@ pcAds: Still Waiting For The Mobile Ad Breakthrough?
Tablets and smart phones are everywhere you turn but companies have been slow to redirect their ad spending to these new platforms. For now,… Read more at paidContent »
Potential Mosaid Buyer WiLAN Sues Apple, HTC, Others Over Mobile Patents
Another day, another patent suit is hitting the courts. Today the Canada-based patent holder WiLAN has filed a suit in a U.S. court against… Read more at paidContent »
Hulu Japan Launches With Movies, TV From CBS, Sony, Fox & More But No Ads
Hulu’s first offering outside the U.S. is live: Hulu Japan, a subscription service with “hundreds” of films and thousands of hours of TV. Fo… Read more at paidContent »
Attention: The Online Ad Industry Is Now Officially Regulating Itself
Today is the day that online advertisers formally implement a code of conduct. The industry hopes it will persuade Congress to leave them al… Read more at paidContent »
Subscriber Content
Building a better paywall: strategies for monetizing news content
The impact of digital technology has shattered long-established monopolies and ways of making money in the newspaper publishing industry. Today, publishers must find ways to subsidize content-creation costs directly, and this report examines a few different approaches, from more flexible paywalls to charging users directly for access and mimicking the business models of other industries, such as online gaming. Companies mentioned in this report include Ford, Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Subscriber Content
What’s so bad about being a dumb pipe?
There’s nothing flashy about broadband services, but that won’t stop many operators from making those services a core focus as time goes on. Due to growing consumer adoption and better profit margins than traditional video services’, high-speed Internet is likely to be the future of the ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Subscriber Content
What the Google-Motorola deal means for Android, Microsoft and the mobile industry
Google rocked the mobile world on Monday, August 15, with the news that it will buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, marking a 63-percent premium for the handset manufacturer. It’s a move that ushers Google into the exclusive club of companies that control both the hardware and software elements of their smartphone offerings, and it will enable Google to design handsets that are more closely integrated with Android. However, the deal doesn’t come without its risks, and it remains to be seen just how it will affect other handset makers, competition from Microsoft and the crucial patent issues currently surrounding Google. Companies mentioned in this report include Apple, Research In Motion and Samsung. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Time Warner to lean on Flixster for Ultraviolet rollout
Through the DECE’s UltraViolet format, Warner Bros. and other studios will begin making movies available for sale this year that can be purchased and watched on a number of different devices. Key to Time Warner’s introduction of these services will be its Flixster social discovery app. Read more »
HBO Go coming to connected TVs, game consoles
Time Warner’s HBO Go service has been a big hit, and it’s helping to drive more viewers to the premium cable network. With that in mind, the TV Everywhere service will soon be available on connected TVs and video game consoles. Read more »
Breaking Bad now online — but only for cable subscribers
If you’ve missed the first two episodes of Breaking Bad: Full-length episodes have quietly been added to online video portals of Comcast and Dish Network. But to access those episodes you have to be a cable or satellite subscriber. Read more »
CNN puts live news behind a pay wall
CNN unveiled a new live online video service on its website, as well as on new versions of its popular iPad and iPhone applications. But it isn’t available to everyone — to view it, users have to be pay TV subscribers with access to the news network. Read more »
Lawsuit against CNN brings captions into the spotlight
Disabilities rights advocates sued CNN this week in an attempt to force the network to caption all of its online videos. The lawsuit brings closed captions back into the spotlight and could, if successful, have implications on pretty much any site offering online video in California. Read more »
Time Warner’s Bewkes: ‘This is not the music industry’
Despite worries over competition from over-the-top video services and the possibility of cord cutting, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said the cable industry was doing better than ever. That said, the industry still needs to work together to meet consumer demand for new services. Read more »
Steve Case and Jerry Levin reunite to accelerate health technology
Former AOL CEO Steve Case and former Time Warner CEO Jerry Levin are reuniting to help spur on innovation in health and wellness. Levin, with the help of Case’s Startup America Partnership, is launching a new strategic initiative called StartUp Health designed to help health entrepreneurs. Read more »
Amazon Makes Move to Join Book Publishing Big Leagues
In just the past few weeks, Amazon has launched two new book imprints, hired the former CEO of Time Warner books to launch more, making clear their intentions to grow publishing’s Big Six by one. Can the publishing industry withstand the Amazon onslaught? Read more »
HBO Lets iPad Users Watch Game of Thrones A Week Early
Good news for fans of HBO’s new series Game of Thrones: This weekend, subscribers will be able to watch the show a whole week early. The show will be available on the HBO Go website, as well as mobile apps on iOS and Android devices. Read more »
Exclusive: Simulmedia Raises $9M for TV Ad Platform
Simulmedia, the media marketing firm founded by ad veteran Dave Morgan, just raised a $9.25 million round of financing, according to an SEC filing. The company, which uses set-top box data to target TV ads to users, has now raised more than $20 million. Read more »
What T-Mobile Could Do if the AT&T Acquisition Fails
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 »
How Traditional Entertainment Can Use Social Media
Remember when social media was going to reinvent the entertainment business? Though past efforts made little headway in the social-entertainment space, announcements from Warner Home Entertainment and News Corp. suggest the space is far from dead. Here’s what companies looking to capitalize on it can learn. Read more »
Cox Jumps On the TV Everywhere Bandwagon
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 »
HBO Goes On Demand On the iPad, iPhone & Select Android Phones
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 CEO Jeff Bewkes Loves Netflix. Wait, What?
For years, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes has been one of Netflix’s most outspoken critics. But he softened his stance, no longer comparing Netflix to the Albanian Army, but saying the subscription video service had the opportunity to be more like HBO. Read more »
Two Studios Hold Out On YouTube Movie Rental Deal-Piracy Is The Issue
Word leaked earlier this week that YouTube (NSDQ: GOOG) was going to start renting out premium movie content, putting it in a position to co… Read more at paidContent »
Netflix: We’re a Friend, Not an Enemy, to Cable Networks
Netflix may have more subscribers than Comcast, but that doesn’t mean it sees itself as a replacement to traditional cable. In a letter to shareholders and on the company’s quarterly earnings call, CEO Reed Hastings argued that Netflix viewing is complementary to cable networks. Read more »
Subscriber Content
Connected Consumer Q1: The Over-the-Top vs. Pay TV Battle Heats Up
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 »
Adobe Pass Makes TV Everywhere Logins More Manageable
The cable industry is betting big on TV Everywhere, but there’s been no good way to handle logins from multiple websites and devices. Adobe is hoping to change all that, with a technology called Adobe Pass that collects and stores logins for use across network sites. Read more »
Vid-Biz: News Corp, MTV UK, Comcast-Time Warner
Today on the Internet: Carriage fights cost News Corp $47 million last year, MTV is offering a paid subscription service for original programming in the UK and the Comcast-Time Warner deal could be a great example of how companies can work together in the Netflix age. Read more »
Big Media Wants More Money From Netflix
The power struggle between Netflix and content providers became more pronounced in earnings calls for Time Warner and News Corp. Execs from both companies made it clear that they want more money for their content — because Netflix is seen as a rival to other distribution platforms. Read more »
It’s An App World — Cable Companies Just Live In It
Through a variety of TV apps and widgets, consumer electronics manufacturers will be able to choose what content viewers see when they turn on the TV. This has broad implications cable companies and TV programmers, who could soon lose the ability to control audiences. Read more »
Vid-Biz: Ebert on 3-D, Netflix-Time Warner, Epix TV App
Today on the Net: More evidence that 3-D films are bad for us, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos claims that Time Warner hates it because it’s going to try to steal Warner Bros. movies away from HBO and Epix is building an app for connected TVs. Read more »
Vid-Biz: Time Warner, Boxee, Verizon iPad
Today on the Internet: Ad Age says the technology behind Time Warner’s TV Everywhere still doesn’t exist yet; Boxee’s CPO is leaving to found another start-up; and Verizon’s not just getting into the iPhone business — it’s also planning to offer an iPad. Read more »
Steve Case’s New Soapbox for Defending AOL: Quora
Steve Case, the founder of AOL and architect of the disastrous merger with media giant Time Warner in 2000, has been using the question-and-answer site Quora to respond to critics of that deal, and also to share his thoughts about the new AOL. Read more »
Cablecos Pass Buck To, Take Bucks From, Consumers in 2011
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 »
Vid-Biz: Comcast-NBCU, YouTube Terrorism, Time Warner-Netflix
Today on the Net: online video will be at the heart of the Comcast-NBCU federal regulatory review, YouTube is relying on users to flag videos that might be responsible for inciting terrorist violence and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes calls Netflix names in the NY Times. Read more »
Subscriber Content
Google’s Chrome OS: Dead Before Arrival?
Last week Google showed off its progress on Chrome OS. It introduced an apps store in support of it, and offered up a pre-release hardware trial program as a concession that real machines wouldn’t ship till mid 2011. But it’s likely all for naught. Google CEO ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Subscriber Content
Report: The Connected TV Marketplace
The television business is on the cusp of the biggest technological upheaval since the introduction of cable TV. The addition of Internet connectivity to living room devices will enable new functionality around programming services, program discovery, social networking, ad targeting and measurement — aspects of the TV viewing experience that have remained largely unchanged for decades. These trends have the potential to become the foundation for new economic models around how viewers pay for video service and how program creation is financed. In this report, we examine the leading contenders’ strategic positioning, relative strengths and weaknesses, and provide the early line on their odds of success. Companies mentioned include Google, Apple, Boxee, Roku, Vudu, Samsung, Microsoft and Sony. To see a full list of companies and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Could HBO ‘Go’ Direct to Consumers?
Time Warner Chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes said the company didn’t have any plans for a direct-to-consumer HBO offering, but he didn’t outright dismiss the possibility, either. Instead, he said HBO might target consumers online if its cable partners don’t roll out authenticated services quickly enough. Read more »
Time Warner Clinging to a Dying Business Model
Make no mistake: Time Warner is building a pay wall for its cable assets online. Its Google TV and TV Everywhere initiatives are defensive measures designed to keep customers subscribed to pay TV. But if its strategy is to restrict access to content, it will lose. Read more »
