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 »
Comcast plans to raise its broadband cap to 300 GB per month as it trials two new types of caps. The move is welcome one, but it neglects to address some of the net neutrality complaints that have arisen in the last few weeks about Comcast. Read more »
Five months after it was announced, Comcast’s Xfinity TV subs finally have access to a key part of the TV Everywhere promise — WatchESPN, the ESPN gateway to live streaming sports and news. It’s iOS only for now, but Android is “coming soon.” Read more at paidContent »
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 »
The Senate is investigating video competition during a hearing on Tuesday and public interest groups are using it as an opportunity to ask tough questions on broadband caps. I would love the Senate to demand answers on how caps can thwart the burgeoning industry. Read more »
The evolution of premium cable TV beyond the living room took another step this week, with Showtime introducing a streaming app to rival HBO… Read more at paidContent »
Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) has started in-home streaming but it’s not quite live video Valhalla. Streaming access to the Xfinity TV linear lineup… Read more at paidContent »
Two of the biggest global news brands are gaining a bigger U.S. foothold – but, while one has finally broken in to the TV mainstream, the ot… Read more at paidContent »
Comcast announced earlier this year that it would soon introduce Skype to its subscribers, with an easy-to-use kit that will allow users to quickly turn up video chat services on their TVs. We got a sneak peek at the offering at Comcast headquarters last week. Read more »
The enterprise is where the big bucks used to be, but home is where the heart and consumers are. As the web becomes more integrated in people’s lives, the home will become the battleground for the coming generation of startups and big-name companies. Read more »
If regular users are going to start video chatting in the living room, it will need to be drop-dead simple to do. The good news for Comcast and Skype is that they seem to have succeeded in creating a pretty user-friendly solution. Read more »
Who needs smart meters when you’ve got broadband? Two announcements last week — EcoFactor’s energy-saving data and Comcast’s Xfinity Home Security launch — raise that question. If the broadband channel to home energy takes off, it could leave smart meter–dependent home energy startups in the dust. Read more »
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 »
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 »
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 »
Today on the Net: YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen are thinking about doing another project together, Amazon is planing to launch a cloud media locker and Piers Morgan has fallen in love with Twitter. Read more »
An FCC filing points to what could be Comcast’s next-generation set-top box, which is in trials with some customers in Augusta, Ga. Details of the home screen and menu detail an improved content discovery mechanism, social features and the possibility of third-party apps. Read more »
Today on the Net: Comcast released its Xfinity app for Android mobile phones, Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman said Paramount has no plans to be part of other studios’ premium VOD plans and Netflix CFO Barry McCarthy is resigning from the company. Read more »
Cord cutters are threatening cable companies with irrelevancy, but cable isn’t going to go gently into that good night. Comcast today unveiled its new Xfinity TV app for the iPad, a clear attempt to get some love from the new mobile video-watching crowd. Read more »
Comcast took the beta tag off its Xfinity TV service and made it available to all pay TV susbcribers, regardless of their ISP. That could be a game-changer, if Comcast ever decided to offer the online service to customers who don’t live in its service area. Read more »
Today on the Net: U.S. consumers really like their Redbox rentals, but they’ll also soon be able to try out Netflix without any physical DVD rentals. Also, online TV troublemaker Ivi just submitted another legal filing. Read more »
Comcast today announced the availability of more than 2,000 free wireless internet hotspots for Xfinity customers in New Jersey, Delaware and the greater Philadelphia area, where the company is based. Thanks to a collaborative agreement, customers can “roam” on hotspots from Cablevision and Time Warner Cable. Read more »
