Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE
BROADCAST/CABLE
DirecTV successfully launched the Boeing-built DirecTV 10 satellite over the weekend to increase capacity for the delivery of additional HD channels. DirecTV announced plans in January to expand its offerings to include 100 HD channels by the end of the year. An additional bird is scheduled for launch early next year to support its goal to eventually deliver more than 1,500 local HD channels and 150 national HD feeds. (Multichannel News 7/8)
Cable companies are winning the battle for customers against the telephone companies because they have millions of voice customers nationwide compared with only half a million video customers by the phone companies, according to an analyst. While cable has the early advantage in the triple-play bundle, phone companies such as Verizon have a natural fit for the quad play, but some cable companies are ramping up their wireless services through their joint venture with Sprint Nextel. (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 7/8)
While cable companies weigh whether to pass on the increased cost of CableCard-enabled set-top boxes to all of their subscribers or just the new ones actually getting the boxes, the jury is still out on whether customers will want to buy set-top boxes from retail outlets. For its part, Best Buy will start selling some models in select stores this fall to gauge customers’ interest. (Houston Chronicle 7/7)
Comcast claims that Verizon received special consideration from the FCC in regards to Verizon’s waiver on set-top boxes with integrated security. A letter to the FCC from Comcast said Verizon made a last-minute pledge to go all digital by the Feb. 17, 2009, deadline in return for the waiver a few days before the July 1 deadline, but a Verizon spokesman said talks with the FCC over the set-top-box waiver and transition to all digital had been ongoing. (Telephony Online 7/6)
BET is going beyond its usual fare of reruns, movies and music videos with the introduction of five new shows this month. Overall, BET will introduce 16 new shows through next year, which will represent the largest schedule of debuts in the cable network’s 27-year history. (The New York Times 7/9)
BBC World, the BBC’s commercially funded, 24-hour news channel, is one of the biggest international news networks with 76 million viewers weekly in more than 200 countries, but it hasn’t really gained traction in the U.S. Cablevision and Verizon carry BBC World, but BBC executives are asking viewers to prod their cable and satellite providers to carry the network. (Los Angeles Times 7/9)
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA It was a great day for the green movement. MSN’s Live Earth coverage gathered the biggest online entertainment audience ever on Saturday, delivering more than 10 million streams of the seven continent, global concert extravaganza. No word yet on the number of unique users (5 million uniques watched previous record holder AOL’s Live 8 concerts), but MSN claims it easily topped AOL’s 175,000 simultaneous streams previously reported.
This was an incredibly IMPRESSIVE live online concert event featuring simultaneous content from over 8 countries. Really amazing stuff. The concerts are now available in replay on the site. I highly suggest you check this out.
Microsoft Research released the beta version of LiveStation, its own peer-to-peer IPTV player planned for an official launch in October. A cross between Joost and U-verse, the player enables live TV streaming utilizing bandwidth from multiple users. LiveStation plans to offer multiple channels and utilizes the new Silverlight media format, Microsoft’s answer to Adobe’s Flash.
FYI: You must register and apply to be a beta tester.
Online TV provider Joost will reportedly get first crack at premiering the entire season of Viacom-owned VH-1’s “I Hate My 30s.” The new scripted comedy series will debut on Joost on July 16, 10 days before the series’ broadcast premiere. Viacom is an investor in Joost. (The Boston Globe/Reuters/Hollywood Reporter 7/9)
PBS’ Frontline documentary series received a $5 million grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for expanding its online presence and exploring new distribution platforms. Plans include creating an online documentary production division and improving digital formatting and search tools. Frontline began building an online library of its films in 1995.
CD-swapping service Lala.com shuttered its DRM-free music download service, saying its servers couldn’t handle the load according to the ars technica blog. The free service was meant to entice visitors in hopes they would buy other CDs and digital downloads offered for sale on the site. Warner Music was the only major label that had signed on to participate.
SportSnipe launched a beta sports aggregation news site meant to serve as a home page for sports fanatics. SportSnipe gathers RSS feeds from ESPN.com, CBS SportsLine.com and Fox Sports, as well as sports-themed videos from a variety sources including YouTube. Customization features include allowing users to filter by sport and most read. A search engine on the home page searches from several leading sites including Google, Ask.com, Wikipedia and eBay.
Video sharing site DailyMotion.com showed impressive growth and strong average minutes per user data in a study released by comScore Video Metrix, drawing more than 4.7 million unique users who averaged nearly 60 minutes per visit in April. The study looked at six non-YouTube video sites in the U.S. for usage and demographic trends. Veoh.com led in minutes per visit with 104.2. Male-oriented Break.com drew the highest concentration of the 18-34 demo with 41% of its audience representing that group.
Please note: YouTube results have been removed from below.
Video site Unique Users Video Streams Initiated Minutes per visit
DailyMotion.com 4.7 million 49.3 million 59.7
Metacafe.com 3.7 33.2 15.1
Break.com 3.1 32.2 16.8
Heavy Networks 2.6 5.9 3.2
Revver.com 2.6 8.7 5.4
Veoh.com 1.8 14.5 104.2
Source: comScore Video Metrix via Center for Media Research
Worldwide in-game advertising will grow from $77.7 million in 2006 to $971.3 million in 2011, according to a new Yankee Group report. Dynamic in-game ad insertion via online connected gaming devices will drive much of the growth, delivered initially through PC games before extending to networked console games.
Filed under: WIRELESS
WIRELESS
3G Mobile platform Helio announced a new service that allows users to upload videos to a YouTube account with only two clicks. The two companies have collaborated to create a YouTube portal optimized for Helio devices, enabling users to browse, search and view thousands of the site’s most popular videos. Helio hopes to have the entire YouTube catalog accessible by Helio users sometime this fall.
Apple releases a developer’s guide for the iPhone to offer guidelines for creating widgets and applications that will integrate with the device’s Safari browser, mail and mapping applications. IM chat service Meebo, mini-blogging service Jaiku and gaming site WeeWar have already developed iPhone versions of their software.
Where there’s a will there’s a way. Hackers are already figuring out how to override restrictions on the iPhone limiting it to AT&T network use, reports the The Wall Street Journal. Step-by-step instructions are being posted on the web by hackers such as the infamous DVD hacker Jon Lech Johansen instructing users how to use the iPhone’s browser to connect to the web via Wi Fi without having to sign up for an AT&T contract.
Filed under: GAMING
GAMING
Nintendo created the Big Brain Academy to award young gamers with an honorary Wii Degree for completing game-based tests of knowledge, memory and recognition. Connected Wiis can compete against up to 8 players remotely.
Sony has reduced the price of its PlayStation 3 gaming console by $100 in an effort to help bolster struggling sales. The decision comes after earlier reports from the company that denied any plans to reduce the console’s price tag. (The Boston Globe/Reuters 7/9)
Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello is calling for the video game industry to steer away from simply producing sequels to popular games. “We’re boring people to death and making games that are harder and harder to play,” Riccitiello said. (The Wall Street Journal 7/9)
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY
Movie studios have developed a new strategy to thwart hackers who break encoding protections shipped with store-bought DVD, according to The Wall Street Journal. New Blu-ray and HD-DVDs are being embedded with 128-digit passwords that can be changed once the code is broken, requiring a subsequent software download to play them on a PC.
Hewlett-Packard is in talks with content providers to integrate user generated content, movies and TV programs to its line of net-connected MediaSmart LCD TVs, according to Multichannel News. A deal with CinemaNow will allow users to browse and wirelessly download more than 4,000 movie titles through a home PC directly to the set.
There are several technologies available for tuning in TV in motor vehicles, but to date none has been able to pull in live TV signals while motoring. This fall, a new system from Sirius will offer live, in-car television from three family-oriented channels. (The Boston Globe/New York Times News Service 7/8)
HD Radio offers listeners a cleaner sound without static and stations can easily spin off sister stations that feature niche programming, but tuning into HD Radio requires a special receiver that can cost up to $199. In order to make potential listeners more aware of HD Radio, the HD Radio Alliance, which includes Clear Channel Radio, announced in May that the service has been rolled out in the country’s top 100 markets. (Denver Rocky Mountain News 7/9)
