Cable operator Comcast has turned to a Silicon Valley startup for the software behind its home security and energy management product unveiled on Wednesday: iControl, a Palo Alto, Calif-based company backed by Comcast itself, as well as Kleiner Perkins, Intel Capital, Cisco and Charles River Ventures. Read more »
Comcast unveiled a home security product in six markets on Wednesday in what I expect will become a larger effort for Comcast as well as other Internet Service Providers that want to avoid becoming just a broadband delivery pipe. Read more »
NBC Universal won the bidding war to keep the Olympic Games on its networks through 2020. The good news for Olympics superfans is that it has also agreed to eschew the tape delay and make all events available live on one platform or another. Read more »
Apple’s iCloud product poses a threat and an opportunity for ISPs. The product — which will deliver music and photo content on demand — is an acknowledgement that people are ready to stream content rather than store it on local hard drives. This has huge repercussions for ISPs. Read more »
In the U.S. if you want a 50 Mbps-to-a-100 Mbps connection, it is going to cost you plenty – about $105 with a triple play plan. On the other side of the planet, however, you can buy 1 Gbps broadband for $20 a month. Read more »
EXCLUSIVE: Reed Hastings, chief executive officer and founder of online video company Netflix, has a pretty clear idea of what the future of video looks like. It needs high-speed fiber broadband, it involves sensors and it is all about click-and-watch on-demand Internet video. Read more »
Indie distributor SnagFilms continues to find new ways to reach viewers in their living rooms, with the launch of a new channel on Roku broadband set-top boxes. Through the SnagFilms channel, viewers can now get access to 150 different independent movies on Roku set-tops. Read more »
Shaw is raising its bandwidth caps, making it easier for its customers to enjoy Netflix streams without the fear of overage charges. The cable operator is even introducing unlimited bandwidth broadband plans — but only for those who also subscribe to its pay TV services. Read more »
Comcast could soon make its video services over IP, EVP of Strategy & Development Sam Schwartz wrote in a blog post. The Xcalibur initiative, as it’s called, could revolutionize the way that Comcast customers browse, search and discover content. Read more »
Verizon could soon make its Flex View VOD service available on connected devices like Roku and the Boxee Box. In a press briefing, it showed off some new features, including a channel that could allow Verizon FiOS customers to access the VOD service on Roku devices. Read more »
A Verizon executive doesn’t foresee a need for broadband caps on the companies’ FiOS networks at the current time, despite other large ISPs such as AT&T, Charter and Comcast implementing them. Instead Verizon is talking up the idea of homes with 10 gigabit per second connections. Read more »
At this week’s TV upfronts, NBC and Fox showed two very different approaches towards digital advertising and its importance in the broadcast TV business. While NBC told advertisers to ignore the web, Fox offered up the opportunity to buy its shows on any platform. Read more »
TV ownership is on the downswing, but cable companies don’t need a pity party just yet. When it came to choosing a broadband provider in the first quarter of 2011, two out of three people chose a cable company, and one out of three chose Comcast. Read more »
Netflix continues to grow, with its streaming service now making up more Internet traffic than BitTorrent file sharing in North America. That might seem like a big win for Hollywood, but the traffic growth also comes at a time when ISPs are introducing bandwidth caps. Read more »
We talk a lot about Wi-Fi offload as the next big thing for mobile operators, but a recent conversation with an AT&T executive put that into doubt. How can we make the reality match the perception of Wi-Fi as this fabulous place for offloading mobile traffic? Read more »
Pay TV subscribers have been frustrated for years by set-top boxes that are difficult to navigate and discover new content on. But that could soon change, with set-top boxes disappearing altogether and being replaced by connected TVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles and other CE devices. Read more »
Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix won’t take the ISPs attacks against his business any longer. He released a report showing that heavy bandwidth users incur a cost of 1 penny or less per gigabyte over a last-mile network — far less than ISPs are charging. Read more »
T-Mobile’s latest quarterly earnings aren’t pretty, and there’s a chance its acquisition by AT&T won’t survive the federal scrutiny that begins this week with congressional hearings. So what should the nation’s fourth-largest carrier do if the deal is scuttled? Here are a few ideas. Read more »
Cox is the latest provider to join the TV Everywhere party, introducing a new site enabling its subscribers to view tens of thousands of videos online. Cox subscribers can now sign in and watch more than 15,000 pieces of content from cable and broadcast networks. Read more »
Al-Jazeera English has rolled out apps for devices running the Google Android and BlackBerry operating systems. That means viewers will be able to tune in to live coverage on the go, even while the news network is still negotiating for carriage on major cable systems. Read more »
TiVo is adding more cable content to its DVRs, announcing a deal to bring Comcast’s Xfinity On Demand library to its menu of options. With 22.8 million subscribers, Comcast provides a huge user base for TiVo to target with a more-integrated DVR offering. 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 »
Comcast is committed to improving its NBC Universal programming, especially its broadcast network, and will spend big to do so. Comcast COO Steve Burke said it would invest $300 million in NBCU over the next year, including $200 million to turn around its broadcast network. Read more »
TV ownership has fallen for the first time in 20 years, according to Nielsen. But is that decline due to poorer, rural consumers who couldn’t afford to keep up with the digital transition? Or due to young, hip urbanites who are watching video on different screens? Read more »
AT&T rolled out its bandwidth caps this weekend, which will result in additional charges for customers that use more than 150 GB per month. How close are you to those caps? Check your AT&T or Comcast bandwidth meter and let us know in our survey. Read more »
Surprise! HBO has made its on-demand streaming application available on the iPad, a few days ahead of its expected launch date. While not expected until early next week, the HBO Go iPad, iPhone and Android apps are now available for download. Read more »
Time Warner Cable revealed that its iPad app was downloaded 360,000 times during its first month. Cablevision revealed that it saw 50,000 downloads in the first five days of app availability and Comcast’s Xfinity TV app has been downloaded more than 1.5 million times since launch. Read more »
» Ahead of Earnings Next Week, Demand Media (NYSE: DMD) Shares Drastic Dip Due to Googley Panda-Monium. (AllThingsD)
» … Read more at paidContent »
Comcast has expanded the amount of TV content available through its VOD service, with all four broadcasters on board. But more important than the addition of new content is the technology behind it, which will improve tracking and monetization of VOD TV episodes. Read more »
Netflix continued to post impressive quarterly financial numbers, ending the first quarter 2011 as the largest subscription video service in North America. It now has 23.6 million subscribers in total, compared to Comcast’s 22.8 million pay TV subscribers in the U.S. Read more »
After a year in which over-the-top video services grabbed most of the media’s attention, some of the online video headlines shifted back to traditional pay-TV providers in the first quarter of 2011. Device manufacturers rolled out new offerings, while cable-TV providers moved to expand their in-home footprint beyond the TV itself. But over-the-top continued to encroach, with Roku adding its first linear channels to the Roku store and Netflix acquiring exclusive rights to high-profile original series House of Cards. Finally, traditional web powers like Google, Yahoo and Apple made moves to reassert their presence in the living room after their early stumbles. Additional companies mentioned in this report include Comcast, Cablevision, Viacom and VUDU. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Miso, GetGlue and Tunerfish all want to be the Foursquare of TV check-ins – but a closer look at data from Trendrr shows that only one of these services is really catching on. Most users seem to prefer to talk about TV shows on Twitter instead. Read more »
Apple is once again rumored to be creating an HDTV, which could launch by the end of this year. But to be successful, Apple will need industry buy-in to ensure that the new product provides more value than TVs already out on the market. Read more »
Cord cutters or those who want to watch American Idol in real-time or some of their home sporting events on their connected devices will soon have a new option thanks to Bamboom, a startup that said it raised $4.5 million today in seed capital. Read more »
It has been a long time coming, but now subscribers in the U.S. can sign up for a 100 Mbps broadband connection. Comcast, the largest cable (and broadband) company announced Thursday that it’s launching Extreme 105 across its entire footprint, which covers 40 million homes. Read more »
Netflix has become the new scapegoat for Internet Service Providers eager to cap, tier or otherwise make broadband more expensive for their customers in the guise of chastising bandwidth hogs. Data out from startup Mu Dynamics drives the streaming site’s pariah status home. Read more »
A handful of telco and cable companies and their allies are advancing what some consider the sugarcoated destruction of free-market dynamics and the democratic process by attacking North Carolina’s community broadband networks. This runs counter to the National Broadband Plan and democracy. Read more »
The real challenge facing pay TV providers might not be retaining existing cable subscribers with jobs and families, but convincing college students and young adults living with their parents to become cable subscribers when they get their first jobs and move in to their first homes. Read more »
Level 3 Communications agreed to buy Global Crossing in a transaction worth $3 billion. The deal is a sign of consolidation as broadband becomes the connecting fabric of our lives. But the question isn’t why this deal between two telecommunications backbone providers happened, but why now? Read more »
Hollywood studios will soon let viewers rent newish feature films from the comfort of their living rooms for $30 each. While the studios hope the new premium VOD window will stem sharp declines at the box office, there’s no guarantee the plan will work. Read more »
