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- Watch Out Cable: iMagicTV provides interactive digital television magic via copper telephone lines (4NOV99) (Ruel.Net)
This is an exclusive interview with iMagicTV's CEO Marcel LeBrun. One item I really like in this interview is when LeBrun mentions the Virtual VCR on the network. Just that one item shows that there are a lot of possibilities for interactive television and set-top boxes. Not necessarily VCRs or digital video recorder boxes, but the virtual applications via the network for the TV that no one has even thought of yet. The magic box that is TV will be made more magical by iMagicTV. - Cable versus Phone battle over the Net in China too (4NOV99) (WIRED-Reuters)
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Telecruz gets investment from Gemstar (4NOV99) (PRN)
- New banner ads click over to television (4NOV99) (allNetDevices)
- Set-Top.com announces Click-For-TV banner advertising for Internet TV (3NOV99) (STC)
- Set-Top.com announces Internet TV portal for WebTV, Dreamcast, and other TV set-tops (3NOV99) (STC)
- HGTV to broadcast enhanced content via WebTV Plus and WorldGate set-tops (3NOV99) (HGTV)
- Ruel's Spotlight Website: TeleWeb and WonderTV boxes from Regent Electronics (3NOV99)
- Dot Coms use television advertising to entice people to go online (3NOV99) (E-Commerce Times)
- WebTV ® brandname to be marketed as the way to enhance television shows (2NOV99) (CNET)
CNET also reports a new WinCE-WebTV kit is expected by mid-Y2000 with WinCE-WebTV boxes by the end of Y2000. -
DISH Network gets ten-year affiliation with TVG horse-racing and interactive wagering network (2NOV99) (PRN)
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Wink seen and interacted with in 100,000 households (2NOV99) (PRN)
- Cable TV pioneer Leo Hindery says interactive TV to become ubiquitous (2NOV99) (InfoBeat Internet Daily)
Internet Daily reports that cable television pioneer and former AT&T Broadband & Internet Services president Leo Hindery said he expects interactive television to become the "ubiquitous communications, entertainment and information access device of the future." However, Internet Daily also reports that Hindery indicated that in order for interactive television to make a real impact, interactive television must (1) become more accessible, (2) interactive products must be developed, and (3) advertisers and marketers must be involved in program and content production. Hindery was speaking at an advertising conference in New York.
So, make advanced television sets and set-top boxes CHEAP enough that the average everyday consumer will HAVE to get a new TV set or a set-top box in order to participate in the new interactive television experience. And bring in the content producers to make the shows and engaging content that people will WANT to watch and interact with via their new TV sets and set-top boxes. Get those boxes in place and bring on the content! -ruel - ReplayTV 2020 increases recording time to 20 hours (2NOV99) (ZDNN)
ZDNN reports the ReplayTV 2020 will cost $699 and will be offered for sale through Amazon. ZDNN also reports that competitor TiVo has a box that can record up to 30 hours but that box goes for $999. - ReplayTV gets Amazon launch (2NOV99) (Reuters)
Reuters reports Replay Networks' marketing vice president Steve Shannon as indicating "bricks-and-mortar" sales in retail stores will not be replaced by online sales: "A lot of people want to touch and use a product before they buy it. The online [sales through Amazon] is more for the early adopter." - ReplayTV to be sold on Amazon (2NOV99) (CNET)
CNET's Jim Davis reports that the one obstacle for consumer acceptance of these recorder boxes, whether ReplayTV or TiVo, is price. He doesn't say this, but if you can buy a VCR tape machine for $60 to $100, are you going to buy a more expensive digital video recorder? The Replay and TiVo folks say they are not in competition with the VCR, but everyday consumers may see the recorder boxes as more expensive VCRs. If the price stays high for digital video recorder boxes, then there has to be very significant value to the recorder box or the recorder technology may have to be integrated into another box with other functions such as with the WebTV-capable DISHPlayer which is supposed to be getting digital video recorder functions sometime soon. (Also watch out for those other set-tops with huge harddrives that can be used for recorder functions.) Although it may not happen right away, the price for these particular products should eventually go down over time like with other electronics products.
Also, watch out for other competing alternatives that you may get in the future. Stay tuned for an exclusive interview where one particular alternative is mentioned. And be sure to scroll down and check out the spotlight link on XTV from NDS Ltd. to see how set-top storage can be used for pushed content. -ruel - iCompression offers chip to lower costs of digital video recorders, videoconferencing, and video email boxes(29OCT99) (CNET)
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iCompression intros MPEG-2 encoders to help spur the development of personal video recorders,
personal computers, and set-top boxes for compression, storage, playback, and transport of audio
and video streams (25OCT99) (PRN)
- Shopping online gives you more time to watch TV (1NOV99) (MSNBC)
(alternative link)
MSNBC reports the Veronis Suhler & Associates Communications Industry Forecast claims "the Internet is a time-saver, not an eyeball-stealer." MSNBC also reports there are 30 million online shoppers among the 63 million Americans surfing the internet each month. -
Microsoft in talks to invest approx. US$31.5M in Gigamedia (1NOV99) (asia.internet)
Hoshin Gigamedia Center Inc. is a Taiwanese broadband cable Internet access provider which is 74-percent owned by Koo's Group. Koo's Group is Taiwan's largest financial services and media conglomerates. Gigamedia only has 7000 subscribers at this time but hopes to become the number 3 internet provider by the end of Y2000. Gigamedia executive vice president Raymond Chang was cited as stating a Microsoft-Gigamedia deal "would basically be a total strategic alliance including both investment and other strategic alliances such as WebTV, e-commerce and so forth." - Ruel's Spotlight Website: Variety's Interactive Summit (1NOV99)
Variety's Interactive Summit will be held at the Loews Coronado Bay Resort in Coronado, California, on February 2-4, 2000. - Canadian Cable Systems Alliance selects General Instrument technology for delivering cost-effective digital services including video-on-demand (1NOV99) (PRN)
- Building the infrastructure: Cable coming on strong (1NOV99) (Internet World)
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VideosDotCom allows you to rent NetMovies over the internet to be watched on your TV set (1NOV99) (PRN)
VideosDotCom president John Tuder said, "We believe the TV is, and will remain, the families' medium of choice for quality video viewing." - Copyright obstacles slowing down HDTV development (29OCT99) (ZDNN)
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