7 stories to read this weekend
Reality TV, Raymond Chandler, Miami cold case, a dead hedge fund manager and privacy in the age of Facebook, circa 1985 — here are some of the the stories on the menu for this weekend. Enjoy! Read more »
If Apple decides to make a television, Foxconn will be ready to build it
Foxconn isn’t looking for ways to reduce its dependence on Apple; it’s really looking for ways to rely less on the iPhone. Read more »
Two deals that make it obvious where Twitter’s heart lies: inside your television
photo: Shutterstock / Dmitris K
Twitter’s love affair with television seems to know no bounds — two recent deals with BBC America and Comedy Central will bring video clips inside users’ streams, and more such deals appear to be in the works. Read more at paidContent »
State of the media: The cracks are still widening, but some light is also getting in
The Pew Center’s latest report on the state of the media shows the financial woes affecting the traditional news business continue, and this is having an effect on consumers — but there are a few bright spots as well. Read more at paidContent »
CBS launches an iOS app to stream full episodes of some shows
CBS’s new iOS app lets viewers stream episodes of some shows a week after they air. But full episodes from popular shows like “The Mentalist” and “The Big Bang Theory” are missing. Read more at paidContent »
How big an area would 1 billion televisions cover?
photo: Shutterstock / Angela Waye
People still buy televisions — a lot of them every year, though I wonder how much profit television makers actually make. Either way, about a billion TV sets were shipped in last four years. That’s one big honking screen. How big? Read more »
What a pig, a goat and an eagle can tell us about the decline of traditional media
photo: Shutterstock/Donskarpo
When news shows rely on “viral” videos for their programming, without bothering to even try and verify whether they are real or not, all they do is push their viewers towards the original source of that content. Read more at paidContent »
Nielsen, Billboard shift their tracking to account for cord cutters
photo: Shutterstock / Mikhail Melnikov
In two signs of how online media consumption is changing traditional tracking services, Nielsen will begin tracking the habits of viewers who watch TV over broadband, while Billboard will begin including YouTube music video views in its charts. Read more at paidContent »
Consumers are stuck between ISPs and content giants in the battle for online video
photo: Universal Studios
As TV viewing has gone online, the delivery of content has become fractured. With more players, there are more things to break, and it’s often the consumer that gets stuck in the middle when ISPs and the content giants like Netflix and amazon fight. Read more »
US spends 35 percent more time using apps in 2012, while web usage drops
The modern era of mobile apps is just over four years old, but their usage continues to grow, according to new survey data released Wednesday. Time spent in apps grew 35 percent in the last year, while TV watching remained steady and web usage dropped. Read more »
TV now has web-like ad metrics–so why aren’t they being used?
photo: Shutterstock/Malota
Despite fewer viewers and blunt advertising metrics TV is still king, with revenues that dwarf online. Still, Doug McCormick of Rho Ventures says using smarter, online-style tech to better target ads will benefit both networks’ and marketers’ bottom line. Read more »
It’s official: News consumption is all about social and mobile
photo: Flickr user George Kelly
New research from the Pew Center into news consumption habits shows that the impact of mobile and social continues to grow. Almost twice as many users got news from a mobile device compared with 2010, and almost three times as many got news from a social network. Read more »
Spotify for TV – could it finally be true?
photo: Spotify
A Danish report says Spotify may offer HBO TV shows in Scandinavia. We have seen that kind of speculation in the past. But there may be valid reasons why the music service could branch out. Read more at paidContent »
Need spectrum? FCC plans TV incentive auction for 2014
The FCC is moving forward with a controversial plan to entice broadcasters to give up their airwaves so they can later be auctioned off to carriers who need more spectrum to deliver mobile broadband. FCC officials expect the auction in 2014. Read more »
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings’ response to HBO Nordic: It’s on!
The gloves are off between Netflix and HBO – in Northern Europe, anyway: HBO revealed plans for an HBO Nordic offering that can be accessed on the Internet without a TV subscription two weeks after Netflix announced its expansion to Northern Europe. Read more »
More streaming video for Amazon Prime: Friday Night Lights, Battlestar Galactica
Amazon Prime Instant Video and NBCUniversal expanded their content licensing agreement to include new shows like “Friday Night Lights,” “Parenthood” and “Battlestar Galactica.” Read more at paidContent »
Pay TV subscriber losses just “seasonal,” analyst says
The multichannel business has incurred net subscriber losses in the second quarter for three years in a row — after never finishing a three-month period in the red before 2010. Bernstein Research’s Craig Moffett says this is simply a normal cyclical state for a maturing business. Read more at paidContent »
With $1/day plan, Aereo snubs its nose at broadcasters
Aereo, the company that wants to deliver broadcast TV online and to any device, has a new pricing plan that puts it on par with a Hulu subscription. The plan aims to get folks to try it out and to challenge the broadcasters’ current revenue models. Read more »
So far, even the Olympics can’t budge our outdated TV models
photo: Shutterstock / Padmayogini
Frustration with a lack of access, editing and the overall confusion about who can see what of the Olympics shows how frustrated consumers are about our outdated TV, but NBC has paid $1.18 billion to broadcast the games. Who is the consumer here? Read more »
Poll: Which screens will you use for the 2012 Olympics: TV, PC, mobile?
There’s an unprecedented amount of digital video coverage for this year’s Olympic Games and yet analysts suggest that the TV will easily trump viewing on other screens again. The numbers look low because of our time- and place-shifting mentality: Share your viewing plans in our poll. Read more »
Fastest growing segment of piracy? Live TV
photo: Shutterstock / Mehmet Dilsiz
A new study from Google and the UK copyright collection society PRS for Music finds that live TV is the fastest-growing segment of copyright infringement — and a large presence on social networking sites. Read more at paidContent »
What are you paying for when you buy TV?
photo: Shutterstock / Angela Waye
Traditional cable is no longer about choice; it’s about access. As an access provider for content, cable has the widest depth of content right now, but it also costs the most. So how long can it keep content and customers? Read more »
Subscriber Content
How social discovery is transforming entertainment
In this busy new world of multiple social networks and recommendations tools, the discovery process itself is being disrupted by innovation and by the changing ways in which consumers now interact online. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
New TiVo box takes on Slingbox, streams to tablets
Set-top box maker TiVo has introduced a new Slingbox-like product that lets users stream live- or DVR-recorded TV to tablets, notebooks and smart phones. Read more at paidContent »
Comcast data caps stand in the way of Sony video service
Sony has big plans for a competitive home video service to compete with programming offers from the cable and satellite companies – or maybe I should say ‘had’. Those plans are on hold until regulators decide if Comcast can keep prioritize its content over everyone else’s. Read more »
Amazon wants to remove middlemen from streaming TV, too
Amazon doesn’t like middlemen. With Amazon Publishing, the company signs authors up directly to write books. Now the company is searching for more content creators. Amazon Studios is inviting creators to submit proposals for original shows. Read more at paidContent »
Google targets $20 billion local TV ad market
While targeting big national TV advertising with premium video, Google is also going after small- and medium-sized advertisers by adapting its popular do-it-yourself AdWords platform for video. Read more at paidContent »
Shazam For TV can go large with ITV ad sales deal
Shazam’s efforts to enable TV ads with recognisable audio tags gain a big leg-up, with news UK broadcaster ITV will sell the idea to its advertisers. Read more at paidContent »
Subscriber Content
Controversy, courtrooms and the cloud in Q1
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 »
Did Boxee only sell 200,000 boxes?
There are only around 200,000 people out there using a Boxee Box, according to numbers released by the company this week. That’s low, but it’s also part of a bigger trend: Consumers still have to warm up to the idea of buying connected devices. Read more »
Why you shouldn’t just blame your cable company for that $200 bill
Fees paid by multi-channel operators to program suppliers rose 8.2 percent to nearly $33.5 billion last year, surpassing the nearly 6 percent growth of the average cable/satellite/telco subscription bill. Read more at paidContent »
The number of homes with connected TVs is rising fast– and it’s not because of smart TVs
photo: Shutterstock / Oleksiy Mark
With connected videogame consoles and Blu-ray players leading the way, 38 percent of American homes have at least one TV that’s hooked up to the internet — up 8 percent from a year ago. Read more at paidContent »
Russia’s Fast Lane flips again with Shopping Live sale
Russian web incubator Fast Lane Ventures is developing a reputation for building big businesses fast, with the sale TV channel Shopping Live — its second significant exit inside a couple of months. Read more »
Why SublimeVideo scooped my TV startup prize in Cannes
The winner of MIPCube Lab startup competition was a Swiss service for producing HTML5 video — but judging the best, most disruptive TV ideas on show proved a surprisingly difficult job. Read more »
Orange Fancies Itself As GetGlue, Miso Social TV Rival
Orange is having a run at the nascent second-screen social-TV space already occupied by the likes of GetGlue, Miso, Zeebox and Intonow. Read more at paidContent »
Zeebox boss says smart TV is a dumb idea
Is the trend for smart TVs that connect to the Web and run apps a big mistake? Anthony Rose, the co-founder of hot social TV app Zeebox, took to the stage at MIPCube to suggest the future of television lies somewhere very different. Read more »
DirecTV Aims To Double Latin American Revenue To $10B In 5 Years
Faced with a maturing market for satellite TV services in the U.S., DirecTV (NYSE: DTV) is pinning its future growth needs on the Latin Amer… Read more at paidContent »
Current Unplugs Keith Olbermann
Maybe Keith Olbermann should have given more thought to setting up his own outlet following his departure from MSNBC (NSDQ: CMCSA) last year. Read more at paidContent »
Industry Moves: Hearst; WebCollage; AccentHealth; Magnetic
– Hearst Newspapers: Lincoln Millstein has been promoted to EVP and deputy group head of Hearst Newspapers, from SVP of digital media. His… Read more at paidContent »
The Cable Sports Bidding War Will Justify The Dodgers' $2.15B Sale Price
How does a faded Major League Baseball franchise– one that hasn’t won a championship in 24 years and has fallen into disrepair under consec… Read more at paidContent »
