It's TV on the Internet

First Up: A New Logo

Finally, finally, finally!

QNNtv was birthed as Quilters News Network. Fine and good. But try remembering quiltersnewsnetwork.com when someone tells you about this dream-come-true site for quilters. And then try typing it in correctly.

Naturally it became "QNN" very quickly. And people called us "CNN" which gave us a tickle. But--and that's BUT--the URL QNN.com was taken. (It appears to be owned by a Japanese and contains a draft of the Declaration of Independence. Interesting.) When teaching and even at my own local quilt shop people told me they couldn't get to the "QNN" site. Yikes!

So it's no surprise that one of the first things I did when I took over at the network in March of 2006, was to update the name to QNNtv, pointing quiltersnewsnetwork.com to QNNtv.com. Much more descriptive, and we then had a name and a site that matched Yeah!

But I never was able to get the "tv" added to the logo.

As soon as New Track took over, that last wish was granted. While I was totally pleased with the old logo and just asked for the "tv" to be added, Emily wowed me with what she came up with. And as I write this seven months later, I still think, "Wow!" when I see the logo. Thanks Emily!

QNNtv Has Found a New Home

On the catching up front, back in April QNNtv was acquired by New Track Media, joining the likes of Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting in the NTM stable. For those unfamiliar with the quilting industry, it's like being given the stall next to a Triple Crown winner. Check out the press release. As quilters say, I was doing the happy dance--and still am, which is even better.

Download press_release_qnn_tv.pdf

Here's the press release about the Fons & Porter acquisition which occurred six months before.

Download fons_porter_press_news.pdf

Read about New Track Media's launch of the affinity club, Quilter's Club of America, which debuted this fall.

Download press_release_club.pdf

Very exciting! I wonder what will be next?

What is QNNtv?

Quick History of QNNtv: QNNtv has been online for 1 ½ years now. Perhaps a bit ahead of its time, QNNtv has weathered a shaky leadership at the start, earned credibility back from its industry, and now with the underlying buzz being "It’s all about the Internet” is enjoying the embrace of the quilting industry in developing excitingly creative marketing and educational programs taking advantage of the unique opportunities the Internet provides.

What makes us different from other video sites? We serve a true niche, with a rich library of special interest programming. Our viewers offer a targeted demographic. Our purpose is simply put: we enable creativity. The magic of QNNtv is the marriage of how-to programming with the capabilities inherent in the Internet that allow viewers instant access to further information, patterns, tools and supplies to realize their own creativity sparked by the programming. Magic!

Small is Good: Grow Your Own Content

We hear a lot about made-for-TV movies and series being aired on the Internet and user-generated videos uploaded in amazing numbers. What about creating programming expressly for the Internet?

At QNN we do just that, but hear nary a whisper about anyone else doing the same. So I was intrigued to read a recent article in the Wall Street Journal.

The January 4^th article  reported that Turner is taking a low-cost niche approach to creating new Web video properties rather than repurposing its brands for the Internet. As reporter Matthew Karnitschnig writes, “…media companies have found that shoveling existing content onto a new platform can hinder them from developing programming best suited to the Internet.”

Exactly! The Internet is the golden opportunity to serve niches that were economically unfeasible just a few years ago, what with the costs involved in getting content onto traditional airwaves.

It is interesting to note that one of Turner’s services, ACC Select which covers sports events otherwise neglected by television, began with a $35,000 investment in video equipment, a “game kit.” Production costs are as low as $1,200 per game. With a subscription- and pay-per-view- based model, users pay $3.95 per game or $5.95 per month. Also notable is that through 2010, Turner forecasts their total Web revenue growing 30% annually.

The article finishes with a jewel of a quote from Turner CEO Phil  Kent regarding the rush by traditional media companies to the Web, “We’re in a period of maximum paranoia and minimum clarity.”

Ah, the stuff those of us with a fire in our bellies love!

Weblog of TV on the Internet

Daily scans of writing in the technology and television industries speculate on the future of online video. There is no question that television and the internet will converge, what is debated is how and in what form. How will those busy social media sites turn eyeballs into dollars? There's a lot of talk about set top boxes, and downloading content from the Web. How will user-generated video fit into the big picture? This leaves publishers and advertisers and media agencies questioning how to find their foothold--what is a viable business model?

At the helm of a 24/7 streaming web channel this is all fascinating to me. Keeping an eye on the dialogue spinning around TV on the Internet, I have found no one central hub of the discussion. Thus one of my purposes in writing this blog. Since I track the discussion myself I figure I might as well make a place others can learn from as well. Plus, as a writer by trade, I find distilling the journey into written words brings me clarity.

Notice the Del.icio.us tags to the left. These are the reads I've found interesting. It's an exciting time we're in!

QNNtv: A Niche Broadband Broadcast Network

QNNtv.com

Special interest groups dream of a channel devoted exclusively to their passion. For quilters this dream has come true. Quilters News Network, QNNtv, is the first fully scheduled affinity market broadcast network delivered on the Internet twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. QNN addresses the quilting industry's need for project-based media by providing pure interest programming to the more than 30 million quilters around the globe – a group that serves as the foundation of a $3 billion industry.
Quilter’s News Network, www.QNNtv.com, was developed and is run by quilters for quilters. Airing quilting television shows twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, according to a programming schedule, QNN truly is what its tag line promises: “It’s quilting television, on the internet!” One of the unique features of the network is that programming that has never been available, and would never be available via broadcast or even cable because of its lack of general interest, is now available to people who enjoy the craft. The intense delivery of programming 24/7 offers both viewers and advertisers the opportunity to get exactly what they seek – viewers get endless ideas and education and advertisers get an extremely targeted demographic.
In addition to running shows created for traditional television such as PBS, QNN produces made-for QNN programming. These programs run the gamut from television-length 30-minute studio shows to short informational series of three-to fifteen-minute segments, to simple slide shows. This allows every quilter, from an enthusiast to a professional, to contribute to QNN.
QNN opens the door for anyone to realize their dream of creating their own quilting show. When Tricia Sherman from Vancouver, BC saw QNN for the first time she thought, “I can have my own show on QNN!” And she did! She bankrolled her first “The Great Canadian Shop Hop” herself, and has now found funding from the Canadian quilting industry to shoot more episodes. The Electric Quilt Company reaches a targeted audience with their “Do You EQ?” series which instructs viewers on how to use their quilt design software and products.
Thanks to the vehicle of worldwide web delivery, QNN’s audience harks from over 70 countries. In fact 30-35% of QNN’s viewers watch from outside of the United States. With quilting programming virtually non-existent on television outside the US, this is a boon to overseas quilters.
Our goal at QNNtv is to spread the passion for quilting by providing easy and immediate access to knowledge and tools, thereby enabling anyone to experience the joy of creativity.

Why "It’s Television on the Internet"?

The inevitable first question for a blog writer to answer for his or her readers--and more

importantly for herself--is why, what's the purpose of the blog?

For me the answer begins with rubber duckies. Yup, good clean bathtime fun duckies.

Since they started collecting themselves in my home, rubber duckies have been the

impetus for more than one new adventure. They sparked my award-winning TV show

and thus my role in the company about which am writing this blog, QNNtv.

They have lead me down paths I might not otherwise have discovered. This fall I

realized one of my dreams: designing and bringing to market a rubber duckie. It was a

fun and fascinatingly creative collaborative process.

Knowing others would enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at the process, I wrote a blog,

Diary of a Rubber Duckie Designer.

What does a blog about the prettiest rubber duck made since the 1960’s have to do with an online special interest 24/7 broadband broadcast network?

Creating the blog opened a window for me, the “I get it!” as to what a fantastic tool a blog can be, most notable as a real time tool in the collaborative process.

You see, (because of duckie magic) I head up QNNtv.com, a broadband network devoted to a special interest market, streaming programming 24/7. We air series made for, and previously/currently aired on, traditional television; programming we develop for QNN; and increasingly, shows made by others for our network. Try as I do, I haven’t found anyone else doing what we’re doing.

And thus my main purpose for this blog: Unlike the access to help I received from Craig Wolfe from Celebriducks in making my rubber duckie dream a reality rubber ducks, I have yet to find anyone grappling with a broadband network, nor any real discussion of how television on the Internet model does/might/will work. With no lead and no apparent compatriot I’m feeling a bit alone.

So, consider this blog an open invitation to join me on my path of creating this niche broadband network. Please feel free to offer up opinions, links, advice, connections, criticism, suggestions… an occasional pat on the back would be nice as well.

The duckies haven given me the idea and a reason, my purposes in writing this blog are to:

1. Keep a running inventory of discussion and news of TV on the Internet

2. Write the company’s ongoing story and make it transparent

3. Refine our business strategy

4. Journal the journey: I’m a writer by trade so writing brings clarity

5. Seek collaboration

More about these in my next posts.

In the meantime I will follow this introductory entry with one describing QNNtv. For those who wish to learn more, my bio to the right will give you more info about me, and I've provided a link to the most recent quilting industry info for those interested in finding out more about the quilting industry. (33million quilters spending $2.8B a year in the U.S. Surprised?)

So, the duckies did it again. They always steer me right, so let’s get on with the journey!

Jodie Davis

Jodie (at) quiltersnewsnetwork (dot) com

P.S. If readers have an overwhelming desire to find out why "duckie" is correctly spelled with an “ie” I can be cajoled into enlightening you.