People seem to want their TV with more features, like internet ready, apps, web browser etc. All these extra features are basically already there on computers. Now they want a combination. The connected TV will evolve.
Connected TV and voice remote control seems to be the direction TV makers are pushing their products to because it seems 3D TV fails to excite and gesture UIs are deemed to flop.
One new TV feature that does have most potential is connectivity. Sales of connected TVs are increasing (nearly 50 percent year-over-year unit growth in 2011) and connectivity is beginning to weigh into TV purchase decisions. The technology also has the benefit of timing, hitting the market as viewing habits shift online, content options offered by streaming services expand, and broadband adoption grows. Top-selling brands are currently offering Internet-connected TVs with streaming and apps. Research firm IHS iSuppli estimates the global Internet-enabled TV market will grow nearly 60 percent this year to 95 million sets, far outpacing the TV market overall, which is expected to expand by just 2 percent.
World smart TV sales surge article tells that Smart TVs (tellies with internet connectivity) accounted for almost 20 per cent of the televisions that manufacturers shipped in Q1 2012. Almost 30 per cent of them went into Western Europe, but the world’s biggest IPTV fans are clearly the Japanese: 46 per cent of the TVs that shipped there were smart devices. Also 30 per cent of Chinese buyers snapped up smart TV. More than 2.6 million smart TVs shipped into Western Europe, some 3.2 million into China and under 1 million units to Japan. Moe than 51 per cent of Sony TVs shipped in Q1 were internet connectable. Philips, Sharp and Panasonic scored 36 per cent, 28 per cent and 21 per cent. Still, it’s impossible to yet say how many of these devices are being used for their connected capabilities, but past studies have shown that a significant proportion of smart-TV buyers aren’t making use of the technology or even know what it’s for.
Besides the trend of adding Internet connectivity to TV there is a trend that people use smart phones and tablet computers while they watch TV. Tablets a TV friend: 85 percent of tablet owners use the device while watching shows. Broadcast moves beyond the TV set as 17% of consumers get network content on multiple screens article tells that that TV networks, on average, are reaching more than a quarter of their total audiences via mobile or Internet media, and 11 percent are digital-only consumers. Among news, sports and youth-oriented networks, up to 30 percent of the audience was reached through multiple devices during the five-week study. 61 percent of consumers used the Internet at the same time as they watched TV at some point during the study, and nearly half of those used Facebook.
Remote display technology lets users fully experience cloud content article claims that remote display technology helps bridge the gap between content and user experience. Often, the device where the content ends up is not the most appropriate type of device for viewing, sharing and experiencing it, and that’s just what the user wants to do. An effective way around this dilemma is remote display technology. Several different standard bodies have addressed these needs from different perspectives. The Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), Wi-Fi Alliance’s Wi-Fi Display (WFD) and Wireless Gigabit Alliance’s WiGig are some examples of how the industry is addressing this need to wirelessly display content.
In Search of Apps for Television article tells that the same consumers who delight in navigating the iPad still click frustratingly through cable channels to find a basketball game. Their complaint: Why can’t television be more like a tablet? Already, apps for Hulu Plus, Netflix and Wal-Mart’s Vudu streaming service, among others, are built into Internet-enabled televisions. Devices like Microsoft’s Xbox 360 let viewers watch apps that mimic channels. New sets by Samsung and others come with built-in apps loaded with television shows, movies and sports. Apple has a video player called Apple TV with apps. A model built around TV apps could let viewers see their favourite content they want, and let the users to bypass cable subscriptions and all the extraneous channels they don’t watch. And therein lies the tension that has the television industry delicately assessing how to balance the current system with an Internet-based future that some feel is inevitable.
The missing link on smart TVs currently has been limited selection of TV programs that mimic the networks’ current fare, but I quess we will see quite soon streaming services that can directly compete against cable and satellite. Millions of Subscribers Leaving Cable TV for Streaming Services. Netflix and Hulu are convincing millions of cable, satellite and telco subscribers to cut the cord and dive into video streaming. 2.65 million Americans have already canceled TV subscriptions between 2008-2011 in favor of lower-cost internet subscription services or video platforms. It is expected that cable companies will try to respond to this by charging consumers an additional “pay per bit” fee on top of the cost of Internet service if one should drop their cable service. Convergence co-founder Brahm Eiley projects that the number of people opting out of TV subscription services will begin to slow in 2012 and 2013 due rising price tag for streaming rights.
It is rumored apple Apple iTV will launch in 2012 or 2013. Apple has been rumored to be working on a proper television set for some time, and it is expected that The Foxconn-Sharp Alliance is all about Apple’s Coming HDTV. OH NO: Apple TV Isn’t Coming Until 2013, Says Research Group article mentions that most analysts say Apple will release an Apple TV this year, but Asian research group CLSA said that it thinks it comes out in 2013. So far Apple’s presence in the living room has been modest, maxing out with the current Apple TV — a small set-top box that is hooked to owners’ existing televisions. HD Guru predicts that Apple will take smart TVs to the next level by providing the biggest and widest selection of TV programming, giving consumers the first real opportunity to “cut the cable.” It is expected that Apple to demo its smart TV OS at WWDC in June. If the rumors are true, Apple will release a television set later this year that it will tout as the most amazing boob tube ever invented. Apple’s TV will be able to access shows from a variety of online sources, including its iTunes Store and streaming services like Netflix and Hulu.
Maybe Apple Doesn’t Need To Make the TV of the Future. The revolution is already here in form of connected set-top-boxes. Apple Doesn’t Need To Make the TV of the Future tells that the revolution here today is called the Xbox. Microsoft has tried to turn its video-game console into your TV’s best friend. Late last year, the company revamped the Xbox’s interface, adding a voice-search feature through the Kinect motion-gaming add-on. Microsoft is going to bring full Internet Explorer browsing to Xbox 360 with Kinect controls. Microsoft also added dozens of entertainment services to its Xbox Live online plan, including Netflix, Hulu, ESPN, and on-demand video from cable and satellite services around the world. Xbox offers also access to videos from Amazon, HBO, Comcast, or many of the other sources. There’s also the matter of price: An Xbox console with a Kinect add-on sells for $250 and membership to Xbox Live’s Gold plan sells for about $40 a year. Xbox is an effective aggregator, pulling the Web’s competing video services into a single, simple interface. Xbox now used more for online entertainment than online gaming. But Xbox is not perfect, because you still have to choose between different content channels. What if you just want whatever you want, when you want it, on a single device that doesn’t ask you to belong to other paid plans? If Apple can deliver that well, then they have a good market position.
Google has shown to have will to take part in connected TV field. If you don’t succeed, try, try, again. Google TV, take 3 tells that a number major set makers begin to offer HDTVs that use Google’s Internet TV platform. Google TV allows viewers to access Google services such as searches and YouTube videos on their television screens. The TV makers have remained leery, given Google TVs poor track record in Sony TVs, the Sony Blu-ray player and the Logitech Revue, all of which failed in the marketplace in 2011. LG to launch second version of Google TV in USA. Google Introduces Tablet And Streaming Device article tells that Google just introduced Nexus Q streaming device. The Nexus Q is probably best compared to Apple TV, which acts as an interface between content on the cloud and on your devices (phones, tablets, etc.) and your television set and audio systems. Anyone with an Android phone can control it and stream media to it.
Blip sheds partners: No money in Smart TV article tells that dedicated set-top boxes for online video still have a relatively small user base. Some of the bigger CE makers may ship millions of units, but that doesn’t mean that TV viewers are actually engaging with their platforms, save for the occasional use of the embedded Netflix app. With that, Smart TV platform makers are caught in a bit of a bind: Without content, users won’t tune in — and without viewers, content providers don’t see enough value in their platforms.
It seems that year 2012 will be the final nail to the coffin on the old idea that consumers won’t accept premium content distribution over the Internet. Movie distributors make much more money from selling discs to punters than they do selling rental licenses to streaming companies, so there is common interest in them and shops to do something about this development. We thought ‘piracy’ was ruining their businesses, but perhaps it’s just nipping at their profits. A look at the market trends seems to indicate that online streaming services are overtaking conventional media distribution channels such as DVDs and Blu-rays. However, this doesn’t mean that optical media will die out anytime soon. Currently, a large number of consumers don’t have reliable enough Internet access to guarantee a good experience with premium streaming services.
When people get used to get their entertainment from on-line source what to do with the physical media like DVD and BlueRay? Online video is overtaking physical sales article tells that movie watching Americans are spending money on video streaming and downloaded film services than in stores. There will be 3.4 billion legal and paid for movies watched in the US this year, around one million higher than hard copy sales. The total number of movies consumed from services that are traditionally considered ‘home entertainment’ grow by 40 percent between 2007 and 2011, even as the number of movies viewed on physical formats has declined. So-called ‘piracy’ horror stories do not seem to be ringing true.
Warner, Sony commit to UltraViolet in UK article tells Warner Home Entertainment has revealed that all its future Blu-ray Discs will tap into Hollywood’s UltraViolet cloud-based movie locker to provide punters with downloadable copies of films they buy. Buying a movie on a UV-enabled disc gives you free access to the film for streaming and downloading. The system encompasses a host of DRM mechanisms to ensure that any given gadget like connected TVs, media players and such – can access the movies you’ve bought and play them. Walmart offers $2 digital copies of your DVDs article tells that US retail giant is to offer punters digital copies of each of their DVDs and Blu-rays for $2 (£1.27) a pop. Every digital copy is delivered through Walmart’s online streaming service, Vudu. Vudu will tie into Hollywood’s UltraViolet cross-company DRM and cloud-based film storage platform. UltraViolet is all about encouraging folk to buy movies rather than rent them, as many on-line video sources encouraging us to do. The carrot is the flexibiliy to access content you own on almost any device, and to buy from multiple providers without compatibility concerns. The Walmart scheme will encourage folk to gain digital copies without resort to ripping discs or resorting to Torrented pirate copies,
Now a good chunk of video and audio traffic is transported on broadband networks end-to-end in a digital format. When will we be able to stream bluray quality to our homes over an affordable internet connection? Given that a bluray based 1080p movie is about 15GB in size, to stream that amount of data to your house in 2 hours would require an internet connection of about 17Mb/s. The network infrastructure will need an overhaul in 2012 due to the increasing amounts of high-definition video and other traffic.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
The Nexus Q: How did it survive Google’s internal review?
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/brians-brain/4395390/The-Nexus-Q–How-did-it-survive-Google-s-internal-review-?cid=Newsletter+-+EDN+Weekly
One of the more intriguing (among other adjectives) products to come out of this year’s late June Google I/O developer conference was the Nexus Q, a spherical 4.6″ (diameter) media streaming device which ran Android 4.0
First off, the odd form factor (as is the case with the D-Link Boxee Box, for example) made it difficult to integrate the Nexus Q with other, mostly-rectangular home theater electronics
The differentiation between the Nexus Q and the Google TV set-top box, which has been out for nearly two years at this point, was also “unclear”
The Nexus Q cost $299, versus sub-$100
unlike any of the alternatives, the Nexus Q is unable to directly access any LAN- or WAN-resident multimedia content (unless it’s hacked, that is). Instead, it operates in conjunction with an Android-based smartphone or tablet, which ‘tunes’ in the content and then ‘beams’ it to the Nexus Q for playback over a tethered display and/or audio system.
The Apple TV conceptually does the same thing
, via Apple’s AirTunes audio and AirPlay A/V protocols. But it costs 1/3 the price.
Did Google really think that a “Made In the USA” label was sufficient counterbalance to such a competitively out-of-step offering?
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Algorithmic Copyright Cops: Streaming Video’s Robotic Overlords
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/09/06/2225249/the-algorithmic-copyright-cops-streaming-videos-robotic-overlords
“Geeta Dayal of Wired’s Threat Level blog posts an interesting report about bot-mediated automatic takedowns of streaming video. He mentions the interruption of Michelle Obama’s speech at the DNC, and the blocking of NASA’s coverage of Mars rover Curiosity’s landing by a Scripps News Service bot, but the story really drills down on the abrupt disappearance of the Hugo Award’s live stream of Neil Gaiman’s acceptance speech for his Doctor Who script.”
The Algorithmic Copyright Cops: Streaming Video’s Robotic Overlords
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/09/streaming-videos-robotic-overlords-algorithmic-copyright-cops/all/
As live streaming video surges in popularity, so are copyright “bots” — automated systems that match content against a database of reference files of copyrighted material. These systems can block streaming video in real time, while it is still being broadcast, leading to potentially worrying implications for freedom of speech.
Those incidents foretell an odd future for streaming video, as bandwidth and recording tools get cheaper, and the demand for instant video grows.
Copyright bots are being wired into that infrastructure, programmed as stern and unyielding censors with one hand ever poised at the off switch. What happens if the bot detects snippets of a copyrighted song or movie clip in the background? Say a ringtone from a phone not shut off at a PTA meeting? Or a short YouTube clip shown by a convention speaker to illustrate a funny point? Will the future of livestreaming be so fragile as to be unusable?
A swarm of tech companies are rushing in to provide technical solutions to enforce copyright in online sharing communities and video-streaming sites.
“The companies that are selling these automated takedown systems are really going above and beyond the requirements set for them in the DMCA, and as a result are favoring the interests of a handful of legacy media operators over the free-speech interest of the public,” says Parker Higgins, an activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
The notice-and-takedown regime created by the DMCA allows copyright holders to send a written notice to an online hosting service when they find their copyright being violated. The online service can then escape legal liability by taking down the content fairly promptly, and the original poster has the opportunity to dispute the notice and have the content reinstated after two weeks.
But that regime breaks down for livestreaming. For one, if a valid copyright dispute notice is filed by a human, it’s unlikely that a livestream site would take it down before the event ends, nor, under the law, is it actually required to. On the flipside, if a stream is taken down, the user who posted it has no immediate recourse, and the viewership disappears.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple TV No IPhone as Talks Bog Down With Media Companies
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-06/apple-tv-no-iphone-as-talks-bog-down-with-media-companies.html
Apple Inc. engineers have been working since 2005 to reinvent TV viewing. Designing the gadget may prove easy compared with convincing media and cable companies to loosen their grip on the television industry.
In recent negotiations, the main stumbling blocks with cable companies have included a tussle for control over the software that determines the screen interface — the look and feel of the viewer’s experience, said people familiar with the discussions. That’s also what TiVo Inc. (TIVO) has been offering for more than a decade
So far, Apple’s television effort has been limited to the $99 Apple TV, a small box that streams movies, shows and other content from the Web.
Since the middle of the last decade, Apple’s engineers have been working on a more advanced product to allow viewers to quickly find shows and movies, blending both live and recorded material, the people said.
In some of its most recent negotiations, Apple has focused on cable companies that would give it access to live broadcasting without needing new content agreements.
“If I’m a cable company, do I really want to let Apple into my house?” said Jason Hirschhorn, the former chief digital officer at MTV and co-president of MySpace.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Thomson joins vid-streamers’ rush for MPEG-DASH
Web vid spec has Microsoft on board, but Apple’s still hanging back
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/09/mpeg_dash_web_vid_spec/
Now that the web vid spec MPEG DASH has been published and interoperability testing is well underway, vendors are starting to put their cards on the table with serious deployments.
Just a quick recap on DASH, or Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP. OTT delivery over unmanaged networks of varying bandwidth to unspecified target devices having a range of display capabilities required a streaming protocol that could cope with congestion, and adapt in real time to changing conditions.
It quickly became apparent that dynamic adaptive streaming was the best solution, involving the deconstruction of video files into several sequences or segments, each sequence encoded at a different bit rate. This meant that clients could start streaming video at the highest bit rate they were capable of displaying at the time, subject also to available network bandwidth
As bandwidth changes, or (less likely) the client device’s capabilities alter because of, say, contention with other applications in the CPU, the stream can switch on the fly to another sequence of video chunks at a different bit rate
Having the video in small chunks enables this switchover to be accomplished quickly and seamlessly
While almost everyone agreed that adaptive dynamic streaming over HTTP was the way forward for OTT and multiscreen delivery, several important variants emerged, all similar but incompatible. The three key ones are Microsoft Smooth Streaming, Apple HTTP Live Streaming, and Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming, but there are others, meaning that broadcasters and pay TV operators were faced with having to support a number of parallel streaming protocols.
This added to the complication of having to encode at different bit rates as well as supporting various encryption mechanisms and DRMs. Having these multiple competing adaptive streaming technologies was fragmenting the OTT market almost before it began
There are two other important aspects of DASH: content protection and file structure.
The final key move came in April 2012 when Microsoft announced that its Media Platform would support DASH, following ratification by ISO/IEC of the standard.
the main outstanding concern is then convergence with HTML5, the still evolving markup language for presenting multimedia content within browsers. The current working draft of HTML5 still does not specify support for adaptive streaming, or for DRM protection.
This omission is being rectified by the World Wide Web Consortium, which is working to add both adaptive streaming and content protection APIs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Virgin Media plans TV Anywhere to challenge Sky Go
Lets users watch live TV and on-demand content using the web or an Ipad app
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2203803/virgin-media-launches-tv-anywhere-to-challenge-sky-go
JACK OF ALL TRADES Virgin Media has announced plans to launch TV Anywhere, an on-demand and live streaming television service that will challenge Sky Go.
Set to arrive in Autumn 2012, TV Anywhere will give customers Ipad app and web browser access to on-demand content and live TV.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Valve Is Bringing Steam To Your TV Today. Watch Out, Consoles.
http://kotaku.com/5941793
Today, Valve will launch the beta of Big Picture mode, a version of Steam designed for your television. That’s right. The de facto central hub of PC gaming is now designed to run while you’re lounging in your living room—and with a controller, no less.
No, this new “Steam TV” isn’t going to make our video game consoles go away.
Valve isn’t happy with today’s gaming consoles.
Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are walled gardens.
“They want a full-screen experience. They want to be in the living room. They want to use a game controller. They wanna have a social gaming experience. And we have this platform that lets us ship a significant portion of that experience.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Citing “The Math,” HBO’s Alison Moore Says There Are Still No Plans For Standalone HBO GO In The U.S.
http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/11/citing-the-math-hbos-alison-moore-says-there-are-still-no-plans-for-standalone-hbo-go-in-the-u-s/
Those lucky folks in the Nordics just recently got access to an on-demand, over-the-top HBO service that bears more than a passing resemblance to HBO GO, but we here in the States haven’t been quite as fortunate.
“Here’s the thing: it’s math,” Moore said about the possibility of splitting HBO GO into a standalone service. “It’s a little presumptuous to say that $8 [a month per consumer] is going to make the business whole.”
That particular figure came from a surprising source — another panelist.
Brunetti thinks that HBO charging non-subscribers $8 a month or so (if you’ll recall, the average amount people would be comfortable paying was around $12) would be a “huge benefit to HBO” and a “huge benefit to the consumer.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
M-Go, which seeks to launch a digital storefront for movies online, has just announced deals with five of the top six Hollywood studios that will allow it to sell UltraViolet-enabled movies and play them back on a number of connected devices.
M-Go is a joint venture between Technicolor and Dreamworks, and was shown off earlier this year at CES and SXSW. The idea is to create apps that will work across multiple devices, including tablets and smart TVs. Already, M-Go has struck deals to have its apps loaded on Samsung and Vizio TVs, Blu-ray players, and tablets. It’ll also be available on Intel ultrabooks and other devices.
M-Go — and UltraViolet in general — will need to show they can compete with other existing apps and markets — like Apple’s iTunes and Amazon Instant Video. It also has to show that users even WANT to buy and own content anymore, considering most growth in the home video market is happening from subscription video on demand services like Netflix and Hulu Plus.
Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/11/m-go-studios/
Sal DelVecchio says:
I guess this is the new direction where TV is going. But TV is still is TV. Even if it is connected, the medium has its own personality had ability to stand out from other mediums. But so far, so good.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Shazam now lets you tag live TV on any channel, hits 250 million users
http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/17/3344706/shazam-for-tv-any-channel-250-million-users
Music-tagging app Shazam today announced that it’s expanding its functionality to let you tag any TV show on any channel in order to find out what music is playing, who’s acting on screen, and more. The company also announced that it now has a mind-boggling 250 million users, which makes it one of the top ten most downloaded apps of all time since it debuted back in 2008.
Shazam has a room full of servers watching 160 channels in the US (which leaves out most local-only channels) and fingerprinting content as it airs
Tomi Engdahl says:
When Twitter Fans Steer TV
Viewer Feedback Is Louder, Faster Than Ever, Influencing Scripts of Some Shows
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10000872396390444772804577623444273016770-lMyQjAxMTAyMDEwNjAxODY3Wj.html
There’s a new critic in television writing rooms pressuring some producers to tweak scripts: the Twitterati.
Comments posted on Twitter and other social-media websites about television shows have exploded in the past year, to 75.5 million in July
And the comments are beginning to have an impact on the writing of shows.
Tomi Engdahl says:
All the TV News Since 2009, on One Web Site
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/business/media/internet-archive-amasses-all-tv-news-since-2009.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
Inspired by a pillar of antiquity, the Library of Alexandria, Brewster Kahle has a grand vision for the Internet Archive, the giant aggregator and digitizer of data, which he founded and leads.
“We want to collect all the books, music and video that has ever been produced by humans,” Mr. Kahle said.
As of Tuesday, the archive’s online collection will include every morsel of news produced in the last three years by 20 different channels, encompassing more than 1,000 news series that have generated more than 350,000 separate programs devoted to news.
The Internet Archive has been quietly recording the news material from all these outlets, which means, Mr. Kahle said, capturing not only every edition of “60 Minutes” on CBS but also every minute of every day on CNN.
All of this will be available, free, to those willing to dive into the archive starting Tuesday. Mr. Kahle said the method for the search for information would be the closed-captioned words that have accompanied the news programs. The user simply plugs in the words of the search, along with some kind of time frame, and matches of news clips will appear.
The act of copying all this news material is protected under a federal copyright agreement signed in 1976.
The archive has no intention of replacing or competing with the Web outlets owned by the news organizations. Mr. Kahle said new material would not be added until 24 hours after it was first broadcast. “We don’t expect this to replace CNN.com,” he said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Movies, TV shows and music from unauthorized network load the Finnish running out of excuses.
Until now, downloading has been able to justify the difficulties of content: for example, many American TV series has not been able to watch here legally
Now buying opportunities are increasing.
If you do not believe in the ideology of piracy, it is getting time to start to consider paying.
Source: http://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/Torrent-lataaja+on+maksun+aika/a1305600231894
Tomi Engdahl says:
Time Warner CEO Explains Why He Doesn’t Care About Selling HBO To Cord-Cutters (Or Old Folks)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2012/09/20/time-warner-ceo-explains-why-he-doesnt-care-about-selling-hbo-to-cord-cutters-or-old-folks/
If cord-cutters were a political party, the first plank of their platform would be the right to subscribe to HBO directly over the internet without signing up for cable or satellite TV service. That’s not going to happen anytime soon, says Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes.
Bewkes explained why the media conglomerate would rather endure rampant content piracy than sell an “over-the-top” version of its premium TV channel.
He said the decision has nothing to do with Time Warner’s existing agreements with its distribution partners. Rather, he said, the universe of people without cable or satellite service is “not that good of a market.”
In Scandiavia, where Time Warner just started selling HBO Go as an a la carte streaming service, there’s enough super-fast broadband infrastructure to deliver high-definition programming. That’s not the case here, he said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mobile phone and tablet on the rise
Youth view online TV
Finnish television viewing is shifting to the Internet.
Sonera Gallup survey showed that young people between 18 and 24 years, of which up to a fifth of watching television only via the Internet.
Young people between 18 and 24 years of age adults move to new TV viewing time of day, viewing equipment and facilities.
Nearly 70 per cent of young people to keep Internet more important than the TV.
Portable TV viewing survey indicate that 68 percent of all young people in the total population of 34 per cent use a portable television viewing.
18 per cent of young people can not see the TV broadcast time.
Nine per cent of young people report that they view the TV programs from the tablet and ten per cent of the mobile phone.
Among young men one in seven view TV programs on tablet or mobile phone.
Source: http://www.3t.fi/artikkeli/uutiset/teknologia/nuoriso_katsoo_netista_televisiota
Tomi Engdahl says:
Candies keep the movie rental shops on the surface in Finland
Video stores are increasingly under pressure, when the visitors through the internet movies and TV series that provide entertainment companies.
Traditional video stores, and Makuuni FilmTown, have long remained profitable with help of accessory sales (like candies). Movies only cover half of the chain’s total sales. So far, business has been slightly profitable, but the two chains’ business volumes have been on a steady decline.
Rental salons are assured that the new players are eating habits of rental.
Consumers have access to ever more powerful Internet connections, which lets you view movies at home. At the same time the temptation to download a movie or TV series illegally home computer has grown.
Chains wondered frantically, how to cope with the increasing competition. Taste began in the spring of new players like to offer movies on the Internet for lease. The same has been considering FilmTown.
Source: http://yle.fi/uutiset/nallekarkit_pitavat_elokuvavuokraamoja_pinnalla/6305144
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cablevision takes side of broadcasters in fight against Aereo
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-cablevision-aereo-20120924,0,2379935.story
The broadcast industry has received support from an unusual source in its legal battle against Aereo: a new company that distributes local TV signals over the Internet.
“The critical legal difference is that Cablevision pays statutory licensing and retransmission consent fees for the content it retransmits, while Aereo does not,” the company said in its filing.
Aereo, a start-up backed by Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActive Corp., offers a service that transmits the signals of local broadcast stations via the Internet to smartphones, tablets and Internet-friendly TVs. Aereo charges subscribers a monthly fee of $12 for a small antenna that receives broadcast signals and a remote digital video recorder that can hold up to 40 hours of shows.
Several big broadcasters — including CBS, NBC, Fox and Univision — are trying to shut Aereo down, claiming the service violates copyright.
Cablevision went on to question Aereo’s claim that its use of individual antennas and hard-drive recordings for each subscriber means it is not violating copyright law if the transmission is available only to one person.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Xbox Challenged as Cable Plots to Make Consoles Obsolete
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-25/xbox-challenged-as-cable-plots-to-make-consoles-obsolete.html
AT&T Inc. (T), Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) are gearing up for a push to deliver video games directly to televisions, said people with knowledge of the matter, a strategy shift that poses a threat to traditional consoles such as the PlayStation, Wii and Xbox.
Trials of cloud-gaming services are likely to start later this year so carriers can test and tweak the technology before wider deployments that may begin as early as 2013, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. Other carriers are aiming for 2014, the people said.
If successful, Web-based games could accelerate a shift away from consoles, the industry’s main money maker for the past three decades.
“Everybody has a TV,” said Atul Bagga, a video-games analyst at Lazard Capital Markets in San Francisco. Cable and phone companies are “looking for new ways to monetize their users and gaming can be pretty compelling,” he said.
By adding popular games to their TV, Internet and phone packages, carriers can offer another service to their almost 50 million digital TV subscribers.
AT&T, said in a statement the company is “exploring unique ways to offer cloud gaming services to our TV and broadband customers.”
Wider cloud-gaming adoption would be a significant shift from the console business model pioneered by Atari Inc. in the ’70s and advanced by Nintendo in the ’80s — selling machines at a slim profit or loss and making money on royalties from game cartridges or discs.
Large service providers have an advantage because they have deeper pockets, big data centers and an existing subscriber base. Still, delivering a cloud service with the same quality as game consoles and creating a profitable business will be a challenge
“It makes perfect sense why they would want to go after this market,” said Lasky, who was previously an executive at Electronic Arts. “Streaming games use a ton of bandwidth and really benefit from good networks. But it’s a gnarly execution problem they’re trying to solve.”
Nvidia Corp., a maker of graphics processors, has been building technology for data-centers
“It’s a substantial investment of both hardware and software,”
For game publishers, cloud gaming makes sense because they can develop for a single platform rather than for each of the various consoles, which costs more money.
While networks in the U.S. are preparing for cloud gaming, services have already emerged in other countries, including Portugal, France, Singapore and South Korea. Playcast, based in Israel, has partnered with carriers in each of those countries to stream games to set-top boxes and televisions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Social TV app Zeebox lands in U.S. with programmer backing
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57521105-93/social-tv-app-zeebox-lands-in-u.s-with-programmer-backing/
The second-screen TV companion seeks to blend TV programming with interactive features, including social networks and targeted advertising.
Second-screen TV app Zeebox, which touts itself as new way for TV viewers to find and discover content, is landing in the U.S. with the backing of 30 broadcasters, including Comcast Cable, NBCUniversal, HBO, and Cinemax.
With more than 1.5 million users in the U.K., the free Zeebox app for Android and iOS devices seeks to marry TV programming information with interactive features, including social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.
The new app is likely to blend well with the activities of millions who already use portable devices in conjunction with TV viewing; a recent Nielsen survey found that 86 percent of tablet owners and 84 percent of smartphone checked their mobile devices while watching TV.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dish Said to Be in Talks With Viacom About Internet TV
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-27/dish-said-to-be-in-talks-with-viacom-about-internet-tv.html
Dish Network Corp. (DISH) is talking to networks such as Viacom (VIAB) Inc.’s MTV about offering their channels over the Internet, a service that could shift the economics of the pay-TV industry, five people familiar with the plan said.
The effort would mark the biggest attempt to create an online service with live cable channels, a break from the approach taken by Netflix (NFLX) Inc. and Hulu LLC. For Dish, the move would decrease its reliance on its satellite-TV service, which ranks second to DirecTV (DTV) in U.S. customers. It also gives it a way to undercut pay-TV competitors on price.
Dish and Aereo don’t expect to get separate Internet rights from the major broadcast channels — Fox, CBS, NBC and ABC — according to two people familiar with the negotiations. Fox, CBS and NBC also are suing Dish over its AutoHop Ad-Skipper, which allows Dish customers to instantly bypass commercials for network shows the day after they’re first aired. Dish has filed its own lawsuit against all four networks.
Aereo, based in New York, is in talks with a number of cable networks, including Viacom, to get rights to an older library of shows, similar to what’s available on Netflix, according to two executives with knowledge of the discussions. Aereo would pay for that content, unlike what it does with the broadcast channels’ programming, according to the people.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Telkku.com to challenge TVKaistan and other online TV services in Finland
Television program guide publisher Telkku.com opened on Monday, premium service, where you can record and watch TV shows online.
Software Developer Kai Kousan thought this was the next logical step: the past in the service were the program information, now you can find also the programs
Nauhuri service has similar characteristics as Elisa Viihde service. It is like your own set-top box as on-line service (you have to pre-select what to record).
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/telkkucom+haastaa+tvkaistan+ja+muut+nettitvpalvelut/a843959?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-02102012&
Tomi Engdahl says:
TV studios too strong for Apple disruption
Syndication biz projected to reach $20 billion
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118060188
The economics of Hollywood’s TV studios have been strengthened so much by new windows that even Apple won’t be able to disrupt their business, according to a new research report.
Barclay’s says the TV syndication business has doubled its value over the past decade to an estimated $20 billion this year. While cable’s aggressive licensing of broadcast series Stateside has largely fueled that increase, analyst Anthony DiClemente projects continued growth stemming from digital buyers and international syndication, which he says represents the “biggest opportunity” for the studios.
“It would be very difficult, not to mention expensive, for new entrants to secure the requisite digital and linear rights to provide consumers with a one-stop content offering,” he writes. “We therefore don’t expect Apple to attempt the costly and logistically daunting task of standalone distribution.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
When news breaks, most Americans seek a second, trusted source for more info
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/190640/when-news-breaks-most-americans-seek-a-second-trusted-source-for-more-info/
When Americans first learn about a breaking news story, 83 percent seek out a second source to get more information, new research says.
Half of them turned to a different type of platform (i.e., heard the news on TV then went online to read more) for follow-up, and of the people who went online, 60 percent turned to a traditional news outlet like The New York Times, CNN or Fox News.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Television Network Embeds Android Device In Magazine Ads
http://slashdot.org/story/12/10/04/2226246/television-network-embeds-android-device-in-magazine-ads
“Readers of Entertainment Weekly might be shocked to find their magazine is a good bit heavier than normal this week. US-based broadcaster CW placed an ad in Entertainment Weekly which uses a fully-functional 3G Android device, a T-Mobile SIM card, and a specialized app to display short video advertisements along with the CW Twitter feed.”
Entertainment Weekly Packs Free “Smartphone” Inside Magazine
http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/728532/entertainment-weekly-packs-free-smartphone-inside-magazine/
Remember when magazines used to pack CD-ROMs in with their publications? Advertisers to Entertainment Weekly have taken that idea to the present, and is including a working Android-powered advertising device in their latest issue. Not only that, it’s essentially a working, full-sized 3G cellphone inside their publication.
The digital device is designed to show off clips from CW shows The Arrow and Emily Owens, M.D., and then revert to live tweets from the CW’s twitter feed.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Coming Internet Video Crash
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/10/05/2116251/the-coming-internet-video-crash
“First, it was data caps on cellular, and now caps on wired broadband — welcome to the end of the rich Internet, writes Galen Gruman. ‘People are still getting used to the notion that unlimited data plans are dead and gone for their smartphones.”
“Now, we’re beginning to see the eradication of the unlimited data plan in our broadband lines, such as cable and DSL connections.
“It’s a dangerous trend that will threaten the budding Internet-based video business”
“The result will be a metered Internet that discourages use of the services so valuable for work and play.’”
The coming Internet video crash
First, it was data caps on cellular, and now caps on wired broadband — welcome to the end of the rich Internet
http://www.infoworld.com/d/consumerization-of-it/the-coming-internet-video-crash-203876
It’s a dangerous trend that will threaten the budding Internet-based video business — whether from Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, Windows Store, or Google Play — then jeopardize Internet services of all sorts.
It’s a complex issue, and though the villains are obvious — the telecom carriers and cable providers — the solutions are not. The result will be a metered Internet that discourages use of the services so valuable for work and play.
Tomi says:
Discovery Networks Is Brightcove’s First Partner For Its Dual-Screen Apple TV Service, Live First In Italy
http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/03/discovery-networks-is-brightcoves-first-partner-for-its-dual-screen-apple-tv-service-live-first-in-italy/
Back in June, Brightcove unveiled a new strategy to take its App Cloud development platform open source, and at the same time it introduced a new dual-screen Apple TV feature aimed at growing its business on connected TVs.
The new service will run on iPad and iPhone apps from DMAX Italy, a free-to-air channel operated by Discovery with 20 million subscribers. And it will give users the ability to initiate an action on, say, an iPhone or iPad, and then shift that content directly onto the larger screen of the TV using Apple’s AirPlay technology. This makes dual-screen functionality a step beyond companion apps — now very common in the TV world — in that it gives users the ability to actually port features and functions from one screen directly to the other.
Discovery appears to be seeing Italy as the fist step in a wider rollout
The Brightcove news puts a big emphasis on Apple and iOS — you need Apple TV and iOS devices for the dual-screen feature. It’s not that Brightcove is an Apple shop — in fact today Discovery is also releasing an Android video app with Brightcove’s App Cloud APIs incorporated into it. But Allaire notes that so far, it’s only been Apple that has created a framework for dual screen services on its platform.
“The dual screen TV apps only work with Apple TV because Apple is the only company in the market to have created a platform to do this,” he says. “Google, Microsoft, Samsung… none of them have created anything similar.”
However, Google has actually done some work looking into how much dual-screens are being used today, so it’s likely only a matter of time before it too comes out with a similar offering as Apple’s.
Allaire agrees. “Presumably it’s likely that Google and Microsoft will look to introduce similar plumbing and APIs into their mobile and TV platforms, and if those get embedded and get broad distribution, then we will look to do integrate them into our dual-app service, too,” he says.
Tomi says:
If Content Is King, Multiscreen Is The Queen, Says New Google Study
http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/29/if-content-is-king-multiscreen-is-the-queen-says-new-google-study/
New research out from Google, working with market analysts Ipsos and Sterling Brands, puts some hard numbers behind the often-noticed trend of how people in the U.S. are using a combination of phones, tablets, computer and TVs to consume digital content.
The survey also found that smartphones are the most common sidekick device used simultaneously with other screens. This is perhaps unsurprising, given that smartphones are small and in many ways complement the services we get on PCs, televisions and tablets, not just with apps but also with voice and text services.
Tomi Engdahl says:
YouTube expands original programming push to Europe
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57527613-93/youtube-expands-original-programming-push-to-europe/
Video platform will add 50 new original-content channels, including country-specific channels in France, Germany, and Britain.
The video-sharing site announced this evening it was adding 50 channels on top of the 100 it has introduced in the past year, along with the launch of country-specific channels in France, Germany, and Britain.
Since announcing $100 million investment in original programming last October, YouTube said it is already harvesting the fruit of its labor. The video portal says it is averaging more than a million views per week from its top 25 original channels, and that more than 800,000 people are watching 4 billion hours of video every month — up from 3 billion hours earlier this year. It also said the number of people subscribing has double over last year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Could TV’s ‘second screen’ be used for even more TV?
http://paidcontent.org/2012/10/04/could-tvs-second-screen-be-used-for-even-more-tv/
Whilst adding Viacom as a US investor, Zeebox wants to augment The X Factor not just with tweets but with a parallel live tablet video stream. Is this second-screen convergence, or just multimedia overkill?
Now that it is understood TV viewers are using mobile devices whilst watching shows, many in digital media are using those mobiles to accompany television with alternative-format material, like contextual text information, social discussion, votes and games.
But what if the ideal accompaniment to live TV was… more live TV?
That is what one London outfit, Showcaster, is hoping. It is preparing to produce a live video show called #Yappfactor to air during this fall’s Saturday-night The X Factor (UK) – not on the show broadcaster ITV, but inside the Zeebox social TV sidekick application.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google TV starts adding movie, music, and TV purchases from Google Play
http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/8/3472248/google-tv-starts-adding-movie-music-and-tv-purchases-from-google-play
Google TV owners rejoice: a new update means you’ll be able to buy and rent movies, music and TV shows from Google Play and watch them on your Google TV device. Yes, it’s a little hard to believe that Google TV couldn’t already do that, when other Android devices without “TV” in their names have had access for over three months. Still, when we tried the new feature at Google HQ last week, we found it to be a fairly seamless process.
Google tells us the Google Play update starts rolling out tonight and should continue spreading over the next few weeks, and will also include subscription billing and smart app updates, to bring the TV-based Android market the tiniest step closer to parity with its tablet- and phone-based cousins.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boxee TV Leaked — Cable Companies Should Be Concerned
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/10/boxee-tv-leaked-cable-companies-should-be-concerned/
As the price of cable and satellite TV rises, more and more fans of the boob tube are looking for ways to cut the cord. But the lack of a single device that easily brings all aspects of media together remains the largest hurdle.
The still-in-beta Boxee TV that was leaked to The Verge on Tuesday could be the device that pushes potential cord-cutters over the edge. The set-top box has all the ingredients needed to make it the ultimate cord-cutting device.
The Boxee operating system, originally based on the open source XBMC, contains a plethora of web apps, including Netflix, Vudu and Vimeo.
This new device also supports over-the-air HD channels via a TV tuner and has a DVR feature.
Before you get too excited, the Verge article says the Boxee TV currently crashes several times a day. Clearly, the device is still in the early stages.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Telkku.com is a popular free to use TV program guide site in Finland.
They have now added a new Internet based TV program recording to their services (this is extra service you have to pay a monthly fee).
http://www.telkku.com/nauhuri
Tomi says:
Tietoviikko reports that Ericsson’s TV business manager Joachim Bergman presented Ericsson’s vision for the future in Helsinki in early October.
“Pay-TV is far from dying, though some have predicted the kind of web content quality improves,” Bergman said. Traditional orders, however, are lower, but in particular on-demand services such as Netflix, and HBO-like channels have increased their demand.
When Internet broadcasting quality improves it requires more from the Internet infrastructure.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/seuraavan+polven+teravapiirtotv+nelinkertaistaa+tarkkuuden+2014/a846261?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-10102012&
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft To Compete Against Spotify With Xbox Music, Available Soon On Xbox, Windows 8, And Windows Phone Devices
http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/14/microsoft-xbox-music/
Microsoft will soon become the next player to enter the streaming music business, with a service that will see it competing against the likes of Spotify and Rdio. Its new Xbox Music service will soon become available on the Xbox Live service, as well as on Windows 8 tablets and PCs and Windows Phone mobile devices over the coming weeks.
The service is being rolled out to various Microsoft-powered devices over the coming month. It will first become available on the Xbox on October 16, when Microsoft does its next Xbox Live update. When that happens, its existing Zune music store will disappear and be replaced by Xbox Music. On October 26, it will become available through Windows 8 PCs and tablets. And it will be introduced on Windows Phone mobile devices shortly thereafter.
Tomi Engdahl says:
[Infographic] YouTube’s Top 1,000 Channels Reveal An Industry Taking Shape
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/infographic-youtubes-top-1-000-channels-reveal-emerging-power-of-social-video.php
YouTube is still the pesky younger sibling of television, which is the wicked uncle of Hollywood. But the social video site is slowly becoming a formidable medium in its own right, creating new business models and spheres of influence for – literally – a million rising stars.
OpenSlate, which describes its services as delivering “actionable information about the value of online video to advertisers,” recently put together an infographic analyzing the top 1,000 YouTube channels.
Tomi says:
TV viewing via mobile devices is a growing trend. At the same development is also linked to the fact that television viewing outside the home has increased in one year from five per cent to 50 per cent.
Latest research indicates that up to 67 per cent of consumers used mobile devices in television viewing, shows Ericsson’s annual TV And Video-consumer trend research.
“Thanks to broadband TV can be anywhere and at any time. People are becoming more willing to meet the waiting and travel time spent watching television, among other things,” says the television and media business manager Joachim Bergman from Ericsson Finland.
Homes had previously been a few television, around which the viewer focused. Today, is often regarded as one of the big TV, and programs are in addition to a variety of mobile devices.
“In particular, tablet devices have become popular in television and video contents on despite the fact that the technology is still in its infancy,”
A variety of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet devices has led to the proliferation of the phenomenon, which is called a social TV watching. It means that TV viewing at the same time contribute to the discussions on social media.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/televisio+on+siirtynyt+liikkuvaksi+jo+valtaosalla/a847441?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-15102012&
Tomi says:
Ericsson Consumerlab TV and Video report
An analysis of evolving consumer habits
http://www.ericsson.com/res/docs/2012/consumerlab/tv_video_consumerlab_report.pdf
Key findings
> Social TV is exploding –
62 percent of consumers
use social media while
watching TV. This has
increased by 18 percentage
points since 2011.
> Consumers are not
cutting their traditional TV
subscriptions on a large
scale – in fact only 7 percent
have canceled their TV
packages since 2011.
> HD quality remains key –
41 percent of consumers are
willing to pay for HD quality.
The importance of high-quality
images increases on devices
with bigger screens such
as TVs and tablets.
> Mobile devices are an
important part of the TV
experience – 67 percent
use tablets, smartphones
or laptops in their everyday
TV viewing, both for video
consumption and to enable
a social media experience
while watching TV.
> TV anytime and anywhere
is finally a mass market
service – 60 percent of
consumers watch video
on-demand on a weekly
basis. New, easy-to-use
services trigger mobile
viewing habits
Tomi Engdahl says:
Xbox: The new face of ‘entertainment’ at Microsoft, beyond just video games
http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/15/xbox-rebranding-xbox-music-video/
Having been relegated to the world of video games for the past decade, Microsoft is opening up its Xbox branding to a larger world of media. “‘Xbox’ is actually going from thinking about gaming in a device to being the entertainment face for all of Microsoft,” Johnson said — a major change from the Xbox name’s place as a stand-in for “the Halo and Gears of War box,” trotted out once or twice annually by lower level execs from the Washington-based software giant. “That’s what the company — all the way up to Steve Ballmer — have gotten behind. That’s why you’re gonna see movies on Windows 8 slates, you’re gonna see music, and it’s gonna be branded as ‘Xbox.’,” he explained.
This naming convention carries to Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 RT as well — all post-Windows 7 Microsoft devices (and Xbox 360) will refer to music and video libraries as “Xbox Music” and “Xbox Video,” respectively.
But to many, that shift could be confusing. Isn’t “Xbox” that thing in the living room? When “Xbox Music” shows up on Windows 8 devices later this month, will your average user understand that, no, they don’t have to own an Xbox to listen to the music therein? Johnson’s not worried about that potential reality. “The brand has continued to evolve,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Simple.TV Starts Shipping Streaming DVR
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/10/simple-tv-starts-shipping-streaming-dvr/
The battle for your cord-cutting dollars continues to heat up. Hardware for streaming, time-shifting (recording to DVR), or place-shifting (watching your TV content on mobile devices) continues to flood the market, promising to take up all your precious HDMI ports. Simple.TV does all those things and leaves your ports for more important things, like game consoles.
The device differs from other DVRs on the market because it doesn’t actually connect to a TV. Instead, it connects to over-the-air HDTV signals or cable TV and streams the content to iOS devices, HTML-enabled browsers and Roku boxes. With a $50-a-year subscription, users can send streams over the internet to up to five devices at once.
The Simple.TV connects to a home network via Ethernet and to a digital TV antenna or cable TV via a coaxial port. It then streams Live TV or stored media to supported devices. Without a yearly subscription, those streams are confined to a local network. Part TiVo and part SlingBox, the Simple.TV is intriguing, but it does have limitations.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What Eight Million Livestreams Really Means
http://allthingsd.com/20121015/what-eight-million-live-streams-really-means/
That crazy leap that Felix Baumgartner made was astonishing.
And if you’re interested in the future of Web video, YouTube’s ability to serve up eight million livestreams at the same time is a really big deal, too.
So it doesn’t take much imagination to envision YouTube doing this kind of stuff, at this scale, on a regular basis. Which would mean the Web finally has a chance to rival TV when it comes to serving up live events with huge audiences — one of TV’s last remaining advantages over the Internet.
That won’t happen anytime soon, though. Death-defying jumps from outer space aside, there are only a few live events that millions of people want to watch at the same time. Basically, a handful of award shows like the Oscars, and big-time sports.
Even if YouTube wanted to pay up to get its hands on that programming, it’s going to have to wait, because the TV guys have the rights locked up for a long time.
But YouTube is still going to be an important platform for live stuff. It’s just that you probably won’t see most of it, unless you’re in a very particular niche.
Here’s some of the stuff YouTube has streamed live in the last year or so
None of these shows drew more than a couple-hundred-thousand concurrent viewers, which would make them the equivalent of a poorly rated cable TV show.
And that makes sense: Since the Internet has trained us to watch anything we want, whenever we want to, why do we have to watch when everyone else does?
(A semi-secret about the live video streaming that news sites like the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal* and the Huffington Post do, for instance: Almost all the viewing comes after the fact, via on-demand clips.)
So, yes. If someone else wants to grab the world’s attention by breaking the sound barrier aided only by gravity, you’ll be able to watch it alongside a global audience of millions.
But the future of live video on YouTube is probably going to look like something else: You and several thousand other people, watching something most of the world doesn’t care about.
And that can be thrilling in its own way.
Tomi says:
Tieto and Sofia Digital have agreed to new TV services and solutions to develop. The cooperation covers HbbTV standard-based solutions for marketing, sales, delivery and support services to broadcasters and telecommunications companies in the Nordic countries.
HbbTV (Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV) is a television industry jointly developed and supported by the device manufacturers a collection of techniques that allow both the TV broadcast over the Internet transmitted to the use of services directly to the TV screen.
Standard-based services are available to consumers on the Internet connected TVs and through set-top boxes.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/tieto+alkaa+kehittaa+tvpalveluita/a848034?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-17102012&
Tomi says:
HbbTV® = More entertainment at your command
http://www.hbbtv.org/
Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV or “HbbTV”, is a major new pan-European initiative aimed at harmonising the broadcast and broadband delivery of entertainment to the end consumer through connected TVs and set-top boxes.
Through the adoption of HbbTV, consumers will be able to access new services from entertainment providers such as broadcasters, online providers and CE manufactures – including catch-up TV, video on demand (VoD), interactive advertising, personalisation, voting, games and social networking as well as programme-related services such as digital text and EPGs.
HbbTV (Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV) is a new industry standard providing an open and business neutral technology platform that seamlessly combines TV services delivered via broadcast with services delivered via broadband and also enables access to Internet only services for consumers using connected TVs and set-top boxes. The founding members of the HbbTV consortium together with a large group of supporters jointly developed the HbbTV specification to create a global standard for hybrid entertainment services. Version 1.1.1 of this specification has been approved by ETSI as ETSI TS 102 796 in June 2010.
The HbbTV specification is based on existing standards and web technologies including OIPF (Open IPTV Forum), CEA, DVB and W3C. The standard provides the features and functionality required to deliver feature rich broadcast and internet services. Utilizing standard Internet technology it enables rapid application development. It defines minimum requirements simplifying the implementation in devices and leaving room for differentiation, this limits the investment required by CE manufacturers to build compliant devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Online Entertainment unit is now hard buzz of Finland.
Netflix begins work today, and HBO is right on the lips.
Viaplay’s race for spectators is also active: lower prices for services.
Both Viaplay that Netflix praise offering versatile.
HBO has said it will open in Finland in October, less than ten euros for a monthly fee.
Source: http://www.tietokone.fi/uutiset/netflix_aloittaa_viaplay_laskee_hintojaan
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fujitsu Laboratories has developed a new information transmission technology though video data. The technology can successfully transmit information from television display or digital signage to a smart phone. With the new technology an advertiser can embed coupons or URLs into TV commercials.
The technology adds many tiny points of light into a video. The brightness changes slowly and smoothly, so it is invisible to human eye, but can transport digital information like two dimension bar code. Can be read 2 meters away from display.
New information transmission technology through video data
http://jad.fujitsu.com/exhibit/ceatec/pdf/id4-1e.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
UltraViolet universal movie format still a no-show
But the online film locker has 5m members
http://www.reghardware.com/2012/10/18/ultraviolet_universal_movie_format_still_a_no_show/
UltraViolet, Hollywood’s attempt to tie physical media to movie downloads through an online locker, now has more than 5m accounts under its belt, but it’s still not ready for prime time: it’s key feature, a universal file format, is still not ready to be rolled out.
UV was launched a year ago. By February 2012, it had clocked up some 800,000 accounts, most of them in the US. Eight months on, UV remains a predominantly US affair, but the number of accounts has rocketed by more than 500 per cent, the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), the company overseeing the technology, claimed this week.
Some 7200 UV-enabled Blu-ray Discs and downloads are available in the shops and online in the UK and the US
DECE executives said online stores will be opening and UV discs rolled out in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, France and Germany in 2013.
By then, UV’s Common File Format (CFF) might be ready. This technology will allow content bought from one UV retailer to be accessed through another’s site and software. It is the download equivalent of a disc – a file that will play in suitable software no matter where you bought it from.
Unfortunately, the DECE people admitted, it’s not yet ready.
At the moment, download content is tied to suppliers’ own playback apps, or streamed.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Yesterday, Finland, on Thursday started the Netflix video service has already led to a small stir.
Netflix needs Finnish subtitle for Finland. At least on movie in the service had subtitles taken from DivX web site.
The case was discovered when Netflix movie repeated detentions text read, “Again, the subtitles provided http://WWW.DIVXFINLAND.ORG.” For example, the video can be viewed on YouTube .
“It’s nice that the texts are accepted, but could not even ask permission,” DivX Finland writes on Twitter .
DivX Finland makes it it possible to download foreign language text for
the purchased movie – as well as illegally downloaded videos. The service is free and maintained by enthusiasts.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/netflix+mokasi+kayttaa+luvatta+harrastelijoiden+teksityksia++quotmaksaakohan+sita+omista+teksteistaquot/a848827?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-19102012&
Tomi says:
NetFlix Caught Stealing DivX Subtitles From Finnish Pirates
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/10/21/1418210/netflix-caught-stealing-divx-subtitles-from-finnish-pirates
NetFlix recently opened its streaming service in Finland and was promptly caught stealing movie subtitles from a local DivX community site. How were they caught?
Comments:
Telling us how piracy is hurting their business and costing them money!
Or is the article summary is deliberately inflammatory. It’s not “stealing” – it’s exactly the sort of sharing which I assume a “pirate” would support.
it’s been given free advertising.
divxfinland uses the CC-NC-SA 3.0 license. This is does not allow commercial usage.
It has been shown that Netflix also used portuguese community generated subtitle files for its Brazilian site. Netflix used it with errors and all. I don’t think that its illegal, technically…
Here is the source [http://blog.lancamentosnetflix.com.br/2012/09/netflix-baixando-legendas-da-internet.html]
So, somewhere in the chain of passing out the requirement for, I assume, low cost translation, some “bright mind” had this idea.
First, Netflix reacted by posting a note saying it was sorry for the trouble (the exact wording changed a time or two). It has also removed those programs where the DivX Finland subtitles were used. Or said that they will do so, I am not a subscriber, so I am not able to check.
According to a blog post [blogspot.fi] (in Finnish) from the website av-kaantajat.fi (video subtitler’s site),
http://av-kaantajat.blogspot.fi/2012/10/netflixin-kaannosstrategiassa-on.html
Netflix is getting their subtitles with super-tight schedules and expecting to get 1,5h worth of subtitled programs per day, whereas to do this properly it would usually take a week.
From the same blog post, in an interview with the Netflix subtitling chief Neil Hunt, he said outright that he’s not interested in quality. So apparently the subtitling for them is just a feature checkbox that needs to be ticked off, with minimum cost and without other considerations.
Netflix’s approach to “quantity over quality” is just another move in the same direction, and as such, worrisome. It’s also not a surprise that when paid very little and expected to deliver a lot, someone would resort to the easiest approach.
Tomi Engdahl says:
XBMC coders acquire TVonics brand
UK DVR set to return
http://www.reghardware.com/2012/10/22/pulse_eight_acquires_tvonics_brand_for_xbmc_box/
Key assets once owned by TVonics, the UK digital video recorder maker which collapsed into administration in June 2012, have been acquired by a UK developer with a view to create a set-top box based on the popular open source media player, XBMC.
Peterborough-based Pulse-Eight today said it had bought the TVonics brand, the technology behind the defunct firm’s DVRs and remainaing stocks of set-top boxes
Pulse-Eight makes and sells HDMI-CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) hardware to allow owners of XBMC-running media players to operate the software directly through their TV’s remote control, enabled with the firm’s libCEC library. The company is a contributor to both XBMC itself and to the HDMI-CEC spec, Ellis said.
Indeed, while Ellis hopes to recommence the manufacture of the existing TVonics boxes, he is already sketching plans for a next-generation set-top box based on XBMC running on top of Android.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netflix online service has eliminated the Andromeda Series program subtitles that caused news like NetFlix Caught Stealing DivX Subtitles From Finnish Pirates
Web service communication in Finland the corresponding Cocomms communications agency, says that it is a “third party” delivered subtitle test to Netflix but does not reveal who provided it.
Netflix intends to ensure that the corresponding blunder is not repeated again.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/netflix+ei+paljasta+kenelta+se+sai+tekstityksen/a849557?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-23102012&
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netflix Spikes On Rumors Of Possible Microsoft Bid
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsavitz/2012/10/26/netflix-spikes-on-rumors-of-possible-microsoft-bid/
Netflix shares are trading sharply higher Friday on rumors that Microsoft might be interested in buying the company.
Now, let’s think this through.
For another, this rumor almost certainly stems back to the recent announcement that Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has decided to step down from Microsoft‘s board of directors.
Now, I’d also note that Netflix has a market cap of just $3.7 billion.
Meanwhile, buying Netflix would be in keeping with Microsoft’s revamped philosophy on the Xbox 360, which treats the device more like an entertainment device and less like a video game console. I’d note that Microsoft has a track record here on shopping for Web brands