Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE
BROADCAST/CABLE
While the camps have divided between “ripped off” and “brilliant” over the season-ending episode of “The Sopranos,” creator David Chase left for France after telling executives that he wouldn’t be available to comment or take phone calls. Chase also instructed the show’s writers and producers not to comment on how the final show was written and developed. (The New York Times 6/12)
Turner and MTV view video sites such as Joost and cable systems’ on-demand offerings as tools for “building brands without borders.” Meanwhile, Cox Communications is cutting deals with broadcast networks, including ABC, to show free on-demand episodes of shows, such as “Desperate Housewives,” with ABC getting to keep all ad revenue from the airings. (Multichannel News 6/11)
Warner Bros. will release some movies directly to VOD services the same day they come out on DVD during a trial that is scheduled to start July 10. Warner Bros., which is owned by Time Warner, has worked with Time Warner Cable on similar tests to see if the same-day releases to VOD tiers have a negative impact on DVD sales. (The Wall Street Journal 6/12)
Philips reportedly is readying a set-top box that will stream both audio and video from a home network to a TV, in much the same fashion as Apple TV. Preliminary information regarding the device reveals that it will include an HDMI port and optical digital audio output to accompany a 40-gigabyte hard drive. (Ubergizmo.com 6/12)
Cablevision’s network-DVR initiative has received backing from a trade group that represents AT&T and Verizon Communications, as well as support from consumer-electronics companies and legal experts. The groups jointly filed a brief in support of Cablevision’s appeal of a ruling that blocked the launch of the service that would store content on network servers instead of home-based DVRs. (The Boston Globe/Reuters 6/11, Newsday (Long Island, N.Y.) 6/11)
While switched digital video has been launched by Time Warner Cable and Cablevision, and to a lesser extent by Comcast, as a means of saving bandwidth, the technology has raised some red flags with TiVo. TiVo is concerned that its one-way DVRs won’t be able to access the two-way SDV linear channels, which would make the TiVo DVRs less attractive in the markets where SDV has been launched. A recent filing to the FCC by the NCTA said the cable industry was working to address TiVo’s concerns. (Light Reading 6/11)
Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment
