Want to get rid of your big and expensive cable bundle? So does your cable company. And in that quest, it is joined by some unlikely frenemies. Read more at paidContent »
In the fourth quarter, the traditional pay-TV industry began to show signs of severe internal stresses after having held off the immediate challenge of over-the-top video. Meanwhile the music industry fell into an internal battle over performance royalties. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The third quarter saw many parts of the traditional media business in flux. Other developments included the rollout of new device-based content ecosystems, red flags and red ink for traditional consumer electronics makers, and a resurgence of consumer purchases of movies. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Tablets featured prominently in the connected consumer space, both as a product category and as a component of broader platform strategies by major OS providers Microsoft, Google and Apple. Meanwhile Facebook began laying the groundwork to add payment processing to its platform. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
In just the past few weeks, Barry Diller-backed Aereo launched a subscriptions streaming service in New York City, Cisco bought NDS for $5 billion, word leaked of Intel’s plans to create a nationwide virtual cable TV service and Netflix began chatting up cable operators about addings ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
This week’s announcement from Apple indicates more clearly than ever that the company’s path to disrupting the pay-TV ecosystem runs not through the living room but through mobile devices and the ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
A new survey has revived the fear that digital ad spending will shrink the overall pie. While newspapers have it tough, other big ad markets are still pretty healthy, and technologies like targeting and social media advertising could still increase the value of — and thus ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Now that streaming broadcast startup Aereo is formally launching in New York, the litigation watch is on. From an operational perspective, the closest analogy to what Aereo is doing may be Slingbox’s model. And despite occasional threats, no broadcaster or content owner has ever sued Sling ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Boxee revealed in a filing with the FCC this week that it’s working on additional products that could be used as alternatives to traditional cable set-top boxes. What does the company have up its sleeve? We can only guess — but, hey, that’s fun too! Read more »
Boxee isn’t just marketing its live TV tuner as an alternative to cable; it is also fighting with cable companies about having access to their programming. The reason? Cable companies want to encrypt their basic cable tier, which Boxee and other CE makers oppose. Read more »
YouTube’s announced new viewership milestone today, with more than 4 billion video views daily. That’s impressive, and more importantly, shows how YouTube could serve as a blueprint for other technology companies that wish to create an alternative to the existing media industry. Read more »
While cable operators and networks continue to downplay the effect of cord cutting, in Deloitte’s State of the Media Democracy survey, the firm reports that 9 percent of respondents have already canceled their cable subscriptions, with another 11 percent saying they are considering doing so. Read more »
TV viewership is still on the rise, with the typical American watching five hours a day now, according to research by Nielsen. That hasn’t slowed the growth of online video: In fact, the amount of content streamed is accelerating, too. While it hasn’t yet made a ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Almost two years after HBO launched its on-demand streaming service HBO Go, the premium cable network has finally gotten the last two major holdouts to agree to offer it to their subscribers. The service will soon be available to 98 percent of all HBO subscribers. Read more »
Comcast customers will soon find a new UI on their cable box that will look much less like Grandma’s EPG, and more like an iPad app with social recommendations and universal search. But how open will the cable box of the future be for third-party developers? Read more »
For all the head-scratching and chin-pulling over Netflix’s decision to separate its DVD and streaming businesses, one important aspect of the move has gone largely overlooked: the effective separation of its movie and TV content businesses, which splits the company along content lines. While that may ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Bernstein Research analyst Craig Moffett issued a research note that paints a damning picture of cable affordability in light of larger macroeconomic trends. Many U.S. households have less money for discretionary spending at the same time that the price of TV entertainment has risen dramatically. Read more »
People who have cut the cord aren’t doing so because they think Netflix provides a good alternative to their local cable TV company. In fact, those that go broadband-only are only slightly more likely to watch online video than those with pay-TV subscriptions, according to LRG. Read more »
Keith Olbermann’s return to cable television is aided by a full-blown Twitter campaign, aiming in part to get potential viewers riled up that not every cable provider carries Current. Viewers will also get to see clips of the show on iTunes, Hulu and YouTube. Read more »
Pay TV is alive and well, and now has more subscribers than ever. There was some consternation following the industry reporting its first-ever declines in the number of pay TV subscribers last year. But now, subscriber numbers are once again looking up. Read more »
Netflix is expanding its catalog of exclusive streaming content with a deal that will give its subscribers access to films from Nu Image/Millennium Films during the pay TV window. This is the second time Netflix has scored exclusive access to first-run movies ahead of cable networks. Read more »
The $100 cable bill is dead. The cable industry just doesn’t know it yet. What killed it was not just ad-supported online video sites and cheap subscription video services, but the fundamental inability of TV programmers and cable companies to reach the next generation of consumers. Read more »
When Microsoft announced that ESPN would make live and on-demand video available through its Xbox Live service, the news had strong implications for mass adoption of cable services being delivered ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
TV programmers are too invested in the economics of bundling to let a la carte access become an effective substitute for bundled service, unless compelled to by ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Embedded app stores are finding their way onto connected HDTVs, Blu-ray Disc players and set-top boxes, where streaming video apps are likely to predominate. With the number of connected devices expected to grow rapidly over the next five years, cable and satellite providers could again find ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
