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Personal TV Fighting For The Top Of The TV: Combined onslaught of advertising for personal video recorders
from Microsoft UltimateTV, TiVo, and Echostar may push PVRs into ubiquity while educating consumers on what
is personal video recording (18MAY01) (Standard)
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The Industry Standard reports, "Consumers, it seemed, just didn't get what the machines could do. It didn't help that the recorders carried a four-figure price tag and monthly fees.... But it may be the combined surge of the [advertising] onslaught that pushes the personal video recorder into ubiquity, along with the CD, the TV and the Walkman." -
Personal Leisure Technology May Not Be Fun With Too Many Extra On-Demand Features & Gadgets: Michael O'Sullivan
says the United States is an old-fashion "Norman Rockwell" nation living in a fast-paced "George Jetson" technology
world (18MAY01) (WashPost)
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The Washington Post's Michael O'Sullivan writes, "We are, apparently, a Norman Rockwell nation living in a George Jetson world.... What we do hasn't changed. Just the way we do it." On the one hand, O'Sullivan quotes one enthusiastic TV viewer as saying TiVo is the greatest thing on the planet. And on the other hand, O'Sullivan quotes another enthusiastic TV viewer as stating the extras on DVDs are "all that exciting, but sometimes it's just too much.... On the DVD they've got the first take and the 15th take and you can program it so that you can listen to any one of the four soundtracks you want, four separate times" but you can waste a great deal of time "exhaustively learning about just one movie" by trying out all the different on-demand features. -
Using Personal TV & Other Devices For Their Main Features: David Coursey uses his UltimateTV as a personal digital
video recorder but he doesn't use its internet or interactive television features (18MAY01) (Anchordesk)
Anchordesk's David Coursey writes, "My UltimateTV box is ... a fine digital video recorder. But I don't use its Internet or interactive TV features. Yes, they work, but I don't find them terribly compelling. If I want to browse the Web or check my e-mail, I use my PC.... If you buy an UltimateTV because it can check e-mail or don't buy TiVO because it lacks a browser, you risk disappointment in the long run." But you can click here to see that Coursey does feel better about recommending UltimateTV over the long haul versus recommending TiVo. -
But Personal TV Capabilities & Interactive Program Guide Help To Watch Digital TV: Continental Research Analyst
Dave Chilvers says the main reason that people get digital television is for a wider choice of TV channels and not for the
interactive service (18MAY01) (ZDNet.uk)
ZDNet UK cites a Continental Research report as indicating "only 0.9 million people out of the 12.1 who now have access to digital TV are using interactive services of any sort" in the UK. But note that the interactivity of an interactive program guide as well as any on-demand video-watching capabilities, including a PVR, would help the TV viewer to select what to watch. You can click here to check out previous news about the Continental Research report. -
Personal TV Cutting To The Chase: Sharp is developing personal digital video recording software to help TV viewers
who are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of sports programs on satellite television by cutting out the boring parts
(17MAY01) (Telegraph)
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The Electronic Telegraph reports the Sharp digital video recording software "will select the most dramatic moments by detecting slow motion parts of the broadcast, which usually coincide with the best action.... [and] ... also looks for the video effects broadcasters use to signal the start of replays, such as a flying programme logo. Having identified the slow-motion sections, the software generates an index of highlights, which can be watched in sequence, or expanded to show each action sequence followed by the slow-motion replay." -
PersonalTV Conference, "Turning the End of Scheduled Programming to Your Advantage," on June 25-26, 2001, at the
Intercontinental Hotel, London, and post-conference seminar on June 27, 2001, at Dorchester Hotel, London (18MAY01) (IBC)
The PersonalTV conference will cover: (1) exploring the long term impact and opportunities arising from the use of local storage; (2) how will broadcasters and content providers retain control in content promotion and advertising revenue; (3) the need for specifications to enable services based on mass local storage of content; and (4) what kind of services and programmes could broadcasters offer via PVR. Charts on the conference webpage provide projections for PVR-based services in the European Union and indicate that early growth is expected to be relatively modest in Europe with a higher growth in 7-10 years, but that the UK market is expected to grow much more quickly. -
Video-On-Demand Movies Via DSL: Copper Mountain Networks and InfoValue Computing to enable broadband providers to
provide video-on-demand movies and high-speed internet service via DSL to set-top boxes in multi-tenant unit buildings with
initial testing to begin in the summer in Washington DC (18MAY01) (ISPplanet)
ISP-Planet reports, "The actual movies are stored on video servers, which are normally housed inside the building.... New films are added to the mix at regularly scheduled times over the Internet. MPEG-2 streaming video along with other video-coding technologies can be used to deliver pay-per-view VHS or DVD-quality video to customers." As well as server storage of movides, ISP-Planet quotes InfoValue business development manager Thomas Eng as stating, "A user can pull content from edge networks. If someone requests a video that is not stored locally or is not on an available edge network, the network server can pull it from a central repository or a peer network" resulting in a larger selection of movies to watch. -
Twenty Video-On-Demand Titles Added Each Week: SightSound Technologies CEO Scott Sander says his web video
company is rolling out a lot of video-on-demand movies while everybody else is talking about video-on-demand
(18MAY01) (Mercury.AP)
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The Associated Press quotes SightSound Technologies CEO Scott Sander as stating, "While everybody else is talking about [video-on-demand], we continue to do it and we are upping the ante, rolling out a lot of movies to show the capability of the system." In contrast, the Associated Press quotes Jupiter Media Metrix analyst David Card as stating, "All they're going to show is the total lack of demand for this product. Consumers don't want to watch movies on PCs. You want to watch a movie on your big screen TV set with a nice sound system, sitting on a couch with your friends." However, IMHO, you have to keep in mind that any internet video-on-demand via the PC right now would be in preparation for the future transition to broadband video-on-demand for the TV and other TV-type devices. You can click here to see the similarity with the current state of broadband videogames. -ruel -
DirecTV If Merged Into News Corp Could Follow BSkyB Interactive Scenario: News Corp's Rupert Murdoch says
worldwide presence is necessary for building satellite television empire (18MAY01) (Standard)
The Industry Standard reports, "If, as is widely anticipated, Murdoch slashes subscription prices to build DirecTV's market share, customer acquisition costs could further erode the company's bottom line...." However, the Industry Standard quotes a former cable executive as stating, "Murdoch does not run his company for shareholder return." The Industry Standard quotes Rupert Murdoch as stating, "Now that the technology exists to overcome physical and geographical limits, a worldwide presence is not just a common goal, it's a necessity for those that want to be leaders in their fields." -
Murdoch, News Corp, & DirecTV News: State Street Senior Analyst Larry Haverty says General Motors and Hughes don't have
any clue how powerful a deal with News Corp is with the potential doubling of DirecTV subscribers using BSkyB-like price slashing,
promotion of DirecTV on News Corp's FOX networks, and securing popular TV shows and sporting events for DirecTV
(17MAY01) (Guardian)
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You can click here for other recent Murdoch, News Corp, and DirecTV news. -
When Will iTV Arrive In The US: George Telegadis says interactive TV will take much longer to arrive than the
industry would like to admit but that News Corp's Rupert Murdoch may push the envelope if he gets DirecTV (17MAY01) (DCD)
Regarding when interactive television will arrive, George Telegadis, in a pessimistic letter-to-the-editor commenting on Mixed Signals CEO Caroline Beck's remarks in Digital Coast Daily, states, "What I *can* tell you about 'When,' is that when no one can put their finger on it, it can't be close by." Telegadis does note that News Corp's Rupert Murdoch "may push the envelope" to get advanced set-top boxes for satellite TV to more people in the US if he gets DirecTV and thus may push the cable companies in the US. You can click here to check out Mixed Signals CEO Caroline Beck's remarks about a 15-20 year track for interactive television as well as Weather Channel CEO Decker Anstrom's remarks that we should expect 10 more years before interactive television is financially meaningful. -
Telegadis Is Mistaken On Some Points: James Brennan says businesses in a growing number of industry
sectors see the importance of developing an interactive television strategy for the US market (18MAY01) (DCD)
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Napster-Like Movie File-Sharing News: Digital pirate copies of "Tomb Raider" movie are said to be traded on
the internet in chatrooms (18MAY01) (BBC)
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The BBC quotes a Paramount Pictures spokesperson as stating, "It would not surprise me that a version of [the "Tomb Raider" movie] may have found its way on to the web." The spokesperson is also cited as indicating "most films tended to be pirated when they were being prepared for release on video and several 'beta' copies of the movie were in circulation." Paramount is distributing the "Tomb Raider" movie. You can click here for previous news about how "Tomb Raider" would mark the official beginning of the napsterization of the movie business. -
PCs Are Lethal For Enabling Unauthorized Digital Distribution Of Movies, TV Shows, And Music:
Gartner says set-top boxes provide tightly controllable "closed box" features that are appealing to media companies
(17MAY01) (CNET.Gartner)
Gartner states, "Unlike the PC, set-top boxes represent a 'closed box' set of features that vendors ... can tightly control. Even though this new generation of set-top boxes will be Internet-enabled, consumers will have limited ability to re-purpose them as content storage and distribution devices. Thus, this class of devices is appealing to media companies." -
Pirated Video CDs In Malaysia: Malaysia Domestic Trade & Consumers Affairs seizes 6225 pirated VCDs from
a courier office, also Malaysia police and film distributors seize 3650 pirated VCDs from three video shops
(18MAY01) (CNET)
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Disc-Based DVD Trading: EMA Multimedia announces commercial availability of Digital Trading Card technology
for connecting DVD movies with online servers for disc-based promotions for legitimate trading of DVDs with other movie
collectors and buying DVDs from vendors (17MAY01) (PRN)
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Connecting Interactive TV & Mobile Messaging In The Asia-Pacific Region: OpenTV and ITERU are to
combine interactive television with multi-platform messaging technology providing the ability to send and receive
messages between TV sets and other devices including advanced cell phones using short message service
texting, wireless application protocol, instant messaging, email, and fax
(17MAY01) (OpenTV)
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The news announcement states, "This unified solution is expected to provide TV network operators the option of launching a service that will allow subscribers to send and receive messages between televisions and multiple other devices such as mobile phones using SMS (Short Message Service) or WAP (Wireless Application Protocol); PCs with Email and ICQ ("I Seek You"); or Fax. In addition, TV network operators will have an opportunity to enable viewers to interact with a broadcast program by chatting with other viewers or poll response information." -
TV Cabo Interactive TV To Begin On June 7 In Portugal: TV Cabo Portugal SA to launch commercial deployment of interactive
cable television service using Microsoft TV Server software and using advanced set-top boxes from Octal TV and Pace powered
by Microsoft TV Advanced providing digital video recording, tcommerce, tbanking, email and high-speed internet access beginning
June 7 in Lisbon, Portugal (17MAY01) (Microsoft)
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Digital Broadband Network For Portugal: Redes e Serviços de Telecomunicações SA selects Lucent Technologies to design
advanced broadband network for digital television, interactive television, broadband internet access, multimedia, voice-over-IP,
telephony, and residential video conferencing in Portugal (17MAY01) (Lucent)
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Interactive Info Tech Cable TV Channel: South Korean Ministry of Information & Communication and Promising
Information & Communication Companies Association are planning to establish an information technology
cable TV channel that will allow TV viewers to directly order products while watching TV by using interactive technology
(17MAY01) (KoreaHerald)
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Set-Top Browser & Email Software: ANT Limited showcases Fresco browser and SimplEmail on the Quiero TV set-top box
for Spain, on the Bush Internet television and Bush set-top box for the UK, and on the IBM Redwood set-top "system on a chip" platform
with Wind River Systems VxWorks 5.4 operating system (16MAY01) (ANT)
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Broadcasting To Any Device: Concero announces prototypes using Vignette V Series platform to manage and
repurpose content and applications for interactive television, wireless, and the web
(15MAY01) (NYTimes.BW)
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The news announcement states, "The prototypes deliver content and functionality through the leading television set-top platforms including Motorola, Scientific-Atlanta, AOLTV, and WebTV, and incorporate Artesia's digital asset management tools." -
Broadcasting On The Web: MediaSite and Bulldog Group to integrate MediaSite Publisher Suite and Bulldog Two.Seven
to enable broadcast, entertainment, music, and interactive companies to provide video, audio, and synchronized content
on the web (18MAY01) (MediaSite)
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The news announcement states, "MediaSite's Publisher Suite allows users to encode multiple video formats and live feeds, including analog video, RealPlayer, Windows Media and MPEG, while automatically annotating them with metadata derived from MediaSite's real-time speech recognition and video-text alignment capabilities." -
Developing Interactive Television: Kudelski Group acquires Lysis International SA to strengthen interactive television
and video-on-demand assets for future development of high-speed IP and digital terrestrial distribution, personal video recorders,
interactive advertising, other on-demand applications (17MAY01) (Lysis)
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Interactive Cable Video: nSTREAMS Technologies and Vweb Corporation to provide advanced digital media interactive
video over digital cable networks for multi-channel television, cinema-quality video, CD-quality sound, and enhanced viewer
interactivity (17MAY01) (Mediapost)
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