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On-Demand Movie Encoded In VP3: On2 Technologies showcases full-length movie "Sleepaway Camp" encoded
in VP4 codec (29MAY01) (NYTimes.BW)
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The news announcement quotes On2 president and CEO Douglas McIntyre as stating, "We are confident that VP4 will become the new standard in video compression for film studios and others looking to encode video for the Internet and set-top arenas.... This movie can be viewed anywhere in the United States from our server farms. The bandwidth cost to stream the movie is only $1." You can click here to register to watch the movie which requires a broadband connection. -
Preventing Retransmission Of TV Via The Internet: Canadian government ministers respond to Media Content Coalition letter
requesting that copyright loophole be closed in order to prevent JumpTV and other web video companies from retransmitting
television signals via the internet (29MAY01) (FinancialPost) (related.links:
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The Financial Post cites a letter to the Media Content Coalition from deputy ministers of Industry Canada and Canadian Heritage as stating, ""The retransmission licencing regime could expressly exclude the Internet; or ... [it] could require compliance with new limitations and conditions." In the first related news item, Newsbytes also cites the letter as stating "... the [Canadian] Copyright Act may need to be amended to address, among other things, the opportunities and challenges of the digitally networked environment." In the second related news item, the Financial Post quotes JumpTV CEO Farrel Miller as stating, "I think clearly what the letter signals is that [the] big media industry can buy the laws in this country even if [the laws] work to the disinterest of most Canadians." -
Horserace Betting Via Interactive TV: Go Racing consortium of Arena Leisure, BSkyB, and Channel 4 is betting
on 10-year deal with Racecourse Association for media rights including interactive betting rights to the
races at major British horse racecourses with dedicated 24-hour racing channel taking bets from around the world
(30MAY01) (Independent)
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Independent News reports, "The [Go Racing] consortium's concept is based on a dedicated 24-hour racing channel, on cable and satellite, broadcasting live races from around the world across time zones, and taking bets from around the globe. It should go on air next year, though Go Racing has yet to put in place the media deals to provide the foreign races." -
PC-TV News: PC DTV Promoters Group, Santa Barbara Software, and other companies want to turn home PCs into
home convergence entertainment devices for digital television, interactive television, DVD movies, music CDs, and
internet access (29MAY01) (DCD)
Digital Coast Daily (DCD) quotes PC DTV Promoters Group promotional activities chief and Santa Barbara Software president Nick Neuberger as stating, "If you look at the PC and you look at the set-top box, [they both look the same except] the PC really just has more power.... The NAB and CEA announced a partnership to promote digital TV. Of all of the TVs they were displaying, half were hooked up to computers. For the incremental cost of a tuner - a few hundred dollars - you can plug a PC, or convergent entertainment device, into your HDTV. And even if you don't have an HDTV, most computer monitors can provide a digital picture." You can click here to check out the PC DTV Promoters Group. And if you click here you can, of course, surf on over to the PC-TV page here at Ruel.Net. -
Interactive TV In Australia: ICE Interactive's testing of MyiTV service in 150 homes finds high demand for interactive television
among non-PC users and blue collar homes (29MAY01) (AustralianIT)
The Australian IT cites ICE Interactive managing director Carl Braden as indicating the group with the highest demand for interactive TV service "were the non-PC users and blue collar homes." The Australian IT cites ICE Interactive as finding TV viewers accessed the internet (90%), email (83%), an interactive TV program guide (74%), and ordered pizzas (57%). The Australian IT also cites ICE Interactive as finding TV viewers were interested in shopping via the TV set (84%), were interested in participating in interactive TV shows (68%), and found interactive TV advertising useful (65%). -
More Interactive TV In Australia: Cable & Wireless Optus to test interactive television services in 300 homes by providing
an electronic program guide, more TV and radio channels, internet access, email, home shopping, and reference services
through the TV set (29MAY01) (AustralianIT)
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In the related news item, IT cites a Cable & Wireless Optus spokesperson as indicating the cost of the interactive television testing "would cost the carrier tens of millions of dollars" and "is believed to be about $50 million." -
Television Watching In Australia: ACNielsen's "Australian TV Trends 2001" report finds average daily television viewing time
of 3 hours 13 minutes in metropolitan markets in Australia is the same as a decade ago and almost one-quarter of all
households in Australia have two VCRs (29MAY01) (TheAge)
The report also finds 73% of Australians access internet in the home and that the top ten internet uses for heavy TV watchers include email (31%), web surfing (24%), researching product information (22%), downloading software and files (20%), researching companies (16%), accessing education services (14%), playing games (13%), participating in interactive discussions such as chat and instant messaging (13%), accessing news and current affairs (13%), and internet banking (10%). You can click here for the webpage to get the PDF copy of the ACNielsen "Australian TV Trends 2001" report (or click here for the PDF file). The PDF file is 13.96 megabytes in size. -
Multi-Media TV-Watching & Internet-Surfing Homes In Australia: ACNielsen Media International estimates 55% of Australian
homes will be multi-channel and multi-media homes where interactive television, electronic program guides, and mosaic are in
use including watching TV on PCs and accessing the internet via TV sets by 2004 (16MAY01) (ACNielsen.au)
The news announcement reports, "ACNielsen Media International estimates that by 2004, 55% of homes in Australia will be multi-channel or multi-media homes where viewers make frequent use of mosaic, electronic program guides (EPGs) and interactive TV sets. Australians will also be watching TV on their PC's or accessing the Internet via their TV sets." The news announcement also cites the Nielsen Media Research and NetRatings' Convergence Lab in the US as finding as of January 2001 that active internet surfers "watched only slightly less TV than the average TV viewer, with the former watching 3 hours 45 minutes compared to the latter's 3 hours 55 minutes.... [but] heavy Internet users watched more TV than medium and light Internet users." -
Picking Up After Aborted Digital TV Datacasting Auction In Australia: Australia Communications Minister Richard Alston hopes
to make announcement on digital TV datacasting before Australian federal election (29MAY01) (AustralianIT)
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Australia Communications Minister Richard Alston is cited by the Australian IT as indicating the Australian government was considering "issues such as consumer take-up of digital equipment, the lure of interactivity and the role of information and educational services before making a decision." In the related news item, the Australian IT quotes Alston as stating issues include "the state of the market, to what extent interactivity is going to be an important driver and whether that is going to come about in the short to medium term, the whole future of digital TV...." In reporting on discussions between government and business, the Australian IT quotes NTL communications manager Glen Frost as stating, "The form of the datacasting service is the key issue - our attitude has been the broader the definition the better, but we would still be a bidder with the narrow definition." -
Digital TV Via DSL: Artel Video Systems intros CopperTV Multiplexer to enable telcos to provide
television and video-on-demand via DSL with expected testing by Verizon in the future
(29MAY01) (ArtelVideo)
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The news announcement states, "CopperTV enables broadcast quality, full screen digital television to be distributed over copper lines to the home utilizing various digital subscriber line (xDSL) technologies including Very High Bit Rate (VDSL)." In the related news item, the Boston Herald cites Artel Video Systems sales & marketing vice president Mike Riley as indicating "phone companies can use TV programming to counter cable companies offering packages of video, phone and high-speed Internet services." Riley is further quoted as stating, "What we're seeing now is a lot more recognition from the phone companies that they need to offer a lot more broadcast to compete." The Boston Herald also cites Riley as indicating Verizon Communications is expected to test the CopperTV technology. -
More Digital TV Via DSL: ViaGate 4160 Multimedia Access Switch for VDSL to be bundled with Artel CopperTV Multiplexer
(31MAY01) (ArtelVideo)
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Looking To Future Single-Screen Interactivity: Spiderdance CEO Steven Hoffman says the two-screen model is a great approach
for the next five years (28MAY01) (EMonline)
Electronic Media quotes Spiderdance CEO Steven Hoffman as stating, "We were totally focused on two-screen [interactivity] until about four months ago," but nonetheless "I think the two-screen model is a great approach for the next five years.... We're going where the users are" which means to also look to the eventual single-screen TV interactivity. "The broadcasters have bigger audiences, which is even better for us." -
Building For Interactive TV: Spiderdance joins Microsoft TV Content Builder Initiative and plans to launch a series of
interactive TV shows for the Microsoft TV platform (29MAY01) (Spiderdance)
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Software For iTV, iDVD, & Other Devices: PlanetWeb's Ken Soohoo, Jim Wallace, and Doug Young talk about
Planetweb software for interactive TV, iDVD, and other devices (29MAY01) (ON24)
The streaming video from ON24 requires RealPlayer. -
Sigma Designs 1Q highlights include intro of NetStream Console stand-alone client for commercial streaming video-on-demand
over ethernet, Samsung selection of Sigma Designs EM8400 MPEG2 decoder for advanced digital set-top boxes co-developed
with Octal, intro of EM8470 chips, and alliance with Envvio to develop MPEG4-based interactive video solutions
(29MAY01) (NYTimes.BW)
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Interactive TV In Asia-Pacific: IDC says interactive television has large potential in Asia-Pacific region (28MAY01) (SCMP)
The South China Morning Post (SCMP) quotes IDC's personal systems research manager Davina Yeo as stating, "The idea of Web surfing on a TV or another household appliance presents an ideal opportunity for many families" in the Asia-Pacific region. SCMP cites IDC as indicating "the information appliance that holds the largest potential in the [Asia-Pacific] region is iTV. That was because TV penetration rates were much higher in Asia compared to PC penetration rates.... As iTV will be a natural progression for households, close to 8 million units are expected to be shipped in the Asia-Pacific region - excluding Japan - by 2005." -
Set-Top Testing In Taiwan: Chunghwa Telecom announces Neon Technology SurfReady NTV-2000 set-top box combined
with Streaming21 media-on-demand servers as only solution among four bidding groups to qualify for large scale carrier-class
deployment of multimedia-on-demand including video-on-demand and IP broadcasting in Taiwan (27MAY01) (Neon)
The news announcement states, "Chunghwa Telecom is the largest, primary Telco provider in Taiwan. With its DSL subscriber growth expected to reach 1,000,000 by the end of 2001, the company is launching an integrated Multimedia-On-Demand project delivering IP-based services to an initial 20,880 homes. The deployment will integrate traditional telephone, broadband and Internet access with IP broadcast TV, video-on-demand, music-on-demand, and karaoke-on-demand." -
Free Set-Tops In The Netherlands: Cable TV subscribers in Haarlem, Netherlands to get free set-top boxes but would
still have to pay for cable TV service, premium channels, premium movies, electronic programme guide, and TV email
(28MAY01) (Europemedia)
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Determining Standard Equipment For Digital TV In Spain: CMT telecom regulator in Spain launches public round of consultations
with TV operators, service providers, and the audio-visual industry to determine to what extent the common "shared" use of
the same decoder for digital television sets can help stimulate competition (28MAY01) (Multichannel.EIW)
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The European Intelligence Wire (EIW) reports, "The regulator says that in order to continue as things are now, with each operator distributing a different decoder, in the future as many decoders would be needed as there are service providers." In the related news item, the Financial Times cites El Pais as reporting, "The CMT would now appear to be concerned by the development of new, digital terrestrial TV operators and is seeking ways in which all companies can use the same system." -
Breathless Pursuit of Digital TV & Interactivity: The Economist looks at how to extract profit value from interactive television
(24MAY01) (Economist)
The Economist reports, "So how is value to be extracted from interactive TV? One innovative approach is in sport" such as with interactive multi-event selection in choosing among five live simultaneous Wimbledon tennis matches to watch. The Economist goes on to report, "The real answer turns out to be betting and games.... [where the games] can be played either on dedicated games channels, or while the viewer is watching a programme." -
Sign Of The Times: Net4TV lays off employees, slims down, and goes to monthly schedule (28MAY01) (Net4TV)
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Digital DNA Branding For Digital TV In The US: Zenith to launch digital brand marketing strategy targeting "Mouse Potatoes"
and "Fast Forwards" (28MAY01) (Twice)
Twice cites Zenith advertising director Sam Caputo as indicating Zenith's marketing campaign will target "Mouse Potatoes" who are early new-technology adopters in the 25-34 year-old age bracket and "Fast Forwards" who are more affluent adopters who like new technology in the 35-44 year-old age bracket. One slogan will be: "Your son's Zenith, not your grandfather's."
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