• Charlie Rose Video Delivery Not Ready for Prime-Time

    Last night I had a first-hand experience about why high-quality video delivery matters so much.

    As an admitted political junkie, I just HAD to see the replay of Charlie Rose's interview with Bill Clinton from Friday night. I'd read that Clinton's handlers were apoplectic behind the scenes, asking for the interview to be terminated early because Clinton had become so agitated under Rose's relentless questioning. Clinton was getting frustrated that he just couldn't quite articulate why Hillary is best-suited to the role, or why Barack Obama is unqualified.

     

    Ok, so credit to Charlie Rose that the full episode was offered (commercial free btw, this being PBS), and that it was highlighted right at the top of the home page. But that's about the only thing right about the experience. No exaggeration, the video probably hung at least 20 times and completely failed at least half a dozen times. It ranked as one of the worst broadband video experiences I've had in recent memory.

    That said, I stayed with it the entire way, because how else would I get to see the episode? However, only a tiny fraction of viewers would be as patient as I was in this situation, even despite the fact that the site still says "beta."

    So memo to all content providers: if you're going to put your top assets and talent online, make sure you have a quality delivery infrastructure in place to do them justice and please your fans. Second chances are hard to come by in the online world.