Archive for the ‘Net TV’ Category

Yay! Legal loophole allows Zattoo to expand UK channel lineup

by Steve O'Hear

April 30th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | CommentsNo Comments

Zattoo (see last100 review), which offers live streaming of existing ‘over-the-air’ and cable television channels, is deceptively disruptive.

Yay! Legal loophole allows Zattoo to expand UK channel lineupThe technology, peer-to-peer, significantly lowers the cost of delivering Internet TV, while a legal loophole has allowed the service to expand its UK offering, without formal licensing agreements. The company’s business model also occupies a somewhat grey area, whereby an advertisement is displayed for 5 seconds every time a user switches channel, meaning that, technically at least, Zattoo isn’t placing ads inside of third party content.

Continue reading »

Report: Blockbuster in talks to join Hollywood Video-On-Demand joint venture

by Steve O'Hear

April 29th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | CommentsNo Comments

“We’re exploring our options, so it’s not surprising there are rumors out there”, says a Blockbuster spokeswoman.

Report: Blockbuster in talks to join Viacom-led Video-On-Demand JVThe latest rumor, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, is that the company best known for its ‘bricks and mortar’ video rental business wants to join the recently announced Hollywood joint venture, led by Viacom, to create a new premium TV channel and Video-On-Demand (VOD) service. The other existing partners are Paramount, MGM and Lionsgate.

In return for investing, Blockbuster would get digital rights to the new channel’s programming, “people familiar with the situation” told the WSJ.

Blockbuster is an obvious possible partner. It used to be owned by Viacom, whose executives know its business well. Blockbuster also has been casting its net wide for new partners as it attempts to spruce up its video-rental business model with new digital ventures. Last year, it acquired Internet movie provider Movielink to offer video-download services to customers, and it has focused on forging exclusive content deals for its various services.

Ironically, the Viacom-led joint venture is already being compared negatively to the original Movielink service, which started life in 2002 as a joint venture between Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros. and MGM, but failed to resonate with users. Last August Movielink was acquired by Blockbuster.

The WB is reborn as an online video site offering original programming and "reruns"

by Daniel Langendorf

April 28th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | CommentsNo Comments

wb returnsWow. A TV exec gets it.

“My 20-year-old daughter and her friends are watching ‘One Tree Hill’ and ‘Pushing Daisies,’ but not on television,” said the TV exec, Bruce Rosenblum. “They’re watching on laptops and cellphones. Here’s the interesting part — to them, that is television.” (via New York Times)

Rosenblum is the president of the Warner television group, which is bringing back The WB brand not as a television network but an online video site, sort of an Internet network. The new WB (thewb.com) will feature original short-form content developed by talent like director/producer McG (“Terminator 4” and the “Charlie’s Angels” movies) and writer/producer Josh Schwartz (“Gossip Girl”).

Additionally, the new WB will provide “reruns” of shows which ran on the network from its birth in 1995 to 2006, when it merged with the UPN network to form The CW for the 2006-2007 TV season.

WB shows carried over to the Internet will include ad-supported episodes of the “Gilmore Girls,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and “Smallville.” Episodes of other Warner-produced shows like “Friends” and “The O.C.” will also be streamed online. It’s not known if shows produced by outside studios, like “Felicity” and “Dawson’s Creek,” will be featured.

“We do not view this as development for a platform other than the new media space,” Rosenblum told paidContent. “We view the new media space as a business within itself. If one of these series do happen to take off in a wildly successful fashion and if we really believe it can be compelling in another platform, of course we’ll try to take advantage of that.

Continue reading »

Five companies that sold customers down the DRM-filled river

by Steve O'Hear

April 27th, 2008 | Posted in Audio, Net TV, Other | Comments1 Comment

Five companies that sold customers down the DRM-filled riverThe news last week that Microsoft plans to turn off its verification servers for its now-defunct MSN Music store, is a stark reminder of the potential pitfalls customers face whenever they purchase content crippled by Digital Rights Management (DRM) software. Any digital store that sells or loans you content in a copy-protected format makes you a hostage to that store or format’s commercial success. The Microsoft example, however, is just one of many. Here are five cases where companies have sold their customers down the DRM-filled river.

Continue reading »

On TV and on the Web, "The Daily Show" sports an impressive political guest list

by Daniel Langendorf

April 24th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | Comments2 Comments

obama on jon stewart showI sometimes forget just how powerful Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” has become. On Monday, the night before the Pennsylvania Democratic primary, there was candidate Barack Obama chatting and laughing with Stewart.

It wasn’t eight months ago, when Obama first appeared on “The Daily Show.” It was the night before an important primary. Stewart obviously carries some serious clout — and not just on television. Every clip from “The Daily Show”, whether political or not, is available for free for streaming from the show’s Web site.

Today Comedy Central announced more notable political figures will appear as guests in the next two weeks as part of “Indecision 2008”: former President Jimmy Carter (April 28), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (April 29), Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean (May 1), and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (May 5). You can expect many more politicos during the run-up to the November election.

Continue reading »

Netflix: three more set-top box partners by end of year

by Steve O'Hear

April 22nd, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | Comments5 Comments

Netflix: three more set-top box partners by end of yearNetflix’s ambitious Internet TV plans are forging ahead, with three new set-top box partners to integrate the company’s ‘Watch Now’ video streaming service into their products by the end of year. The company has previously announced a partnership with Korean manufacturer LG Electronics to stream movies, TV shows, and other content to LG high-definition televisions or set-top boxes by the second half of 2008.

During the company’s Q1 earnings conference call, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings told analysts:

“We have LG plus three additional partners actively working on integrating our technology into their products… Three of the four partners are major companies, which each sell millions of devices per year and will enable the Netflix functionality in some of those devices likely in the fourth quarter of this year. The fourth partner is a small company, which will likely launch sooner than Q4.”

So who might these three additional hardware partners be?

Continue reading »

Let's hope Sony gets it right this time: may launch movie/TV download service for PlayStation

by Daniel Langendorf

April 21st, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | Comments2 Comments

sony ps3Word that Sony may be again launching a movie and TV download service was met today with interest and a bit of much-deserved scoffing.

It’s not like Sony hasn’t tried this before. Remember Movielink? Thought so. (It was sold to Blockbuster, by the way.) Remember Sony Connect? It shut down in March.

Heck, since the monumental success of the Walkman ages ago — in an analog world far, far away — Sony has pretty much failed at every digital offering, minus the early PlayStations and some home theater equipment. The whole digital music thing passed Sony by as Apple took over the Walkman mantle with the iPod, iTunes, and the rest of its digital lifestyle ecosystem.

The Los Angeles Times today reported that Sony is again in talks with Hollywood muckety-mucks regarding a download service that would beam movies and television shows from the Internet to the PlayStation 3.

But because said muckety-mucks are hush-hush over the negotiations, not much else is known — no pricing or if the movies and TV shows are for rent or purchase. One tantalizing tidbit, however, is being floated about.

Continue reading »

Viacom, Paramount, MGM and Lionsgate form 'game changing' joint venture

by Steve O'Hear

April 21st, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | Comments1 Comment

If you were going to announce a new ‘game changing’ joint venture involving four leading Hollywood studios, you wouldn’t choose to do it on a Sunday, right? Because that’s precisely what Viacom, Paramount, MGM and Lionsgate have done, with their newly formed premium TV channel and VOD service, which will be rolled out in the fall of 2009.

While details given in the press release are thin on the ground, plastered over by a very generous helping of hyperbole, the yet-to-be named “Innovative Premium Entertainment Service” will offer new and classic feature films and original TV programing from each of the studios involved, and in what looks like a major shake up of the traditional U.S. pay TV market (lookout HBO, Showtime and Starz), the joint venture will have first access to upcoming films such as “Iron Man,” “Star Trek,” “The Pink Panther 2,” “Cloverfield” and “Robocop.” The combined back catalog will also cover classic hits such as “Dirty Dancing,” “Reservoir Dogs,” “Crash,” “Braveheart,” “Forrest Gump,” the “Godfather” series and the Rocky and James Bond franchises, notes Hollywood Reporter.

However, of more significance to last100, the new joint venture will have a strong online component, according to an interview given to paidContent by Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman: “As we go forward and make further announcements, you will see that this will be oriented toward the consumer. It will also meet the needs of varying distributors and take advantage of online distribution…innovative both in presenting the content and in distributing it.” Dauman says that the joint venture will enable the studios involved to have greater control over their own destiny compared to traditional distribution deals, in terms of what they can and can’t offer online during competing release windows. This suggests to me that we may see paid-for downloads of premium content offered at the same time as pay TV.

Let's hope Lonelygirl 15 and KateModern creators put their $5 million to good use

by Daniel Langendorf

April 17th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | CommentsNo Comments

eqalThe Internet is really feeling like the fifth TV network these days, with the line blurring between producing content for television and the Web. For a while now, the Internet has had its own production companies like NextNew Networks and 60Frames to develop unique online “shows.”

On Thursday Net TV got another online production company, one with pedigree. Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, the ones behind Web hits Lonelygirl 15 and spin-off KateModern, secured $5 million in Series A venture funding to launch Eqal, their new “social entertainment” production company, which supplants an earlier effort known as LG15 Studios/Telegraph Ave. Productions.

Eqal — pronounced “Equal” — join the likes of Joss Whedon’s Mutant Enemy and Bryan Singer’s Bad Hat Harry Productions as independent production houses, only Eqal produces for the Web, not for television or film.

“It’s an exciting time for online entertainment,” Beckett and Goodfried wrote on the company blog. “There are a slew of independent producers, digital studios, and social media companies sprouting up, not to mention the fact that traditional media isn’t exactly ignoring this whole ‘internets’ thing. . . .

Continue reading »

CBS scores big with March Madness on Demand

by Daniel Langendorf

April 14th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | CommentsNo Comments

cbs march madness on demandNo surprise here, unless of course you were a Memphis fan, but CBS’ online March Madness on Demand was a big hit.

CBS said it had 4.8 million unique visitors throughout the three-week tournament, a 164 percent increase over 1.8 million uniques in 2007. Of course, that’s apples and oranges: This was the first year CBS made the entire NCAA men’s basketball tournament available from start to finish.

Total hours consumed live online were 4.9 billion, up 81 percent from 2.7 billion in 2007. Again, apples and oranges. (via paidContent)

As you might figure, interest in the tournament was greater at the start, when 64, then 32, then 16 teams were involved, expanding the number of fans who might tune in via the Web. The busiest time was during business hours, when people did not have access to a television and the boss was out of earshot.

CBS has not said anything officially about the profitability of March Madness on Demand, but a spokesman got in touch with the folks at NewTeeVee to say it estimates revenues at $23 million, up from an earlier prediction of $21 million.

All in all, not bad for CBS, the NCAA, and tournament winner Kansas. Memphis, however, may see it a bit differently.

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »