Cable firms in pact to allow TVs that don't need set-top boxes
Sony Electronics and Major U.S. Cable Operators negotiate natonal two way play
Sony Electronics and major cable operators which together pass over 105 million U.S. homes have negotiated and signed an agreement that will enable consumers to purchase innovative “two-way” digital televisions and other devices that can receive interactive digital and high-definition video services without a set-top box, Sony and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) announced today. The terms of the agreement are embodied in a binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) negotiated by Sony Electronics and the six largest cable companies – Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Charter, Cablevision and Bright House Networks – which serve more than 82 percent of all U.S. cable subscribers.
Measuring Online Engagement Seen as Key to Boosting Ad Dollars
Online video sites and services like Break.com and Blip.tv are in the early stages of striking partnerships with Web analytics firms to offer more detailed information on how long consumers watch online video.That type of data can help sites develop a means to measure “engagement,” an increasingly sought-after measure of how much attention advertising gets. Advertisers say they are keen for more data on how long Web viewers stay tuned in to a video, whether they fast-forward and when they stop watching.
Verizon Offers Starz Broadband Video Service
Verizon announced on Tuesday a multi-year deal to offer Starz Play, a broadband video service from the Liberty Media unit, to its 8.5 million broadband subscribers. The $5.99 per month Starz Play service will offer both live Starz programming, and downloads of 2,500 movies and videos such as "Spider-Man 3" and "Ratatouille" for unlimited viewing for as long as a subscription is current. The deal will also see Verizon offer Starz products to its FiOS TV, FiOS Internet and DSL subscribers.
Cable firms in pact to allow TVs that don't need set-top boxes
Viacom Ups Ante In YouTube Copyright Spat: Google More Than A Mere Enabler
Google is getting a lot of attention for claiming in its latest court brief (.pdf) that Viacom's lawsuit against YouTube "threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment, and political and artistic expression." The rhetoric headlines a familiar legal argument, that the DMCA protects YouTube's right to host copyrighted content from third parties without fear of liability.
Google Says Viacom “Threatens” Expression
In papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan late Friday, YouTube owner Google said Viacom’s $1 billion copyright lawsuit threatens the very way hundreds of millions of people exchange information over the Internet. According to the Associated Press, Google said that YouTube “goes far beyond its legal obligations in assisting content owners to protect their works.” Google went on to say that Viacom’s seeking to hold carriers and hosting providers liable for online communications “threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment and political and artistic expression.”
NBCU Completes Stake Buy In India's NDTV; Option To Increase To 50 Percent
NBC Universal has completed its stake buy in India's TV conglomerate NDTV Networks, the companies have informed the local stock exhange. NBCU has taken an indirect stake in 26 percent of NDTV Networks PLC for $150 million. More importantly - NBCU has the option, in two years, to increase their stake in the holding company to 50 percent, with the NDTV group holding an equal 50 percent stake.
More Than One Billion Users Will View Online Video in 2013
Sparked by increasing broadband penetration and rising connection speeds available to a growing percentage of the world’s population, over-the-top video has seen phenomenal growth in very recent years. A new study from ABI Research forecasts the number of viewers who access video via the Web to nearly quadruple in the next few years, reaching at least one billion in 2013.
Broadcast networks under siege
IT seems much longer than four years ago that NBC marketed the blazes out of a miniseries called "10.5." A disaster epic about a series of giant earthquakes on the West Coast, "10.5" was a silly hunk of overripe cheese ("a four-hour tour de force of lameness," in the words of critic Tim Goodman). But the 2004 "event" movie was also emblematic of a then-cherished network tradition, the sweeps ratings period, when stations banged the drums for all sorts of specials and stunts crafted as viewer bait. Like the networks themselves, though, the quarterly sweeps -- which some stations still use to set local ad rates -- have fallen on hard times. For the May sweep that ended last Wednesday, NBC couldn't be bothered to make the earth move. Among the network's prime-time offerings as the period drew to a close: repeats of "The Office," "Law & Order: SVU" and "Most Outrageous Moments."
ABC Shows Top BitTorrent Downloads
ABC programs accounted for four of the top five BitTorrent TV downloads for the week ending May 19, according to an analysis for NewTeeVee by Big Champagne. Fox’s “Prison Break” took the fifth slot.
Watch Out Time Warner, Cablevision: Verizon Takes on NY
Verizon just took a big step closer to getting a license to wire all five boroughs of New York City for its FiOS TV network. Today New York City's Franchise and Concession Review Committee voted unanimously to allow Verizon to proceed. The next step is approval from the Mayor's office and the New York State Public Service Commission--both should be easy checkoffs. After that, the real work begins for Verizon. Residents are concentrated in New York City, meaning many potential customers, but each building presents an engineering challenge, as does the city's aging infrastructure itself. "If we are successful in the last steps of the approval process, we will deliver on our promise to begin offering FiOS TV in parts of each of the five boroughs later this year,” said Monica Azare, Verizon senior vice president for New York and Connecticut.
That's it folks
