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Digital distribution (also called content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution (ESD), among others) describes the delivery of media content such as audio, video, software and video games, without the use of physical media usually over online delivery mediums, such as the Internet.^[1] Digital distribution bypasses conventional physical distribution methods, such as paper or DVDs. The term online distribution is typically applied to freestanding products; downloadable add-ons for other products are more commonly known as downloadable content. An online service for distribution of application software is usually called an "application store" or "app store". With the advancement of network bandwidth capabilities, digital distribution become prominent in the 2000s.

Content distributed online may be streamed or downloaded. Streaming involves downloading and using content "on-demand" as it is needed. Meanwhile, fully downloading the content to a hard drive or other form of storage media allows for quick access in the future.

Specialist networks known as content delivery networks help distribute digital content over the Internet by ensuring both high availability and high performance. Alternative technologies for content delivery include peer-to-peer file sharing technologies. Content can only be delivered if it exists on a computer that another user has made available to others. If it does not exist, several techniques and methods can be used for content creation or content regeneration.^{[original research?]} Alternatively, content delivery platforms create and syndicate content remotely, acting like hosted content management systems.

Basis[link]

The major attraction for digital distribution is its direct nature. To make a commercially successful work, artists usually must enter their industry’s publishing chain. Publishers help artists advertise, fund and distribute their work to retail outlets. In some industries, particularly videogames, artists find themselves bound to publishers, and in many cases unable to make the content they want; the publisher might not think it will profit well. This can quickly lead to the standardization of the content and to the stifling of new, potentially risky ideas.

By opting for digital distribution, an artist can get their work into the public sphere of interest easily with potentially minimum business overhead. This often leads to cheaper goods for the consumer, increased profits for the artists, as well as increased artistic freedom. Online distribution platforms often contain or act as a form of digital rights management.

Digital distribution also opens the door to new business models (e.g., the Open Music Model). For instance, an artist could release one track from an album or one chapter from a book at a time instead of waiting for them all to be completed. This either gives them a cash boost to help continue their projects or warns that their work is not financially viable. This is hopefully done before they have spent excessive money and time on a project deemed unviable. Videogames have increased flexibility in this area, demonstrated by micropayment models such as the one in Gunbound. A clear result of these new models is their accessibility to smaller artists or artist teams who do not have the time, funds, or expertise to make a new product in one go.

An example of this can be found in the music industry. Indie artists are for the first time able to access the same distribution channels as major record labels, with none of the restrictive practices or inflated manufacturing costs^[1]; there is a growing collection of 'internet labels' that offer distribution to unsigned or independent artists directly to online music stores, and in some cases marketing and promotion services. Further, many bands are able to bypass this completely, and offer their music for sale via their own independently controlled websites; this gives even further advantage to the artist, as it completely cuts out a distributor—and their cut of the profits.

Impact on traditional retail[link]

There is some uncertainty surrounding whether digital distribution should be considered a positive or negative for the various media industries; however, the rise of digital distribution has upset the traditional business models and resulted in challenges as well as new opportunities for traditional retailers and publishers. Digital distribution affects all of the traditional media markets including music, press, and broadcasting. In Britain, the iPlayer, a software application for streaming television and radio, accounts for 5% of all bandwidth used in the United Kingdom^[2].

Music[link]

The move towards digital distribution led to a dip in sales at the start of the decade when CD sales were nearly cut in half ^[3]. One such example of digital distribution taking its toll on a retailer is the iconic Canadian music chain Sam the Record Man who blamed digital distribution for having to close a number of its traditional retail venues in 2007-08.^[4] One main reason that sales took such a big hit was that the pirating of digital music was very accessible. With piracy affecting sales, the music industry realized it needed to change its business model to keep up with the rapidly changing technology ^[5]. The step that was taken to move the music industry into the online space has been successful for several reasons. The development of the MP3 file format allows users to compress music files into a format which does not affect the sound quality while being compressed down to a ~3 Megabyte (Mb) file. In comparison, the same song would require 30-40 Megabytes of storage on a CD^[5]. The smaller file size makes it much easier to transfer a file across the internet. The main drawback to the mp3 file format was that it provides no protection against would be pirates looking to distribute copies of files illegally over the internet.

Despite the drawbacks that the digital space has caused the music industry, the transition into the online space has allowed for lower expenses such as lower coordination costs, lower distribution costs, as well as the possibility for redistributed total profits^[5]. These lower costs have allowed up and coming artists to break onto the scene and become recognized. In the past, emerging artists struggled to find a way to market themselves and compete in the various distribution channels. The digital domain has also given artists more control over their music in terms of ownership, rights, creative process, pricing, and more. The internet prevents artists from incurring any distribution costs even into the international scene since the internet allows users from all over the world to access the same material. In addition to providing users with easier access to music, it allows users to pick and choose the songs they wish instead of having to purchase an entire album from which there may only be one or two songs that the buyer enjoys. Now more than ever, more and more customers are choosing to purchase select tracks instead of an entire album. The number of downloaded digital single tracks rose from 160 million in 2004 to 795 million in 2006 which accounted for a revenue boost from $397 million (USD) to $2 billion (USD)^[5].

Television[link]

One of the major challenges for traditional television is that almost all network shows are now available online. YouTube and other internet based video services allow users to watch network shows on demand on their computers by using TiVo and other set-top boxes such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. The integration of internet capabilities into televisions has also given users the ability to access internet content such as YouTube and other video services directly from their television.

Books[link]

Some companies, such as Bookmasters Distribution, which invested $3.5 million in upgrading its equipment and operating systems, have had to direct capital toward keeping up with the changes in technology. The phenomenon of books going digital has given users the ability to access their books on handheld digital book readers. One benefit of electronic book readers is that they allow users to access additional content via hypertext links. These electronic book readers also give users portability for their books since a reader can hold multiple books depending on the size of its hard drive^[6] . Companies that are able to adapt and make changes to capitalize on the digital media market have seen sales surge. Vice President of Perseus Distribution stated that since shifting to electronic books (e-books), it saw sales rise by 68%. Independent Publishers Group experienced a sales boost of 23% in the first quarter of 2012 alone^[7].

Differences between traditional and digital retailers[link]

Purely digital online media retailers, such as iTunes, are not faced with the problem of limited physical space, as traditional physical retailers are, and thus are able to house and sell a virtually unlimited number of recordings because of the relatively low cost of database entry and storage. While traditional physical media retailers concentrate on selling the top 10 to 20 percent of sellers in order to maximize the profit-per-inch of shelf space, digital online media retailers are able to make money from selling all titles, whether they are within that top 20 percent or not.^[8]. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as the Long Tail.

See also[link]

• Electronic commerce
• Content delivery network
• Digital distribution in video games
• Video on demand
• Gaming on demand
• eBooks
• Comparison of online music stores
• List of digital distribution platforms for mobile devices
• List of Internet television providers
• Film distribution
• Film distributor
• Streaming media

References[link]

Jon Miller
Miller in 2008.
Background information
Born	(1951-10-11) October 11, 1951 (age 60)
Team(s)	San Francisco Giants
Sports	Baseball

Jon Wallace Miller (born October 11, 1951) is an American sportscaster, known primarily for his broadcasts of Major League Baseball. He is currently employed as a play-by-play announcer for the San Francisco Giants. He was also a baseball announcer on ESPN from 1990 to 2010. Miller received the Ford C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010.^[1]

Biography[link]

Early life and career[link]

Jon Miller grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. After graduating from Hayward High School in 1969, Miller commuted across the bay to take broadcasting classes at the College of San Mateo. He began his broadcasting career at the college's FM radio station (KCSM-FM) and UHF/PBS TV station (KCSM-TV), which reached much of the Bay Area. His first over the air baseball broadcasts were from CSM games.

Miller later worked as sports director for KFTY television in Santa Rosa. In 1974, he landed his first baseball play-by play job, calling that year's World Series champion Oakland Athletics.^[2]

For a brief period in the 1970s, Miller broadcast for the California Golden Seals of the National Hockey League. He also spent the early part of his career announcing San Francisco Dons and Pacific Tigers men's college basketball (1976–1980), the Golden State Warriors of the NBA (part-time, 1979–1982), and the original San Jose Earthquakes of the North American Soccer League.

Jon Miller's first network exposure came in 1976, when he was selected by CBS-TV to broadcast the NASL Championship Game. From 1974–1976, Miller did play-by-play for the Washington Diplomats of the NASL. He also announced the Soccer Game of the Week for nationally-syndicated TVS from 1977–1978.

Baseball career[link]

Miller was dismissed by the Athletics following the 1974 season. After brief stints with the Texas Rangers (1978-79)^[2] and the Boston Red Sox (1980-82),^[2] he was hired in 1983 by Baltimore's WFBR Radio, which at the time served as the flagship station for the Baltimore Orioles.

Baltimore Orioles[link]

After the 1982 season, Chuck Thompson moved from the radio booth to do TV broadcasts full time, and WFBR's president Harry Shriver brought in Miller to handle radio play-by-play duties with fellow broadcaster Tom Marr. In his first year in Baltimore, Miller called the Orioles' championship run:

He eventually signed a contract directly with the Orioles and, while the broadcast rights eventually moved to rival station WBAL, Miller remained their primary announcer through 1996.

At the end of that season, Orioles owner Peter Angelos, displeased with Jon's often candid commentary of the Orioles play, declined to renew his contract, citing a desire for a broadcaster who would "bleed more orange and black."^[3] Miller returned to the Bay Area and joined his hometown Giants, a team which, ironically, also wore orange and black.

San Francisco Giants[link]

Since 1997,^[4] Miller has been the primary play-by-play voice of the San Francisco Giants (replacing Hank Greenwald), calling games on KNBR radio as well as KTVU (1997–2007) and KNTV (2008–present) television. In February 2007, he signed a six-year extension to remain the voice of the Giants through at least the 2012 season.^[3] On September 4, 2010, Miller called his first game for CSN Bay Area as a substitute for Dave Flemming, who was broadcasting a Stanford Cardinal football game on the radio.^[5]

On May 27, 2003, during a game between the Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks, Miller called a play involving two defensive errors by the Diamondbacks and at least three separate baserunning mistakes by Giants outfielder Ruben Rivera. When Rivera was finally thrown out at home plate trying to score what would have been the winning run, Miller declared,

^[6] The phrase was repeated numerous times on sports radio and highlight shows such as SportsCenter, and quickly became one of the most famous calls of Miller's long career. He did a similar call on the radio during Game 3 of the 2004 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals, when Jeff Suppan made a baserunning mistake.

His call of home run #756[link]

On August 7, 2007, Miller made the call of Barry Bonds' record-breaking 756th home run on KNBR. His call of the historic home run will likely go down in history as the voice of the moment:

^[7]

Miller honored by the Giants[link]

On July 16, 2010, the Giants organization, including fellow broadcaster Dave Flemming, honored Miller at AT&T Park before the game against the New York Mets, which came about one week before Miller received the Ford C. Frick Award.^[8][9] Before the game got started, Miller threw out the ceremonial first pitch, but by then, the game time was delayed 25 minutes.^[10] Current KNTV news anchor Raj Mathai had to briefly broadcast part of the first inning before Miller took over since Miller had to make his way from the playing field to the broadcast booth.

National baseball work[link]

From 1986–1989, Miller did backup play-by-play for NBC's Saturday Game of the Week telecasts, paired with either Tony Kubek or Joe Garagiola. He also called regional telecasts for The Baseball Network in 1994-1995.

From 1990 to 2010 Miller did national television and radio broadcasts of regular-season and postseason games for ESPN, most prominently alongside Hall of Famer Joe Morgan on the network's Sunday Night Baseball telecasts. Among his ESPN assignments, Miller called 13 World Series and 10 League Championship Series for ESPN Radio. In November 2010 it was announced that Miller and Morgan would not be returning to the Sunday night telecasts for the 2011 season.^[11] Miller was offered, but declined, a continued role with ESPN Radio.^[12]

Miller received numerous honors for his ESPN work, including a Cable ACE Award and several Emmy Award nominations. The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 1998, and in 2010 the Baseball Hall of Fame selected him for its Ford C. Frick Award.

Other appearances[link]

Miller's voice can be heard in an 1982 episode of Cheers, during a scene where the gang at the bar is watching a Red Sox game on the television. He also is briefly heard in the films 61* and Summer Catch and in the English release of the animated movie My Neighbors the Yamadas, and appears as himself in two episodes of the HBO series Arliss.^[13][14][15]

In 1998, Miller wrote a book with Mark S. Hyman entitled Confessions of a Baseball Purist: What's Right—and Wrong—with Baseball, as Seen from the Best Seat in the House (ISBN 0-8018-6316-3), where he expounds on the current state of the sport.^[16]

Commentating style[link]

Miller's delivery is notable for his easygoing, sometimes-humorous manner and measured use of hyperbole, particularly in banter with his partner sportscasters. He livens up many broadcasts with a few Hawaiian and Japanese phrases spoken with impeccable pronunciation, and has been known to announce a half inning totally in Spanish.

It is notable that Miller generally pronounces non-Anglo-American names with the source language pronunciation, in contrast with broadcasters who "Americanize" foreign-named players.

Miller will occasionally quote lines from Shakespeare plays during radio broadcasts. He is well known for his foul ball call, "That ball is fooooul", and his emphatic cries of "Safe!" on close plays and "Two!" for a successful double play. Early in his career, Miller would punctuate home runs with the signature call, "Tell it goodbye!" (in emulation of longtime Giants announcer Lon Simmons), although he has eschewed this in recent years (although he continues to refer to a home run as a "big fly"). His home run call for Hispanic batters is now punctuated, "Adios, pelota!"

Miller is noted in baseball circles for his impersonation of Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vin Scully.^[17] Miller also imitates Harry Caray, Chuck Thompson, Jack Buck, Al Michaels, Babe Ruth, Bob Sheppard, and Harry Kalas, among others. During a rain delay at Baltimore, Miller performed a 30-minute impression of Scully talking about the "zen of Baseball," a tape that still travels around the Internet. During one makeup game at Memorial Stadium, Miller struck up a conversation on the air with a fan in the stands wearing a portable radio to liven up a slow game.

Asked how he got into broadcasting play by play of baseball games, he recalled being in the booth for a major league game with one of the announcers of the day. This announcer had a sandwich in one hand and the latest best seller in the other. Between pitches he would read a page, and sometimes take a bite from the sandwich. Miller told the audience (WBAL - 1990s) that he decided that any job where you could watch a ball game, eat dinner and read a good book was the one for him.

While calling games on the radio for the Giants, Miller occasionally introduces himself and his fellow broadcaster(s), followed by the phrase, "your Giants broadcasters". The same is repeated when Miller is on TV, except he replaces the word "broadcasters" with "telecasters." (Miller is referred to by fellow Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow as "The Big Kahuna".) He would use similar terminology for his Sunday Night Baseball telecasts on ESPN ("your Sunday night telecasters") and his World Series broadcasts for ESPN Radio ("your World Series broadcasters").

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jon Miller's ESPN Bio
• KFTY newscast from 1972 featuring a young Jon Miller
• Audio clip of Jon Miller's call of Ruben Rivera's infamous baserunning gaffe
• Jon Miller Wows Hall of Fame Audience
• Radio made Jon Miller raconteur in TV booth
• YouTube video of Miller during his time as Baltimore Orioles broadcaster

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2009)

Bellini on Fire Island's Great South Bay with his two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.

Jason Bellini is an American journalist, and until August 2008 was the lead news anchor for CBS News on Logo. He received the 2006 "Journalist of the Year" award from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA).[1] From 1998 to 2005, he worked as a CNN correspondent. He produced stories for CNN using an unconventional method: He hit the road on assignment with a hand-held digital camera and a laptop computer, which he used for editing. He often worked as a "one-man band," filing stories he produced himself from start to finish.

Professional career[link]

1993: Bellini graduated from Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Arizona where he was on the school Newspaper. He was a participant in the Hall of Friendship, an organization dedicated to cross cultural understanding between the Newspaper Staff and Foreign Exchange Students.

1997: Bellini earned a bachelor's degree in history from Georgetown University.

1998: Bellini began his career with CNN as a production assistant in the network's Washington, D.C., bureau.

1999: Bellini made his on-air debut with CNN Newsroom, now CNN Student News – CNN's news program for middle school and high school students. He also served as a field producer for CNN International, covering the NATO airstrikes against Yugoslavia. One of his Kosovo stories achieved Medalist Status in the 1999 New York Festival Awards.

2000: Bellini worked for MTV where he served as part of that network's "street team" for MTV's Choose or Lose election coverage that followed the presidential candidates on the campaign trail during Election 2000. He was also a freelance writer for Washingtonpost.com and Channel One News.

2001: Bellini spent months in New York covering the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks as the crisis evolved into an international war on terrorism. He later traveled to Central Asia to report on the story from Afghanistan. He also covered the Kashmir conflict from India. Bellini received a Gold medal from the New York Festivals for Jason's Journal: The Holy Land, a program he produced on the Israeli Palestinian conflict.

2003: Bellini reported as one of CNN's 18 embedded journalists during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He reported, often from the frontlines, from his position with the U.S. Marines. In February 2003, Bellini was part of the team of CNN correspondents and anchors that covered the breaking news story of the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy.

2005: Bellini became the lead news anchor for CBS News on Logo.

2007: Bellini hosts two podcasts available through the iTunes store: CBS News on Logo and Jason Bellini's Here and Now, a self-described "vlog" (video blog).

2009-2010: Bellini freelances for The Daily Beast.

Personal life[link]

He is openly gay.^[1]

Jason is the older brother of CNN's Jarrett Bellini.

References[link]