Boxee TV is dead, long live Boxee Cloud DVR: Boxee’s recently-launched consumer electronics device has been rebranded, and the company introduced a free service tier. Read more »
A Bloomberg report claims Microsoft wants to focus more on IPTV delivery through the Xbox platform. Ericsson already provides other IPTV services to hundreds of telcos, so Mediaroom may be a good fit for its portfolio. Read more »
In our age of the dual television and smartphone screen, watching Twitter during live events has become intertwined with the actual watching of the broadcast itself. You can always DVR a show for later, but experiencing the Twitter jokes as they happen is something else entirely. Read more »
Here’s another sign that live, over-the-air broadcast TV is heating up: The WD TV Live line of devices just got support for over-the-air tuners, enabling users to watch free HD TV and even record shows with a basic DVR feature. Check out our first look. Read more »
The purpose of the on-screen guide has shifted. By connecting the guide to content-recommendation engines and advertising platforms, service providers and connected-TV device manufacturers are using the EPG as an access point for understanding consumers and reaching out to them to own the living room. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The adoption of tablets, social media and new interfaces and the changing nature of the TV itself mean the digital living room will continue on its path of rapid change, thanks to new ways of creating, viewing, bundling, distributing and selling content. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Broadcasters are hopping made at Dish Network and Charlie Ergen about their new commercial-deleting DVR feature. Some might look back on litigation with ReplayTV with some regret. Broadcasters failed to get the anti-commercial-skipping ruling they were seeking at the time. Read more at paidContent »
In the first quarter of 2012 all eyes were on the screen, both big and small. Apple’s new Retina display pushed video streaming, and broadcast-TV streaming service Aereo’s launch was quickly followed with litigation. These events and more are discussed in a new quarterly report. 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’s Live TV tuner has been lacking the capability to record any TV programming, but now the startup may be working on its very own subscription service to bring DVR functionality to the Boxee Box. A survey sent out this weekend even included possible pricing. Read more »
Struggling satellite TV carrier Dish Network (NSDQ: DISH) christened what it called a company “relaunch” with a new digital video recorder t… Read more at paidContent »
Set-top box maker TiVo (NSDQ: TIVO) announced today that it would rake in hundreds of millions from licensing three of its patents to AT&T (… Read more at paidContent »
Channel Master is squarely targeting cord cutters with its new DVR product, which promises TiVo-like time shifting functionality and online video content without any monthly subscription fees, for a price: The device costs a whopping $400. Is it worth the money? Check out our review. Read more »
Third-party developers have begun to work on a SageTV app for Boxee, bringing DVR functionality to the media player. The integration only works if users also run SageTV on a PC, but it could nonetheless be a big deal both for Boxee and SageTV’s fan bases. Read more »
Zediva launched a service to stream DVDs to users’ web browsers. That raised the ire of Hollywood studios, which sued it for copyright infringement. Now Zediva has filed its response, claiming that it is no different than other DVD rental services from Netflix or Blockbuster. Read more »
Google has acquired the DVR software maker SageTV — but don’t expect DVR functionality to come to existing Google TV devices anytime soon. In fact, the acquisition may not be at all about time shifting, but about place shifting and taking the Google TV platform everywhere. Read more »
It looks like TiVo is finally adding Hulu Plus to the list of online video services available through its DVRs. And based on promotional materials spotted in some Best Buy stores, TiVo is offering up six free months of the Hulu Plus service to new customers. Read more »
The BBC announced a new feature called “Series Record” to its iPlayer today. With the new feature, iPlayer users will be able to sign up once to record their favorite shows and catch up on that programming for up to a month after episodes air. Read more »
Speaking at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference, CBS research chief David Poltrack said that about one-fifth of primetime viewing is time-shifted on DVR. That number jumps significantly in the 18-49 demographic, where shows get a 42 percent lift in audience when DVRs are counted. Read more »
What do you do when you’re a consumer electronics company that depends on subscription revenue and you’re hemorrhaging subscribers? If you’re TiVo, you give your box away for free and you hope to make up for lost revenues over the life of a more expensive contract. Read more »
Time Warner Cable is introducing a new Look Back feature to its subscribers, enabling them to go back and watch some programming within the first three days it aired. But the new feature, which doesn’t require a DVR, also won’t let customers fast forward through commercials. Read more »
We’ve known for a long time that live TV was losing audience, but things might be worse for than we thought. New research shows that one-third of the adult viewing population in the U.S. has begun skipping live TV in favor of DVR and online viewing. Read more »
Broadcast TV audiences have been shrinking for years, due in part to the proliferation of online video content as well as ever-improving cable programming. But one cause of the precipitous drop in live TV audiences is the growth of DVR usage among TV viewers. Read more »
RCN to Expand TiVo ‘Premiere’ Rollout; RCN is beginning to market TiVo’s new Premiere box as its primary DVR in and around Washington, D.C., and it plans to expand the rollout to New York and other cities soon. (Light Reading Cable) Half of Flat Panel TVs […] Read more »
TiVo has struck a partnership with pay TV security provider Conax that could bring its new user interface to cable customers in Scandinavia, mainland Europe and India, the company announced today. Norway-based Conax provides security solutions to a number of cable, satellite and IPTV operators in […] Read more »
