Turner is going to launch dedicated apps for Google TV that offer access to full episodes of TNT and TBS shows, as long as viewers authenticate themselves as pay TV subscribers. The apps were briefly on the Android market last week, but have since been removed. Read more »
Podcasts have become a good way for cord cutters to get up to date info in lieu of broadcast news or TV shows. Thanks to the Apple TV, bringing them into the living room is a piece of cake. Here are two ways to do it. Read more »
Online TV viewing is about to get a whole lot more complicated soon, as Fox.com and others are introducing pay-TV walls that force consumers to authenticate themselves as paying customers. It’s like DRM for online video — and, once again, consumers are getting screwed. Read more »
The new Mac mini does away with the optical disc drive, leading to a price reduction for Apple’s diminutive desktop. Without it, and with the addition of Thunderbolt and dedicated graphics, how does the mini stack up as a desktop and as a home theater PC? Read more »
Netflix will start to charge $16 per month come September if you want to rent both DVDs and watch movies online. Should you accept the price hike or downgrade your subscription? This easy online test will tell you how to get your money’s worth. Read more »
Google TV development boxes sent out to a limited number of Android developers spot an interesting feature: an antenna input. This would enable Google TV users to access free OTA HD programming. Does that mean that Google TV’s next iteration will embrace cord cutting? Read more »
Netflix execs may insist publicly that they’re no threat to cable, but there’s plenty of evidence that the company’s subscription service and pay TV offerings are squarely competing for the eye balls and subscription dollars of the very same audience. In other words: It’s on! 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 »
San Francisco, Alabama, New York, and Lima, Peru are only a few of the cities with meetups on the first ever Cord Cutters Day, coming up on April 26. Join us to celebrate life without pay TV and show that cord cutting isn’t a myth. Read more »
Hulu’s CEO Jason Kilar reiterated that the video service is expected to double its revenue in 2011 and is expected to hit 1 million paid subscribers. The figures point to the larger effect that Netflix and Hulu are having on consumer behavior and also hardware sales. Read more »
New research from Convergence Consulting Group suggests that the number of viewers who choose to go without pay TV subscriptions, relying on broadband video services instead, will continue to grow in 2011, but at a slower pace that than the market saw last year. Read more »
Thursday is opening day for the Major League Baseball season, and a new update for the MLB.com At Bat app has arrived just in time. New features abound, including the ability to watch all out-of-market games live on your device free for the month of April. Read more »
In the three years since launch, Roku has sold more than a million units, relying on online sales and word-of-mouth to drive interest in its products. But now it has a big retail partner in Best Buy, which will sell its Roku XD product. Read more »
Some people believe cord cutting is just a myth. Let’s show them that they’re wrong on the first ever Cord Cutters Day on April 26. We will be hosting Cord Cutters meetups in San Francisco, Los Angeles Austin, Toronto and, with your help, your home town. Read more »
The number of pay TV subscribers increased over the fourth quarter, but the year-over-year growth was the slowest ever for the industry. Even worse, the percentage of households paying for TV actually declined over that period, due to a constrained economy and competition from online sources. Read more »
Apple TV got live, HD streaming of MLB and NBA games with an update yesterday. This shows huge potential for bringing live TV to the platform, but it also shows that Apple could offer specific, targeted content to audiences in a way that cable companies can’t. Read more »
Statistics presented by Nielsen tday suggest that fluctuations in cable subscription numbers are due not to cord-cutting, but “cord-swapping,” with consumers switching between different services. However, that still doesn’t explain the rise of broadband-only households among the under-25 set, who are embracing cable-free life. Read more »
Ryan Flynn got himself a Roku XDS and a new antenna when he embarked on his cord cutting adventure. Now he’s getting HD TV that looks better than cable, and he is saving around $70 per month. But for Flynn, it wasn’t just about saving money. Read more »
As if you needed another reason to ditch cable in 2011, it looks like prices are going up. So if you’re finally tired of getting fleeced, here’s a number of choices for how to cut the cord and go cable-free the Apple way. Read more »
AT&T and Time Warner are both planning rate hikes in 2011, well out of step with projected inflation. But while cable companies pass along the costs of a decrease in subscribers and an increase in retrans fees, online services adjust their rates to consumer need. Read more »
Still doubting that cord cutting is real? The enjoy the time you have with that notion: 2011 will be the year that cord cutting is becoming an indisputable fact, as more and more consumers are embracing alternatives to cable and other forms of pay TV subscription. Read more »
It’s important to dispel potential myths and market misunderstandings when it comes to consumer electronic devices and trends. For 2011, that includes paid video chat, Apple dominating the living room and the misinformed belief that Google will rule the e-book space. ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Blame cord cutting, at least in part, for the drop in cable subscriber numbers in 2010. Looking towards 2011, we expect this trend could gather further steam thanks to bundled subscription offerings from players like Microsoft and Apple. We also expect a new iteration of the ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
New data from ESPN suggests that there are fewer cord cutters than you might think. But it’s releasing this data at the same time its distribution partners, afraid of cord cutters, are beginning to roll out cable packages without ESPN as a way to lower costs. Read more »
“The only thing cable ever gets you is fat,” says Henry Knepp, who cut the cord this week. Knepp is now using a Roku box, Hulu Plus and Netflix to access online content. He’s missing a few shows, but also saving a whole bunch of money. Read more »
Today on the Net: A new bounty challenges hackers to open up Google TV, a new study says that cord cutting doesn’t exist and a new argument could help people accused of downloading pornography from P2P networks. Read more »
Today on the Net: Cord-cutters are less prevalent in major cities than in other parts of the country, YouTube is negotiating with new Miramax parent to get access to films like Pulp Fiction and the secrets to Netflix’s content acquisition strategy Read more »
Want to watch The Daily Show, The Colbert Report or Drawn Together on Google TV? Then don’t be discouraged by the fact that Comedy Central’s corporate parent just started blocking Google TV devices, as regaining access to these videos only takes a minute. Read more »
Total subscription dollars for video go down in an over-the-top video world, what with the increased popularity of services like Netflix Watch Instantly and Hulu Plus. With cord cutting on the rise, how do the entertainment and pay-TV industries make up the lost revenue? Read more »
If once is a fluke and twice is a trend, we can maybe confirm what we’ve been saying all along: that cord cutting is something the cable industry needs to worry about. According to new data, 119,000 pay TV subscribers dropped service in the third quarter. Read more »
We know that Comcast is losing cable subscribers en masse. What we don’t know is what makes them cancel: Are these cord cutters ready to switch to Hulu? Or are we talking about victims of the recessions who just can’t afford HBO and Showtime anymore? Read more »
This week on NewTeeVee’s first original web series, Janko tests the Xbox 360′s cable-replacing abilities, Ryan talks to a San Francisco cord-cutter who doesn’t miss Comcast, and Liz gets into the Halloween spirit with the Dailymotion-exclusive horror web series Camera Obscura. Read more »
PlayOn says 30 percent of its customers have canceled their cable subscriptions, with another 10 percent downgrading them. Based on the number of users that have downgraded or done away with cable, the startup estimates that it saves customers $24 million a year on cable bills. Read more »
The cable and satellite industry in the U.S. has begun to show some weakness, with the first-ever decline in pay TV subscribers last quarter. But data from the European Union shows that cable subscribers there have already decided to stop paying for cable TV services. Read more »
Many pay-TV subscribers, as well as policymakers, have complained for decades over what they view as a rip-off: being forced to order bundled tiers of TV channels instead of being able to select and pay for only the ones they want.
“Why should I have to pay ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Today on the Net: Verizon’s CEO says that cable companies should watch out because cord cutting is real, MySpace has tapped Andy Marcus to lead its entertainment division and Dell is evaluating Internet connected devices running Google TV. Read more »
Cable companies continue to raise prices for their pay TV subscriptions, even as consumers are struggling to make ends meet due to the economy. That could be one reason that the number of multichannel TV subscribers dropped for the first time ever last quarter. Read more »
U.S. Pay TV subscriptions have declined for the first time in history in the second quarter. Comcast & other cableco’s lost a total of 711,000 subscribers last quarter, which represents the biggest quarterly loss ever for cable TV. Telcos and sattellite TV providers were better off. 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 »
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 »
