 terabits in 2001. This translates into a 80-fold increase in capacity over a five year period.

The phenomenal growth of bandwidth is being replicated all over the world, especially in Asia. Singapore, for example, recently installed the infrastructure to enable DSL (digital subscriber lines) and cable modem access to homes.

“Over the past three months, the viewership at our Web site has practically equaled our listenership, and we attribute this to the vast improvement in broadband connectivity,” said Chin Yao, Chief of Corporate Relations at Los Angeles-based Click2Asia.

Click2Asia has been using streaming media since fall of 1999 and considers itself a leader in the field. The company has been using the Internet to stream live broadcasts from TV station KMTV (the so-called “MTV of Korea”), as well as Asian concerts, supermodel contests and events in the Asian American community. Click2Asia has also been streaming a lot of mainstream material, such as Britney Spears concerts and Jennifer Lopez videos.

“Click2Asia’s success is largely tto due the increasing accessibility that consumers are having to broadband connectivity,” Yao said. “In some parts of the country, the cost of cable modem has dropped to about $19 per month, with the installation and fees waived,” he explained. “Meanwhile, DSL access costs are coming down to less than $30 per month, so more consumers are now checking out streaming media.”

Asian American Companies Ready to Seize Opportunities

The public’s growing interest, together with rapid improvements in technology, spurred dragoncities.com’s involvement with streaming media.

“The technology is about ready for prime time, and we don’t want to miss out on the opportunities it’s going to present,” said Tuong Nguyen, the Vietnamese American president and CEO of dragoncities.com, a San Diego-based ethnic cultural portal that provides Asian information and content worldwide.

Nguyen’s company hasn’t used streaming media yet because he has been focusing on getting his young business established “the right way,” but plans to do so are underway. “Why should people sit in front of TV set when streaming media is going to make media content available through their PCs, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) or wireless phones,” said Nguyen. “It’s a good time for Asian American businesses to get involved with it.”

Dragoncities.com is working with a San Diego casino to stream live events from the casino’s venue. The company is also working out deals with several Asian nightclubs in Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange County, Calif., to stream their events and shows. Nguyen is also planning a trip to Vietnam to work out the logistics that will allow his company to develop virtual city tours and to stream live events from that country back to the United States. According to Nguyen, Singapore, Thailand and China also have potential for this kind of streaming media application.

“We want to give people an idea of what life is like back in the old country,” Nguyen said. “Today, they just don’t have the time to go there themselves.”

Nguyen and other Asian American entrepreneurs believe that streaming media has great potential for wireless e-commerce and communication.

“A lot of people are using wireless phones to trade online and to get the news,” Nguyen said. “Right now, there’s not much people can do to get access to streaming media through wireless phones. But that should happen soon, and it’s going to be great for people like myself who would rather watch a video clip to get information than read about it.”

KnowEx Solutions, a leading New York City-based software development company was founded by Dr. William So in December 1999 as an attempt to address the customer service deficiencies he experienced when purchasing products and services on e-commerce Web sites. KnowEx Solutions is using streaming media to help companies provide better customer service. For example, the company is using audio and video clips to describe products and to show how to assemble appliances.

“Streaming media is a big improvement over the static conversation that takes place via the phone between a customer and company representative,” said Nelson Lee, CEO of KnowEx Solutions. “A customer can’t conceptualize things or find out what it sounds or looks like simply by having somebody talk about it on the phone. Streaming media can make the experience come alive.”

One of KnowEx Solutions’ objectives is to introduce streaming media on wireless platforms in Asia. “People in Asia are accessing the Internet via mobile phones rather than PCs,” Lee explained. “That’s why we plan to use streaming media with wireless technology.”

Streaming media applications in Asia are particularly strong in the area of customer service, according to KnowEx Solutions executives. This past July the company announced a partnership with Netalone.com, a premier full-service Hong Kong-based Application Service Provider and manager of vertical e-content portals, which it hopes will strengthen the marriage between streaming media technology and customer service.

“The worldwide web is exactly that—worldwide,” Lee said. “We need to make sure that our partnerships reflect that, and that’s why we’ve chosen Netalone.com, a proven leader in e-commerce strategies in the Pacific Rim.”

E-Pac USA, a part of the EPAC International Group in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is a graphic example of an Asian American company that plans to use streaming media as a tool for global expansion.

E-Pac is a thriving B2B packaging accessories business that since 1981 has successfully traded in the sewn garments industry. Matt Matsuo, the owner of E-Pac USA, is working to establish a network that will connect companies involved in the packaging accessories business in more than 30 countries.

“We are currently testing streaming media,” Matsuo said. “I believe the technology is going to play an important role in our industry. For example, by using the technology, companies will be able to make much better decisions because it will allow them to show the garment’s whole design so that every part of it can be analyzed.”

Streaming media will also make video conferencing, distance training and marketing more widely available. Rather than move employees between various locations for presentations, sales meetings and professional development, streaming media will allow Asian American companies to deliver a single broadcast of a presentation from a central point, which saves time and money.

“Streaming media is going to help companies cut expenses and be more efficient by improving the way they make information available across operations,” Victor said.

Streaming media will give busy executives on the move better access to the office, and it will offer better ways for companies to provide information, such as annual and periodic reports, or promote Asian American products, such as books and CDs. And as Lee predicted, “Streaming media will also be used as a community building tool by bringing together Asians from different parts of the U.S. and regions of the world.”

Still, Obstacles Exist

One big barrier, however, will still have to be overcome before streaming media technology becomes mainstream. Despite the progress, the broadband technology has yet to reach prime time. Statistics show that only 10 percent of the U.S. population is currently wired for broadband connection, said Andrew So. But he also pointed out that “by the years 2003 or 2004, 50 percent or more of U.S. homes will be wired for broadband. Streaming media still has a lot of room for growth.”

DSL providers like PacBell, moreover, didn’t anticipate the strong demand for streaming media, so they haven’t been able to supply the connection for those consumers wanting to access the technology.

“The providers’ technicians are often going out into the field untrained and not knowing how to install things properly,” Yao said. “I tried to get a DSL connection installed recently and had to give up because the technicians didn’t know what they were doing. Providers have to come up to speed.”

Anecdotes like this attest to the growing pains of streaming media, but the dynamic new technology will no doubt play an integral part in e-commerce. Ron Victor says he has been “blown away” by streaming media’s potential and marvels at what it has done for his company. In less than a year, HLN has attracted 600,000 to 700,000 regular viewers and listeners worldwide. “One of the requests we got recently was to play a song for friend X in Sidney, friend Y in Karachi and friend Z in London.” Victor recalled. “You can’t fulfill a request like that through conventional TV or radio. That is why a lot of people are telling us, ‘God bless you. Finally, I can go home.’”