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European Set-Top "Technology Boards" To Be Abolished Or Altered: European Commission gets Microsoft to agree to not
influence technology decisions of European digital cable operators in order to end Microsoft antitrust inquiry
(18APR01) (EU)
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The news announcement states, "Microsoft's investment in this emerging market [is] obviously welcome, but the [European] Commission must ensure that it will not derive any unfair competitive advantage from its links with some of the leading operators, so that set-top box software vendors can compete freely and new technologies are chosen for the benefit of consumers." According to various news reports (see related links), Microsoft has agreed to abolish the Technology Board with NTL and to change the Technology Board with UPC into an Industry Technology Forum that would be open to competing set-top box suppliers. -
Clever Microsoft Boxes: Standard Europe says Microsoft's forays into the interactive television industry have to date not
been very successful (19APR01) (StandardEurope)
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On-Demand Broadband News In Australia: Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Richard Johnson says
"We are taking the toe in the water approach" (19APR01) (AustralianIT)
AustralianIT quotes Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Richard Johnson as stating, "We are taking the toe in the water approach - which may explain why so many others have failed" by taking other approaches. AustralianIT also quotes Australian Broadcasting Corporation new media director Lynley Marshall as stating, "We are not going to second guess what and who the market is but base our decisions on experience."- Potential Datacasting Set-Back In Australia: Predictions are made that the Australian government will drop datacasting auction (18APR01) (DailyTelegraph)
The Daily Telegraph reports, "Most major media companies withdrew from the auction earlier this year after the [Australian] Government restricted use of the datacasting licences, saying they could not be used to broadcast material which looked like free-to-air television."- Three Out Of Seven Datacasting Auction Bidders Remain In Australia: Australian Datacasting Corp, Barwix, and NTL are the remaining parties seeking to become data broadcasters in Australia (17APR01) (Newsbytes)
Newsbytes reports, "Legislation which passed through the Australian Parliament last year preclude datacasters from providing content in genres regarded as free-to-air TV territory, such as drama or lifestyle programs - though they will be able to provide 10-minute extracts of such programs."- Digital TV For Bulgaria: Bulgarian government opens auction for 12-year license for digital television broadcasting in Sofia, Bulgaria (17APR01) (Multichannel)
- Allied Business Intelligence says set-top boxes are still on track to reach 94 million units by Y2005 despite current fears of economic downturn (17APR01) (EinSite)
E-inSite quotes Allied Business Intelligence digital media analyst Joshua Wise as stating, "Some technology markets are highly sensitive to consumer spending and service provider spending, but we are seeing that the digital set-top box market is definitely not one of them." E-inSite further cites Wise as indicating "the primary reason behind the continued growth is that many consumers are now becoming enticed by the cornucopia of channels that digital cable is only just now beginning to offer."- If You Like Digital Cable Then You'll Really Like iTV: Statistical Research Inc.'s new report "All Things Digital II" finds digital cable TV subscribers have more interest in interactive television (17APR01) (SRI)
The news announcement states, "[I]n a head-to-head comparison with those who prefer satellite TV, consumers who subscribe or plan to subscribe to digital cable TV expressed more interest in a range of interactive-TV (ITV) features."- Digital Cable Is Not Necessarily Digital TV Or HDTV: Jon Healey discusses "What You Need to Know About Digital Cable" (12APR01) (LATimes)
- Interactive TV For Texas: Grande Communications to use Liberate TV Platform to deliver interactive television services to cable subscribers in Texas (18APR01) (Liberate) (alt.link)
The news announcement quotes Liberate Technologies president and chief operating officer Coleman Sisson as stating, "Grande and Liberate are focused on changing the way people view their televisions. We're thrilled to be part of the interactive revolution and look forward to enhancing Grande customers' entertainment experience."- NAB 2001 News Item: Intellocity and Chyron to demo integration of Chyron's Lyric software with Intellocity's iTV Publisher and iTV Producer software over set-top boxes powered by Microsoft TV and AOLTV at NAB 2001 (18APR01) (PRN)
- On-Demand Movie Tickets: Standard Alliance's Tom Pollock says impulse buying of movie theater tickets via AOLTV may be successful because people are in entertainment mode when watching TV (18APR01) (Mercury) (alt.link)
The news item from the San Jose Mercury News is a follow-up story on AOLTV and New Line Cinema beginning to sell movie tickets for new movies "Blow" and "15 Minutes" in theaters using technology from Standard Alliance. The San Jose Mercury News quotes Standard Alliance president and CEO Tom Pollock as stating the impulse movie-ticket buying may be successful because "People are in entertainment mode when they're watching TV. Not business mode." TV viewers can "buy tickets immediately - or receive an e-mail reminder to purchase the tickets online later."- CNBC Continues To Wink: CNBC renews interactive television agreement with Wink Communications (18APR01) (WINK) (alt.link) (alt.link)
Regarding Wink's interactive enhancements for CNBC, the news announcement states, "Not only are viewers able to watch CNBC Business News live while simultaneously accessing on-demand financial information and stock quotes, they now have the ability to purchase merchandise or request information through the many interactive advertisements."- Winking "Hooked On Phonics" Advertising: Wink and Gateway Learning to add Wink interactive television enhancements to television advertisements for "Hooked on Phonics" enabling TV viewers to click their TV remote control to request more info and call a special 800 telephone number (17APR01) (WINK) (alt.link)
- Streaming Actual DVD Content On The Web: Selected chapters from "Point of View" interactive DVD is being streamed on the net as marketing push for DVD movie (18APR01) (Videobusiness)
Video Business reports the "Point of View" DVD is "a feature-length film that operates on something like a choose-your-own-adventure format, with viewers able to use their remote control to select twists and turns in the plot." Video Business quotes Digital Circus' David Wheeler as stating, "We made it kind of mind-blowing in terms of technology. We introduced such a high level of interactivity that some of the DVD manufacturers didn't realize that their machines were capable of doing what we were making them do."- Related On Recording Your Own DVDs: Stephen Manes takes a look at Panasonic DMR-E10, Pioneer DVR-2000, and Apple Power Mac G4 with SuperDrive (16APR01) (Forbes)
Forbes' Stephen Manes writes, "Someday, recording your own DVDs should be commonplace and cheap. You could easily transfer that tape of Junior's first pratfall or the latest episode of 'The Sopranos' to disk via a DVD recorder. It would work just like a VCR, only with better quality and faster fast-forwarding."- Discs On Demand: DVD getting more shelf space at video rental stores in Australia (19APR01) (IT)
- Rebooting TiVo-DirecTV Boxes: Use WishList and search for Madonna or Cher and your TiVo-DirecTV box may reboot (18APR01) (ZDNN) (alt.link) (alt.link) (alt.link) (alt.link) (related.link)
ZDNet News quotes TiVo spokesperson Rebecca Baer as stating, "It seems that there are isolated incidents of people having problems.... The problems are tied to WishLists and searches for actors with single names" such as Cher or Madonna.- More DVR-PVR Bug Problem News: Microsoft UltimateTV and TiVo fight bugs in personal digital video recorder software (15APR01) (Net4TV)
Regarding the UltimateTV bug, Net4TV reports WebTV Networks is advising "users can avoid the problem by pressing the Stop button on the remote control prior to deleting the show. Customers who are having this problem should turn off the unit and then turn it back on. The unit will then reclaim the space occupied by the deleted shows when it restarts."- IPG-EPG With Video Ads: NTL's electronic program guide with short video clips of third-party ads is preferred by subscribers over regular TV commercials (09APR01) (EMonline)
Electronic Media quotes NTL communications director Andy Crossley as stating, "The NTL EPG [electronic program guide] shows small video clips of third-party ads and is used by 70 percent of customers every day. Viewers show a preference for these over the TV commercials. Interactive TV is the optimum marketing solution - we can drive extra revenues on the back of superior services."- Using PVRs To Skip Commercials That Pay For Free TV: John Dvorak asks "Is it any different to steal programming by skipping the commercials (which paid for the programs) than it is to download a song?" (16APR01) (Forbes) (alt.link)
- Local ETV Cookbook: Local Enhancement Collaborative by KCSM (San Mateo), TPT (St. Paul), WGBH (Boston), and WMVS (Milwaukee) is creating an "ETV Cookbook" with "recipes" for inserting interactive programming into local TV broadcasts (17APR01) (DigitalTV)
- Watch The Senate In HDTV: U.S. Senate proceedings to be in HDTV in Fall 2001 (18APR01) (Twice)
- Playing The Blues On Interactive TV: RespondTV and House of Blues are said to be in talks for developing interactive television channel (16APR01) (EMonline)
Electronic Media quotes Carmel Group, senior analyst Sean Badding as stating, "House of Blues already has one of the best [live-music] draws on the Web itself. Now, to tap into RespondTV's advertising tool is great."- Interactive TV "Chat Pal" Animatronic Dolls: United Internet Technologies Inc. to use Warner Bros. Looney Tunes characters in animatronic dolls that interact with TV shows, DVDs, chat room messages, and other input (17APR01) (THR) (related.link)
- On-Demand Sports Video: National Hockey League to provide on-demand video highlights of 2001 Stanley Cup Playoffs on NHL.com (16APR01) (EMonline)
Electronic Media quotes Yankee Group analyst Steve Vonder Haar as stating that sports deals involving streaming media "will not replace the network broadcast TV contract anytime soon.... Broadcasters are not going to miss the online content. And the Web to these folks is a sideline business - it's not going to move rating points or ad dollars."- Video On Phone News: Symbian to port Emblaze Systems' streaming video software onto the Symbian 3G platform (18APR01) (Netimperative) (related.link)
Netimperative reports, "Video is rapidly becoming an application synonymous with 3G - all 3G operators will be providing some kind of video functionality, making it imperative that all handset manufacturers add video support."- Related: Sanyo 5000 cell phone with full-color screen for Sprint PCS telephone service really uses up the battery (12APR01) (LATimes)
- Be Happy With Dial-Up: Cahners In-Stat issues new report "Hooked on Dial-up: Consumer ISP Trends and Market Share" (18APR01) (Cahners) (related.link) (related.link) (related.link)
In the related link, Newsbytes quotes Cahners In-Stat senior analyst Daryl Schoolar as stating, "It's pretty much still going to be a narrowband world come 2005."- Possible Rate Hike For Cable Internet: Monthly cost for high-speed cable internet access could get industry-wide price hike (19APR01) (CNET) (alt.link)
CNET cites broadband industry executives as indicating "the cultural nature of the cable industry is one of ever-higher rates." CNET quotes "Broadband Intelligence" newsletter analyst Cynthia Brumfield as stating, "I think cable will think twice about raising rates due to competition. Granted, right now the competition seems like it's slipped, but it's still there. It's not like the old days of cable (television) when there was no competition."- Related On Sluggish DSL Take-Up: Michael Bociurkiw reports on the continuing slow DSL roll-out story (17APR01) (MSNBC)
- Not TV But About $200 "SIMputer" For India: Simple, Inexpensive and Multilingual computer device to be intro'd on April 25 to help bridge the digital divide in India (18APR01) (SCMP)
- *** CLICK FOR MORE NEWS ***
- Potential Datacasting Set-Back In Australia: Predictions are made that the Australian government will drop datacasting auction (18APR01) (DailyTelegraph)
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