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Comcast's TiVo Deal Breaks New Ground, Unifies VOD, OTT Navigation
Yesterday, Comcast and TiVo announced an interesting deal that allows TiVo Premiere owners who subscribe to Comcast's digital video service to also receive Xfinity TV VOD alongside over-the-top choices like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon, etc. It's a little bit of an alphabet soup situation to understand,
which will make marketing it a challenge, but if the two companies are successful, it could actually be quite meaningful to consumers who choose to take advantage of the offer. I caught up with TiVo's EVP Jeff Klugman and had a slew of questions answered by Comcast to understand things better.
Under the deal, TiVo Premiere owners can have Comcast come to their home at no charge and install the box and a CableCARD, making sure everything is working properly with the video service and their broadband connection (this will start in the SF area, with other markets to follow). One of Premiere's primary benefits is that when a user search is conducted for a TV show or movie, the results include all potential sources - Comcast linear and VOD as well as OTT options. That's beneficial to users because as long as rights are granted according to studios' adherence to windows, trying to understand what's available on which service/device at any particular time is virtually impossible for any average consumer.
Categories: Cable TV Operators, Devices, Video On Demand
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HBO GO Launches on iOS and Android Devices: A Necessary But Insufficient Step
Today marks the "official" launch of HBO GO - the premium cable network's authenticated TV Everywhere service - on mobile devices running iOS (iPad, iPhone, iPod) and the Android OS, although it has been technically available since late last week in the iTunes App Store and Android Market. HBO signaled May 2nd as the date of availability in a teaser video posted last month on YouTube, and I'm guessing a press release will be forthcoming.
With the iOS/Android rollout, HBO has taken a necessary, but insufficient step toward improving its standing in a world that has grown dramatically more competitive in a very short time. HBO GO, which is only available to HBO subscribers, and even then, only to those whose pay-TV operator has a deal to authenticate HBO GO, is narrowly focused on delivering more value to those who have already chosen to subscribe to HBO. As HBO co-president Eric Kessler told the NY Times in February, "It's about enhancing the satisfaction and continuing the life cycle of the subscriber."
Categories: Cable Networks, Devices
Topics: Android, HBO, iOS, Netflix
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Senior Comcast, ESPN, Turner Executives to Discuss TV Everywhere's Game-Changing Role at ELEVATE
I'm delighted to announce that TV Everywhere's game-changing role in the TV and advertising ecosystems will be the topic of a marquee panel of cable
industry executives at ELEVATE: Online Video Advertising Summit on Tuesday, June 7th in New York City. The panel, which I'll moderate, is titled "TV Everywhere: Game-Changer for Premium Online Video and Advertising" and includes:- Jeremy Legg - SVP, Business Development and Multi-Platform Distribution, Turner Broadcasting System
- David Preschlack - EVP, Affiliate Sales and Marketing, Disney & ESPN Networks Group
- Matt Strauss - SVP and General Manager, Comcast Interactive Media
As I've written since it first burst onto the scene almost 2 years ago, TV Everywhere is the most significant initiative in the TV industry today because it aims to untether all of the most popular programs from cable TV networks that have traditionally been locked to the set-top box in the TV room, making them available on myriad connected and mobile devices. In this respect, TV Everywhere is a strategic imperative for the pay-TV industry; as new entrants like Netflix, Hulu Plus and others have strongly embraced delivery to connected and mobile devices, they have raised the competitive bar for all others.
Categories: Cable Networks, Cable TV Operators, Devices, Events
Topics: Comcast, ELEVATE, ESPN, Turner
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Guess What? This Cord Cutter Family Story Has a Happy Ending for The Cable Company
Today VideoNuze features a guest post from Ephraim Cohen, founder and managing partner of The Fortex Group, a public relations firm with many clients in the online video and social media industries. Ephraim has also become a good friend through his firm's work on past VideoSchmooze events and the upcoming ELEVATE conference.
As a VideoNuze reader, Ephraim was inspired to think about and share his own family's experience and changing behaviors with video. As you read it, you'll no doubt get the sense that this is still an early adopter's behavior pattern, with some technical knowledge required to make everything work. However, to me, a key takeaway is that for entertainment-only consumers, expanding choice will inevitably cause them to consider their video options and seek better experiences. Even more important, as Ephraim explains, this can actually be a surprisingly good thing for cable operators which ready to adapt to these new realities. Read on to learn more.
Guess What? This Cord Cutter Family Story Has a Happy Ending for The Cable Company
by Ephraim Cohen
Sure, my home is a virtual consumer electronics lab - all the major game consoles on one main TV, two Rokus, Android and iOS devices and other gadgets. But other than me, we are, tech-wise, a normal family with three youngsters. So cutting the cord had to work for everyone, not just me.
And everyone is happy, mainly due to a well-designed system by our main OTT platforms, Roku and the Playstation 3, and viewing habits built around video-on-demand. Even our three year-old knows how to find her show using the Roku remote to watch the same Garfield over and over and over and over.
Categories: Cable TV Operators, Devices
Topics: Cablevision, The Fortex Group
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Forget Cord-Cutting, Greed May Destroy the Cable Industry
For all the ink that's been spilled over the past year about consumer-driven cord-cutting leading to the demise of the cable industry, could it instead end up that greed will cause the industry's own destruction? Maybe so. With the fracas over Time Warner's iPad app reaching ridiculous new levels each week, the industry is experiencing its own version of the old adage "We have met the enemy and he is us."
Yesterday's turn of events - Time Warner Cable seeking a declaratory judgment from the U.S. District Court that it has the contractual rights to stream cable programming to its iPad app inside subscribers' homes, and Viacom responding with its own suit against Time Warner Cable - represent a dangerous breakdown in key industry relationships at a time when competitive forces loom larger than ever.
Categories: Cable Networks, Cable TV Operators, Devices
Topics: Discovery, iPad, Scripps, Time Warner Cable, Viacom
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Roku Scores Best Buy Distribution Deal
Roku is announcing this morning that its Roku XD streaming player will be available at Best Buy stores nationwide. The deal is a big win for Roku which
has primarily relied on online sales to drive over 1 million units to date. The price point for the Roku XD, which delivers up to 1080p HD using 802.11n WiFi will be $79.99, the same as online.
I've been using the XD device for a while now and it performs nicely. The biggest question mark I've had about Roku has been around its ability to compete in a very noisy consumer electronics environment, dominated by giants with well-known brands. Lately the success of Apple TV, which also retails for under $100, has felt like it could squeeze Roku, especially given the popularity of Apple's stores, which have no doubt helped introduce many to the Apple TV product. Because Roku only had limited hands-on opportunities, primarily early adopters would be drawn to its players.
Topics: Best Buy, Crackle, Roku
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Time Warner Cable iPad App Disrupting the Cable Industry
It's been less than 2 weeks since Time Warner Cable announced its iPad app, but the fur has been flying ever since. In the WSJ's latest coverage today, it details how TWC is continuing to insist that its contracts with cable networks give it the right to stream their linear channels to iPads in subscribers' homes. Conversely, multiple network groups, including Scripps, Viacom and Discovery have disagreed, leading to an increasingly public internecine industry fight.
Categories: Cable Networks, Cable TV Operators, Devices
Topics: Discovery, iPad, Scripps, Time Warner Cable, Viacom
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Will Cable TV Networks Kill Their Golden Goose?
I've been dismayed, though not entirely surprised, by reactions from cable TV networks over the launch of Time Warner Cable's new iPad app earlier this week. A pair of articles, in Adweek and the WSJ summarize various networks' protestations about the new iPad app, namely that it is an unauthorized use of their content by Time Warner Cable, per their interpretations of their affiliation agreements with TWC.
That may well be the case, and TWC may well be pushing the edge of the envelope in this implementation of its larger TV Everywhere goals. However, in my opinion the bigger question that cable network heads should be asking themselves is whether, by resisting initiatives such as these, they want to risk contributing to killing their golden goose, or whether they want to do their part in helping usher in the future? What they decide to do is at the heart of what role the pay-TV industry will play in the online video era.
Categories: Cable Networks, Cable TV Operators, Devices
Topics: iPad, Time Warner Cable
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Video Will Be Critical to Driving iPad 2's Sales
The new iPad 2 - faster, thinner and lighter than the original, and with an ingenious new "Smart Cover," is yet another impressive technical achievement from the design wizards at Apple. But as with all consumer electronics products, those attributes will only go so far in compelling consumers to crack open their wallets and buy. Steve Jobs knows better than anyone in the world the gadget marketer's manifesto, "It's not what it is, but what it does," so it's no surprise that as sexy as iPad 2 is, yesterday he also rolled out exciting new ways the iPad 2 can be used. The common theme: video apps are going to be critical to driving iPad 2's sales.
First and foremost is FaceTime, Apple's video chat app that is enabled on the iPad 2 with the addition of a VGA front-facing and 720p HD rear-facing camera to the device. These upgrades address the single-biggest criticism of the original iPad (aside from the inability to play Flash-based video) - that a device so conducive to personal video chatting shipped without the onboard cameras to do so (which in turn led to conspiracy theories that the cameras had been purposely left out to give the subsequent release extra juice).
Categories: Devices, Mobile Video
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Clearleap Integrates With Pace for Broadband VOD Delivery
Clearleap, a web-based TV technology platform, is integrating with set-top box maker Pace to enable pay-TV operators to manage and deliver VOD through broadband, alongside traditionally delivered linear channels. By
shifting VOD to a web-based model, pay-TV operators are able to lower the cost and complexity of on-demand, while opening up far more content choices to consumers in a friendlier UI. In addition, broadband VOD allows pay-TV operators to align their VOD libraries and interactive elements between the TV and other connected and mobile devices where video is increasingly available.
Categories: Devices, Technology
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Irdeto Launches Active Cloak for Media With Dynamic Security Approach
Software security firm Irdeto is launching Active Cloak for Media this morning, a dynamic security service intended to protect premium content across the ever-growing universe of connected devices. I had breakfast with Daniel Thunberg, Irdeto's VP of Marketing, who was in from Beijing last week, to learn more.
Irdeto has had a strong position in DRM with its core Cloakware DRM
technology embedded in online video services and devices from Comcast, Netflix, Adobe, Sony, and Logitech among others. But Irdeto has recognized that DRM itself is often the subject of hackers' attacks and when they succeed piracy runs rampant. Worse, it's often not apparent to the content owner or distributor where the breach is. The result is a world where content owners often have little idea where their most valuable assets are being viewed.
With that problem in mind, Daniel explained that Active Cloak for Media takes a services-oriented approach, deploying a set of server modules and media agents on connected devices which constantly communicate with each other to watch for illicit activity. When detected, the agents renew their security credentials to keep content safe. Active Cloak for Media's "lifecycle" security model means that once content is digitally distributed, content owners and/or distributors have a far better view of where security issues exist and what proactive measures should be taken.
Categories: Devices, Technology
Topics: Irdeto
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Looking Forward to Going Backstage At the Oscars
This Sunday night's Oscars broadcast promises to be like no other, as the show gets the full online video treatment. The NY Times had a rundown this week of all the various apps that are available and will be streaming supplementary video. I've downloaded ABC's Oscar Backstage Pass app to my iPad and my wife and I will be in full "second-screening" mode (for my wife, as for many others, the Oscars is like Super Bowl Sunday).
Categories: Broadcasters, Devices
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Android Market to Roll Out Movies?
Engadget had an intriguing blurb this week regarding the availability of book downloads now being available in the Android Market. More interesting is the
existence of a new movie-related URL in Android Market, along with one for music. With the surging popularity of Android devices, including the new Xoom tablet from Motorola plus lots of others, some type of movie service would seem inevitable.
Categories: Devices, FIlms, Mobile Video
Topics: Android, Google, Motorola
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thePlatform Powering Telstra's BigPond TV Multi-Screen Rollout
In another sign of how online video platforms (OVPs) are expanding the scope of their management and publishing services, this morning thePlatform is announcing a multi-year deal to power the big Australian telco Telstra's multi-screen BigPond TV service for TVs, set-top boxes and the web. The
announcement follows news earlier this week that Ooyala will be supporting Yahoo! Japan's multi-screen video efforts and that Brightcove has integrated with LG connected Smart TVs for direct publishing. Marty Roberts, thePlatform's VP of Sales and Marketing caught me up on the BigPond details yesterday.
The central component of BigPond TV, which Telstra announced last June, is what the company calls the "T-Box," a hybrid IP set-top box from Netgem that handles both linear channels and on-demand video. Telstra is promoting the T-Box in its bundles and it is meant to replace traditional set-tops over time. Importantly, Telstra doesn't impose any consumption caps for online video viewing via the Telstra broadband ISP. In addition to the T-Box, Telstra is also delivering the full BigPond TV service to connected TV and Blu-ray players from LG and Samsung. Telstra's goal is to have content selection on the T-Box, connected devices and online be completely synched up. For now mobile options, like an iPad or Android app aren't available, but they'll be coming soon.
Categories: Devices, International, Technology, Telcos
Topics: Alcatel-Lucent, BigPond TV, Cisco, Netgem, SeaChange, Telstra, thePlatform
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Brightcove Integrates With LG Electronics Smart TVs
Brightcove is announcing a partnership this morning with LG Electronics that will allow its publishing customers to deliver content directly to LG NetCast Smart
TVs. The deal continues the trend around delivering high-quality video content to connected devices, which is becoming a significant differentiator for consumer electronics companies.
As part of the partnership, Brightcove said it will release a set of tools and support services later this year, including a reference app that will serve as a starting point for customers to deliver content to LG Smart TVs. Initiatives like these, which continue to legitimize connected TVs as a bona fide online video viewing platform, are a boon to consumers who are able to access a broader range of content directly on their TVs than what has traditionally been offered by their pay-TV provider.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).Categories: Devices, Technology
Topics: Brightcove, LG
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Netflix Gets Apple Subscription Exemption As CE Industry Love Continues
Speaking of Netflix (and who's not these days?), check out how Apple granted it an exemption from its 30% fee for its new App Store subscription model this
week. Publishers were rankled this week that the long-awaited subscription support fee was pegged so high, and Google seemed to seize on it, by introducing its "One Pass" service right on the heels of Apple's announcement, with a lower 10% cut and more flexible rules.
Categories: Aggregators, Devices
Topics: Apple, Google, Netflix
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Cisco Feels Pain of Shifting Set-Top Box Landscape
This week technology giant Cisco reported its fiscal Q2 earnings and once again sales of its set-top boxes to big pay-TV operators were a glaring weak spot. This business has practically gone off a cliff, falling 29% from last year's
similar quarter, a loss which followed a 40% decline in North America set-top sales for the prior quarter. While Cisco tried to put a positive spin on things by pointing to stronger sales of its IP-enabled set-tops and international results, the problems reflect a significant shift in how pay-TV operators view set-top boxes in a larger IP-related context, trends which are likely to only accelerate going forward.
Categories: Cable TV Operators, Devices
Topics: Cisco, Comcast, Samsung, Sony, Time Warner Cable
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Cable Industry Skirmishes With FCC Over Set-top Boxes
Speaking of set-top boxes, the cable industry, through its NCTA lobbying arm, was skirmishing this week on yet another regulatory front, the FCC's ongoing "AllVid" inquiry, which would possibly crack open the customer premise
equipment (CPE) by establishing an IP-based standard. Google, Sony and other CE companies are lobbying for AllVid as a way of streamlining delivery of over-the-top content into living rooms. Cable operators are arguing that such a move would compromise existing network licensing models. A more overarching concern is that a regulatory mandated approach would significantly level the playing field for new entrants to compete for consumers' attention.
Categories: Cable TV Operators, Devices, Regulation
Topics: AllVid, FCC, Google, NCTA, Sony
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Options For Moving Video From Smartphones/Tablets to TVs Keep Growing
Have you ever had the experience of watching video on your smartphone or tablet and feel like you'd prefer to watch it on your big TV? If so, there is a growing range of options to help make this happen, including:
Skifta - an Android app from Qualcomm that lets you play local or cloud-based media on any DLNA-certified device.
AirPlay - a relatively new feature in Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod) running iOS 4.2 or later with one-click ability send media to other connected Apple devices (e.g. Apple TV, AirPlay-ready devices, etc.).
Rovi Connected Platform - Rovi, the digital entertainment infrastructure provider, just announced yesterday a new Android solution for CE manufacturers to allow their devices to move media around the home to connected devices.
SnapStick - the intriguing start-up that lets users of any mobile device to "snap" their media over to the TV by gently flicking the device in the TV's direction.
Categories: Devices
Topics: AirPlay, Comcast, Microsoft, Rovi, Skifta, SnapStick, Sonos
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Miniweb's Woomi Now Live on Samsung Devices in U.K., Coming Soon to U.S.
An item from late last week missed my radar: Woomi, the cloud-based content services platform for connected devices from Miniweb, officially went live on Samsung connected TVs and devices in the U.K. I wrote about Woomi
last October and was impressed with how its approach skirted the "browser vs. no browser" choice most connected devices are making, instead focusing on bringing content in via their app. I caught up with Miniweb's CEO Jerome de Vitry yesterday to learn more about the U.K. launch and upcoming plans.
Jerome said that Samsung believes it has around 500K connected devices deployed in the U.K. with the majority of them March, 2010 or later vintage, capable of handling the Woomi service. Of these, Samsung estimates about half of them have been connected (remarkably, a lot of people who buy connected devices don't actually connect them; go figure). Though it's very early on, Jerome said that about 5K people have already accessed the Woomi app, which is featured on the home Internet@TV screen, alongside Netflix, Pandora, Amazon VOD, etc.
Categories: Devices
Topics: Miniweb, Samsung, Woomi
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