Connected TV

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-Worldwide Broadband news on your updates-
2010.09.18~10.01 Sat~Fri
1
Table of Contents
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IPTV
 FCC declares
'effective
competition' in
Lafayette cable
market
 Iptv AsiaAmerican TV
Programming in
Asia, Hbo,
Cinemax,
Showtime, Sports,
Ppv!
 Vodafone Portugal
adds six new
channels to Casa
TV
 FCC likely to
approve of wireless
tiered pricing:
analysts
 French telco rolls
out four 3D
channels for IPTV
service
 UT Starcom build
profitable valueadded business
platform IPTVIPTV, UT Starcom,
network video –
Broadcasting
industry
 Internet-Based
HDTV Service
Debuts in the USA
with Alki David's
Filmon.Com
 Kotoko,Smart TV
signs 3-year deal
 Vision IPTV
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WEB TV
 Smart Home | Can
Made-for-TV Apps
Power Up Smart TV
Adoption?
 Congress votes to
give disabled better
Web, TV access
 Foxtel steals a march
over rivals on web
TV
 New Zealand's Orcon
to support Internet
TV service from
SKY
 3D TV fails to fire
imagination
 Yahoo Moves
Aggressively Into TV
 Venus TV gets in
trouble again with
Ofcom
 TCL, SiS, HUAN
Establish Smart TV
Lab
 Logitech said to ship
500,000 Google TV
Boxes in 2010
 NBC Adds To
Netflix Finally
 AOL Tries to Restore
Clout With Three
Acquisitions in One
Day
 ITV 'to begin
charging for online
content'
 Report: Hulu headed
to Roku's streaming
players
 Disney, CBS, Fox
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PLATFORMS
 Motorola unveils
new remote-control
units for IPTV settop boxes
 Smart unveils
Google internet
dongle
 Consortium of
Vendors Offers
WebTV Solution
 MTK, Realtek to
Supply IPTV Chips
to Skyworth in Q4
 WDR Cologne uses
Teracue IPTV
Encoder/Decoder
 The Argentine
Government
delivered 121, 000
DTT STBs
 "Video delivery
technology is
quickly evolving to
take into account
open Internet
constraints"
 Dell May Develop
Internet TV
Devices, Google TV
Software
 Vision IPTV To
Launch End-To-End
Internet And Social
Media TV Platform
At MIPCOM
 IN Media
Announces Major
Order for Set Top
Boxes
 2Wire's New
2
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CONTENTS MARKET
 ACCC Warns
Consumers About
Future 3D Content
 Boxee seek to develop
applications for Google
Android TV
 ReachMail Inc.
Announces New
Feature "Social Media
Email Tracking"
 New Report Says
Social Media Creators
Have Stopped Creating
 Skype talks with Avaya
and Facebook
 Google launches
custom Philippine
content via GMA, other
sites
 iPad Ads Reach
Affluent Men
 95% of Companies
Have Tried Social
Media; 40% Didn‘t
Inhale!
 AOL chief launches ad
system
 Telephony, Internet
access, IPTV and
videoconferencing:
Starling Hotel at EPFL
works with Swisscom
as a total solution
provider
 Books On TV? Kindle
Hits the Web, Set-Top
Box
 International children's
channel KidsCo adds
VOD to Poland's
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CONFERENCES
 WTF Media
Conference
 Digital Artists
Conference
 Early-Bird Registration
Deadline Extended for
Social Media
Integration Conference
 Pre-Conference
Seminar: Digital Media
Ecosystem Essentials
 The annual Society of
Motion Picture and
Television Engineers
Technical Conference
and Expo
 The 2010 Technical
Conference and Expo
 SMPTE Fall
Conference
 A conference on
'management of
emergent digital
ecosystems'
 3D Media Conference
 the 18th World Digital
Publishing Conference
 Robert Tercek To
Deliver Keynote At
Merging Media
Conference
 Solutions Stars Video
Conference
 Berkeley Digital Media
Conference
 Over 100 Speakers To
Showcase The Latest
Streaming Media
Business Models at
Streaming Media West
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welcomes Jeremy
Hunt‘s plans for
local TV
Telekom Malaysia
selects Pixel Power
tech for IPTV
rollout
Broadband price
could be driven up
by IPTV, says BBC
exec
Du's IPTV wins
Metropolitan
Infrastructure
Innovation award at
Global Telecoms
Business Awards
2010
Omaha Doubletree
Selects Tivus' HD
IPTV as In-Room
Entertainment
Solution Provider
Report: Economy,
Not Technology,
Driving ‗CordCutting‘
UK's YouView has
killed IPTV
investment it's
claimed
IP Hybrid TV in
Latin America
2010 – 2015
Singapore
recommends open
IPTV standards
from DVB
IPTV Technology –
Making Television
Better For The
Future
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Sue Ivi for Streaming
TV Shows on Web
Without Permission
Sony launches web
TV box to rival
Apple TV
Why the new Apple
TV can‘t replace my
old model
Netflix's Stream
Flows North With
New Canadian
Service
Web sites for TV,
Streaming Online |
Web TV online sites
Smart TV has good
forecast; Netcom
business ready to
blossom
TV is Dead. Long
Live Web Video.
Universal Music‘s
Vevo Will Start TV
Network, N.Y. Post
Reports
Netflix Launches
Unlimited WebBased TV in Canada
British Broadcasters
to Offer Web TV for
Free
Concurrent Buys
Over-the-Top Shop
‗Big Media‘ acts
against tiny online
TV start-up
The new age smart
box: Opportunities
and challenges for
connected TV
services
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Intelligent Gateway
Supports VDSL
Applications
STB shipments fall,
but rebound forecast
for 2011
Orcon rolls out
content network for
Sky's IPTV product'
eventIS Integrates
End-to-End IPTV
VOD Solution in
Slovenia
AT&T: You Don't
Want Those UltraFast Speeds We
Don't Offer
Auriga initiates
UTStarcom at ‗Buy‘
Radius Infratel sets
up world-class
FTTH-based
communication
infrastructure
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3
TOYA
Doubletree taps Tivus
for in-room HD IPTV
solution in $1.2M deal
Mayo Clinic launches
global social media
initiative
Forrester: Social Media
Content Creators Down
in U.S.
Russia's VimpelCom
signs VOD deal with
Warner Brothers
FCC director joins
West Wireless Health
Institute
Apple's iAd hot on
Google's heels in
mobile ad sales
On Phones Social is the
Killer App & it Will
Cost You
Microsoft's Cyber
Security Ebook And
Google TV
Like Bethenny
Frankel's Closet? Just
Scan Your TV Screen
with Your Smart
Phone: TV Ads Are
Jumping into Bar-Code
Advertising
Business owners love
social media
Social Media's
Southeast Asia
Growing Faster Than
U.S.
Sony adds iPlayer to
Bravia TVs
U R here! Ad apps will
be, too
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in LA
BlueGlass FL
Conference
Eclipse Summit Europe
2010
London Games
Conference
Business Journal
Seminar - Social
Media's Impact on IT &
Marketing
The International
Digital Media Arts
Association Conference
2010
Contech Conference
Future of Film Summit
min day Digital Summit
- November 9 in NYC.
Early Bird Rate Ends:
October 1
Academic Network
Conference 2010
First-ever gigapixel
conference
The 13th Annual
Accessing Higher
Ground Conference
TWTRCON SF 2010 |
The Business in Real
Time Conference
Media Festival 2010
The second Digital
Media Asia summit
SAMT 2010 - CALL
FOR POSTERS &
DEMOS 5th
International
Conference on
Semantic and Digital
Media
The IGNITION
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Fox Showing In
Hong Kong IPTV
Service Now TV
AT&T adds new
DVR features to Uverse TV
Google Cheers
FCC's Freeing of
TV Airwaves
Verizon CEO: Cord
cutting is real
FCC frees up TV
white spaces
ivi TV To Allow
US TV Shows
Streamed
Worldwide Via
IPTV
ITU-T's First IPTV
Interoperability
Test Event
Anjou residents
first to get Fibe TV
Expanded IPTV
services enter
Planet 9‘s orbit
Live US TV Now
Available In
Australia For $5.36
A Month
U-verse continues
expansion, rolls out
service in
Charleston, S.C.
Content Providers
To Manage The
Payment System Of
YouView
With Half a Billion
Subscribers
Broadband Is Truly
Turning the World
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Goldmedia to
undertake web TV
survey
Nokia‘s Ubiquity
Multiscreen TV
client blends internet
with TV on any
gizmo
YouView is official
name for Web TV
coalition Project
Canvas
Research and
Markets: China's
Web TV Market
Kicked Off in 2009,
with 2.5 Million Web
TV Set Shipments
and 0.4 Million Web
TV STB Shipments
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4
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Apple TV Update:
Dissed by Network TV
Tivus Awarded
Doubletree Hotels(R)
HD IPTV Contract
Disney Introduces
Social Media Site
IMDb Movies & TV
Why Netflix Has
Already Won the
Digital TV/Video War
iBAHN partners with
JW Marriott Cairo to
provide IPTV and
secure high-speed
internet services
Smart Home | Eragy
Launches Smart Home
Energy Monitoring
Apps
NEC Installs Complete
IP Based Telephone
and IPTV System
Solutions for Mandarin
Oriental, Macau
Android owners dump
land lines, iPhone
owners still go to
Blockbuster
Evidence that Social
Media Really Does
Drive Sales
Nielsen Testing a New
Web-Ad Metric
Google's Social
Networking Weapons
SMB‘s, Social Media
and Reality Often At
Odds
Fear of data loss, social
media security risks
rising
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Conference
TV 3.0 Conference
SM@RT 2010 – Social
Media Conference
Publication accepted at
the 5th International
Conference on Digital
Media and Digital
Content Management
The International CES
conferenceSocial Media
the Internet and Law
Enforcement (SMILE)
Conference
Click Asia Summit
2011
FT Digital Media &
Broadcasting
Conference 2011
Digital Media and
Learning Conference
SXSW 2011: TV
Turbulence and
Transformation
SemTech Conference
Film and Media 2011:
The First Annual
London Film and
Media Conference
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into Global Village
OIPF Membership
and Momentum
Continues to Grow
GoConnect targets
1m viewers of
IPTV network
KPN and NSN
strengthen ties for
IPTV delivery
Credit Suisse
Anticipates Pay TV
Decline, Rise of
Streaming Services
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5
Shaping Ads for WebConnected TV
Social Media Phones It
In With A Facebook
Mobile Device?
Young users at risk of
'status jacking'
ABC iPad App Syncs
With Your TV, Offers
Interactive 'My
Generation' Content
Oktoberfest in Munich
2010 Goes Social
Media Friendly
Warner Bros rejects
Apple TV deal
Social media helping
Gilbert officials
connect with residents
Mayo Clinic Center for
Health Care Social
Media disses
physicians
Smart Search, Smart
Gadgets?
What Google‘s TV
White Space Hospital
Experiment Means for
the Smart Grid
Foxtel Launch 24/7 3D
TV Channel & 4 New
HD Channels
IPTV
IPTVIPTV
IPTV
FCC declares
'effective competition'
in Lafayette cable
market
The Federal Communications Commission
has issued an order declaring "effective competition"
in several cable franchise markets in Louisiana,
including Lafayette. Cox Communications recently
petitioned the FCC, requesting the ruling.
In its petition, Cox had to prove higher levels
of competition based on one of three separate
standards. In issuing an effective competition
determination, the FCC essentially deregulates the
franchise areas, allowing for an open, laissez faire
market. The main effect of the ruling is that Cox, and
all the other providers in Lafayette and the other
effective competition markets, are no longer required
to follow the FCC's uniform pricing rule, which
mandates cable providers offer the same rates for the
same services to everyone within a franchise area. Cox
and LUS Fiber, its main competitor in Lafayette, are
now free to offer different rates and promotional offers
throughout the Hub City franchise market.
In its ruling, issued on Sept. 9, the FCC
determined effective competition exists in pockets of
four separate service areas in Louisiana. These include
the greater Baton Rouge area, the greater Lafayette
area, St. Charles Parish, and St. Mary Parish and
Baldwin. Locally, the FCC lists Abbeville, Broussard,
Carencro, Delcambre, Duson, Erath, Iberia Parish,
Jeanerette, Lafayette city and parish, Loreauville,
Scott, Vermilion Parish and Youngsville as having
effective competition.
Cox had one of three ways to prove effective
competition in each area:
1) At least two satellite cable competitors
offer service to at least 50 percent of a given market
and have combined secured more than 15 percent of
subscribers in that market.
2) Cox's own penetration in a given market
was less than 30 percent.
3) A Local Exchange Carrier "or its affiliate
offers video programming services directly to
subscribers by any means (other than direct-to-home
satellite services) in the franchise area."
Cox was able to prove effective satellite
competition in most of its rural service markets. It
demonstrated low penetration in the East Feliciana and
Kaplan markets. Cox also proved Local Exchange
Carrier competition, coming from either Eatel, LUS
Fiber or AT&T's U-verse service, in Ascension Parish,
East Baton Rouge Parish, Livingston Parish and
Lafayette Parish.
LUS Director Terry Huval says being in a
competitive market is good for both consumers and
providers interested in offering the best service. His
only concern, he adds, is if Cox would charge higher
rates in areas outside the city of Lafayette where it
doesn‘t have as much competition to help subsidize
lower rates inside the city. ―But we welcome fair
competition,‖ Huval says. Cox spokesperson Ann
Ruble also responded to the ruling, stating, ―We
welcome the FCC‘s decision because it recognizes the
hyper-competitive telecommunications market in the
regions we serve across south Louisiana. This gives us
the opportunity to compete on a level playing field
with all of the video providers including satellite,
AT&T and smaller operators.‖
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Iptv Asia- American
TV Programming in
Asia, Hbo, Cinemax,
Showtime, Sports, Ppv!
Vision One has done it again by teaming up
with HABU.TV in the U.S. to bring real American TV
programming to Asia! ―We are very excited about our
new IPTV for Asia called HABU.TV (which has a
catchy phrase to it as well Hook A Brotha Up with
some TV!) that we just rolled-out. We are offering
over 250 channels of premium programming directly
from the U.S. with 100 hours DVR included to enable
time shifting for the Expats and Military Communities
in Asia‖. It certainly sounds good to me! Being away
from home for extended periods of time used to mean
that you had to settle for whatever local cable/satellite
service was available in your host country, which is
very different from U.S. programming.
―Most Asian countries‘ movie and
entertainment channels have old programming that
most Americans have already seen or are a season
behind on TV series programming. The sports
channels are usually heavy on soccer and local
sports…not the big 3 like NFL, NBA, or MLB. Not to
mention they have absolutely no college
football. Yeah, the American communities were
pretty starved for programming to say the least.‖ Not
anymore! With all your favorites like NBC, ABC,
HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, Fox, as well as all the
sporting events and PPV, you can see why they are
pretty excited at Vision One! Founded in 1998 by Mr.
Clay Cook, entrepreneur, and businessman who has
resided in Okinawa for the last 21 years has been rated
―Best Internet and VoIP (IP Phone) Provider on
Okinawa‖ by their constituents, the U.S. Military
community on Okinawa. There is no secret to their
success. They are a first-level agency for all the
leading major communication carriers here in Japan
such as NTT, KDDI, OCN, SoftBank, YahooBB,
TeleVelocity, SkyPerfecTV, and now
HABU.TV/IPTV on Okinawa. There are many
Expats and American military stationed and living in
Asia. We are marketing heavy in Hong Kong,
Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, Manila, and Bangkok for the
Expat communities and Korea and Japan for the heavy
U.S. Military presence.
Vision One doesn‘t just do IPTV in Okinawa,
Internet or VoIP, they are also a leading provider of
Satellite TV (AFN and SkyPerfecTV) sales and
services on Okinawa. ―We do many things here,‖ says
Clay. ―Thru our other division, we also provide
financial planning and investment consultancy
services like payday loans for the U.S. Military here in
Okinawa; as well as corporate marketing consultancy
and brokerage services for companies seeking to do
business with the U.S Military or Japanese
government here.‖ Indeed this is seen by just visiting
their website that Vision One is truly diversified and
has their ―business antennae peaked‖ for optimum
performance!
Vodafone Portugal
adds six new channels
to Casa TV
Vodafone Portugal has added six new
channels to its IPTV service 'Casa TV', including a
premium sports channel.
The telco is adding five of these to the basic
package of its IPTV service: news channel TVI24,
children's channel KidsCo, news channel Económico
in SD and HD, and travel channel Yes
Itália. Vodafone Portugal is also adding the channel
Sport TV Liga Inglesa to its Sport TV HD Package at
no extra cost, dedicated entirely to the English Premier
League and broadcasting all matches in highdefinition.
By the end of October, the telco reportedly
aims to further broaden its range of channels with
three additional ones - children's channel JimJam,
cookery channel The Food Network, and music
channel Brava HDTV.
Vodafone Portugal launched its IPTV service
in July of last year, based on the Microsoft Mediaroom
platform and offering around 120 linear channels,
including 14 HD channels and one 3D channel.
FCC likely to approve
of wireless tiered
pricing: analysts
Federal regulators aren‘t expected to stand in
the way as wireless service providers move away from
flat rate Internet plans and moving toward tiered
pricing schemes, according to analysts.
Verizon Communications CEO Ivan
Seidenberg said the nation‘s largest wireless service
provider will introduce pay-as-you-eat Internet data
plans in coming months, joining AT&T and Cricket
who have also moved toward tiered pricing schemes.
The Federal Communications Commission,
which once looked at such price models with a
skeptical eye, has recently signaled it would approve
of those price packages. FCC Chairman Julius
Genachowski recently said in seeking comments about
his net neutrality proposal that tiered pricing plans
could help alleviate data congestion on networks.
That would be boon for wireless operators,
analysts said.
―Wireless cable operators for years have
wanted to generate more revenue from broadband
service through tiered pricing but delayed doing so
due to potential FCC concerns,‖ said Paul Gallant, a
communications and media analyst at Concept Capital.
As reported last January, Verizon Wireless chief
technology officer Dick Lynch told Post Tech that the
company planned to offer tiered pricing of its wireless
services for fourth generation mobile broadband.
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Seidenberg said last week at an investor conference
that tiered pricing was coming to wireless users the
next four to six months, according to The Wall Street
Journal.
The idea of tiered pricing had sparked debate
among telecom policy observers.
Some public advocacy groups warned that
users would access the Web less and the tech industry
would be worse for it. But some consumers like the
idea of paying for what they actually used, saying they
didn‘t want to pay flat-rate fees that subsidized the
heaviest users.
Gallant predicted that the FCC would apply the same
reasoning for tiered pricing on wireless networks to
cable and broadband fixed-wired service providers
such as Verizon‘s FiOs. But public interest groups
warn that charging too much for data would deter
users from viewing video over the Internet. That could
be a scheme, they say, to keep consumers strapped to
their cable and satellite television subscriptions.
French telco rolls out
four 3D channels for
IPTV service
The effort to float 3D TV as a viable valueadded product for carriers is picking up steam in
Europe where French telco Free has rolled out plans
for a gaggle of 3D channels on its IPTV service.
Free, which counts 3.55 million subscribers to
its IPTV Freebox service, said it plans four 3D
channels and two video on demand channels across its
ADSL and FTTH network. Two channels, NRJ12 3D
and Wildearth 3D will be included in the basic
package with Brava 3D and Penthouse 3D being
offered as premium content later in 2011.
The Iliad subsidiary said its VOD services,
FHV and Marc Dorcel, should launch by the end of
this year. Combined, the operator says, the offerings
make for the largest collection of 3D and VOD
services available in France.
Freebox gives customers more than 400
channels, including 170 in its basic package.
Customers can view 28 HD channels, 15 in the basic
package. Other features include the Freebox Replay
catch-up TV service and 12 VoD platforms.
Competitors Orange, Canal and Numericable
also have 3D offerings.
UT Starcom build
profitable value-added
business platform
IPTV-IPTV, UT
Starcom, network
video – Broadcasting
industry
IPTV Business on behalf of the Table
Development of business integration, is the inevitable
next generation network video applications technology
options.
Meet the market and end-user demand from
the point of view, IPTV's "interactive" and "ondemand viewing," the disruptive technology features,
completely changed the traditional TV Unidirectional
Broadcasting Features, changed the way people watch
television mode, broadband networks and thus become
the "killer application" and the future Home
Networking Value-added services core business.
Rich IPTV value-added services, Package
Including information Service , The game business,
interactive news, interactive entertainment, Ecommerce , Distance Education And so on, is to build
home entertainment interactive training advice,
information access center key, it can provide end users
a more personalized than the traditional television and
interactive-based experience and feelings, thereby
greatly improving the user acceptance for IPTV and
help users to establish a sense of dependence on the
IPTV business, improving margins, to help operators
recoup its investment as quickly as possible.
Traditional broadband value-added services
VS. IPTV-based value-added services
Traditional broadband business model is to
take time or monthly fee business model, in this mode,
operators only provide broadband access, internet is
full of piracy and free content, can not guarantee the
quality of services, more business customers refused
to pay the price, operators also means the lack of more
profitable by PC Number of constraints, after several
years of development has encountered a bottleneck,
based on this model of value added services also lack
mature profit model.
Persist in innovation to help customers
succeed is UT Starcom Core values, based on business
innovation, terminal innovation, model innovation
RollingStream system is developed UT Starcom IPbased broadband video, streaming media business
IPTV platform. Difference with traditional broadband
Internet-based business model, IPTV is manageable,
controllable quality of service platform, IPTV-based
value-added business is controlled, it can be truly
profitable business model. By Television As a
terminal, the terminal quickly resolved the bottleneck;
rely on the contents of a quality assurance fee, brings
long-time charges outside of the new measurement
mode; with content providers and value-added service
providers, established a new industry chain model . It
can be said, IPTV video services in the provision of
basic, but also will become a new profitable
broadband value-added business platform.
RollingStream unique value-added business
insight RollingStream system as a set of end to end
solution that provides a wealth of value-added
business development interface, from Server End of
the certification authority, billing until STB The
operating platform development environment.
UT Starcom through careful Research Great
efforts to develop a variety of real value added for the
TV terminal operations, including: information, games,
Kara OK, etc.. Because the system itself to support an
online software upgrades and downloads, so that TVbased terminal operator is ready to promote a valueadded services, constantly driving the demand for
consumer TV business.
Message Service Support to send messages
Cloth Functions, support letters Advertisement , The
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text informed business functions. Gateway combined
system can achieve interoperability with the SMS
platform to realize interactive information, users can
participate in the process of viewing SMS quiz,
answer and other interactive entertainment, home
entertainment truly interactive services, to provide
viewers with a direct use of remote control
opportunity to participate in a variety of television
programs. Based on the traditional TV quiz, quiz, vote
on the business development, general use of the user
sending an SMS, or make a call means to achieve, but
not directly through the remote control and TV content
to achieve real-time interaction. IPTV's interactive
messaging service provides such a real-time
interactive message platform, users can use the remote
control directly involved in the quiz, quiz, or voting
services, and can be personalized interactive messages,
which will greatly enhance the IPTV users interest for
such participation in the program and extent of the
business to provide a rich form of IPTV.
Internet-Based HDTV
Service Debuts in the
USA with Alki David's
Filmon.Com
The concept of High Definition IPTV (News Alert) proved to be a success with UK consumers.
This huge popularity encouraged FilmOn.com---which
launched the first online High Definition Television in
the U.K. in 2009---to import the idea on to the USA.
FilmOn.com Founder and Chairman and British
business tycoon, Alki David has just announced the
launch of its U.S. Virtual Cable Website, which is
going to offer the U.S. consumers a revolutionary way
to watch HD Television on the PC or mobile device.
In the release, the Los Angeles-based service
provider announced that their services includes over
30 premium free to air television channels and
premium international Satellite channels, including
CBS, ABC, NBC, KCAL, FOX, KTLA, Russia Today,
BBC News, RAI Sports, Dubai Sports, TVE Spain,
SCUZZ , FLAUNT and many more. Packages also
include premium FilmOn movie channels and FilmOn
pay-per-view.
FilmOn.com starts their services from 27th
September. The interested users simply need to
download the free HDi Player at FilmOn.com to
instantly start watching a large selection of live
television channels and premium movie channels from
their PC or mobile device. The consumers can also
avail the trial service prior to registration.
―FilmOn represents cable television without
the cables and cable boxes, delivering the service
through mobile devices including Android and
iPhone (News - Alert), in real HD quality. Customers
can also hook-up their PC's to enjoy the FilmOn HDi
service on their existing home entertainment systems,‖
Alex Hartman, Executive Vice President of
FilmOn.com said.
FilmOn.com brings real HDTV experience for
the US consumers over basic broadband and for this,
users will have to pay a monthly subscription fee of
$9.95. The average home broadband speed in America
is approximately 5 Mb per second. HD video speed
from the FilmOn service runs under 1 Mb per second.
Customers can also watch in lower speeds on their
mobile broadband devices but still in HD quality
picture and Dolby 5.1 stereo sound.
FilmOn gives advertisers the opportunity to
connect their brands with premium content online,
interact with highly engaged consumers and extend
their reach via FilmOn.com's partners.
The FilmOn platform will be providing data
analysis supported by standardized television and
internet industry ratings systems. This data will
provide broadcasters and advertisers with highly
advanced reporting on audience behavior.
Additionally, FilmOn offers and is committed
to the continued development of new and innovative
online advertising experiences. Currently, FilmOn
advertisers include: Coca-Cola, Best Buy,
Google (News - Alert), GM, Intel, Nissan Unilever,
Wal-Mart and others.
Since it went beta in October 2009, FilmOn
platform proved to be hugely popular with television
watchers as well as broadcasters and advertisers.
Several million viewers have watched television via
FilmOn.com since.
―Our platform is designed to be easily
customized for broadcasters and advertisers who wish
to get into the online broadcast business quickly and
with minimal expense. FilmOn is currently in
negotiations with all major cable providers and plans
to provide complete syndicated cable television
services throughout the U.S. in 2011,‖ Alki David
noted in the release.
FilmOn.com offers additional features which
are upgraded regularly to the player to enhance
viewing experiences, including full-screen view,
electronic program guide, Digital Video Recorder and
much more.
The social networking platform
BattleCam.com is another interesting part of FilmOn.
This social networking platform offers features that
enable users to easily broadcast live, clip, share and
embed videos on other web sites, including blogs and
social networking sites.
Last but not least, FilmOn.com's search feature helps
users to find premium video content online even if it is
not directly available on FilmOn.com.
Kotoko,Smart TV
signs 3-year deal
Kumasi Asante Kotoko Football Club and
Smart TV have signed a three year deal for the Ghana
Broadcasting Corporation to be the exclusive
broadcaster of the first ever football club television in
the history of association football in Ghana known as
Kotoko TV.
The Kotoko TV will be aired exclusively on
GBC‘s Digital Terrestrial Television on the Smart TV
decoder and is planned to start airing by the end of
November this year.
As part of the sponsorship deal, Smart TV has
handed over 20-seater Hyundai County bus to the
Asante Kotoko Football Club in Kumasi.
The Ashanti Regional Director of the GBC,
Philip Baidoo said football is synonymous with
national unity, as was witnessed in this year‘s World
Cup in South Africa, where Ghanaians gave their
maximum support the national team, the Black Stars.
9
He said it is due to this unifying effect the
GBC deems its partnership with Smart TV in
broadcasting the best in football across the globe, as
exciting.
Mr. Baidoo said the vision of GBC is to
provide Ghanaian soccer fans with quality viewing
experience.
Vision IPTV welcomes
Jeremy Hunt‟s plans
for local TV
-
Local broadcasting made commercially
viable by new platform for internet television
Vision IPTV calls on budding broadcasters to
seize the opportunity to create niche TV
London, 29th September 2010. Vision IPTV
today welcomed Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt‘s
plans for the development of local TV across the UK.
John Mills, CEO of Vision IPTV said: ―Jeremy
Hunt‘s comments at the Royal Television Society
yesterday rightly highlight that local television is
viable in many countries including the US, Sweden,
Canada and France. So why not in the UK?‖
―The reality now is that a local community can
create a broadcast quality television channel delivered
via the internet and made commercially viable through
subscription, advertising, donations or a combination
of the three. We created our internet TV platform to
exploit exactly this opportunity and we have
successful channels already building strong audiences
for specific geographic or other interest groups.‖
Vision IPTV‘s internet television platform will be
showcased at MIPCOM 2010 (4th to 8th October 2010,
Cannes, France). The platform enables broadcasters to
create fully interactive television channels: viewers
can view programmes ahead of schedule as well as
catch up on previous programmes, skip items, or
simply be guided by a scheduled TV channel.
Local communities can customise the programme
schedule to enable personalised programming and
advertising. It also allows them to deliver this to all
the viewing devices and platforms of the connected
age – PC‘s mobiles, set top boxes, connected TV‘s
and right into social network platforms like Facebook.
John Mills continued: ―Televisions and set top
boxes with internet access change the face of
broadcasting, enabling anyone with a library of
content or even a good idea to launch a broadcast
quality TV channel at an affordable cost. Our platform
can manage scheduling, advertising, identity,
marketing and payment methods. We encourage
anyone considering local broadcasting to contact us to
discuss how we can get you on air.‖
Vision IPTV‘s platform has already proved
successful. QUOD.TV (Gay and Lesbian) and Polska
Plus (Polish expat) online TV networks have attracted
significant audiences who are regularly paying for
content.
In addition to the broad range of features and
flexibility of the platform, Vision IPTV‘s heritage in
broadcast playout provides professional broadcast
standards and 24/7 technical support.
Telekom Malaysia
selects Pixel Power
tech for IPTV rollout
Telekom Malaysia has selected branding and
master control technology from Pixel Power for its
rollout of IPTV services over the country's new High
Speed Broadband (HSBB) network, which
commenced last March.
Pixel Power is reported to have been
contracted to supply three BrandMasters, which
combine master control and graphics technology, and
four LogoVision devices, which are dedicated to
branding and playout. The technology is being
installed in a new playout centre in Cyberjaya, south
of Kuala Lumpur.
The deal was overseen by Pixel Power's AsiaPacific partner Gencom Technology, which is acting
as project designer and systems integrator, and has
been contracted to supply the digital video
infrastructure for the project and integrate it into a
master control room, a 55-stack equipment room, a
scheduled playout suite, a 50-workstation compliance
room and five NLE workstations.
Telekom Malysia has been delivering its IPTV service
'HyppTV' over the new network as part of a triple-play
offering, with 22 linear channels included in the
service along with video-on-demand and other
interactive services.
Du's IPTV wins
Metropolitan
Infrastructure
Innovation award at
Broadband price
Global Telecoms
could be driven up by
Business Awards 2010
IPTV, says BBC exec innovationProving
its position as a leader on the global
stage, Du has been awarded the prestigious
Internet TV may lead to a hike in broadband bills,
it has been claimed.
Broadband prices in the UK could be driven
up if internet TV catches on, the director general of
the BBC has claimed.
In a speech to attendees of the Royal
Television Society conference, Mark Thompson
admitted that the prevalence of internet protocol TV
(IPTV) may result in consumers paying more for their
broadband.
"Once we start seeing IPTV take off, we will
see the cost of broadband decommoditising," Mr
Thompson remarked.
However, he insisted there may be some
advantages to any price hikes, as they could encourage
internet service providers such as Sky and Virgin
Media to invest more in the UK's broadband networks.
This would enable the infrastructure to cope
better with the high bandwidth and speed requirements
of IPTV services, the BBC executive explained.
Speaking at the same conference, culture
secretary Jeremy Hunt argued that one IPTV
proposition - YouView - has the ability to develop
local TV offerings in the UK.
He said local providers would be able to "exploit the
potential of new platform technologies such as
YouView".
10
Metropolitan Infrastructure Innovation Award by the
UK's Global Telecoms Business (GTB) magazine, in
recognition of its success in implementing top-of-therange IPTV (Internet protocol TV) services. The
award ceremony brought together industry leaders
from across the world, during which Du was honoured
under the 'Fixed Infrastructure Innovation' category.
"We have built and delivered a uniquely
attractive value proposition based on customer needs,
proving once again Du's commitment to provide bestof-breed solutions tailored to our customers'
requirements," said Farid Faraidooni, Chief
Commercial Officer, Du.
"We are honoured to receive this award and
remain devoted to offering the most cutting-edge and
innovative services to our customers. This
achievement proves that we are indeed succeeding in
delivering exceptional quality products and services
across both our entertainment and communication
offerings," said Hatem Bamatraf, Senior Vice
President - Network Development, Du.
Other categories at the awards ceremony
included 'Wireless infrastructure innovation,'
'Wholesale service innovation,' 'Business service
innovation' and 'Consumer service innovation.' Global
Telecoms Business is a UK-based website and
magazine written specifically for senior managers who
run telecoms carriers worldwide.
Du has quickly consolidated its position as the
forward-thinking telecommunications provider of the
UAE, providing smart, user-friendly IPTV services to
individuals, homes and other establishments. The
company has successfully launched and delivered an
innovative IPTV solution which offers superior
performance and an array of state-of-the-art features.
Highlights of the Du IPTV system include live
TV services, offering Standard Definition (SD), High
Definition (HD) and 3D formats; instant channel
change options with superior menu navigation
performance; electronic programme guide services
(EPG), with the ability to customise the view; personal
video recording of up to two streams simultaneously;
blackout management; Video on Demand (VoD)
services; a parental control option; a favourite list of
channels; and lastly, multiple audio streams, subtitles,
teletext and surround sound features.
IPTV is a system whereby a digital television
service is delivered using Internet Protocol over a
network infrastructure, which may often include
delivery by a broadband connection. With IPTV, the
television screen becomes a means of communication,
allowing the viewer to interact with the service.
The GTB Innovation Award represents yet
another prestigious addition to Du's impressive
collection of accolades in multiple categories. Already
an established force in the telecommunications scene,
Du continues to prove that it is the telecom service
provider to watch out for in the UAE and beyond.
Omaha Doubletree
Selects Tivus' HD
IPTV as In-Room
Entertainment
Solution Provider
The Doubletree Hotel & Executive Meeting
Center in Omaha, Neb., has awarded Tivus, Inc., a
provider of turnkey media entertainment technology to
the hotel and hospitality industry, with its first in-room,
high-definition Internet protocol television contract.
"Marking a significant milestone in the
company's business plan, I believe this contract with
the Omaha Doubletree confirms the hotel industry's
support of Tivus' net-positive-revenue-to-the-hotel
business model," said Shiva Prakash, president and
chief executive officer of Tivus, in a press release.
The Omaha Doubletree, with a 60-month
contract valued at more than $1.2 million, will be
provided with Tivus' in-room HD IPTV (News - Alert)
entertainment solution for up to 450 rooms.
"Currently, our guests increasingly demand
and appreciate high-definition televisions, wide
varieties of free and premium programming from
around the world, games, and TV access to property
amenities, goods, and services; and, all in the language
of their choice,‖ said Anthony Spears, general
manager of the Omaha Doubletree, in a statement.
―The Omaha Doubletree Hotel investigated multiple
in-room HD entertainment options while searching to
replace our existing legacy entertainment system.
After evaluating multiple vendors, we were excited to
discover a robust new solution provider right in our
own 'backyard' – Tivus.
"Omaha Doubletree management is excited to
have selected Tivus' HD IPTV as our in-room
entertainment solution provider,‖ he continued. ―We
were amazed at the novel, personalized, and userfriendly features Tivus has designed into its solution.
Furthermore, for the first time in the industry, Tivus
provides the Omaha Doubletree with a new revenue
stream through its unique-to-the-industry ad-revenue
sharing feature. In addition, with the benefits of
revenue sharing, scalability, and ease of customization,
Tivus' IPTV solution gives us an entertainment
platform that will enhance our guests' hotel experience,
and our bottom-line, for many years to come.‖
"It is important to recognize, in this new
revenue generating paradigm for the hotel and
hospitality industry, the amount of the contract is only
a part of the total revenue expected to be generated.
Advertising revenues will generate a second revenue
stream that is expected to currently yield additional
revenues of two to three times that of the price of the
contract.
"Moreover, upon completion of Tivus'
network operations center, this second revenue stream
11
is conservatively expected to yield revenues of more
than five to six times that of the original contract price.
Specific revenue sharing numbers are proprietary, and
have been withheld for competitive reasons.
"As the hotel industry begins to adopt Tivus'
IPTV solution, I look forward to announcing
additional projects in the near future.‖
In related news, Tivus named F3
Technologies, an on-demand Software-as-a-Service
provider of Alpharetta, Ga., to design Tivus' software
developments, including its user interface.
Report: Economy, Not
Technology, Driving
„Cord-Cutting‟
The Great Recession supposedly ended
sometime last year, according to economists, but don‘t
tell that to pay-television operators, who saw a drop of
167,000 subscribers in the second quarter of 2010.
As pay-TV households, which consist of cable
TV, IPTV, and satellite TV subscribers, continue to
experience sudden year-over-year declines, a new
report says the economy — not technology — is
driving the fall.
Scottsdale, Ariz.-based research firm In-Stat
said ongoing consumer fears about the economy,
underscored by strong unemployment, are pushing
people to cancel pay-TV services on their monthly
cable or satellite subscriptions.
Other experts believe the drop is due to the
evolution of so-called ―cord-cutting‖ devices such as
Internet-connected Blu-ray Disc players, HDTVs and
media players, which allow users to watch repurposed
TV shows and catalog movies via less expensive
services such as Netflix streaming, Hulu, and TV.com,
among others.
―While growing availability of over-the-top
Internet video is spurring talk of mass ‗cord-cutting,‘
this decline is not about cancelling pay-TV in favor of
Internet video,‖ said analyst Mike Paxton. ―The main
driver of this subscriber decline is the struggling U.S.
economy and high unemployment.‖
At investor events last week in New York,
media company executives downplayed the impact of
―cord-cutting‖ services such as Netflix, arguing that
the increased availability of entertainment options
(and the economy) is undercutting pay-TV subs.
Indeed, a recent Credit Suisse report projected that 17%
of Netflix subscribers have dropped premium-priced
cable service
Les Moonves, CEO of CBS Corp., said
alternative distribution platforms for content — such
as ad-supported Hulu, Apple TV and Netflix — are
generating much of the hype, if not necessarily much
incremental revenue. Moonves said the proliferation
of distribution channels requires weighing the impact
each new channel has on existing channels.
―It is something we are looking at very
closely,‖ Moonves told a Goldman Sachs event last
week.
Media companies, notably those that own
cable services, are extolling so-called ―TV
Everywhere‖ platforms that allow pay-TV subscribers
to access first-run content on demand and the Internet
via media devices for no additional cost. The rationale
being that ubiquitous access will help sustain
subscribers.
In addition, a la carte services offering content
access for low single-digit monthly fees, including
Hulu Plus and Netflix, are increasingly eyed as
alternatives to monthly cable bills that average more
than $140 a month.
―It‘s a potential thing for us,‖ Moonves said.
Comcast CFO Michael Angelakis said he
believes making new-release movies available on
transactional video-on-demand (VOD) at the same
time as packaged media will help sustain subscribers.
With Comcast‘s majority purchase of NBC Universal
pending regulatory approval, the cable operator's VOD
slate could grow significantly.
―That trend has more monetization to it,‖
Angelakis said.
UK's YouView has
killed IPTV
percent falling-off of investment in IPTV since the
September 2008 Project Canvas announcement.
According to Avista, a bouyant US$35 million
was being invested annually into the Internet TV
sector. That figure dramatically slumped to just $2.5
million in the two years since Project Canvas was
announced.
There's a storm brewing in the UK over
Economic crisis rather than a fundamental
YouView, the initiative formed by the broadcast TV
shift? Not so, says Avista, which points out that US
majors - including the publicly-funded BBC - to
investment in IPTV has been stellar. The year up to
develop a common Internet TV framework. The 2008
September 2008 saw $91 million sunk into US IPTV
announcement has allegedly poleaxed investment in
ventures and in the two years since a further $450.1m
IPTV and the thwarted investors are crying 'foul'. By
has been completed.
Ian Scales.
Avista says it's clear that the collective power
In 2008 the BBC and a bunch of UK TV channels and
of the players in YouView has just made any
large ISPs (including BT) announced Project Canvas,
competitive play a non-starter in this market.
now, as a looming service, called
So, is this a bad thing? It could (and is)
YouView. YouView is essentially a set of open
argued that the formation of YouView has simply
standards and a minimal technical platform to enable
made Internet TV infrastructure competition moot and
an ongoing 'open' TV environment on the Internet,
saved the entire industry a lot of trouble and
whose core services will be 'free to air' in the manner
unnecessary investment in competing
of TV broadcasting.
frameworks. Thought of as an open TV network
In fact YouView is the Internet plus a
framework for presenting a multitude of streams to the operating system - which it's most analogous to rather than an IPTV infrastructure play, it may simply
viewing public in a coherent manner: so they can
have solved the competition problem and hastened the
access the channels through a single content guide
UK's evolution towards an open Web TV environment.
online, for instance.
This is certainly the view of other expert
The original 2008 Project Canvas
observers who point out that a successful YouView
announcement immediately fired up a storm of protest
from companies who were running (or planning to run) should create a huge market in the UK for super-fast
broadband and suck in new investment in consumer
more proprietary IPTV services in the traditional
devices and, of course, TV content.
manner. The objections had added oomph because, at
Will the UK regulator act to dilute the power/success
the time, there was also great concern over the load
of YouView? We'll have to wait and see.
the Internet was being made to carry through the
arrival of the BBC's iPlayer service which was, and is,
hugely popular.
Was it right, the companies asked, that such a
powerful consortium - including the BBC which of
course is publicly funded and therefore insulated from
market forces and the usual risk factors faced by
commercial broadcasters and network operators could be formed to essentially dominate the online TV
distribution market in such a way?
Hand in hand with digitization of TV, the
The grumbling has continued and will no
supply of IP Hybrid TV is gaining ground. Basically,
doubt continue to rise to a pitch as the launch date hybrid TV has an IP connection in the Set Top Box, or
apparently next year – approaches.
other home device capable of receiving and decoding
And there was more fuel for the flames his
Digital TV (televisions, game consoles, etc.) This way,
week with the publication of a report from Avista
a universe of interactive features for Digital TV is
partners (described as a digital media, luxury and
opened, for both free-to-air or subscription services:
lifestyle corporate finance firm) which shows a 99
Video on Demand, Pay per View, Catch-Up, widgets,
investment it's
claimed
IP Hybrid TV in Latin
America 2010 - 2015
12
access to search engines and social networks, among
others.
NexTV notes that by 2015, there will be 27.8
million households with Hybrid IPTV in Latin
America. That volume will be equivalent to 17.4% of
households with a television and TV reception of
some sort. Even more important, forecast shows that
households with Hybrid TV to 2015 will be equivalent
to 41.9% of households with fixed broadband access
in Latin America. NexTV indicates that 41.4% of
those households with Hybrid IPTV will have IP-DTH
option, 38.4% IP-DTT and 20.2% IP-Digital Cable.
Singapore
recommends open
IPTV standards from
DVB
Singapore's Project NIMS (Next Generation
Interactive Multimedia, Applications and Services)
have recommended that the open IPTV standards
developed by the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB)
consortium be used for the fulfilment of its common
featured set-top box functional requirements.
The recommendation is attributed to the DVB
IPTV standards' support of automatic connection to
and configuration of a set-top box connected to an IP
network for necessary service discovery and selection,
as well as their ability to provide secure content
protection and a middleware environment for the
provision of a rich interactive service.
Project NIMS is a joint initiative by the
country's Infocomm Development Authority (IDA)
and Media Development Authority (MDA) to build up
capabilities, infrastructure and industry ecosystem in
the area of interactive multimedia, applications and
services. The initiative was launched to address the
issue of delivering interactive video-based services by
the industry, the community and the Singapore
government.
―This recommendation from Singapore‘s
Project NIMS further establishes DVB‘s reputation for
providing open standards that meet the demanding
requirements of today‘s rapidly changing broadcasting
industry,‖ said Peter Siebert, Executive Director of
DVB.
IPTV Technology –
Making Television
Better For The Future
IPTV technology is currently transforming the
way people will view media. The many benefits of
IPTV compared to the classic cable or even satellite
broadcasting methods, is that it will make use of the
internet to help stream all of its contents. With this
brand-new path towards the media it can now provide
a customised way which will suit a massive variety of
applications.
IPTV technology is currently transforming the
way humans will appearance media. The abounding
allowances of IPTV compared to the archetypal cable
or even digital broadcasting methods, is that it will
accomplish use of the internet to advice beck all of its
contents. With this aboriginal aisle appear the media it
can now accommodate a customised way which will
clothing a massive array of applications. An archetype
would be all hotels, schools and hospitals will account
from its abilities and the casework It is able to provide.
If you just wish to add added interactivity or
maybe just advertisement to a beyond accumulation of
people, or conceivably admission the akin of superior
of the account and aswell the video options, you can
accomplish this after any added outlay. This latest
technology is able to accommodate you with an
accomplished band-aid for all of these kinds of
demands.In hotels, the allowances of this IPTV
technology are enormous. Depending on what a
auberge would wish to action its guests, this account
can calmly accommodate some reside and on-demand
admission to endless television shows, movies and
amateur too.
13
There will be the advantage of accouterment
anniversary of these after any amount to anniversary
and every allowance of the hotel. This is a admirable
ability for all guests to accretion admission too. They
can accept the acumen that the acceptable TV was not
able to provide. It may able-bodied aswell be
acclimated to advertisement advantageous advice from
the auberge anon to the guest, with attention to the
bedfellow getting able to appearance their bill
appropriate from the TV set.Hospitals are an added
abode area this account can be abundantly
advantageous too.
With the cogent amount of apartment and
their patients, there will acceptable be a actual ample
array of programming for all the patients to accept
from, abnormally those who are confided to beds, area
this account can accommodate for them a aberration
by the utilisation of entertainment.This technology is
aswell something that is acclimated in schools too.
Instead of the aboriginal morning announcements that
are consistently heard over the P. A. System, IPTV
will action the achievability to now advertisement a
video that will ability anniversary and every allowance
in the school.
This is a abundant abstraction and can aswell
be acclimated whenever there will be a charge for
administration some educational video advice with
assorted classrooms all at the aforementioned
time.One added avant-garde use of this technology is
to augment waterproof bath televisions. These IP
enabled waterproof TVs are installed in abundant
hotels and affluence homes.With this new technology
it makes television a newer and bigger way of
watching and communicating – far added, technology,
than any added way available.
With the massive array of its applications it is
authoritative IPTV an avant-garde allotment of
technology for the future.
The author lives in the UK and runs a new
media company. He recommends TvOverLAN for
IPTV and Videotree for those fancy Bathroom TVs.
Fox Showing In Hong
Kong IPTV Service
Now TV
Live Internet TV have gift the biggest hint yet
that an iPad tv app is coming and will be a testbed for
a subscription Robert William Service. Hulu has been
a massive success since launch and is now even been
profitable for the last two quarters said Jason Kilar,
Hulu‘s chief executive in an audience?* with The New
York Times on Monday.
Hulu on iPad soon?
Now the much looked-for(a) iPad app is
coming so say four people that were briefed on its
plans says the report. ―People briefed on Hulu‘s plan
consider it may test the subscription approach with its
iPad app. They could not say when such an application
might be available.‖
The in progress(p) problem with Hulu visual
aspect on any platform other than PC has been the
content providers. They want more control and more
revenue before it plays ball. Hence the absence of an
Iphone Hulu up until now. But a subscription service
will polish off this restriction and it looks like an iPad
application is coming says the report. ―People briefed
on Hulu‘s plan believe it may test the subscription
approach with its iPad app. They could not say when
such an application might be available.‖
Hulu‘s future expansion lies with paid
content. The only way to stop tech range media
companies going it alone online is to give them the
revenue split to stop this.
Fox are launching a Fox US amusement
branded channel on the internet tv (IPTV) platform,
‗Now TV‘ in Hong Kong. There will be starting time
run shows airing at launch including Lie to Me and
plum Collar, plus the 7th series of NCIS and Bones.
Now TV features Fox Shows
Sonia Jackson, Senior Vice President and General
Manager, Hong Kong, Fox International Channels,
said: ―FOX sets planetary TV audiences expectation
high towards US entertainment.
―The channel received tremendous feedback
in many markets such as the US, Latin America, Spain
and the Middle East. In Asia, FOX dominated Korea‘s
pay-TV market as the No.1 channel in the horse opera
TV series genre for three consecutive years since 2007.
The channel is expanding aggressively in Southeast
Asia, and we are delighted to partner with now TV to
introduce FOX in Hong Kong with its rich first-run
programming.
―FOX will keep keen and demanding viewers
in Hong Kong stay at the forefront of the best US TV
entertainment.‖
Fox is busy around the creation and is
available in over 66 countries including Germany,
Italy, Spain, Portugal, Japan, Korea, Singapore,
Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Chile.
Dont bet its til now 66 in a few months.
AT&T adds new DVR
features to U-verse TV
AT&T has introduced new DVR features for
its IPTV service 'U-verse TV', including the ability to
schedule DVR recordings directly from the U-verse
Online website and the ability to see which DVR
recordings are available to view on U-verse Online.
The U-verse Online website lets any online
user watch TV shows, movies and video clips on their
PC from a library of over 100,000 titles, as well as
giving customers of the telco's managed-network
IPTV service the ability to access additional features
that enhance their entertainment experience.
"This is another innovative way we're helping
you manage your DVR experience and enjoy hit
shows from any screen," said Jeff Weber, VicePresident of Video Services for AT&T Mobility and
Consumer Markets. "We continue to bring you more
control and freedom with AT&T U-verse, and this is
the latest example of how we are further integrating
the U-verse experience on your TV, your smartphone
and online."
AT&T added an impressive 209,000 new
subscribers to its IPTV service 'U-verse TV' in the
second quarter of this year, bringing the total to 2.5mn
customers.
14
Google Cheers FCC's
Freeing of TV
Airwaves
Google Sept. 23 applauded the Federal
Communications Commission for freeing up the
vacant airwaves between TV channels that are able
to power wireless broadband networks.
Google rooted on the Federal
Communications Commission, which Sept. 23 freed
up the so-called ―white spaces,‖ or vacant airwaves
between TV channels that can power speedy wireless
broadband networks.
TV airwave signals can travel far and deep—
through walls, in fact—making the spectrum wellsuited for mobile devices that connect wirelessly to the
Web, such as smartphones and tablet computers.
Google, Facebook, and other Internet
companies covet this spectrum because they want to
propagate their Web applications on smartphones,
tablets, TVs and any device that will connect to the
Internet.
The FCC had pre-approved white space use
for the public in 2008, but the effort eventually
became bogged down.
Richard Whitt, Google's Washington telecom
and media counsel, wrote in a blog post:
"Today's order finally sets the stage for the
next generation of wireless technologies to emerge,
and is an important victory for Internet users across
the country."
Google is already testing these white spaces.
The company Sept. 14 launched a broadband network
using the spectrum at the Hocking Valley Community
Hospital, in Logan, Ohio. Google helped the hospital
outfit first-responder vehicles with the network. The
hospital is also using the network to manage its video
surveillance for the grounds.
Google rival Microsoft has been testing
technology at its Redmond, Wash., campus, stretching
Internet access across a mile of its campus using two
antennae.
"As more people access information via
mobile and other intelligent devices, additional strain
is being put on existing wireless networks," said Craig
Mundie, Microsoft‘s chief research and strategy
officer, in a statement.
Google and Microsoft's experiments are the
type of activity FCC chairman Julius Genachowski
and his four commissioners hope to see more of now
that the agency has given the white-space spectrum the
green light.
"Unlocking this valuable spectrum will open
the doors for new industries to arise, create American
jobs, and fuel new investment and innovation," the
FCC said in a statement, noting that this is the first
significant block of spectrum issued for public use in
25 years.
TV broadcasters and wireless microphone
makers had opposed the freeing of the white-space
spectrum, claiming it would interfere with their
broadcast signals and wireless microphones. These
groups sued the FCC last year to stop the spectrum
from going public.
Adding insult to injury for its white-space
opponents, the FCC struck down constraints requiring
that TV devices incorporate geolocation, and database
access must include sensing technology to detect the
signals of TV stations and wireless microphones.
To assuage wireless broadcasters' concerns,
the FCC said it is reserving two vacant UHF channels
for wireless microphones across the country.
Moreover, TV stations and wireless
microphones will register in a database as a protected
service; those seeking to use the white spaces will
have to check that database.
The TV spectrum move also buoys the FCC's
National Broadband Plan designed to facilitate
broadband access across the country, especially in
rural areas, where access is poor or even absent.
All Things Digital's Peter Kafka reported that
Seidenberg told attendees at a Goldman Sach's media
conference in New York that future generations of
consumers won't have any interest in buying service
bundles, which can include Internet, pay TV, and
telephone.
"Young people are pretty smart. They're not
going to pay for something they don't need to," he said.
Seidenberg noted, though, that bundling isn't going
away immediately.
It may happen sooner than he thinks. A Time
Warner executive said at the same conference that his
company expects to see a subscriber decline in the
third quarter, although the reason for that fall-off is
being blamed on the down economy.
Wall Street isn't having it. Last week, Credit
Suisse, a large financial services company,
downgraded media stocks and upgraded Netflix,
saying its studies show that young adults are now
turning to Netflix to acquire film and TV shows.
Now that someone from one of the big payTV companies acknowledges what many people have
been saying for a long time, perhaps the industry can
stop touting those ridiculous surveys and studies that
attempt to disprove the existence of cord cutting. They
can now get down to competing and offering
customers more value for their money.
Some people have downplayed the threat that
Web video distributors, such as Netflix, Apple TV,
and the upcoming Google TV will pose to the pay-TV
industry. That's dangerous thinking. That's how
Blockbuster execs thought, and today the oncedominant force in home video filed for bankruptcy
reorganization.
The pay TV industry is in a serious fight. And if it
fails to acknowledge reality, it's going to go down the
same tube.
Verizon CEO: Cord
cutting is real
FCC frees up TV
white spaces
Verizon Communications CEO Ivan
Seidenberg just confirmed what many industry
watchers have suspected: cord cutting is a problem.
Chairman Genachowski says it‟s the first
significant release of unlicensed spectrum in 25
years
15
The Federal Communications Commission
today announced what Chairman Julius Genachowski
called ―the first significant release of unlicensed
spectrum in 25 years,‖ freeing up unused television
spectrum also known as TV white spaces. The new
order, Genachowski said in an FCC meeting today,
should ―enhance the economy‖ and ―generate billions
of dollars in private investment.‖
The TV white spaces spectrum has excellent
propagation characteristics and is expected to support
WiFi-style connectivity over distances of several miles,
which could make it well suited to support smart
grid, smart city and numerous other applications.
The FCC plan would require devices using the
new spectrum to automatically communicate with a
database administrator over the Internet upon initial
deployment. The database administrator would then
assign an unused portion of the spectrum to that user
and keep track of all assignments. The concept already
has been tested in several trials using database
technology from Spectrum Bridge, whose chief
technology officer recently told Connected Planet that
the company is one of several vying to be chosen to
administer the database.
In comments at the FCC meeting today, FCC
Commissioner Robert McDowell put his own spin on
the white spaces order. By making spectrum available
for unlicensed broadband use, he said, the new order
provides a ―competitive alternative to existing
broadband providers,‖ eliminating the need for any
action on Net neutrality. McDowell, who opposes Net
neutrality guidelines, joked that Genachowski could
now take that issue off of his to-do list.
Users of wireless microphones, including
country singer Dolly Parton, had expressed concerns
that freeing up the white spaces spectrum could cause
interference problems for their mikes. The FCC hopes
to address these concerns by dedicating a portion of
the white spaces spectrum band for wireless
microphone use. FCC senior staff engineer Hugh van
Tuyl estimated that the dedicated spectrum could
support 12 to 16 wireless microphones. Anyone
requiring a higher number of microphones would have
the option of making a formal request for assigned
spectrum through the white spaces database.
The new order does not include a previous
recommendation that would have required devices
with geo-location capability to sense neighboring
devices using TV white spaces spectrum and adjust
sensitivity accordingly.
ivi TV To Allow US
TV Shows Streamed
Worldwide Via IPTV
US Company ivi TV is set to offer the world,
the chance to view US TV shows over a broadband
IPTV connection. They will then be able access other
TV shows like The Mentalist, Law & Order and Two
& A Half Men prior to the shows going on air in their
Country.
The move has angered Hollywood studios and
TV stations who have threatened to sue if the service
is not withdrawn.
ivi TV is a brand new IPTV service that offers
viewers access to top US TV content via a
downloadable app that works wherever there is an
Internet connection. Users can get access to TV shows
weeks before the same shows going on air in their own
Country on free to air tvnetworks.
ivi TV are offering the service for US$4.99 a
month. All that is required is a broadband connection‖.
Content that is available are US NFL games which are
shown on Fox Sport as well as high rating shows from
the US ABC, NBC and CBS networks.
Bringman from ivi TV said that the new
service ―Converts Internet connected device into a
television as soon as the application which is available
for windows, Mac and Linux is downloaded‖.
―ivi is not another Pirate Bay or Napster trying to gain
from others‘ works. Rather, ivi wishes to work with
content owners in helping them to realise new revenue
streams and reach more viewers from around the globe.
The ivi team has spent more than three years
developing this technology and no other company has
come close to matching it‖. Todd Weaver, founder and
CEO of ivi TV said.
ITU-T's First IPTV
Interoperability Test
Event
OKI (News - Alert), a manufacturer of
products, technologies, software and solutions for IT
services distribution and constructions, recently
participated in International Telecommunication
Union Telecommunication‘s first IPTV (News - Alert)
Interoperability Event, a demonstration and testing
event for promoting conformity and interoperability.
OKI demonstrated the OKI MediaServer, and it was
found to be the only IPTV-compatible video delivery
server, and compatible with other IPTV devices from
other manufacturersl. The OKI MediaServer was
connected to set top boxes and digital television
devices from other manufacturers, which are available
commercially. The ITU-T H.700 series is considered
to be the standard while considering VOD, highdefinition digital broadcasts over IP; it defines the
terminal interfaces that are required to broadcast over
an IP network by using IP multicasting.
OKI provides info-telecom systems service
such as, CTstage, eVideo, IPstage MX/SX an all in
one IP communication system for small offices,
IPstage 1000 a Smart telephony box, Visual Nexus a
Video Conferencing system, CenterStage NX series a
carrier-grade communication server, OKI
MediaServer a carrier grade video delivery server,
eSound provides high-quality VoIP software library,
Next Generation Networks (News - Alert) (NGN),
Mobile WiMAX system provides high-speed wireless
broadband access; Face Sensing Engine (FSE)
provides security, and many others services are
available. IPTV is a key application of the NGN, and
is expected to ensure widespread global deployment.
OKI MediaServer is an IP video delivery
system, and is equipped with standard video delivery
functions and can easily be integrated with other
systems that utilize audio and video like VOD, live
delivery, satellite stations and monitoring stations.
OKI MediaServer can be used as a server for
broadcasting for cable TV, as well as an IPTV server
for telecommunication carriers. As an integrated
16
platform of video distribution, it offers total solution
throughout the storing, encoding, delivering and
decoding process. It enables high-quality video
distribution to be optimized in the IP network, along
with the OKI base eVideo technology. It is compatible
with RTP, RTCP, HTTP, ITU-T H.721, and the rest of
the H.700 series, and also maintains high level of
security for the contents by ensuring encrypted
delivery. OKI will continue to standardize the
emerging IPTV services based on the OKI
MediaServer, and provide IPTV platform that can be
adopted easily by IPTV service providers.
In a release, the General Manager, Infotelecom Systems Division at OKI, Mr. Hidetshi
Saigou, said that, "We are proud to announce that
'OKI MediaServer' is currently the only server
equipped with video delivery functions and
compatible with the H.721 standard. This
characteristic ensures interoperability with various
other H.721-compatible devices from other
manufacturers, including set top boxes and IPTVcompatible digital television device. I was delighted to
see 'OKI MediaServer' deliver stable, reliable highdefinition videos for video-on-demand and IP
broadcasting, as well as easy channel switching. The
results of this successful interoperability test will
certainly establish the basis for the future development
of our IPTV services."
Anjou residents first
to get Fibe TV
Anjou residents are the first on Montreal
Island to have access to the highest-quality television
signals in Canada.
Bell's Fibe TV, an Internet protocol television
(IPTV) service, was announced this week, with Anjou
and Toronto's Beaches district the first to get the
service.
The company will be rolling out new fibreoptic television cables to adjacent neighbourhoods in
the coming months, Bell spokesperson Marie-Eve
Francoeur said yesterday.
"By the end of 2010, the coverage area will be
enlarged significantly," she said, but had no timetables
for other neighbourhoods.
Not to be confused with Fibe Internet, already
available in urban centres, Fibe TV uses a fibre-optic
cable to transmit images over the Internet to a receiver
in the home. The receiver transmits images to a
seemingly unlimited number of TVs in each home,
and the televisions can be integrated so that if you
pause a program in your kitchen, you can pick it up in
the family room.
IPTV also has a 1080p picture quality -the
same as Bluray players, and slightly better than
Videotron's 1080i, though the difference may not be
visible to the naked eye.
It's free for satellite subscribers to switch to Fibe TV.
Expanded IPTV
services enter Planet
9‟s orbit
Telekom Slovenia‘s multimedia and services
integration subsidiary Planet 9 has made strategic
investment in specialised video servers as a key
component of its plans to scale and expand its IPTV
services.
The parent claims to be its nation‘s leading
IPTV provider with more than 120,000 subscribers,
with Planet 9 providing multimedia, content and
systems integration expertise to deliver platforms
such as SIOL iO. This is said to be a unique service
representing the first convergence video service
linking TV, Internet and mobile, and enabling the
viewing of broadcast content, as well as VOD and
user-generated video content.
Planet 9 provides services and content for
mobile, TV and web and has key activity areas in
IPTV, online video, mobile solutions and their
convergence; web services; portals; social networks;
and other communication solutions. Planet 9 also
owns, manages and provides entertainment and
informative multimedia content and services for web
portal siol.net which boasts 500,000 visitors monthly
and is one of the most visited websites in Slovenia.
To facilitate the expansion, Planet 9 invested
in technology from distributed delivery systems
provider Edgeware. Explained Planet 9‘s deputy
manager Tomaž Pernovšek: ―Our main goal when
choosing a delivery platform was scalability. We were
interested specifically in the robustness and the
hardware infrastructure. We also found that the
Edgeware solution integrated smoothly with both of
our VOD delivery models of progressive download
and streaming as well as offering us support for future
service capabilities such as catch-up TV and network
PVR. As a final point, the [new] servers offer very
cost effective performance.‖
Live US TV Now
Available In Australia
For $5.36 A Month
A US Company is set to offer Australians the
opportunity to watch US TV over a broadband
IPTV connection. They will also be able access to
shows like The Mentalist, Law & Order and Two
& A Half Men prior to the shows being aired in
Australia.
The move has already angered Hollywood
studios and TV stations who have threatened to sue if
the service is not withdrawn immediately.
ivi TV is a brand new IPTV service that offers
viewers access to leading US television content with a
downloadable app that works anywhere there is an
Internet connection. Users can get access to TV shows
weeks before the same shows are aired in Australia on
free to air networks and Foxtel.
Hal Bringman, a spokesperson for ivi TV told
SmartHouse that "Anyone in Australia can access the
iviTV service for US$4.99 a month (A$5.36). All they
need is a broadband connection".
Among the content that is available are US
NFL games which are shown on Fox Sport as well as
17
high rating shows from the US ABC, NBC and CBS
networks.
Bringman said that the new service "Converts
Internet connected device into a television as soon as
the application which is available for windows, Mac
and Linux is downloaded".
"ivi is not another Pirate Bay or Napster trying
to gain from others' works. Rather, ivi wishes to work
with content owners in helping them to realise new
revenue streams and reach more viewers from around
the globe. The ivi team has spent more than three
years developing this technology and no other
company has come close to matching it". Todd
Weaver, founder and CEO of iviTV said.
Colin O Brien the CEO of IceTV who is an
expert on Copyright law in Australia after winning a
Copyright fight with the USA claims that Hollywood
Studio's will be forced by the free to air networks in
Australia to stop the delivery of the service
in Australia.
"Most of the free to air TV networks in
Australia have clauses in their program contracts
which puts the liability on the Hollywood Studio or
TV network in the USA to stop the illegally use of
programs in Australia. The cost of fighting this in the
Courts will fall on the program seller as opposed to the
network putting the show to air".
ivi TV, claims that they are confident of
winning any legal fight in the US or Australia as they
have adopted a model that is allowed under all
applicable laws. "We remain receptive to formal
partnerships with broadcast networks and are
discussing carriage rights for premium cable,
international, and a la carte channels" Weaver said.
Among the US programs that Australian's can
watch using the ivi TV application before they are
aired in Australia is Lie to Me, Glee, The Office, The
Simpsons, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and
Friends on Channel Ten; Two and A Half Men, The
Mentalist, and CSI on Channel Nine; and How I Met
Your Mother on Channel Seven.
U-verse continues
expansion, rolls out
service in Charleston,
S.C.
AT&T is continuing to extend the reach of its
U-verse IPTV service, saying today that it would
begin rolling out the product in the Charleston, S.C.
area. The operator said services offered would include
high-speed Internet as well as voice services.
South Carolina in 2006 passed a statewide
video franchise law that allows local governments to
opt into the U-verse network. AT&T, shortly after the
law was enacted, announced plans to spend $250
million upgrading its network there and expanding
Internet technology and broadband deployment. The
state was the first of the former BellSouth states in
which AT&T rolled out U-verse bundled services.
"Cable has been the only game in town for too
long, and we're excited to change that today in
Charleston," said Alison Hall, vice president and
general manager, AT&T North and South Carolina.
"We know Charleston customers want a better choice
to break free from cable, and AT&T U-verse is the
answer. And we'll continue to make U-verse TV even
better for customers with regular upgrades and new
cool applications that enhance your TV experience."
U-verse provides users the ability to:
- Manage recordings, and download and watch
hit TV shows from a qualifying smartphone
with U-verse Mobile (watch the video);
- Manage and playback recorded programs
from a single DVR on any U-verse connected
TV in the house with Total Home DVR;
- Choose and watch up to four channels at one
time with the exclusive My Multiview app
(watch the video);
- Program DVR recordings from a Webconnected mobile phone or PC;
-
Set up personalized, on-screen weather, sports,
traffic and stock information via AT&T U-bar;
and,
Check the current weather conditions and
forecasts in any U.S. city with Weather On
Demand, as well as other services.
Packages include a range of speeds, with the
fastest downstream speeds up to 24 Mbps. All AT&T
U-verse High Speed Internet packages include
wireless home or office networking at no extra cost,
and access to the entire national AT&T Wi-Fi network
included in their plan at no extra charge.
AT&T also recently announced improvements in
its network that will allow users to simultaneously
watch up to four HD streams in their homes at one
time.
U-verse added more than 209,000 users in the
second quarter this year, passing the 2.5 million
subscriber mark, and hit $1 billion in revenue, a first
for the service.
Canvas. It will cater to those among us who are not
willing to pay for subscription TV services.
YouView, which is being opposed by rivals
such as Sky and Virgin Media on concerns that it
could hurt competition in the market, is expected
make TV a richer and interactive experience.
The upcoming service, which will be available
via a set-top box, will provide consumers with an
access to Freeview channels as well as websites on
your tv such as BBC iPlayer. This venture is backed
by UK broadcasters BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5
and broadband providers BT and TalkTalk.
With Half a Billion
Subscribers
Broadband Is Truly
Content Providers To Turning the World
Manage The Payment into Global Village
In the heart of today‘s ―connected lifestyle‖
there is Broadband Forum (News - Alert). Along with
System Of YouView
the IP/MPLS Forum, the Broadband Forum is the
Richard Halton, YouView‘s new chief
executive has said that the payment system for the
upcoming IPTV platform YouView (previously
known as Project Canvas) would be managed by its
content partners.
Halton has announced in an interview that the
company had allowed the IPTV platform to
developers to allow them to create their own apps, and
that it would give management of payment rights to
developers as it had no intention to keep the rights for
itself.
Commenting on this he said, ―YouView is not
going to sell content, so it doesn‘t seem appropriate
that it controls the payment gateway.‖
YouView is an upcoming web connected TV
service, which was previously known as Project
18
responsible body for end-to-end multi-service
architecture development and network specifications
and defines next generation solutions for access,
mobile backhaul, business services, IPTV (News Alert), gaming and other applications.
The organization currently comprises of
around 200 members of the world's leading service
providers, equipment manufacturers, chip vendors and
other key organizations. At its quarterly meeting in
Hong Kong, this week, Broadband Forum provided its
global Broadband and IPTV Industry Update.
According to the report, the industry has achieved a
major milestone in July 2010 with the number of
subscriber lines passing the 500 million mark.
Research by industry analysts Point Topic
pinpointed the actual date as being in the third week in
July and the Broadband Forum will mark the occasion
with a Milestone Celebration later this week. Statistics
show that global broadband subscribers reached 498
million lines (497,768,162) by the end of June 2010,
representing a 2.6 percent growth in the quarter and
11.9 percent in the last 12 months to end of Q2 2010.
Half a billion fixed broadband lines and it has
taken just 11 years to achieve this milestone. The
Internet has not only brought the world closer together,
it has dramatically improved health and education
standards. According to the research firm, Point topic,
Internet introduced ―an era of cooperation and
information sharing that will hasten economic growth
and improve standards of living for potentially billions
around the world.‖
The research highlighted a few interesting
facts about the broadband and IPTV industry. As for
instance, the study said that broadband growth
continued throughout the regions, while some
countries like China led the market. It also found that
IPTV is taking root in more countries with Europe still
remaining the most established region for IPTV with
almost 19 million subscribers, of which almost half
are in France. China (with Hong Kong and Macau)
had the most net additions this quarter – 421,000 –
ranking it second, with USA in third place with almost
6.5 million subscribers.
―This is an extremely significant milestone
and it reflects the critical importance of broadband in
our daily lives, both for business and leisure. The
Forum is already looking ahead to the next half billion
lines and the challenges and opportunities that such
rapid global growth can present,‖ Robin Mersh, Chief
Executive Officer of the Broadband Forum, said.
The CEO pointed out that while it is a time to
celebrate, the industry should work hard to identify the
challenges that may arise and work out solutions for
solving the issues before they arise.
―Today is a day to celebrate, but we continue
to work towards strategic broadband evolution goals
and our work on IPv6 and helping service providers to
support its integration is part of our role in anticipating
and solving the issues before they arise. This is the
one of the key initiatives that is paving the way for the
next milestone to be achieved,‖ Mersh pointed out.
OIPF Membership
and Momentum
Continues to Grow
The OIPF (Open IPTV Forum) is pleased to
announce the addition of four new members, further
enhancing its role and reputation as a significant and
influential force in the global IPTV market.
Yun Chao Hu, President of the OIPF,
emphasized the significance of the continued growth
and development of the organization - ―The OIPF has
already established industry specifications which have
a high level of industry recognition, credibility and
momentum, giving us confidence that our ambitious
goals are achievable. Each announcement of new
members reinforces this confidence, and it is therefore
a pleasure to welcome the addition of Coship
Electronics, Gemalto, KDDI and Testronic Labs to the
ranks of the Forum. We look forward to the valuable
and relevant contributions each of them will make to
our work.‖
KDDI is a comprehensive communications
company offering both fixed-line and mobile
communications services. For individual customers,
KDDI offers its mobile communications (au mobile
phone) and fixed-line communications (broadband
Internet/telephone) services under the brand name
"au", helping to realize FMBC (Fixed Mobile and
Broadcasting Convergence). And for business clients,
KDDI provides all services in the ICT (Information
and Communication Technology) realm, from FMC
(Fixed Mobile Convergence) networks to data centers,
applications, and security strategies, to help clients
strengthen their businesses.
COSHIP Electronics Co., Ltd. specializes in
R&D, manufacture and marketing of
satellite/cable/terrestrial digital TV receivers,
professional head-end IRD, IP STB (Set-Top Box),
cable modem, GPS products, security products and
LED displays, and is capable of tailoring specific
products and services to each customer. As China‘s
largest STB manufacturer, COSHIP supplies global
Pay TV worldwide and has been China‘s number one
STB exporter for the past six consecutive years.
19
Gemalto is the world leader in digital security,
delivering on the growing demands of billions of
people worldwide for mobile connectivity, identity
and data protection, credit card safety, health and
transportation services, e-government and national
security. Gemalto does this by supplying to
governments, wireless operators, banks and
enterprises a wide range of secure personal devices,
such as subscriber identification modules (SIM),
Universal Integrated Circuit Cards (UICC) in mobile
phones, smart banking cards, smart card access badges,
electronic passports, and USB tokens for online
identity protection. To complete the solution Gemalto
also provide software, systems and services to help
our customers achieve their goals.
Testronic Labs is a leading provider of quality
assurance services to the games, home entertainment,
software and hardware industries. Operating from a
global network of facilities, we provide robust testing
and consultancy services to home entertainment and
games publishers, software publishers and developers,
and those seeking to develop new hardware and
devices. Our expertise includes website testing, device
certification, functionality, compatibility, security,
usability and localisation.
GoConnect targets 1m
viewers of IPTV
network
Online media company GoConnect
(ASX:GCN) said its IPTV network, uctv.fm, is
targeting an audience reach of 1 million unique users
―in coming months.‖
The company said its monthly unique users have
grown by more than 14 fold for the September month
to date to over 112,000 users, as compared with the
entire month of August.
The company's video view counts have grown
tenfold to 218,000 for the September month to date.
The target of one million users is based on
these figures, and discussions underway with
distribution partners.
KPN and NSN
strengthen ties for
IPTV delivery
Dutch incumbent KPN Telecom (or Royal KPN) and
Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) have strengthened
and extended the remit of a services contract for IPTV
services, as the telco looks to improve its TV and
multimedia entertainment portfolio for the majority of
broadband customers in the country. Commenting on
the development, KPN said: ‗Having used the Nokia
Siemens Networks IPTV solution since 2006, we are
very satisfied with its advanced functionalities and
reliable performance, which all add up to a superior
TV experience for our customers.‘ Giuseppe
Donagemma, head of West South Europe region at
NSN, added: ‗Nokia Siemens Networks will continue
to develop IPTV because it is vital to many of our
customers‘ businesses. Our vision – based on our open
architecture approach – is to empower service
providers to create compelling user experiences across
their networks and devices.‘ The vendor is currently
supplying KPN with an end-to-end iTV platform
capable of delivering high-quality TV service with
advanced capabilities, including high-definition TV,
video-on-demand (VoD), and the ability to pause,
record or rewind live TV programmes. NSN‘s new
iTV solution will also include its Ubiquity Multiscreen
TV Platform client which will enable faster
development of new TV streaming based applications
and brings greater flexibility for customising the user
interface, it said. The latest contract signing extends
the pair‘s cooperation agreement until 2012, and
includes middleware, encoders, VoD, encryption, settop boxes and PC clients.
Decline, Rise of
Streaming Services
Credit Suisse has downgraded a number of
media company stocks, including those from Disney,
Time Warner, Viacom, and News Corp. over concerns
that cable and satellite--"pay TV"--subscriber numbers
will drop as we see a rise in more affordable streaming
services from Apple, Google, and Netflix. According
to the investment house, as more users ditch their pay
TV subscriptions in favor of Web-based offerings,
subscription fees to cable and satellite companies will
be slashed, prompting those companies to reduce their
fees to networks and Hollywood studios.
Credit Suisse is also upgrading its estimates
for Netflix's stock price. According to CNET, Credit
Suisse finds that nearly 30 percent of Netflix
subscribers between the ages of 25 and 34 are
watching Netflix exclusively over pay TV and that 17
percent of overall Netflix users have dropped pay TV
all together.
Subscriptions from Netflix and a la carte
offerings from Apple TV are becoming more
affordable in a down economy. Additionally, the
influx of mobile rentals on smartphones, such as those
on Samsung Media Hub on Android, are providing
entertainment on the go that can be viewable on
multiple screens--mobile, a connected TV, or
computer.
Credit Suisse
Anticipates Pay TV
20
WEBTV
WEBTVWEBTV
WEBTV
Smart Home | Can
Made-for-TV Apps
Power Up Smart TV
Adoption?
Until fairly recently, the term ―app‖ had little
or no meaning to the average consumer. It certainly
wasn‘t a top of mind consideration when buying new
entertainment and media devices, never mind
television sets. Today, however, largely thanks to
Apple and the iPhone App Store, almost everyone
with a smart phone is talking about, using, and
regularly downloading apps. In fact, on Sept. 1, Apple
announced their iTunes App Store international
offerings include over 225,000 apps available in 10
countries (soon to be 11). According to the Digital
Daily consumers have downloaded a jaw-dropping 6.5
billion apps to date. And that‘s not even counting all
the app downloading going on for other mobile
devices such as Google‘s Android Marketplace or
Samsung‘s App Store.
As part of my series on Internet TV, this
article isn‘t about mobile devices or the apps you can
download for them. The focus of this discussion is
about the emerging app marketplace for smart TV and
the internet landscape coming to a living room near
you. The big question that everyone wants to see
answered this year is whether the smart TV app
market is poised for the same success as the booming
mobile app market—or if in the realm of TV land,
apps are going to fail miserably leaving Internet TV
likely to fall flat on its face.
While consumers are still on the sidelines, the
potentila for TV apps is a question of burning interest
to the big players who are trying to gain traction in
this new digital landscape for TV. On one side are the
TV manufacturers such as Samsung, Sony,
Panasonic (News - Alert), and others, who are
including their own app marketplace software on
select TV‘s. Typically new TV buyers will find this
feature only on the higher-priced feature driven sets,
for now. Then there‘s Google taking on an ambitious
stance in yet another new consumer market with
Google TV which is going after the number one input
on your TV. That territory is currently locked down by
cable and satellite TV providers, such as
Comcast (News - Alert) and DIRECTV. And you also
have Apple making its way into your family room
with Apple TV which is going after the number two
input on your TV -- space currently occupied by DVD
and Blu-ray players. Each challenger has a different
set of hurdles to overcome in order to be successful in
this space. But not surprisingly, TV apps are high on
the priority list for all of them.
Apps made for TV are supposed to give
consumers access to a wealth of on-demand and
interactive content with superb streaming capabilities
for video, games, sports, lifestyle, information, and
more. At this point, the available apps include familiar
fare such as Blockbuster, YouTube (News - Alert),
Hulu, CinemaNow, Netflix, Vudu, and more. From
their big screen TVs, consumers can also access
popular social media such as Facebook and Twitter,
catch up on the latest news from Yahoo, check sports
scores on USA Today, shop on eBay, listen to their
favorite music on Pandora (News - Alert), and peruse
photo albums with Picasa. While many consumers are
already accessing the above mentioned apps from their
phones on a daily basis, the smart TV players hope
(and I tend to agree) that there will be added appeal to
viewing and interacting with these apps on a highdefinition large screen – potentially sharing the
21
experience with friends and family in the home media
space.
One target for smart TV apps is older
consumers in the Baby Boomer generation, many of
whom have been lagging younger buyers in adopting
smart phones and mobile apps. The Skype (News Alert) app for TV may be a perfect solution for a
grandparent to communicate with their loved ones. It
doesn‘t require firing up the computer or a complex
software download process to get started. "Consumers
want and expect choice and control. Not just on the go,
not just in front of computer, but in the living room,"
says Eric Anderson, Samsung vice president of
content development. So far, there are 88 apps already
available on Samsung's TV platform, but the company
says there will be 200 by the end of the year,
according to CNET News.
This is a good start, but the key to success is
enticing app developers to get on board and start
making thousands and eventually tens of thousands of
engaging made-for-TV apps that will appeal to all age
groups. Consumers need to see apps that are great
looking and that provide gee-whiz features and
functionality to get them hooked on the smart TV
value proposition. That means developers need to
break the innovation barrier and come up with ground
breaking ideas that will forever change the way we all
think about our TV experience. Until this new breed of
apps start turning up on the TV app marketplaces, the
jury will be out on the future of smart TV.
There are signs that serious smart TV
contenders understand this requirement. Earlier this
year, Samsung announced its new app developer
contest, ―Free the TV Challenge‖ to get developers
excited about the release of the Samsung TV
Application software development kit (SDK). What
developer wouldn‘t want a shot at a $500K cash price
and worldwide recognition for their outstanding
achievement? We will be keeping an eye on the
quality of the consumer experience provided by the
winning entries in this and other TV app contests. The
TV app marketplace competition is the best place to
track the future of smart TV.
accessible; today it‘s about being Web accessible,‘‘
said Representative Edward Markey, Democrat of
Malden and the main House sponsor.
Congress votes to give Foxtel steals a march
disabled better Web, over rivals on web TV
FOXTEL plans to leapfrog its rivals in the growing
TV access
internet-delivered television market by launching
The blind will have greater access to the
Internet through smartphones, and devices such as
iPhones and Blackberrys will have to be compatible
with hearing aids under legislation Congress has sent
to the president.
Mark Richert of the American Foundation for
the Blind said yesterday that the measure was one of
the most comprehensive bills in decades to improve
access for the disabled. ―It breaks down barriers for all
of us,‘‘ said Richert, who is blind.
The video accessibility act, which passed the
Senate last month, was approved by the House late
Tuesday.
The measure sets federal guidelines for the
telecommunications industry assuring that the blind
will have access to the Web through improved
interfaces for smartphones. Also, over time, more than
60 hours a week of video programming must have
audio descriptions.
It will also:
- Make TV program guides and selection
menus accessible to people with vision loss.
- Require that video programming devices
such as MP3 players and digital video
recorders be capable of closed captioning and
video description.
- Provide funds to help the low-income
disabled buy accessible Internet technology.
- Provide the deaf with the ability to watch
new TV programs online with captions
included.
―Two decades ago, Americans with disabilities
couldn‘t get around if buildings weren‘t wheelchair
its own internet TV service from today.
The pay-TV operator will remotely switch on
web access to 850,000 internet-ready iQ and iQ2 settop boxes already in households, which could make it
the biggest internet protocol television (IPTV) player.
Users will need to connect a modem to their
set-top box to access the larger Foxtel On Demand
service, which will provide access to more than 1000
television episodes, as well as hundreds of movies,
delivered over the internet rather than by cable or
satellite.
Foxtel sales and product development head
Patrick Delaney said available titles -- which would
initially include series such as Mad Men, Summer
Heights High and Dora the Explorer, and movies such
as Toy Story, ET and Finding Nemo -- would increase
to more than 5000 by next year.
"You can light up the new services just by
plugging any broadband cable into the back," Mr
Delaney said.
Australians are already capable downloaders
of pirated internet content, and take-up of on-demand
paid IPTV services is to rise.
Mr Delaney said prices would range from
$1.95 for children's shows to $5.95 for high-definition
movies.
Telstra, which owns half of Foxtel and which
launched its Tbox IPTV product in June, will zero-rate
Foxtel on Demand downloads so they do not affect the
download cap of BigPond broadband customers.
In July, Foxtel withdrew a request to the
competition watchdog that would have allowed it to
supply Foxtel on Demand service exclusively to
BigPond users.
22
New Zealand's Orcon
to support Internet
TV service from SKY
New Zealander ISP Orcon has selected
Alcatel-Lucent to deploy its Velocix Digital Media
Delivery Platform in order to support the launch by
pay-TV operator SKY of its new online TV service
iSKY.
The service will enable subscribers to access
SKY content from their computers, and is expected to
go live before this Christmas on a nationwide basis,
according to Orcon. The Content Delivery Network
being build will be based on Kordia's nationwide data
network, and will eventually peer openly with any
broadband service provider, and be able to support and
content provider.
―Put simply, the Velocix technology enables
us to build a network that supports the distribution of
high quality Internet-based video,‖ said Charlie Boyd,
Head of Wholesale at Orcon. ―We install Velocix
technology at strategic points on the Kordia network
around the country, and use these points to stream data
from. Ultimately this is about getting content housed
closer to the end user, reducing the cost to access it
and reducing the price to consumers."
Alcatel-Lucent will deploy its next-generation Velocix
Digital Media Delivery Platform in key centres across
New Zealand, allowing Orcon to offer broadcasters,
content distributors and website owners a faster and
more efficient connection to broadband users across
multiple networks and devices including PCs, mobiles
and TVs.
3D TV fails to fire
imagination
Despite a huge amount of marketing hype and
a commensurate amount of marketing dollars outlining
its many virtues and services actually rolling out
across the US and the larger Western European
countries, 3D TV has yet to fire the imagination of the
buying public.
According to findings in Deloitte‘s new
―Revolutions 2010‖ survey, a special ―pulse‖ edition
of ―The State of the Media Democracy‖ survey
identifying significant trends in consumer adoption of
entertainment technology such as 3D TV, an
overwhelming majority, 83%, do not regard 3D as
important enough to prompt them to buy a new
television. Of those who own flat panel TV, threefifths would not pay any more for a 3D capable
television, and just over one in five (21%) would be
willing to spend more than 10%.
This may be explained that the timing of the
roll out is poor with 72% of US consumers having cut
their overall entertainment budget according to a
Deloitte "State of the Media Democracy Survey" in
2009.
What may also provide explanation for the
lack of enthusiasm is the fact that Deloitte‘s survey
shows that only 9% of Americans have actually seen
3D TV in the last six months, with 2% less actually
purchasing 3D content for the home. Just over half of
these (55%) say that the 3D experience met their
expectations and just less than a quarter (24%) say it
fell below their expectations.
―3D TV penetration is at a very early stage
and a number of obstacles stand in the way of
adoption,‖ Ed Moran, director, Deloitte Services LP,
who advises companies in the areas of strategic
planning, product innovation, competitive positioning
and digital convergence, offered in explanation .said
Moran. ―3D glasses are a perfect example. Aside from
possibly being uncomfortable and geeky, they are also
a barrier to the multitasking that consumers engage in
while watching TV, including surfing the web, reading
email, talking on instant message, and reading books,
newspapers and magazines.‖
Indeed on the subject of glasses, 30% of
respondents who were underwhelmed by 3D stated
that they do not like wearing them with an additional
31% of consumers who had watched 3D content not
feeling that it had enhanced their entertainment
experience in any appreciable way.
Another key gating factor would appear to be
the fundamentals of the technology itself: 13% of
consumers who were disappointed by 3D content
reported feeling physically ill/uncomfortable after
watching 3D programming.
As one may suspect for a technology with a
large price tag, Millennials were revealed as the age
demographic with greatest enthusiasm for the 3D, with
nearly 40% stating that they would buy a new TV that
allows them to watch programs in 3D with glasses and
55% without glasses.
"Pay attention to the Millennials, they'll lead
the adoption of 3D TV," hinted Moran. "Millennials
also express the greatest desire to pay a premium for
the 3D experience in both the home and the
cinema. They are a viable, near-term market for
companies to focus on as the technology and
consumer experience evolves."
Yahoo Moves
Aggressively Into TV
Yahoo is going with its guts. Relying heavily
on behavioral data-mining before launching original
series, the Internet giant now wants to take some
gambles to find viral hits.
So-called "one-offs" -- YouTube videos of
political hijinks and Diet Coke explosions -- have
drawn massive audiences, whereas Web series in
which people return each week have, for the most part,
failed to break through.
"The only way we're going to get there is by
starting to take some chances," said Yahoo's vice
president of media Jimmy Pitaro.
Pitaro said Yahoo could learn from TV
networks, which are willing to roll the dice each year
with expensive pilots. He wants to "focus more on
what our editors and producers think is creative and
will resonate with an audience."
Yahoo announced one gambit Wednesday
with the "Ready, Set, Dance!" series, part of a contentsharing deal with Electus, an outfit run by Ben
Silverman, who spearheaded NBC's "The Office" and
"The Biggest Loser."
The new reality-competition series, where
contestants break out into dance spontaneously when a
camera arrives, will have 12 weekly episodes. It is
23
sponsored by State Farm, which will be integrated into
the content.
Pitaro, who declined to speak about his
rumored departure from Yahoo, said the company will
stick with video shorts and not move into lengthier
productions. It produces shows such as daily roundups
of prime-time TV, finance and sports.
Pitaro said the shows are financially
successful with sufficient advertising, but have not
found the type of mass loyal audience common to hit
TV shows. "The dollars are there," he said. "That's not
the problem -- the problem is scaling it."
Appearing with Pitaro on an Advertising
Week panel, Silverman said his experience with Web
sites and originals is that "most of the big platforms
you see aren't ready to invest in content -- they want to
repurpose content."
Venus TV gets in
trouble again with
Ofcom
Venus TV has been rapped by media regulator,
Ofcom, for the second time this month.
This time around, a viewer was concerned the
advice given by a presenter on one of its shows could
had been potentially dangerous to viewers.
The programme shown on Venus TV called
'Ruhaniat aur Tib-e-Nabvi' is a daily phone-in
programme aimed at the Muslim community. The
presenter of the programme normally gives lifestyle
advice to members of the public based on practices
advocated in the Quran. In this edition, the presenter
gave advice to a number of callers about a range of
health and diet related issues.
Venus TV stated that the programme gives
advice to the Muslim community based on what is
said in the Holy Quran and teachings of the Prophet
Mohammed. It explained that "Tib-al Nabvi" means
practices and sayings of Prophet Muhammad on
hygiene, sanitation and treatment of diseases and is
traditionally followed by Muslims. It said that it did
not consider the programme to be harmful or offensive
to the Muslim community or any other religious
community.
Ofcom concluded that this programme failed
to apply generally accepted standards by not providing
adequate protection to viewers from material which
had a potential to cause vulnerable members of the
audience serious harm.
However, Venus TV decided to testify against
Ofcom's decision saying that the decision by Ofcom
was not proportionate. It said the absence of an onscreen scroll urging viewers to contact a health
professional was a rare omission due to a member of
technical staff who "simply forgot" to turn on the
scroll on this occasion. Further, it argued that the
evidence it had provided to show that the scroll was
present on several other occasions was not given due
weight by Ofcom.
A member of the Ofcom Executive who had
not been involved in the original decision considered
this request for review in accordance with Ofcom's
Procedures for the handling of broadcasting standards
or other licence-related cases. The case was also
referred to the Broadcasting Review Committee.
The Broadcasting Review Committee and Ofcom both
concluded that the show was in breach of airing
potentially harmful advice on the show in question.
TCL, SiS, HUAN
Establish Smart TV
Lab
On September 28, TCL Corporation
(000100.SZ), Taiwanese HDTV chipset maker SiS,
and Guangzhou-based HUAN Technology opened a
joint laboratory for the research of next-generation
"smart TVs" at TCL's Xi'an R&D center. The new lab
will provide a complete end-to-end range of solutions,
from chip design, to systems software design and
implementation, to machine design and service
operations, for TCL's smart TV R&D. TCL, SiS, and
Huan signed a strategic partnership memorandum in
late August detailing partnerships on R&D for next
generation smart TV technologies and products,
promotions, and other services.
Editor's Note: HUAN Technology is an
internet TV technology JV established by TCL and
Chinese TV maker Changhong (600839.SH). The
company aims to provide R&D and services for
connectivity between televisions, mobile phones,
personal computers, set-top boxes, and other terminals.
Logitech said to ship
500,000 Google TV
Boxes in 2010
The Logitech Revue is the first set-top box
with Google TV on board. An earlier rumor
suggested that the Logitech Revue will go on sale
today, but that does not seem to happen. Logitech has
said to announce the release in Fall. Digitimes reports
today that the sources in the supply chain say that
Logitech plans to sell 500,000 Revue Google TV
boxes in 2010. Overall Google TV based devices are
supposed to sell over one million units this year.
I am not sure if this is going to happen. The
Logitech Revue is supposed to have a $300 price-tag.
The new Apple TV only costs a third. Apparently
Dish Networks subscribers get a subsidized deal, but
still the price is way to high and there is no DVR
inside that rectifies the high cost.
About the Logitech Revue Box:
Google TV is based on the Android
platform and runs the Google Chrome web browser.
Users can access all of their usual TV channels as well
as a world of Internet and cloud-based information and
applications, including rich Adobe® Flash based
content – all from the comfort of their own living
room and with the same simplicity as browsing the
web.Google TV expands video choice from the
hundreds of channels available today through a pay
TV provider to the vast storehouse of video content
available through the web and streaming videos. The
Google TV experience is complemented by the ability
to watch streaming video from leading content
platforms, including Netflix, Amazon Video On
24
Demand, and YouTube. Google TV will also have the
capability to run apps from the Android Market.
To navigate the array of content that will now
be available through a single device and on a single
screen, Google TV introduces an integrated search
experience to help viewers easily find relevant content
across over-the-air and pay-TV channel listings, DVR,
and the Internet, as well as a picture-in-picture layout
to access multiple windows simultaneously. Google
TV also features an innovative home screen to help
viewers quickly organize their favorite content and
personalize their TV viewing experience.
The Logitech Review Google TV companion
box will incorporate Logitech‘s Harmony remote
control technology, and will include a controller that
combines keyboard and remote control capabilities.
The Revue runs on the Intel Atom processor CE4100
system-on-a-chip. Logitech also has plans to introduce
an HDTV camera and video chat for Google TV,
along with additional choices for navigation and
control, including apps to turn a smart phone into an
advanced controller for Google TV and homeentertainment systems.
NBC Adds To Netflix
Finally
September 27, 2010 (Pen Men at Work):
Netflix is perhaps one of the biggest internet streaming
services for the netizens out there. In a record move, it
has been revealed that the NBC Universal has signed a
deal with Netflix that will allow the users to catch the
live streaming of NBC‘s top shows. As NBC adds to
Netflix it seems that the two companies will outcompete their opponents and provide some great
services to the customers.
The two companies disclosed that they have
signed a multiyear contract that starts from next week.
Although the exact tenure of the deal was not, it seems
that the partnership will go on for quite some time
now. The OTT video distributor has increased its
scope by adding NBC‘s popular shows to its already
gargantuan offerings. Right now Netflix is involved in
a battle over Internet supremacy with Hulu and this
new deal will give them the edge they needed to
attract more members.
Thanks to the new deal, Netflix members will
be able to instantly watch a wide array of shows. For
example, users can now watch every single episode of
‗Saturday Night Live‘. Under the current deal, users
can also watch popular shows like 30Rock, The Office,
Law & Order etc through the Internet streaming
feature. Netflix is trying to save on postage cost by
streaming the episodes to the users.
All episodes of the famous ‗Battlestar
Galactica‘ will also be available on the service. The
Netflix members will be required to pay the usual $9
month fee to access all the services. Recently NBC
Chief, Jeff Zucker said that he does not want to
provide the company‘s content through the new Apple
TV.
The new partnership between NBC and
Netflix will be a great bonus for the Netflix members.
AOL Tries to Restore
Clout With Three
Acquisitions in One
Day
AOL Inc., the once-dominant Internet service
provider that saw its market value and user base
dwindle over a decade, may restore lost relevance
after yesterday‘s purchase of TechCrunch Inc. and two
other startups.
Chief Executive Officer Tim Armstrong
appeared on stage during a tech industry conference in
San Francisco to announce the purchase of
TechCrunch, an influential news blog and the host of
the event. AOL paid about $25 million, according to
two people familiar with the matter, who asked not to
be identified because the terms weren‘t made public.
The company also bought 5min Media, a network of
online videos, and Thing Labs Inc., a creator of socialnetworking tools.
Armstrong, who took over AOL last year and
spun it off from Time Warner Inc., is trying to revive
growth after paring the business. He sold the social
network Bebo and instant-messaging service ICQ
because they failed to attract enough users. Even
during yesterday‘s acquisition spree, AOL announced
plans to close another of its sites, the news aggregator
Propeller.com. The moves may pay off, said Silicon
Valley investor Ron Conway.
―Tim Armstrong and his new team are making
decisions to shape the next generation of AOL in
content and social media, and it bodes well for the
company,‖ Conway, who founded venture fund SV
Angel, said in an e-mail.
Management Team
AOL‘s CEO, a former Google Inc. executive,
is relying on people he plucked from prominent
technology companies to lead acquisitions. Armstrong
poached David Eun from Google in February. Last
year, he named Brad Garlinghouse, a veteran of
Yahoo! Inc., to head AOL‘s West Coast office.
―We‘re here, we‘re still looking, and we want
to be very aggressive but smart in the space,‖ Eun,
AOL‘s president of media, said in an interview. ―We
have a lot of cash to make whatever smart acquisitions
we need to make.‖
AOL, based in New York, rose $1.11, or 4.6
percent, to $25.26 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock
Exchange composite trading. The shares have gained
8.5 percent this year.
David Joyce, an analyst with Miller Tabak &
Co. in New York, raised his recommendation on the
stock to ―buy‖ today, saying the shares may reach $32.
―AOL‘s recent spurt of activity clearly demonstrates a
move to the offensive,‖ Joyce wrote in a note.
Among the acquisitions, TechCrunch may do
the most to restore AOL‘s luster as Web users spend
more time on competing sites, such as Facebook Inc.
and Twitter Inc. TechCrunch will become part of the
AOL Technology Network ―while retaining their
editorial independence,‖ AOL said yesterday.
Top Three
In August, TechCrunch sites had 3.8 million
unique visitors, the third-highest among technology
blogs, according to Reston, Virginia-based data
tracker ComScore Inc. Engadget, also part of AOL, is
25
the top tech blog, with 7.5 million visitors. It‘s
followed by Gizmodo, a site owned by Gawker Media,
with 6.5 million. AOL, then part of Time Warner,
purchased Engadget‘s parent company, Weblogs Inc.,
in 2005.
5min Media gives AOL a library of more than
200,000 videos, covering topics such as fashion,
cooking and fitness. Thing Labs, meanwhile, makes
the Brizzly line of social software. The programs let
users create and share content online. AOL didn‘t
disclose terms of the acquisitions.
TechCrunch brings AOL the ―top brand in the
tech influencer community,‖ said Garlinghouse, who
serves as president of consumer applications. ―They
have been trailblazers in thinking about the
multimedia world.‖
Time to Sell
TechCrunch was founded in 2005 by Michael
Arrington, who created the blog from his home in
Atherton, California, to share news about emerging
Internet companies. The company is now based in San
Francisco and has more than 40 employees, according
to its website. In addition to publishing an assortment
of technology blogs, TechCrunch hosts conferences,
including TechCrunch Disrupt, which is going on now
in San Francisco.
Becoming part of AOL will help TechCrunch
alleviate some of the challenges of its rapid growth,
Arrington said.
―It was time for us either to start investing a
lot more money in things like technology and
marketing -- which probably meant raising a venture
round -- or to simply sell and partner with somebody
who could do that,‖ he said in an interview. ―AOL has
a very robust, large blog network that shows they have
the software side nailed. So it solves a real problem
for us from the technology side.‖
TechCrunch expects sales of $10 million in
2010. The company will have a profit of about $3.5
million, according to a person familiar with its
finances.
„Second Attempt‟
Arrington plans to remain at AOL for at least
three years after the acquisition. ―There are incentives
for me and the team to stay,‖ he said.
Besides gaining a bigger pool of readers and
advertisers, AOL picked up products and talent that
could help foster communities of online users, said
Shahid Khan, an analyst at New York-based digital
media consulting firm MediaMorph. Bebo, the socialnetworking site that AOL sold to private investors
earlier this year, failed to keep up with the growth of
Facebook and other social sites, Khan said.
―This is their second attempt at making social
media part of their overall strategy,‖ Khan said.
ITV 'to begin
charging for online
content'
Speaking at The Royal Television Society
International Conference in London, Crozier said: ―At
some point in the next year to 18 months, I am keen to
put a payment mechanism in place [on ITV.com] to
test what content people will pay for…I think people
don‘t know the answer to this [question] and we are
going to have to learn as we go.‖
He used Coronation Street as an example,
saying that ITV may start charging viewers for access
to back catalogue episodes and fun gimmicks, such as
alternative endings to different storylines. He declined
to expand upon exactly which shows and what types
of experiences ITV will start charging for, but said
that the company would definitely install a
―micropayments system‖ on ITV.com in order to ―test
and learn what type of experiences viewers are willing
to pay for‖, as well as offer a richer and deeper
experience across ITV.com.
Crozier, who was speaking publicly for the
first time since taking over the chief executive role
from Michael Grade in August 2010, admitted that
ITV had not invested enough in ITV.com and its entire
digital strategy. He said that his first job was to invest
more in ITV.com and make it more ―robust‖ and ―user
friendly site‖. Crozier also confirmed that unlike
Channel 4, which has syndicated its content to web
aggregators like YouTube and SeeSaw, ITV would not
put its content on third party sites.
―I am not interested in working with
aggregators… we need to keep control of our own
content,‖ he explained. ITV had been in lengthy
discussions with US web TV aggregator Hulu, about
exclusively syndicating its content to them for their
UK launch. However, he also ruled out that
arrangement coming to fruition anytime soon, as first
revealed by The Telegraph.
Crozier also revealed that pay TV products
will play an increasing part in ITV‘s business in the
future. ITV has already put the HD versions of its
digital channels: ITV 2,3 and 4 behind pay TV walls.
However, he confirmed that ITV1 would remain free
for as far into future as he could see.
He also admitted that ITV needed to get its
confidence back and start taking more risks with new
programmes.
Report: Hulu headed
to Roku's streaming
players
Could Hulu--or its premium service, Hulu
Plus--be headed for Roku? BusinessofVideo.com's
Dan Rayburn says he's talked with a couple of Hulu
content partners after receiving a photo of a Hulu
channel on the popular streaming player's service, and
they've confirmed Roku owners soon will be getting
access to the video catch-up service. If so, it'll be a
coup, of sorts, for Roku, which is sailing into the
holiday season getting ready to do battle with Apple
TV, Google TV and the forthcoming Boxee Box,
which all give users access to online video content
though their TV.
Roku earlier this month dropped the prices on
its devices to offer a lower-priced alternative to other
streaming players and also last week introduced three
new models, starting at $59.95, and all offering 1080p
playback. Roku already streams Netflix, Major League
Baseball, Amazon VOD, Flickr, Pandora and content
from an increasing array of providers. While much of
its content is free, Roku does offer some premium
content, so a Hulu Plus addition wouldn't be too much
of a stretch.
26
Hulu Plus--which is owned jointly by NBC
Universal, Disney and News Corp.--meanwhile, has
been stuck in low gear, grinding along in an inviteonly netherworld that has slowed its rollout to the
general public.
Disney, CBS, Fox Sue
Ivi for Streaming TV
Shows on Web
Without Permission
Walt Disney Co.‘s ABC, CBS Corp. and other
broadcasters sued Ivi, an online subscription service,
for streaming television programs over the Web
without authorization.
The companies, also including News Corp.‘s
Fox, General Electric Co.‘s NBC and the Public
Broadcasting Service, today accused Ivi and its
founder Todd Weaver of copyright infringement in a
federal court complaint in New York.
―Defendants have launched their infringing
Internet TV service to coincide with the start of the
new fall television season,‖ the broadcasters said in
the complaint.
Ivi, based in Seattle, began streaming TV
stations there and in New York 24 hours a day to Web
subscribers worldwide on Sept. 13, according to the
lawsuit. Viewers would pay $4.99 a month after a 30day free trial, the complaint said. Broadcasters have
deals with companies including Hulu LLC, Netflix Inc.
and Apple Inc. to stream TV shows. Hulu‘s owners
include NBC, Fox and ABC.
On Sept. 20, Ivi and Weaver filed suit in
federal court in Seattle seeking a ruling that Ivi isn‘t
infringing copyrights.
―Big media is choosing to fight Internet
delivery the same way they fought against cable
delivery and satellite delivery, when in reality it is
legal to retransmit,‖ Weaver said in an e-mail today.
‗Big Media‘
―Broadcasters charge more in advertising due
to the increase in viewers,‖ Weaver said. ―It is too bad
big media must fight innovation that is legal, pays
them and increases their revenue.‖
The broadcasters said that after they
demanded that Ivi stop streaming their stations, the
company initially responded that it was ―open to
engaging in discussions to explore more direct
contractual agreements with certain plaintiffs.‖ Ivi
sued several days later.
Major League Baseball, Univision,
Telemundo, Cox Media, Tribune Television, Fisher
Broadcasting, WPIX, WGBH and WNET.org are also
plaintiffs in the New York suit.
Sony launches web TV
box to rival Apple TV
Sony has officially announced details of its
standalone web TV box, called the SMP-N100
Network Media Player, which will now launch on the
European market. The box has been some time
available in the US giving users access to online
services such as Netflix, YouTube, Amazon and
Pandora.
The box will bring the same internet
connectivity we have seen in Sony Bravia TV sets,
PSP3 consoles and Blu-ray players and has DNLA
connectivity. It is clearly pitched against the
relaunched Apple TV.
The Media Player has both Ethernet
connections as well as wireless 802.11n, also HDMI
and USB slots are available. The box has Content
Noise Reduction and full support for 1080p video. The
box only accepts streams, there is no built-in hard disk,
but external storage can be connected through the
USB ports.
Sony‘s Network Media Player is capable of
playing broad range of video formats including DivX,
Xvid and H256 video in MKV containers. There will
be free Android and iPhone apps available to control
the machine.
For the UK version, set to hit the shops in
October, the box will give access to BBC iPlayer,
YouTube, Lovefilm, Demand Five and FIFA football
highlights and more content via Sony‘s Qirocity, their
Video on Demand portal. No details have been issued
about the content in other European countries.
Why the new Apple
TV can‟t replace my
old model
My new Apple TV is scheduled to arrive at
my house before the end of the month. It promises
Netflix streaming, 99 cent TV shows, and $4.99 HD
films. It also allows me to play music by streaming
tracks to the device. When I first heard about the new
set-top box, I thought for sure that it would replace my
current Apple TV.
But, over the past three weeks, I‘ve decided
that I won‘t be replacing my old Apple TV with the
new one. In fact, I‘m going to keep them both
connected to my television and use them as I need
them.
Now, I know you‘re probably thinking it
makes little sense to buy a product that‘s supposed to
replace an older device and keep them both running,
but hear me out.
Right now, my old Apple TV allows me to
surf through iTunes content and buy songs whenever
I‘d like. Upon doing so, all those tracks are then stored
on the device for future listening. I don‘t need to
worry about a Web connection once they‘re on there. I
simply need to fire up my Apple TV and enjoy my
content. It‘s a convenient process that has helped
Apple make a lot of money off me these past few
years.
In the new Apple TV, I can‘t do that. In fact,
the only way I‘ll be able to listen to any new songs is
if I buy them on my iPhone or computer and start
streaming them to my new set-top box. But what if my
sometimes-spotty Web connection is down? When
that happens, my Apple TV is little more than a
decorative ornament in my entertainment center.
I‘ll also freely admit that I‘m a film and
television junkie. I like storing my favorite shows and
movies on my current Apple TV for easy access to
them later on.
27
With my old Apple TV, I can sift through
several new shows and movies, buy them, and keep
them on the device for when I want to watch them.
But on the new Apple TV, I‘m forced to either rent a
relatively underwhelming number of shows and films
or access content on Netflix. That‘s unfortunate.
I‘ll be the first to admit that I‘m excited to get my
hands on the new Apple TV and start enjoying content
on it. But a further review of my purchase has
revealed that my initial expectations won‘t be met.
The product looks cool and it‘s nice that it‘s smaller,
but I‘ve come to realize that I really need and desire
that storage.
The old Apple TV was perfect for me. It
allowed me to buy songs, movies, and television
shows, and store them all in a place where I could
quickly (and easily) access them. And it‘s a product
that I have so enjoyed using that I simply don‘t want
to put it away because something that‘s supposed to be
better is supposed to replace it.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs said at the event
announcing the Apple TV that customers don‘t really
want storage, and they want to be able to stream
content.
That might be true. But it‘s also possible that
once consumers get their hands on that set-top box,
they‘ll be wishing they had a hard drive.
Sorry, but after further inspection, it‘s clear
now that the new Apple TV just won‘t be able to
replace my older model.
Netflix's Stream Flows
North With New
Canadian Service
Netflix has made its first international expansion
with a new service aimed at Canadian customers.
Instead of offering DVDs by mail, the company will
limit Canadian residents to streaming video over
the Internet, an option that's proved very popular
among U.S. users. Though Netflix's streaming
catalog has sometimes been criticized for its uneven
selection, the company is making aggressive deals
to strengthen it.
Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) said Wednesday that
it has launched its video-streaming-only service for
Canada, a plan it first publicly revealed last July.
At CAD$7.99 (US$7.76) a month for
unlimited streaming, the service is more than a dollar
cheaper than the most inexpensive U.S. unlimited
streaming option, which goes for US$8.99 and
includes unlimited one-at-a-time DVD-by-mail rentals.
The new Canadian system does not offer any DVDs
by mail.
The Shape of Things to Come
In what could be a sign of Netflix' future
business plans, the company decided against pursuing
in Canada the DVD-by-mail business that gave the
California-based firm its start.
"Streaming is the growth opportunity," Netflix
spokesperson Steve Swassey told the E-Commerce
Times.
Recent Netflix Changes
The move -- Netflix' first internationally -comes less than two months after the company
significantly beefed up its streaming presence in the
U.S. with an agreement to stream recent theatrical
releases from Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM 90
days after they begin to appear on premium channels
and on-demand services.
Earlier this month, Netflix announced the
addition of movies from Nu Image and Millennium
Films to its streaming catalog. Those films will be
available at the same time they're released to ondemand services.
Different Country, Different Catalog
The Canadian streaming catalog will be
different than that offered to Netflix's 15 million U.S.
customers. In addition to U.S. and Canadian television
programs, the catalog includes feature films from
Sony (NYSE: SNE) Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth
Century Fox and Universal Pictures, as well as
Canadian distributors Alliance Films, Maple Pictures,
eOne and Mongrel.
Supported Devices
Canadian residents will be able to Netflix via
a variety of consumer electronic devices. Many names
on the list would be familiar to U.S. users, including
the Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation3 game
systems, with Xbox360 support coming this fall. Other
devices include the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch from
Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Samsung and Toshiba
Blu-ray disc players.
PCs and Macs can also access the Canadian
stream, and devices from Vizio and Insignia are
expected to join other devices in accessing the service.
Analyst: Good Business Move
Limiting its Canadian presence to streaming is
smart business, said In-Stat analyst Keith Nissen. "I
think about 55 percent of Netflix subscribers stream,"
he told the E-Commerce Times. "They report their
profit margins are up because of the shift away from
disc rentals. So from a financial standpoint, why
introduce a low-margin disc rental service in Canada,
when consumers really want the high-margin
streaming service?"
French Language Service Coming
Currently, the Canadian service is only available in
English, but the company is working on a Frenchlanguage service for the roughly 23 percent of the
country's population whose native tongue is French.
Swassey declined to offer a timeline for French
service or to provide any clues about the company's
future international expansion plans.
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Smart TV has good
forecast; Netcom
business ready to
blossom
Google TV got big boost from the IDF week
after Intel publicly stated their support of the product.
With the days of the standard television slowly
phasing out, the Smart TV trend is progressively
becoming a reality, which gives a chance for the
business to blossom in the Netcom industry.
Several advantages of Smart TV and Internet
TV over the traditional television, both has an online
service platform and do other things other than just
having the ability to watch TV when compared. Now,
the user and TV lovers don‘t need to wait for the time
slot for their favorite programs to run, but can search
and instantly play on their video display almost
immediately. The hottest devices powered by either
Google‘s Android or Apple‘s iOS, can also improve
the value added to its overall marketing outlook.
The popularity of the Networking TV is rising
drastically after the release of the Google TV, where
the connected TV takes 16% in the overall TV market,
and the percentage is projected to double next year.
To benefit from this emerging wave of new
online access demand, most of the Netcom companies
offer gadgets to watch smart TV includes wireless
receiver (Dongle) and the set-top box‘s (STB).
In the midst of all the marketing talk, D-Link
Technology is Taiwan‘s first company to enter the
networking TV industry. By crossing into the two
different industries of Google TV and Boxee‘s
markets, D-Link is receiving the direct benefit of the
computer numerical controlled (CNC) manufacturing.
D-Link is currently working alongside with
Alpha Networks, who has more experiences in the
Network TV industry. For mutual benefits, D-Link
will market the Network TV as brand, while Alpha
will take responsible for the productions. By working
together, their products cover from regional
metropolitan area networks to wireless network, and
the broadband internet.
Local newspaper cited that wireless network module
(WLAN) has already reached its maximum potential
and the release of the new Smart TV will cause a big
break in the network industry that is looking for to
capture this new market opportunity.
TV is Dead. Long Live
Web Video.
Video overwhelms the Web. And it should.
There is plenty of evidence to suggest that the Internet,
at one time the plumbing that connected pages of text
and occasional images, is rapidly transforming itself to
be a network of video publishing and viewing.
At first glance, this seems quite terrible.
But in fact the emergence of the video Web is
critically important, intellectually exciting, and
entirely inevitable.
There are historic reasons why we fear video.
For most of us who grew up on Batman, or Gilligan's
Island, or Charlies Angels, we've known that TV was
at best junk food... and at worst, a cognitive cancer.
In recent years, television has become far less
benign, filling hours with a grim view of our world
with programs like Fear Factor, Big Brother, or the
Jersey Shore. As television increasingly dominates our
leisure and screen time, it has continued to spiral down
toward base human fears and car-wreck peeping tom
voyeurism.
When it came along in 2005, YouTube could
have been viewed as an accelerator of this trend
toward trivial amusement and video junk food.
Certainly, squirrels on skate boards didn't qualify as
high art.
But Web video isn't television. It's something
else entirely. And in the past 5 years, from 2005 to
2010, as Web video has moved to become the fastest
growing and most prevalent form of traffic emerging
on the Web, something else happened.
Web video abandoned TV. It moved on.
There are plenty of examples of this -- but the
perhaps most dramatic one is the growth of TED Talks.
TED Curator, Chris Anderson, calls this emergence
Crowd Accelerated Innovation. His thesis is that Web
video accelerates the cycle of humans creating,
sharing, and iterating.
Three things have changed in past five years -the combination is like rocket fuel for Web video.
1. Cameras. Web video cameras are now
standard fare on cell phones. Cisco's
FlipCams are cheap and record remarkable
HD video. The sales of Digital SLRs (DSLR's)
put high quality camera with interchangeable
lenses in the hands of mid-budget pro-sumers.
2. Bandwidth. Back in 2005, broadband was
still elusive for many Web surfers. And video
just wasn't a very good experience on dial up.
Now, video moves with rare buffering as
29
users find they are able to get a HD
experience with relative ease.
3. Distribution. YouTube was important in
breaking the monopoly that broadcast and
cable had over video distribution, but since
2005 more and more distribution solutions
have come on line. Devices like the iPhone
and iPad have made Web video viewing far
more ubiquitous. But the barrier between the
Web and the living room flatscreen is about to
burst wide open. With boxes like Roku,
Boxee, and AppleTV(2) on the way, viewers
are going to be able to choose between broad
Web video offerings, and more limited
cable/entertainment packages. And 'over the
top' solutions like Netflix make the Internet to
flatscreen option all the more reasonable.
The trifecta of change -- Cameras, Bandwidth and
Distribution promises a future where change happens
quickly. Of course, there can't only be winners.
The broadcasters and cable companies that have for
decades been able to be the exclusive distributor of
video via closed one-way networks are now starting to
feel the sands shift under their feet.
It seems that humans would rather watch
interesting, thought provoking, potentially interactive
video content. As Clay Shirky so extraordinarily
explains in his book Cognitive Surplus, the extra
brainpower we have is no longer being relegated to
'coach potato' activities of mindless viewing of lame
sitcoms. Rather, people are engaging in the kind of
accelerated innovation that Chris Anderson is seeing
across disciplines.
He says two things are fueling this
acceleration: Revelation and Motivation.
As Anderson explains it:
"Revelation: for the first time, people can see
what the very best people across the globe are capable
of. A world of possibility opens up. Motivation: if you
can do something innovative and special, you get
thousands of people viewing your work and talking
about you. It's intoxicating. And it's driving hundreds
and hundreds of hours of effort from potential
innovators across the globe."
So, the future of Web video ISN'T more of the
same. In fact, all signs point to the fact that it is
something quite different and quite wonderful.
Skirky says we've got extra brain power to put
to work. Anderson says as we see each others
innovation --in the global language of images and
sound -- we 'step up our game' in a friendly
competition that accelerates innovate, and honors
innovators.
Now, for those of us who grew up on TV that
was 'bad for us' -- the idea that Web video could
actually make us smarter seems a bit hard to accept.
Yet, the massive video viewing of TED talks alone
suggests that someone other than geeks and PhD's are
using their free time to engage in, explore, and share
ideas.
The Web accelerated the connection of data. But the
Video Web accelerates the transmission, innovation,
and iteration of IDEAS. And that can only lead to
good things.
Universal Music‟s
Vevo Will Start TV
Network, N.Y. Post
Reports
Vevo, an Internet music-video service coowned by Universal Music Group, Sony Corp. and
EMI Group Ltd., plans to start a television network
that will compete with Viacom Inc.‘s MTV network,
the New York Post reported, citing Rio Caraeff,
Vevo‘s chief executive officer.
Vevo has as yet no agreements with cable or
satellite TV companies, but it‘s working with
manufacturers of Web-enabled TV sets, set-top boxes
and other devices, the newspaper said.
The service is likely to be part of Sony‘s HDTV set,
which will also incorporate Google TV, the Post said.
Netflix Launches
Unlimited Web-Based
TV in Canada
The popular internet-based movie subscription
service, Netflix, is now available in Canada, bringing
a new player to the country‘s fast-changing media and
entertainment market.
―With our launch today in Canada, Netflix is
focused on adding meaningfully to the entertainment
choices available to Canadian consumers,‖
commented Netflix CEO and co-founder, Reed
Hastings.
Although the service won‘t compete on equal
footing with cable TV by offering new content, it will
carry thousands of TV shows and movies, including a
wide selection feature films. Unlimited access is
available for $7.99 and new users are being offered a
one-month free trial.
Programming can be streamed to a computer or
compatible television set via a broadband internet
connection, or downloaded onto a web-connected
Playstation 3 or Nintendo Wii gaming console.
British Broadcasters
to Offer Web TV for
Free
A consortium of British companies said their
planned new Web-TV service would be subscriptionfree, as broadcasters, Web firms and electronics
makers scramble to capture a nascent Internet TV
market. YouView, a joint venture of seven partners
including the state-owned BBC previously known as
Project Canvas, said it would charge no subscription
for its video-on-demand and catch-up offerings but
viewers would have to buy a set-top box.
30
Web search group Google said last week it
would debut its Web TV service in the United States
later this year. Google‘s service will differ from others,
such as YouView, as it plans to allow full Web
browsing via the TV set. Computer maker Apple is
also beefing up its own Apple TV offering, as
Internet-enabled televisions from the likes of Sony and
Samsung come onto the market. YouView will use
Internet connectivity to offer viewers not access to the
Web but a range of features including third-party
movie rentals and access to YouTube and Yahoo‘s
Flickr photo-sharing site as well as programming from
its own members.
YouView is a venture of all Britain‘s main
free-to-air broadcasters — the BBC, ITV , Channel 4
and Five — along with telecoms providers BT and
TalkTalk and broadcast-services company Arqiva.
YouView also named Richard Halton, who has led
Project Canvas from the start, as its chief executive.
Concurrent Buys
Over-the-Top Shop
Video server and software maker Concurrent
Computer Corp. (Nasdaq: CCUR) is pushing deeper
into the world of over-the-top (OTT) video by striking
a deal to buy the intellectual property of TellyTopia
Inc. , a startup that's been trying to help telcos and
cable operators embrace Web TV services. (See
Concurrent Snags TellyTopia Assets.)
Concurrent SVP of video solutions and chief
marketing officer David King said his company
bought the assets because TellyTopia "has a fantastic
lead" with technology that gives operators access to
professional "off-net" and user-generated content, and
the ability to push it to multiple screen types. Cisco
Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), a Concurrent server
rival, is taking a similar approach with its recent
purchase of ExtendMedia Inc. (See Cisco Buys Into
TV Everywhere (Again) and Concurrent Upgrades for
Mobile & PC VoD.)
Concurrent's not disclosing the financial terms
of the deal, other than to say it's immaterial to its
balance sheet. TellyTopia's two founders -- CEO
Kshitij Kumar and VP Dr. Ram Srinivasan -- are
joining Concurrent.
Concurrent's also getting its hands on video
processing and caching technology from TellyTopia
that lets operators complement their existing VoD
libraries with premium video from third-party, off-net
sources and archives. Concurrent also bought
TellyTopia's Online Video Platform, which enables
operators to convert IP-based Web video to run on
traditional, non-IP cable set-top boxes.
TellyTopia, which competes with companies
such as Clearleap and Related Content Database Inc.
(RCDb) , has managed to score deals with a handful of
operators, including SureWest Communications
(Nasdaq: SURW), Baja Broadband LLC, and NewsPress & Gazette Company (in St. Joseph, Mo.), during
its four-year history. Those operators have been using
TellyTopia to help bring in local content and couple it
with advertising avails.
Concurrent is in discussions with those
operators about how to proceed since Concurrent only
bought the TellyTopia assets. "We'd like them to come
into the Concurrent family going forward," King said.
Will 'Moveez' live on?
As future visions go, TellyTopia had also been
applying its technology toward a service called
"Moveez" that, it claimed, will allow Tier 2/3
operators to offer massive VoD libraries brimming
with more than 100,000 titles and help operators
contend with OTT competitors such as Netflix Inc.
(Nasdaq: NFLX).
But rather than calling on operators to build
their own content distribution networks (CDNs),
TellyTopia has advocated that they instead form
partnerships with off-net video sources, ingest content
from them, and them reformat titles for delivery to settop boxes, PCs, and mobile devices. (See TellyTopia's
Cable Pitch: Embrace OTT Video .)
TellyTopia was still developing the product
for scaled deployments when Concurrent bought the
assets, said Kumar, who is joining Concurrent as VP
commercial solutions for video solutions. King said
Concurrent will offer more details on specific product
plans tied to the purchase within the next four to six
weeks.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based TellyTopia, founded in 2006,
has been running on undisclosed angel funding,
counting Trilithic Inc. as an investor. In March,
Kumar told Light Reading Cable that TellyTopia had
been approach by potential buyers, and that it had
already integrated its system with most legacy VoD
systems, a group that includes Concurrent, as well as
Arris Group Inc. (Nasdaq: ARRS), Motorola Inc.
(NYSE: MOT), and SeaChange International Inc.
„Big Media‟ acts
against tiny online TV
start-up
In a modern-day David and Goliath tale, a
small Web TV company is defiantly taking on the
established media and broadcast industry in the face of
a mountain of cease & desist (C&D) letters.
ivi TV launched last week with 18 employees
and what it called a ‗disruptive‘ business model, built
upon rebroadcasting local stations‘ channel
programming online. It has about 36 channels signed
up, mostly from Seattle and New York, and it charges
users $5 per month plus 99 cents for DVR
functionality.
The company insists that it pays the channels
to rebroadcast the content, but the media companies
that produce the material in the first place wasted no
time in slapping the start-up with a bevy of C&Ds—
about 10 of them and counting so far—for not having
proper content licensing relationships in place.
The complainers include an array of heavy
hitters: NBC Universal, CBS, Disney, ABC, The CW
Television Stations, Fox TV and film, Major League
Baseball, WGBH, WNET.org and Fisher
Communications.
The rather oppositionally titled ‗Declaratory
Judgment of Copyright Non-infringement‘ claims ivi
is operating legally under U.S. copyright law.
"The Copyright Act expressly authorises
secondary transmissions of copyrighted works
embodied in primary transmissions,‖ the complaint
reads. ―For example, the Copyright Act expressly
approves of the secondary transmission of an original
television broadcast where the secondary transmission
is subject to a statutory license. Under Section 111 of
the Copyright Act, statutory licensing fees are paid
31
periodically to the Register of Copyrights in
accordance with an established scale and schedule.
Section 111 further provides that the secondary
transmission of an over-the-air primary transmission is
not an infringement of copyrights in the works
contained in the primary transmission."
In case such legalese doesn‘t effectively get
the message out, execs at ivi are ratcheting up the
rhetoric, saying it ―has successfully managed to win
the hearts of consumers around the planet, stir
significant industry debate, and attract the attention of
every major broadcaster in the U.S.‖ And even though
there is no guarantee that ivi‘s slingshot will work as
well as David‘s, it‘s still taking on the giant, filing a
complaint of its own in Seattle district court.
The company went so far as to issue a release
explaining that it ―remains steadfastly on the side of
the consumer, refusing to allow big media to limit
consumers‘ choice or its technology.‖
The statement goes on to mention that late last
week Credit Suisse downgraded many stocks related
to traditional cable, since ―there are not many
compelling reasons left to continue paying high cable
bills and they are, instead, increasingly choosing to cut
the cord and use over the top (OTT) offerings to
legally access the content they wish to consume.‖
While the latter is undoubtedly true, Todd
Weaver, founder and CEO went on to say why he
believes it‘s actually an opportunity rather than a
threat for media. ―ivi is not another Pirate Bay or
Napster trying to gain from others‘ works,‖ he said.
―Rather, ivi wishes to work with content owners in
helping them to realise new revenue streams and reach
more viewers from around the globe.‖
A cable channel like HBO, for example, could
have a channel on ivi TV with a set a la carte price at
$7.99 per month, ―knowing their content is fully
protected through our system, and that only ivi
subscribers who have paid for the HBO subscription
will be able to view the HBO channel,‖ he said.
―Everyone wins.‖
Bottom line, ivi has no intention of paying
attention to the C&Ds for now. Weaver noted that he‘s
still looking for formal partnerships with broadcast
networks and are discussing carriage rights for
premium cable, international, and a la carte channels.
―It‘s not too late for cable companies to
recognise that their existing business models are
quickly becoming obsolete while their customers
demand more options,‖ concluded Weaver.
The new age smart
box: Opportunities
and challenges for
connected TV services
Communications service providers are extending
the "anytime, anywhere" experience to television.
This article discusses approaches to making TVbased service offerings a compelling proposition. It
highlights the fine balance required between
interactivity and personalization to harness the
potential of connected TV services.
Introduction
Communications Service Providers (CSPs)
have enjoyed a competitive advantage with services
that provide the ‗anywhere, anytime‘ experience. The
last decade witnessed a range of ‗connected‘ offerings
that provided uniform touch points across device
platforms.
Television is the latest to join the ‗connected‘
bandwagon of entertainment media. At the Consumer
Electronics Show (CES) 2009, Yahoo! added a new
dimension to the connected experience by unveiling
TV widgets in partnership with TV manufacturers.
Many service providers are rolling out applications
and devices that bring interactivity and connectedness
to the living room.
A unique mix of business models is evolving
as multiple players in the value chain join hands to
create new service offerings and delivery platforms.
Amazon.com offers high definition movies and TV
shows for a range of compatible devices, while
Verizon‘s FiOS TV platform connects TV users with
Facebook and Twitter. In the United States, revenue
from TVs with built-in Internet capabilities rose by 40%
in Q2 2009 from US$ 776 million in Q1 2009 [1].
TV viewers are keen on adopting
technological changes that make the overall viewing
experience richer and simpler. A media measurement
initiative by Nielsen [2] reveals a constant increase in
the time spent on TV over the last three quarters of
2009. It is an encouraging trend, indicative of the
increased demand for value-added TV services.
Analyzing the connected TV
Connected TV service is not an on-the-spur
offering from Original Equipment Manufacturers
(OEMs) and service providers to gain the first-mover
advantage. Interactivity on TV – as the killer platform
offering – has been a subject of discussion for
sometime. Extension of operator support, usually the
last initiative for new technologies, points to the deep
penetration of the service.
Many factors have led to the renewed focus on
TV-based services. Firstly, the technologies needed to
deliver a rich Internet TV experience have come of
age. Consumers now understand and appreciate the
value that specific Internet applications bring to their
TV experience. In addition, the new User Interface (UI)
that offers an intuitive and easy-to-use means to
engage the web on TV is rapidly increasing the
number of users turning to the web for video
consumption.However, it is the operator support for
connected services that has generated the muchrequired momentum.
Service providers must capitalize on the
opportunities provided by the connected television.
Unlike the one-way broadcast service, it provides realtime feedback with visibility into the content
consumed by users. It serves as a platform for targeted
advertisements. However, providers must provision
requisite infrastructure to leverage the opportunities.
Canoe Ventures and CableLabs have enhanced
interoperability to support interactive advertising on
the Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF)
platform[3].
The multi-national ‗State of the Media
Democracy Survey 2009‘ by Deloitte [4] reveals that
TV continues to be the preferred choice for mediarelated activities including surfing the web and
listening to music. Interactive TV as an entertainment
platform offers tremendous potential for innovative
applications and advertising.
32
First steps
Service providers must identify and plan
specific Internet TV services to provide a compelling
offering. In addition to adopting and aligning with
new technologies to ensure connectedness, providers
must exercise due diligence while developing their
offerings. To ensure that TV services blend with the
overall theme of services, it is crucial for them to
assess the existing service portfolio before formulating
the TV strategy.
Service providers can consolidate feedback on
new offerings through limited trials. Market research
provides generic trends that may not suit providerspecific demographic and contextual environment.
Many service providers have successfully used
experiments and Proof of Concepts (POCs) to feel the
pulse and gain initial feedback on the user experience
of new TV-based offerings. For instance, the beta
version of Verizon‘s ESPN Fantasy Football
application allowed users to manage team rosters with
the TV remote. Though the overall reaction to the
application was not encouraging due to the
complicated end user processes, it indicated users‘
interests and preferences for a transformed experience
on TV.
Understanding the TV-specific context
As technology and consumer behavior mature,
‗anytime, anywhere‘ is giving way to ‘context-based‘
viewing. TV viewing is typically defined by the living
room, which offers a relaxed and effortless
entertainment experience that contrasts with web and
mobile-based interactivity in an active, private and
exclusive environment.
CSPs must contextually align TV-based
offerings with customer needs. For example, TV may
not offer the best experience for users who ‗tweet‘ due
to its limitations in typing. Incorporating web use
cases around user comments, tweets and instant
messages in TV-based offerings rarely delivers the
desired user experience. Companies need to take cues
from the web and model unique, contextual offerings
for television consumers. Enabling users to
recommend TV shows to a social network of friends
by the click of a remote button is a compelling
offering.
Replicating the success story of one medium
to another complicates the user experience when it is
not attuned to the specific context. CSPs must
selectively enhance the entertainment appeal to evolve
the overall usability and experience incrementally. By
enhancing the viewing experience without initial
trade-offs, providers can gradually transform their
overall capabilities.
Adding the social touch
Television has the potential to seamlessly
connect users across locations at the click of a button.
Service providers must leverage it to improve viewing
time and Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). Viewers
tend to be influenced more by recommendations from
friends and family than by publicly available ‗star
ratings‘. Word-of-mouth publicity has always been the
best form of promotion and technology has rendered it
more spontaneous. Content programming can be
selectively linked with feedback from other users or a
close group of friends for viral promotion of Video On
Demand (VOD) and pay-per-view content.
User interactivity and engagement can be
enhanced by leveraging TV as the medium for social
connect. The offerings that can be provided through
TV-based social touch points include:
- Track what friends are watching
- Enable sharing of favourite lists with social
networks
- Gift VOD content to friends & family
TV offerings with a social touch can extend the
user experience beyond the living room to a network
of friends on popular social sites. According to a
survey report by The Nielsen Company[5], there has
been an 87% growth in online social media users since
2003, and 883% increase in time spent on social media
sites.
Since social connect has been successfully
leveraged on the mobile and web to enhance stickiness
and the user experience, it can be extended to the TV
context easily. CSPs must ensure due diligence to
leverage connectedness, and analyze how different
offerings can be meshed to simplify the overall TV
viewing experience while enabling additional
capabilities.
TV 2.0: User-driven, user-centric, personal and
interactive
It is time for television to outgrow as a oneway broadcast channel providing users with a defined
programming schedule. There must be a strategic shift
from the service provider to TV users to enhance the
user experience through co-creation. The success of
YouTube as a channel for online video viewing is a
classic example.
As TV viewing takes the community route
with users driving content generation, consumption
and promotion, it creates a win-win ecosystem for all
stakeholders. Service providers can offer a platform
for users to co-create content that can be made
available for public or paid consumption. The platform
can be transformed to an advertisement channel and
CSPs can charge a higher premium from advertisers
by enabling instant and direct feedback from users.
End users gain from the monetization of their content
through the extended reach offered by the TV platform.
Finally, third party developers benefit by developing
TV applications with features that promote community
usage and interaction on the network.
Feedback and analysis of user profiles can be
intelligently leveraged to influence the content
preference of users. Viewers must be provided with
reports on what other users with similar interests
watch. It can be meshed with external third party
content review feeds from the Internet to create a
unique, personalized experience for users, thereby
making the TV experience user-driven, personal and
contextual.
CSPs must leverage the power of the web and
enhance interactivity selectively to plug gaps in the
TV viewing experience and provide control on content
to end users.
Re-definition: The new avatar
Re-definition has been pitched as the Unique
Sales Proposition (USP) that convergence brings to
the TV platform. Manufacturers of Communications
Equipment (CE) and vendors of Set Top Boxes are
gravitating toward equipment with inherent Internet
functionality to facilitate add-on capabilities and
provide an altogether new dimension to TV usage.
Set Top Boxes with hard drives, USB
interface and direct interface with camcorders and
cameras are now a reality. The Yahoo! TV widget is
another offering in the same league, while some
models from Sony and LG have operator-independent
support for Internet widgets. These efforts ‗futureproof‘ service providers by consolidating the user
experience on a single device in a linear manner. End
users, on the other hand, access portfolio stock alerts,
33
weather updates, photo albums, and favorite shows on
a single screen.
Television is evolving from an entertainment
medium to a new media channel with the capability to
interact with and control other devices. Caller Id on
TV has gained acceptance as it ensures an
uninterrupted viewing experience and provides users
the capability to accept or reject calls. Such
applications enhance capabilities of the TV and
directly add to the overall viewing experience. As the
capabilities of TV mature, we can expect
transformational changes in the entertainment
platform.
Challenges
The process of transformation into connected
TV services is not simple. CSPs must address
significant challenges to enable next-generation TV
viewing:
Unified multi-screen experience: Service
providers must align their offerings along an overall
theme of multi-screen experience. Adoption of
technological changes without consolidating and realigning the offerings can result in disconnected and
‗siloed‘ services. CSPs can develop contextual
offerings to suit changing consumer behavior by
consolidating existing services and aligning them
along a long-term road map for a unified multi-screen
experience.
Unified directions and standards: A complex
mix of standards and models has emerged as broadcast,
broadband and personalization transform the TV
platform. While Hulu, Boxee and Apple TV bring
convergence and power to the TV experience,
middleware platforms enable multi-screen, 3-D TV. In
the absence of standards and proven methods, system
integrators with experience in convergence can help
chart the road map and provide directions for service
providers to maximize investments in connected TV
offerings.
CE support: The transformation of TV and
consumption-readiness for innovative offerings
depend on the capabilities of communications
equipment such as STB and TV sets. Original
Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are working on
newer and better versions of Customer Premise
Equipment (CPE) that provide extensive support for
graphics, content display, video streaming/ buffering,
etc. However, it will take some time for them to
deploy new-age devices that support ‗Internet style‘
applications on TV.
Service providers require robust migration
strategies to prepare existing customers for the new
service offerings. They must consider the financial
impact of migration on end users and plan for churn
management.
User inclusivity: While personalization,
interactivity and a user-centric approach drive TVbased services, exponential growth is anticipated with
the availability of widgets, media sharing, weather
reports, and stock applications on TV. The connected
TV has evolved from ‗ordering pizza through the TV‘
to a wider range of applications including social
connect, media sharing and ratings.
Rather than a given set of applications, it is the
‗sea of connected choices‘ that make the difference for
end users. CSPs must not only plan a bouquet of
applications that drive revenue but also deploy a
service platform that can be tailored to specific
consumer needs. Companies must ensure that users
can contribute to and drive their desired applications.
Profiling and advertising: Interactive TV
enables advertisers to showcase all their offerings to
consumers and request real-time feedback from them.
Although it unleashes new business models for service
providers, capturing of click-through data as a user
navigates through different options on the TV is a
challenge. It is also challenging to manage user
experience in the new advertising paradigm.
CSPs must ensure accuracy of profiles since it is
the basis for targeted push advertisements. In addition,
the UI theme must adapt to the interactive options
available on the TV screen. The effectiveness of
advertisement ‗minisodes‘ on TV can be enhanced
with content-aware promotions.
Uniform support: CSPs must resolve issues
across channels, provide uniform support and ensure
that the quality of support matches the overall theme
of connected service. It is important to sensitize the
front-end staff to the theme of services and vision of
the service provider organization to deliver
‗connected-ness‘ to consumers.
The road ahead
Concerted and channelized effort by service
providers, content providers, OEMs, and technology
companies is required to reinvent the TV experience.
While CSPs transition from siloed, device-specific
entertainment to multi-screen converged services,
consumers are preparing for new ways to enjoy
television and are raising the bar on user experience. A
report by The Diffusion Group[6], a leading research
advisory for the broadband video ecosystem, cites
evidence that consumers are looking for simplicity but
are not ready for a paradigm shift.
As a precursor to the new dimensions of
gaming, commerce and social networking, service
providers must perfect TV viewing by providing users
with better search engines, recommendation engines,
and the ability to find shows and movies that match
their interests and preferences. Success will depend on
rolling out an enhanced experience in a way that users
realize the simplification of services, and gradually
following it up with capability improvements.
Goldmedia to
undertake web TV
survey
The Berlin strategy consultant Goldmedia is to
undertake a web TV survey, commissioned by BLM,
the Bavarian Regulatory Authority for Commercial
Broadcasting. Known as Web TV Monitor 2010, it
will provide a market overview of internet TV in
Germany for the first time.
The study is based on comprehensive primary
data research obtained via a survey of all internet TV
providers in Germany. The survey for Web TV
Monitor 2010 has just been launched, and the research
results will be presented at the 2010 Munich Media
Fair (Medientage München) on October 15, 2010.
High growth in the number of broadband
connections has significantly increased the use of
internet TV. Currently, about two thirds (65%) of all
internet users in Germany access video files at least
occasionally, compared to just 28% in 2006.
Internet TV is a growing market, with the
number of providers and variety in services strongly
increasing. In addition to numerous online-only
services, the world of internet TV is primarily made
up of classic media outlets‘ video and online portals,
34
diverse video-sharing platforms, multi-channel portals
and media centers, as well as non-commercial
information services and corporate TV.
At present, all German internet TV providers
are invited to participate in the survey, which runs
until the end of September 2010.
Nokia‟s Ubiquity
Multiscreen TV client
blends internet with
TV on any gizmo
Nokia‘s unveiling of a new software client
that enables TV viewing through any network on
practically any gadget with a screen hints that
entertainment is set to see much better days if similar
offerings follow. Nokia Seimens Networks threw the
covers off their Multiscreen TV client that combines
internet TV and broadcast TV with web and SNS
access recent. The client which is based on the Nokia
Qt framework, extends a UI for services provided by
the Ubiquity Multiscreen TV platform.
The platform functions with the software
client to safeguard content protected across a whole
bunch of gizmos with in built DRM. The client lets
users share videos through internet and SNS
integration with permitted limitations. It‘s cited to be
completely different from current digital TV features
like pausing live TV, instant rewind and networkbased recording.
―The elegance of this approach is its
simplicity. Video content from separate sources can be
brought together and offered alongside web apps and
other online services and delivered to any device, at
any location, using a common, adaptable client
interface. Our Ubiquity Multiscreen TV Platform
marries traditional broadcast TV with web content to
provide an easy-to-use service people will love,‖ cited
Brook Longdon, head of Media and Entertainment
Solutions, Nokia Siemens Networks.
―The maturity, flexibility and large developer
community for Qt provide Nokia Siemens Networks
and its customers with a leading open source tool, and
a community of users that will enable the development
and deployment of high performance user interfaces
and applications on any device,‖ remarked Sebastian
Nystrom, vice president, Application and Service
Frameworks at Nokia.
The client accommodates several OS
including Symbian and Android. Apart from
leveraging 3D graphics acceleration to support UI
animation, it delivers fast booting and channelchanging. The open source Qt platform apparently
boasts of a sizable application developer ecosystem,
with operators being able to incorporate or open app
stores that offer new services.
Nokia appears capable of showing off its
abilities as a vendor that can utilize available resources
to support a wholesome multi-screen architecture with
these new developments. The Multiscreen TV client
was unveiled at the recently convened IBC in
Amsterdam.
YouView is official
name for Web TV
coalition Project
Canvas
Project Canvas has a new name: YouView.
YouView is a coalition including the five main TV
channels and Internet service providers to create a
standard platform for TV delivered through your
broadband pipes.
Sadly, you'll need new hardware -- another
set-top box. But YouView will allow you to watch
Freeview, catch-up TV and on-demand, as well as use
apps and pause, rewind and record live TV with a
personal video recorder -- all in one box. It's possible
that ISPs will provide YouView boxes as part of
broadband packages.
Project Canvas is a joint effort between the
BBC, ITV, BT, Channel 4, TalkTalk, Arqiva and Five,
unless Five has dropped out again in the last ten
minutes.
Canvas sounds great, but not everybody's
happy. Virgin Media and Sky have complained that
it's anti-competitive. They're worried the technology
isn't as open as it's cracked up to be, and they could be
relegated to the outer regions of the programme guide
if they do get involved. Virgin has pointed out to
Ofcom that the BBC Trust is only overseeing Auntie
Beeb's involvement, and that the whole thing needs
more public scrutiny.
Dates are yet to be confirmed, but YouView should hit
living rooms in the first half of 2011.
Research and Markets:
China's Web TV
Market Kicked Off in
2009, with 2.5 Million
Web TV Set
Shipments and 0.4
Million Web TV STB
Shipments
Research and Markets has announced the
addition of the "The Web TV Market in China:
Emerging on Medium-Sized TVs and Household
Tablets" report to their offering.
The fast development of the Web TV set
market is driven by the competition between all the
domestic giant TV vendors, and the low additional
35
cost for a Web TV set helped it to gain wide user
acceptance.
The Web TV STB market, on the other hand,
faces difficulties owing to its limited sales channel and
to high retail pricing. Some telecom operators are
deploying Web TV STBs along with subscriptions to
their high bandwidth Internet access, but they do so
while keeping a low profile due to regulation concerns.
China's Web TV market has a golden opportunity
under the triple-play policy: the value chain is
maturing, a new business model is emerging, and new
services and applications demanded by users will also
drive the hardware evolution.
This PowerPoint report analyzes both China's
Web TV set and STB markets, outlines the market
status, value chain, and ecosystem, gives in-depth
analysis on future Web TV applications and devices
evolution, examines the trends in China's Web TV
market, and provides forecasts on Web TV shipments
and ASPs over the next 5 years.
PLATFORMSPLATFORMS
PLATFORMS
Motorola unveils new
remote-control units
for IPTV set-top boxes
Motorola introduced the latest accessories for
its IPTV set-top boxes at IBC2010, including a range
of remote-control units.
The NYXgreen and dock is Motorola's
environmentally friendly RCU option. Eliminating
batteries, the RCU is powered by super capacitors,
which can last for up to two weeks of use after
charging via USB for 60 seconds.
The NYXboard combines the traditional
remote-control form with a full keyboard to create a
more intuitive navigational experience for
sophisticated interactive TV services as well as
traditional linear TV.
Smart unveils Google
internet dongle
A local mobile telecommunications provider
on Thursday showcased a prototype USB device with
integrated access to Google services.
At a press conference on Thursday, Smart
Communications unveiled a prototype Smart Bro USB
modem that will also feature integrated access to the
Google Chrome web browser.
"We see mobile internet usage as a huge
growth driver [for our business], after SMS and voice
calls. So we want to bring people onto the Internet,"
said Gio Bacareza, head for broadband Internet and
data services at Smart's Wireless Consumer Division.
According to Bacareza, there are currently about 1
million users of Smart's mobile Internet services via
USB dongles, excluding people who surf the Web via
their mobile phones.
"Market penetration is still small, so there's a lot of
ground to be covered," he pointed out.
"Google is excited to be working with Smart on this
innovative distribution model that puts the Google
Chrome web browser within easy reach of Filipino
users," said Andrew McGlinchey, Google Southeast
Asia's head of product management.
Users of the product will be able to access the Web by
double-clicking on the Google Chrome icon that
automatically appears when the device is connected to
a computer.
Bacareza said that his team is looking to develop its
own firmware for the dongle, to ensure smoother
integration with Google services. He said that Smart is
still negotiating this possibility with the device's OEM
manufacturer.
The device is planned for release sometime in
November and is expected to be priced the same as
Smart's other regular USB modem dongles.
Consortium of
Vendors Offers
WebTV Solution
A consortium of five technology partners BeeSmart, Edgeware, NetView, Zenterio and
Verimatrix - has announced the immediate availability
of an advanced WebTV solution; an over the top
content delivery mechanism for TV service providers
36
with an ambition to offer rich TV and on-demand
services over unmanaged broadband networks.
BeeSmart provides the WebTV aware
middleware with possibilities for designing unique
interactive TV services, such as rich TV experience,
video recording, entertainment on demand and a
compelling end-user interface.
Edgeware provides the distributed video
delivery infrastructure for both IPTV and WebTV
systems. For Web TV, Edgeware delivers a full suite
of HTTP adaptive streaming protocol support allowing
effective and highly scalable transmission of ondemand TV and video to a full range of mobile,
computer and TV devices. This system also includes
all the required additional services to support network
PVR, catch up TV and trick play (fast forward, pause,
rewind).
Netview, provider of media streaming clients,
offers the Netview Downloader here integrated in
Zenterio‘s software stack. Netview Downloader
provides support for advanced formats like Apple Live
and Microsoft Smooth. The Downloader manages
network communication, remuxes container formats
and (in adaptive formats) handles quality/bit-rate
selection: The output is a MPEG2-TS stream standard
media players understand.
Verimatrix VCAS for Internet TV, a key
option powered by the VCAS 3 platform, provides a
complete digital TV security solution for over-the-top
(OTT) services over networks implementing the
HTTP Live Streaming protocol.
Zenterio, the Swedish software design house,
markets its independent software stack (ZiDS) for
inclusion in set-top boxes. The software stack provides
operators with a path toward a unified software
solution on all set-tops in the network.
MTK, Realtek to
Supply IPTV Chips to
Skyworth in Q4
MediaTek (MTK) and Realtek Semiconductor
Corp. will supply IPTV ((Internet Protocol Television)
chips to Mainland China in the first quarter of 2010,
reported Taiwan media.
The IPTV chip, which is jointly released by
MTK, two leading IC design companies in the world,
is predicted to be a major product to bring along the
revenue growth of the two companies in following
years.
Rumors said that the IPTV chip is accepting
authentication from Skyworth, the largest LCD TV
brand in the mainland as well as taking the first place
in sales volume of LCD TVs and second place in sales
value in the mainland. The chips will be shipped to the
mainland in the fourth quarter of this year, and if the
IPTV enjoys hot sale, it is expected to drive the
shipments of the IPTV chips to growth.
Currently, 70% of operating revenue of MTK
is contributed by mobile phone chips, but the TV chips
are high-growth products.
WDR Cologne uses
Teracue IPTV
Encoder/Decoder
The West German broadcasting company in
Cologne uses IPTV encoder and decoder from
Teracue to integrate live panorama images into their
broadcast process.
The WDR has installed a remote controlled
camera in a weatherproof housing on a high-rise
building on the eastern side of the Rhine river in Köln
Deutz - opposite of the Cologne Cathedral. The
camera can be directed at the cathedral city and the
Rhine river depending on the production requirements
and provides the live panorama image of the city of
Cologne.
The camera signal is encoded using the
Teracue Encoder and is sent to the WDR main
broadcast facilities by network as an IPTV stream.
The data stream is received and decoded in the
production facility by using the Teracue Decoder
DEC-200. The Decoder provides an SDI signal again
at the output which is then fed into the central
broadcast contribution infrastructure and is thus
available in all studios and master control stations.
With this solution all studios of the WDR
have access to the current live panorama view of the
cathedral city. The panorama images are mainly used
for the programs 'WDR Lokalzeit' (daily local news)
and the 'ARD-Morgenmagazin' (morning and
breakfast television).
The main decision in favour of the IPTV
broadcast contribution using Teracue devices was
among other things based on the low delay of the
encoder/decoder units. It was just as essential to use
robust products which could stand rough weather
conditions. Thanks to its compact structure and fanless
operation the Teracue Encoder and Decoder are
superbly suited to this 24/7 use.
The original initiative and requirements came
from the WDR Lokalzeit magazine, as live panorama
images are constantly needed for insertion within the
studio background. The IPTV contribution and central
ingest now also enables the ARD-Morgenmagazin to
use the images, and the signal can easily be supplied
to other news programmes and for live productions.
daily basis by Argentine mail. Coradir, one of the
providers for this initiative, has already delivered the
Government about 250,000 STBs out of the 510,000
acquired by such company.
STBs distribution will be extended over other
areas of the country, once the 47 broadcasting antenna
first installation plan is finished. According to what
Nemirovsci informed, within the following 60 days,
facilities will be operating in Campana, Baradero and
Luján, located in Buenos Aires province. Before year
end, La Plata, Resistencia (Chaco province) and San
Miguel de Tucumán (Tucumán province) facilities
will be ready.
"Coradir provides Correo Argentino 20,000
STBs weekly", Juan Baretto, VP of the company told
NexTV Latam. Devices are manufactured in San Luis
province. STBs are sold to the public for USD 176 in
two sale points (in San Luis and Buenos Aires). The
company also sells 34 inches TV sets fitted with
ISDB-T tuner for USD 860.
In addition to Coradir, the Metallurgic
Industry Association of the Argentine Republic and
Cometrans are also local providers. It is estimated that
by 2012 about 100 broadcasting facilities, which will
offer coverage to the 95% of the territory, will be built.
The service for the remaining 5% will be rendered via
satellite. The installation of antennas and STBs in
8,100 rural schools is scheduled for satellite TV
reception. According to the Government, in March
2011, there will be 2,000 already equipped schools.
"Video delivery
The Argentine
technology is quickly
Government delivered evolving to take into
121, 000 DTT STBs
account open Internet
According to what Osvaldo Nemirovsci,
general coordinator of the Argentine DTT Digital TV
constraints"
System, told NexTV Latam, the Argentine
Government has already delivered 121,000 free DTT
STBs in Buenos Aires province. The executive stated
that an average of 1,500 devices is sorted out on a
37
For our latest interview with speakers
confirmed to attend the CDN World Summit 2010
event, taking place in London later this month, we
speak to Dominique Delisle, CDN Programme
Director at Orange.
What changes have you observed in the broadband
industry over the past 12 months or so?
I have observed a real growth in interest
regarding content delivery technology and services,
following the rising appetite from consumers for video
content delivered over the Internet. There is a
snowball effect in process: the more and better quality
bandwidth available for content delivery, combined
with the growing diversity of terminals capable of
accessing this content (including smartphones and
tablets), the more end-users are consuming content which in turn is causing more companies to enter this
open and Internet-based content delivery domain.
These include content producers or
aggregators (such as TV broadcasters and media
companies) who want to compete in audience or paid
VOD distribution, terminal suppliers (such as TV
manufacturers) or Internet leaders who wish to expand
their activity footprint, and network operators who like
to optimise their networks but also wish to deliver
related services.
In addition to that, actual video delivery
technology is also quickly evolving to take into
account open Internet constraints (variable bandwidth
in particular), but in parallel is also looking to support
better video quality, in particular HD video, which
again increases the necessary bandwidth for each
individual stream. Last but not least, this snowball is
now also rolling onto mobile networks, causing data
traffic in some cases to exceed voice traffic, which is
quite new, giving mobile network operators a very
difficult challenge.
How far may this snowball may grow without
breaking barriers such as available bandwidth or limits
of the access network (particular in regards to wireless
access) or the current economic balance of the open
Internet - this is really the debate of the day.
What network technologies do you think are most
likely to prove "future-proof"?
This is one of those questions where you
wouldn't want your answer to be re-published two
years later! I would imagine it to be technologies
which help to increase the bandwidth available on
wireless networks such as LTE, or which offload
traditional mobile access, but also technologies that
will help IP networks to evolve gracefully in order to
absorb the amount of traffic they will have to carry.
It's clear from this point of view that the
current system - which causes the same content to be
unduly transported millions of times through a bunch
of interconnected IP networks - is not scalable, due to
its inherent inefficiencies. From this point of view,
content delivery technology will have a clear role and
will be integrated step-by-step within the basic IP
network elements in order to help those networks
become more efficient, bringing delivery servers
closer to the end-user and avoiding excessive volume
transport as much as possible.
This clearly opens the door for partnerships
between traditional telecom equipment vendors and
more IT-minded companies which specialise in the
design of software for content delivery networks (and
in some cases also suppliers of CDN services), in
order to pave the way for "content-oriented networks".
There are of course a bunch of other
technologies that will be future proof in other domains,
such as implementation of IPv6, which the very real
scarcity of IP addresses will make unavoidable in a
very short time.
What technological challenges do you anticipate as
media delivery migrates to IP networks?
The first challenge which one which nobody
can ignore is that increasing the bandwidth of access
networks requires a big investment. This is true for
both mobile and fixed-line access, with barriers of two
kinds in place: those of an economic nature (how to
gather the investment necessary to deliver the
bandwidth for delivering content to each home with
the quality that end-users or media suppliers expect),
and those of a technological nature - it helps in all
cases to minimise the economic challenge as far as
possible.
Another one is tied up with the way IP
network architecture and IP network interconnection
were designed, so that almost no distinction is made
between different types of traffic - but there is a clear
need for network interconnection, in particular, to take
into account the specific profile of traffic content in
order to minimise the impact of the traffic to be
transferred.
We also have regulatory challenges of course,
with the current debate raging on net neutrality whether to allow traffic management to be
38
implemented in order to limit the impact on bandwidth
from the growth in content usage. There is also the
economic challenge of interconnection between
networks being based not only on pure IP but also on
CDN technology, and how to associate it with a
business model that really gives value to all actors
participating the delivery chain.
Not having this evolution will encourage some
big Internet players who can afford to it to build their
own network resources in order to get the quality they
want, leaving smaller content players to compete with
the "best effort" quality offered by the open
internet. A final challenge would be to help media
sources and content providers to optimise the amount
of content they deliver according to networks
conditions.
Dell May Develop
Internet TV Devices,
Google TV Software
Dell (News - Alert) is considering the
development of devices beyond PCs that would stream
Internet content to regular television sets, according to
PC World.
The report said that Dell is evaluating new
devices from set-top box makers and original design
manufacturers (ODMs) that would bring Internet
content to TVs, according to Chris Camilletti, desktop
product manager at Dell.
The company is also considering the
Google (News - Alert) TV platform, which merges
broadcast TV and the Internet, according to PC World.
The company has not yet officially announced any
product, and is still investigating the opportunities
within the market, Camilletti told PC World.
In considering TV, Dell is following the
example of companies like Apple (News - Alert),
which offers Apple TV, and Roku, which offers a
digital video player that streams content from the
Internet to TVs.
A number of TV companies, such as
Samsung (News - Alert) and Sony, also want to use
the Internet to stream movies and TV shows.
Dell is currently using its PCs to connect TVs
and the Internet.
Dell has announced the Inspiron Zino HD
desktop, which is an entertainment hub that can bring
Internet movies to high-definition TVs, according to
PC World.
The device has VGA and high-definition
multimedia interface ports, which allows a TV to
become a monitor, the report said. Viewers can use the
device to stream movies from the Internet to their
high-definition TVs. The device features a wireless
keyboard and remote control to switch between the PC
and TV.
In a related matter, TMCnet recently reported
that Apple TV has failed to garner the acclaim of the
company‘s more popular products, but Apple CEO
Steve Jobs (News - Alert) believes the revamped
version will be a hit with today‘s consumer.
Vision IPTV To
Launch End-To-End
Internet And Social
Media TV Platform At
MIPCOM
Vision IPTV's fully featured internet TV platform
will be launched at MIPCOM 2010 between
October 4 to 8 at Cannes in France.
The platform provides the most
comprehensive service available to deliver broadcast
quality television channels over the internet.
Vision IPTV's platform enables broadcasters
to create fully interactive television channels online
where viewers can view programmes ahead of
schedule as well as catch up on previous programmes,
skipping items, but still being guided by a scheduled
TV channel.
Broadcasters can customise the programme
schedule to enable personalised programming and
advertising. It also allows them to deliver this to all
the viewing devices and platforms of the connected
age - PCs, mobiles, set-top boxes, connected TVs and
right into social network platforms like Facebook and
MySpace.
John Mills CEO of Vision IPTV said: "Our
platform transforms how companies broadcast,
maximising all the benefits of internet television, not
simply copying satellite or cable functionality."
Mills continued: "This high level of flexibility
in Vision IPTV's platform enables broadcasters to
increase commercial performance, either through
increased ad views or multiple pay per view,
subscription or a combination of all three."
The platform has already proved successful.
QUOD.TV (Gay and Lesbian) and Polska Plus (Polish
expat) online TV networks have attracted significant
audiences who are regularly paying for content.
Colin Fallesen, CEO of QUOD.TV said:
"Vision IPTV has enabled us to create a popular TV
channel with regular customers who are happy to pay
for streamed online films and TV."
Internet TV enables broadcasters to create
channels for niche markets and audiences that may not
be well serviced by traditional television channels
around the world. Vision IPTV plans to launch a range
of channels in the autumn using the Vision IPTV
platform, including VXTV, a suite of 30 TV channels
for Sri Lankans living abroad.
Mills commented: "The internet is a global
television platform that can allow content which hasn't
got commercial potential in one area to become
lucrative when viewed elsewhere."
In addition to the broad range of features and
flexibility of features and flexibility of the platform,
Vision IPTV's heritage in broadcast playout provides
professional broadcast standards and 24/7 technical
support.
Broadcasters interested in seeing a
demonstration of the platform can visit Vision IPTV at
MIPCOM, stand G3.20.
39
IN Media Announces
Major Order for Set
Top Boxes
IN Media Corp (OTC Bulletin Board: IMDC)
today announced that it has received a multimillion
dollar order for its fully integrated IPTV set top
box !ROFL.
The box, which allows users to experience
broadcast television as well as internet content on their
home televisions, is, in managements' opinion, a major
leap forward for emerging countries and markets. The
first shipments of this purchase order will be to India
and Sri Lanka, two countries that until now have had
limited access to internet content primarily through
older generation cell phones. Management contends
that India and Sri Lanka consumers will now be able
to experience broadband internet and high definition
television content on their home televisions.
!ROFL will also provide the consumers access
to thousands of Bollywood titles through the IN Media
Library as well as telephone and video conferencing
abilities. "I am thrilled to be part of bringing a new
world of information and entertainment to these
countries that have such a thirst for technologies that
can continue to foster social and economic growth,"
stated C.E.O. Dr. Nick Karnik. "This is exactly what
we envisioned the type of projects IN Media would be
doing," Dr. Karnik continued.
Though the terms of the order were not
announced and no assurances can be given, they are
expected to generate significant revenue and volume
for the Company this year.
IN Media Corp is a key driver in the
convergence of Internet and broadcast television as
Internet based content becomes more prevalent with
mainstream consumers. IN Media's set top solution
takes advantage of these initiatives.
2Wire's New
Intelligent Gateway
Supports VDSL
Applications
2Wire, a provider of broadband solutions,
recently launched a new HomePortal intelligent
residential gateway that supports current and emerging
VDSL applications. The new HomePortal 3801HGV
gateway offers service providers a proven, turnkey
solution for quickly delivering triple play services to
their subscribers. The HomePortal 3801HGV gateway
extends the dominant IPTV (News - Alert) leadership
position that 2Wire developed with the HomePortal
3800HGV gateway, the most widely deployed VDSL
gateway in the world.
Sean Parham, executive vice president and
CMO at 2Wire said that with this gateway as the hub
of the home network, service providers can quickly
deploy high-definition IPTV services as part of a
robust and reliable bundle of voice, data, and
entertainment services.
He added that the HomePortal 3801HGV
gateway features a variety of innovations which
support delivery of demanding services like IPTV and
VoIP, including a dual-core processor for increased
system processing power, an optimized VDSL design
for improved connection rates and reach, and a new
HomePNA (News - Alert) chipset that doubles coax
bandwidth and enables support for more in-home
video streams, all while leveraging proven
HomePortal 3000 series gateway technology.
This gateway is designed specifically for highbandwidth triple play services. The HomePortal
3801HGV intelligent gateway supports fiber to the
node (FTTN) and fiber to the premises (FTTP) with an
integrated, advanced VDSL2 modem. It supports
multimedia coaxial networking within the home for
distribution of bandwidth-intensive applications, such
as high-definition video, over existing coaxial cables.
The HomePortal 3801HGV intelligent gateway is part
of a comprehensive 2Wire solution for managed
service deployments. 2Wire offers service providers a
suite of solutions designed to optimize every facet of
their broadband service deployment, from device
software and hardware to consultative services and
call center customer support.
2Wire integrated broadband solutions that are
engineered for the carrier and optimized for the
subscriber, providing intuitive, reliable user
experiences throughout the connected home.
STB shipments fall,
but rebound forecast
for 2011
For the first time in nine years, set-top box
shipments are likely to show a decline in 2010, reports
ScreenDigest, as demand from IPTV, satellite and
cable operators plateaus, and the lingering effects of
the global recession take their final toll. But, said SD,
as the world's economy continues its rebound, look for
STB shipments to follow suit in 2011, with operators
pressing the digital switchover forward.
A record 127 million STBs were shipped
worldwide in 2009, said ScreenDigest, a 3 percent
increase from 2008, as manufacturers, lead by
Motorola, may hay on the global transition from
analog to digital TV. And, although the push
continued in 2010, that number is likely to coast
downward to 120 million this year. SD also said that
despite the increase in shipments in 2009, the value
declined and will continue to show a decline this year.
SD said Moto not only saw the most units ship,
but also had the highest revenue totals for the year.
And, despite the continued rapid growth of pay-TV in
China, the top four Western operators combined
nonetheless saw more shipments than all of China.
Some additional highlights and forecasts from
the SD report:
- North American was still the biggest region
for STB shipments
- Shipments to Asia-Pacific will be largest
volumes of forecast period
40
-
North America will remain the most valuable
market
HD will drive value growth
The four biggest vendors took 44% of the
market
2009 was also the largest year so far for
Hybrid STB shipments
HomePlug is the most widely deployed home
networking technology facilitating IP based
video distribution around the home
'Orcon rolls out
content network for
Sky's IPTV product'
New Zealand ISP Orcon has is building a
nationwide content delivery network (CDN) that will
support Sky's new online TV service, iSky. The new
service will allow Sky subscribers to access Sky
content from their computers , and is set to go live
before Christmas. The CDN will employ AlcatelLucent's Velocix Digital Media Delivery Platform,
and is underpinned by the nationwide data network of
parent company Kordia. Ultimately the CDN will peer
openly with any broadband service provider, and be
able to support any content provider.
eventIS Integrates
End-to-End IPTV
VOD Solution in
Slovenia
Slovenian Telecom Operator Amis Quickly Rolls
Out Services Based on eventIS VOD Experience
eventIS, a SeaChange International company
and market leader in metadata solutions for linear
broadcasting and video-on-demand (VOD), today
announced the successful completion of an end-to-end
VOD solution for Slovenian IPTV operator Amis.
Responsible for the overall system integration, eventIS
enabled Amis to roll out services extremely rapidly
through a combination of technical expertise and
deployment of eventIS' VOD back office. With its
open interfaces, the eventIS back office allowed Amis
to combine video servers, middleware, conditional
access and applications from an ecosystem of trusted
suppliers.
"When we were faced with the challenge of
introducing advanced content on-demand services to
compete in the highly competitive Slovenian IPTV
market, eventIS provided outstanding expertise as well
as a flexible middleware solution," said Tomaz Stegel,
IPTV project manager, Amis. "The integration -involving many different market-proven IPTV
ecosystem component providers -- went smoothly and
in an impressively short time. This was largely due to
all the internal and external interfaces being highly
stable and well-documented. Now, in the operational
phase, we're finding the system management intuitive
and easy to handle, with very little maintenance
involved."
"eventIS has enormous experience in
implementing VOD services and we are committed to
providing best-of-breed, open back office solutions.
These offer excellent flexibility and scalability for
dynamic markets like Eastern Europe. And by also
applying our deep expertise in system integration, we
can help service providers like Amis seize market
opportunities," said Marcel Simons, vice president of
EMEA sales, eventIS.
The initial roll out took just four months and
now Amis is offering a complete range of services to
viewers in Slovenia and Croatia. These include both
on-demand and subscription-based VOD, quota-based
nPVR, time-shifting of the 30 most popular TV
channels, pause live TV, restart-TV and historic EPG
with 48 hours of catch-up TV.
The eventIS back office at the heart of the
Amis solution gives broadcasters and service
providers comprehensive tools to manage converging
TV services and deliver a highly personalized viewing
experience. Supporting VOD, IPTV and broadcast
solutions, it includes various components such as
PRODIS for VOD asset management, and TRAXIS
for transaction and session management.
AT&T: You Don't
Want Those UltraFast Speeds We Don't
Offer
Given their decision to milk copper and stick
with VDSL, AT&T is continually juggling last mile
bandwidth capacity, managing user demand for
HDTV streams, broadband and voice using
compression and prioritization (as in: reducing your
Internet speed if your entire house starts watching HD
programming). Aside from their inability to match
cable's 50-100 Mbps service speeds, the company has
done fairly well at this balancing act -- offering top
speeds of 24/3 Mbps, while also offering 3 HD
streams. Those three streams will soon be four:
Speaking at the event, held in Newport
Beach, Calif., Stankey tried to dispel early concerns
about whether AT&T had enough capacity to fuel its
IPTV service, announcing that the company intends to
introduce four HD streams per home by the end of the
year, up from the current three, thanks to a combo of
more efficient compression and more bandwidth.
As we noted in July, that additional bandwidth
is coming courtesy of VDSL channel bonding, which
allows AT&T to offer slightly more bandwidth at an
additional 1-2,000 feet from the VRAD using
additional copper pairs. However, AT&T's putting that
additional bandwidth toward video, not user data
speeds. AT&T says being unable to meet cable speed
tiers faster than 24 Mbps down 3 Mbps up is ok, since
most people don't buy it anyway:
While AT&T has found the capacity to beef
up its managed IPTV service, Stankey downplayed the
company's positioning against Docsis 3.0-based cable
modem services, which typically outpace U-verse's
top tier. He questioned whether there's much demand
for D3 speeds. "The fact of the matter is we sell 1841
and 24-meg products. The bulk of our customers
choose not to buy that," he said, noting that most see
the value in AT&T's 6-Mbit/s tier.
Stankey omits AT&T's specific weakness at
offering upstream bandwidth (their website likes to do
that too), or the fact that millions of distanceconstrained or un-upgraded AT&T customers only
have the choice of 6 Mbps, which is magically why so
many AT&T customers choose it.
Of course today's power user is tomorrow's
average user -- and come tomorrow -- AT&T's still
going to have to find a way to increase speeds further.
Barring getting into rocket pigeon connectivity, they'll
either have to finally bite the bullet and install last
mile fiber (which investors won't approve because it
requires waiting for returns), or keep their fingers
crossed that some of these ultra-fast DSL variants
being cooked up in the Alcatel Lucent labs (though
still distance constrained) arrive sooner rather than
later.
Auriga initiates
UTStarcom at „Buy‟
Auriga USA has initiated coverage of IP
networking products provider UTStarcom (UTSI) with
a ―Buy‖ rating and a $3 price target, calling it a
turnaround story.
―We view UTSI as a turnaround story and a
key play on China‘s triple network convergence,
which will likely lead to significant growth of UTSI‘s
broadband and IPTV businesses in the next several
years,‖ Jie Liu, analyst at Auriga, said in a note.
The closure of the Beijing Economic and
Technological Development Area deal has cleared the
roadblock for UTSI to restructure its management
team and carry out its new strategies to grow the
broadband and IPTV businesses, Liu said.
The analyst said UTSI will likely return to
GAAP profitability and stop significant cash burn in
the fourth quarter due to management‘s tight grip on
opex and product revenue ramp.
UTSI is well positioned to be a key player in
the build-out of the provincial level IPTV platforms in
the next several years.
Through joint ventures, UTSI will likely
transform itself into a partner of provincial IPTV
service providers, and share a portion of the highmargin recurring service revenue, Liu said.
Shares of UTSI ended Thursday‘s regular
trading session 0.51 percent higher at $1.99.
Radius Infratel sets
up world-class FTTHbased communication
infrastructure
At the CWGV, each and every apartment is
connected by optic fibre – on which MTNL and
Airtel are delivering voice, broadband and IPTV
services.
Radius Infratel Private Limited has
commissioned FTTH (fibre-to-the-home)
infrastructure to provide last-mile connectivity for the
delivery of various telecom and entertainment services
at the Commonwealth Games Village (CWGV).
The unified last mile connectivity
implemented by Radius Infratel christened as
NANOnet – Neutral Access Network Operations
Network utilizes Ericsson‘s GPON system and
facilitates multiple service providers to simultaneously
share the same network to cater bouquet of services to
the end user.
At the CWGV, each and every apartment is
connected by optic fibre – on which MTNL and Airtel
are delivering voice, broadband and IPTV services.
Further, NANOnet is enabled for Wi-Fi coverage with
in the village along with GSM / CDMA coverage from
mobile operators to the entire village including the
huge basements to ensure quality of service.
The uniqueness of NANOnet is also
highlighted in its ability to integrate with regular IPTV,
35 HD live feeds of games that are exclusive for
international broadcast. These will be relayed through
the same network during the games mode exclusively
for athletes and delegates in CWGV. The innovative
FTTH infrastructure will enable delivery of services
like High Definition Broadcast of Games Channels,
IPTV, Seamless Wi-Fi, and Ultra High Speed Internet
to the visiting officials and players.
During the Commonwealth Games, Ericsson
will assist Radius Infratel to monitor and manage the
network 24x7, supporting the communication needs of
8000 dignitaries, athletes and team officials staying in
the village spread over 34 towers and 1168 flats.
Ericsson‘s GPON solution with has been used by
Radius along with Radius‘ proprietary technology,
NANO, that facilitates unbundling of services from
multiple carriers at the service level. This open access
solution will enable the players and game officials to
select services from a service provider of their choice.
―Technology needs to work for the benefit of
consumers. We are happy to have worked closely with
the CWG Organising Committee, Ericsson, Emaar,
MTNL and Airtel to deliver a superior communication
solution that showcases the technical prowess of India‖
says Mr. H S Singh, Managing Director of Radius
Infratel Private Limited.
Gowton Achaibar, Head of Region, Ericsson
India said ―Ericsson is proud to be associated with the
Commonwealth Games to partner with the Indian
Government in realizing the vision of building a stateof-the-art infrastructure. Joining forces with Radius
Infratel, we will be leveraging our globally proven
portfolio of Broadband solutions. This Fiber-to-theHome network will be instrumental in managing the
network 24x7, supporting the communication needs of
8000 dignitaries, athletes and team officials staying in
the village and help them connect with their family
and friends‖.
Apart from the Organising Committee of the
Commonwealth Games, Emaar MGF too has a reason
to rejoice – the sophisticated infrastructure of modern
high rises including Building Management Systems
like security & surveillance cameras, video intercoms,
power management systems, access control will all
work seamlessly with the NANO Network. This
unified last mile will eliminate the clutter of various
service providers laying a tangle of wires in the
common areas.
This Network represents the future of wired
telecom infrastructure in the country – the fixed line
operators need not invest in building their own last
mile. This shared FTTH infrastructure shall enable
42
telecom companies to deliver a host of high bandwidth
applications to their consumers, including IPTV,
content on demand, networking solutions etc.
The shared last mile NANO Network is already
operational in NCR and will soon be seen across the
country in upcoming and existing high rise
developments. As per announcement in media, Radius
Infratel has placed an order with Ericsson to connect
600,000 homes by 2013.
CONTENTSMARKETCONTENTSMARKET
CONTENTSMARKET
ACCC Warns
Consumers About
Future 3D Content
24 hours after the CEO of JB Hi Fi Terry Smart
said that vendors did a “poor” job merchandising
their 3D TV offering the Australian Competition
and Consumer Commission has raised concerns
about the advertising of 3D and future 3D sporting
coverage.
"The ACCC is on alert when it comes to
representations made by retailers of new and emerging
technologies like 3D television," ACCC chairman
Graeme Samuel said. "It is the ACCC's role to ensure
consumers are given accurate information about the
uses and capabilities of new technologies, particularly
when they are usually expensive items."
Samuel also issued a warning about future 3D
TV broadcasts claiming "Consumers should be
cautious when thinking about buying a 3D television
because licences for television broadcasts are only
currently being issued on a temporary trial basis and
are limited to certain geographic areas," he said.
He said that the ACCC considers Bing Lee's
advertisements for 3D televisions published in the lead
up to the NRL Grand Final to have been misleading,
however he acknowledged that the Company had
taken steps to fix the problem.
Bing Lee he said had briefed its sales staff and
posted notices in its stores about the limitations of the
trial 3D broadcasts.
The AFL grand final replay this Saturday will
not be broadcast in 3D. The NRL grand final will only
be broadcast in 3D in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney,
Newcastle, Brisbane and Perth, but not all residents in
these areas are guaranteed an adequate signal.
Consumers should contact the special 3D TV viewer
hotline 1300 487 855 to check they are within the
transmission area.
Boxee seek to develop
applications for
Google Android TV
As an avid user and supporter Boxee for my
HTPC needs, the announcement on the Google TV
And I wonder as was to be able to combine both the
best interface for HTPC hands down with my beloved
Android platform. The guys over at Boxee is WAY
ahead of me it turns out!
blogger years in Candler Blog had a
conversation with Andrew kippen e-mail with Boxee,
asking him what he thought of the announcement of
Google TV, and this may have consequences for
Boxee. The following response comes from Andrew
that article:
We, of course, after[GoogleTV announcement]
and a demo. We believe that it would be good to open
OS, such as gain market share Android in the living
room. This would enable users to download Boxee on
TV(we building Android-based app) and start using it
without having to connect to your computer theTV.
We have a slightly different view of Web
browsing on your TV. Although it was a big part of
Googles Demo believe browsing the web, how-to
make more sense for laptops and mobile devices(due
to personal character, the screen size and input device)
than it does on TV. We look forward to the game with
TV and work with them to make Android devices
Boxee.
read correctly. if not? TV platforms are
running on television that can bring great experience
Boxee we want to be there. is is we? Again Im looking
43
for on developing Android Application version with
Boxee to upcoming Google TV . [emphasis added]
I wanted to make sure I read that correctly. I?
Ve heard work on Android app remotely similar to the
one they have on the iPhone, but it sounds like
something else:
It will be interesting to see what this
application Boxee will look like. It sounds like Boxee
will use the Sony TV that Android will have a built in
them, so that people can run their applications without
a computer Boxee necessary. This would be a major
step forward in Boxee, and sounds like an incredible
idea to take advantage of all the risks that Google
takes with Google TV, without risk to themselves.
Im more excited about Googles TV,
particularly as I see a useful, practical applications are
thought o. Stay tuned for more details come out.
ReachMail Inc.
Announces New
Feature "Social Media
Email Tracking"
ReachMail, the easiest, most powerful way to
get email delivered, announces "Social Media
Tracking," a new feature that gives marketers the
ability to see how often their messages are being
shared by social networks including Facebook.
ReachMail customers can add social network sharing
icons on every message to reach additional prospects.
The metrics reporting feature allows marketers to see
what messages resonate with their subscribers. "Our
customers realize the importance of marketing through
all channels, not just email," says ReachMail President
John Murphy. "With Social Media Email Tracking
marketers can see what social networks their
subscribers use to share offers with their friends."
Quartz Events, the leading trade show
organizer for SCOPE East and SCOPE West,
extensively uses ReachMail's Social Media Tracking.
"It's been very helpful in reaching out to prospective
customers who are not already on our list," said Robin
Manka, Attendee Relations Manager. "It's also
generated new prospects, plus we can see which social
networks are most popular with our customers. We
market exclusively to senior level executives so each
qualified prospect is extremely valuable to us."
New Report Says
Social Media Creators
Have Stopped
Creating
When it comes to social media usage,
Forrester categorizes the world using their
patented Social Technographic Ladder. Creators (23%)
are at the top. These are the people who create
blogs, upload videos and write articles for the web.
(I‘m one of those. Are you?)
Right under that are Conversationalists and
Critics who exchange info by Twitter, forums and
Facebook posts. The majority of social media user fall
into the middle of the pack and they are Joiners and
Spectators. The difference being that Joiners have
social media profiles but they‘re not overtly active.
For the last few years, Forrester has tracked
growth in all areas but this year Creators hit a plateau.
According to their 2010 Global Social Technographics
report, despite advances that make it easier, creators
aren‘t creating like they used to.
They chalk the change up to human behavior,
which is a scientific way of saying they have no idea.
But I suspect it‘s simply a case of the novelty wearing
off. When blogging was new, not everyone was doing
it, but now that every third person you know is
keeping an online log of his eating, dating and
sleeping habits, it‘s just not special. YouTube was a
place to share that funny video of Uncle Sid falling
asleep in his Boston Cream Pie. Now it‘s a website for
music marketers, sponsored web shorts and
bootlegged episodes of Baywatch Nights.
Forrester agrees with me in a round about way.
They say that social media tools will begin focusing
more on how ―social content is consumed rather than
how it is produced.‖ they point to Twitter‘s new
design which doesn‘t help you Tweet better, it just
helps you get more out of the tweets you receive.
While creators are taking a much needed
break, joiners are still going strong. Forrester‘s report
says that more than ever people are getting social
media accounts just so they can read what their friends
and family are saying. My husband falls into this
group. After years of actively avoiding any type of
social media, he reluctantly joined Facebook in order
to view photos posted by a friend. He maintained his
account with no activity for more than six months and
only last week decided it was time to add a photo and
profile.
Google launches
custom Philippine
content via GMA,
other sites
Google on Thursday showcased custom
content from its local partners, including realtime
updates from GMANews.TV and PEP.ph, as well as
Pinoy-flavored themes from top local artists.
Google Southeast Asia marketing head Derek
Callow said that the Google Chrome web browser has
been making significant headway into the Philippine
online community, driving up the company's interest
to develop more local content for the country.
Citing independent data from
StatCounter.com, he said that Chrome usage in the
Philippines has remarkably grown in the past year.
Skype talks with
Avaya and Facebook
According to All Things Digital, Facebook
and Skype are about to form a partnership which will
see Facebook users being able to make Skype calls
and send Skype SMS messages to each other from
their profile pages.
The deal will also benefit Skype users, who
will gain access to Facebook‘s messaging service,
Facebook Connect.
Facebook has also announced a deal with
business phone and software company Avaya, which
will allow Avaya users to make calls through Skype
Connect.
The deal also involves the integration of
Skype‘s and Avaya‘s services into a single platform,
taking Skype into the US enterprise market.
The deals will strengthen Skype‘s
forthcoming initial public offering, which is hopes will
raise up to $100 million.
44
Browser use in the Philippines from July 2008
to September 2010 (Source: StatCounter.com)
"The Philippines is where Chrome has its greatest
market share," Callow explained.
To capitalize on the growing community of
Chrome users in the Philippines, Google has entered
into partnerships with local content providers and
artists to develop browser extensions and themes
aimed directly at Filipino users.
Browser extensions are application-like
programs within Chrome that deliver customized
content. Users can, for example use the
GMANews.TV Chrome Extension to receive realtime
news updates within their browser. Users can also get
the latest showbiz news via the PEP extension.
"At least 13 to 14 percent of visitors [to
GMANews.TV and PEP.ph] use Chrome, so
partnering with Google was a no-brainer. It was what
we could do with the platform that interested us the
most," said Edna Belleza, general manager for media
at GMA New Media Inc.(NMI).
Other featured local content include ABSCBNNews.com news updates; buying and selling
updates via the AyosDito.ph online maketplace;
mobile banking via Banco de Oro; airline fares and
schedules from Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines;
traffic information and driving tips for Metro Manila
via MMDA; and forum discussions via Pinoy
Exchange.
Google also showcased custom Chrome
themes by top local artists, designers, and institutions.
Artworks on display included works by graphic artist
Arnold Arre; illustrators AJ Dimarucot, Corey Cruz,
Dan Matutina, Drew Europeo, Electrolychee, Karen
Gosingan, and Paul Guadalupe; fashion vanguards
such as Aranaz Bags and the School of Fashion and
the Arts; graphic design studio Team Manila; social
change group Yabang Pinoy; and tour guide
extraordinaire Carlos Celdran.
iPad Ads Reach
Affluent Men
The new wave of e-reader devices is attracting
plenty of attention from the news media, the media
business in general, and now media research
companies. Nielsen surveyed 5,000 consumers who
own an e-reader, netbook, tablet computer like Apple's
iPad, or smartphone, finding that e-reader owners tend
to be younger, male and affluent. The proportions vary
from device to device.
Among consumers who owned an iPad, 65%
were male compared to 52% for iPhone owners, 52%
for Amazon's Kindle, and 62% for Sony PlayStation
Portable. Some 63% of iPad owners were under the
age of 35, compared to 44% for iPhone, 47% for
Kindle, and 68% for Sony PSP.
In terms of income, 44% of Kindle owners
make more than $80,000 per year, compared to 39%
for the iPad and 37% for the iPhone. Significantly,
iPad owners are more likely to be receptive to
advertising, with 35% saying they "enjoy viewing ads"
on their iPads, compared to just 17% for all devices.
Fifty-seven percent say they don't mind advertising if
it means they get content for free.
Forty percent of iPad owners said they are
more likely to click on ads that are simple text ads,
while 46% said they enjoy ads with interactive
features. Fifty-two percent said they preferred ads that
delivered custom information based on their current
location.
People who own iPads are also substantially
more likely to act on advertising they see on their iPad,
with 36% saying they made an online purchase via a
PC, 24% making a purchase at a store, 12% making a
purchase over the telephone, and 8% buying
something directly over the iPad itself.
95% of Companies
Have Tried Social
Media; 40% Didn‟t
Inhale!
There are so many great findings in
Econsultancy and bigmouthmedia‘s Social Media and
Online PR Report 2010 I barely know where to start!
This will probably be one of the few reports
you‘ll want to spend dollars on this year, although I
will add one caveat: the data is skewed towards the
UK. That aside, here‘s a sample of some of the
insights:
1. While 95% of companies have added social
media to their marketing mix, 45% have either only
―experimented‖ or not done anything in social media.
45
Really? Do these companies also turn away 45% of all
customers? They may as well!
2. If you think that‘s hard to believe, take a
look at this chart! With the exception of corporate
blogs, there‘s a decline in the use of every social
media tactic under the sun! Maybe if these companies
focused on more than ―experimenting‖ with social
media they‘d find that it offers a long-term benefit to
their business. Perhaps they focused too much on the
immediate ROI and, when that instant gratification
failed to materialize, became disillusioned.
3. And what about their PR campaigns? I am
astounded that there has been a decline in the
proportion of PR activity taking place online! What,
was it too difficult to figure out? Was it just too hard
to actually interact with journalists, bloggers, and
other influentials? Was it easier to go back to blasting
out press releases? Does someone need a hug?
AOL chief launches
ad system
AOL Inc launched a new online advertising
system that it hopes will transform the way advertisers
reach consumers on the Internet, its top executive told
Reuters on Monday
AOL launched "Project Devil," a system that
offers advertisers cleaner ad formats than before and
more utility like the locations of local auto dealers, at
the Interactive Advertising Bureaus MIXX conference
in New York.
Project Devil is the latest development from
AOL and part of a broader strategy to resurrect the 25year-old company once synonymous with dial up
Internet access into one of the web's main online
entertainment and news destinations.
"Right now this is the first step, you can
expect us to innovate for the next decade in brand
advertising," said AOL Chief Executive Tim
Armstrong.
The launch coincided with speculation that
AOL is mulling the purchase of technology blog
TechCrunch, tech site GigaOM reported.
Earlier in an interview with Reuters when
asked about potential acquisitions, Armstrong said not
to expect any "hail Mary passes" and that AOL would
consider companies with "exceptionally strong talent."
AOL was not immediately available for
comment about the GigaOM report. A spokeswoman
from TechCrunch declined to comment.
AOL was spun off from Time Warner Inc last
year after a disastrous decade-long marriage.
"With the restructuring we have done and the
more specific way we are running our sales force...it
should lead us to be a much stronger company in 2011
in the advertising business," Armstrong said but
declined to offer specifics.
AOL's ad revenue fell 27% USD 260.2
million in the second quarter.
AOL is not not alone among the first wave of
successful Internet companies looking for a second act
through creating content.
Yahoo Inc for instance has aggressively
recruited journalists, struck partnerships with
newspaper companies and have acquired companies
like Associated Content, which commissions stories
based on search engine data, in an attempt to attract
more advertisers.
"AOL is a multi-brand company that serves multiple
audiences with big brands," he said when asked about
the competition. "We look a lot more like Disney.
Telephony, Internet
access, IPTV and
videoconferencing:
Starling Hotel at
EPFL works with
Swisscom as a total
solution provider
The Starling Hotel at EPFL is one of the first hotels
in Europe to deploy Swisscom's convergent suite of
IP guest services. IPTV, HD room entertainment,
guest telephony, wired and wireless Internet access,
46
as well as HD videoconferencing are all delivered
through the hotel's Category-6 telephone network.
Working with Swisscom as a single solution
provider, the Starling at EPFL has reduced the
TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) for these
applications whilst impressing guests with superior
service, quality and personalisation.
The Starling at EPFL, which opened for
business in April, occupies a strategic location in the
centre of Lausanne's university business district (EPFL
being Switzerland's federal polytechnic university).
With its 154 guest rooms and its spacious meeting
facilities, it welcomes a diverse clientele of business
travellers, scientists and students. Thanks to its
splendid location on the shores of Lake Geneva and its
proximity to the Lavaux vineyard terraces, this 4-star
hotel also attracts an important number of leisure
travellers from all over the world.
Swisscom is the hotel's total solution provider,
overseeing the design, installation and management of
the hotel's converged network infrastructure; guest
room bandwidth requirements; the conference area
and the back-office; the installation and provisioning
of a hotel-customised IPTV and entertainment solution;
and the integration of the HD videoconferencing
service supplied by LifeSize, a Logitech company.
"Our guests rely on a comprehensive
technology offering as much as on a big and comfy
bed", explains Thomas Brugnatelli, General Manager
of The Starling at EPFL. "However, while beds are a
one-time expenditure, technology could easily become
a liability and an uncontrollable cost factor. I am very
grateful that with Swisscom, we have built a scalable
network that allows us to adapt to new guest demands
and an ongoing demand for increased bandwidth.
Through our Ethernet cabling, we have been able to
streamline all central communication and
entertainment services. This gives us a grip on cost
and a single technology partner to work with."
"At the outset, the Starling contacted us for a
PBX system", remembers Nicolas Katsis from
Swisscom's Corporate Business Unit, who manages
the Starling account. "They were surprised to discover
that Swisscom could design an IP-convergent hotel
infrastructure that supports application sharing, which
translates into cost savings for the hotel. The second
good news was that Swisscom could deliver
hospitality-specific solutions such as IPTV and
wireless printing through its 100% subsidiary
Hospitality Services, and integrate these applications
with their back-office property management system. I
believe this is far more than the client originally
expected from us."
Guests at the Starling benefit from seamless
Wi-Fi connectivity property-wide and wired Internet
access in their rooms and in the conference area.
Moreover, with HD video conferencing being
deployed, the next generation of meeting technology is
awaiting them. Adds Thomas Brugnatelli: "Today's
corporate clients want to see a higher return on their
conference investment. They expect their employees
to be more productive. Why shouldn't we offer them a
service that makes their conference budgets lighter
and their meetings more effective?"
Nevertheless, Kindle for the Web may be the most
potent tweak to the Amazon ecosystem yet. In one
swoop, it brings e-book reading (backed by Amazon's
own archive of texts) to any pretty much every screen
that sports Web access. That means set-top boxes,
games consoles, and every other device that connects
to the Web using a browser. Amazon intends to get on
your TV--and whatever device you use as your main
screen in the future, Kindle has you covered.
Amazon's plan to succeed in the digital books
game is becoming clearer and clearer--it will
maximize its income by pushing Kindle content onto
every possible platform. Now its new Web portal
means you can even read 'em on your TV.
Moments after the BlackBerry PlayBook was
revealed, Amazon announced it was going to launch a
Kindle app for the new RIM product. It wasn't unusual
for Amazon to take this step, given that the
BlackBerry is such a prominent device and the
PlayBook may see some of its own success, but the
speed of the announcement was surprising.
Now it seems Amazon was clearing the decks
for its announcement today: A Web portal for Kindle
content. It's far more than a Web adaption of the
existing Mac and PC apps. You can preview books
more easily, then buy them from the same interface-and even embed clips from texts into your website
(which lets you earn referral payments if your site's
visitors then buy the text). There's one drawback of the
Beta version: You can't read whole texts here yet. You
have to use a full Kindle app on an e-reader,
smartphone, Mac, or PC.
TV operators.
KidsCo will continue to broadcast its range of
family friendly programming including: Sonic
Underground, The Beach Crew, The Future is Wild, as
well as KidsCo original programming Boo & Me and
Jass Time!, but also will be adding the VOD option in
November.
"We are expanding our presence across
Eastern Europe and Poland in particular will continue
to be a focus for us," said Paul Robinson, CEO at
KidsCo. KidsCo, which launched in 2007, is targeted
at pre-schoolers, children aged 6-10 and families. It is
a joint venture channel owned by NBC Universal,
Corus Entertainment Inc. (Nelvana) and Cookie Jar
Entertainment.
The company says its global distribution plan-launching linear, VOD, SVOD and IPTV channels-has already seen the channel rolling out to 92
territories throughout the world in 18 languages.
KidsCo is available in Australia, France, Spain,
Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Russia,
Hungary, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Slovenia, Ukraine,
Moldova, Croatia, Macedonia, Greece, Cyprus, the
Middle East, Hong Kong, Palau, Indonesia, Taiwan,
Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Korea,
Thailand, Vietnam, South Africa, the Maldives and
countries throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.
TOYA, meanwhile, is the fifth largest Polish cable
operator and the largest with entirely Polish capital. It
reaches more than 160,000 households in six Polish
cities.
Doubletree taps Tivus
International
for in-room HD IPTV
children's channel
Books On TV? Kindle KidsCo adds VOD to solution in $1.2M deal
Technology entertainment services company
Tivus, which is based in Omaha, Nebraska, has landed
Hits the Web, Set-Top Poland's TOYA
a $1.2 million contract for in-room high-definition
IPTV from the Omaha Doubletree Hotel & Executive
NBC Universal backed children's channel
Meeting Center Downtown.
KidsCo is adding a video on demand component to its
Box
The five-year deal provides the Doubletree
existing package on TOYA, one of Poland's largest
47
with Tivus' in-room HD IPTV entertainment solution
for up to 450 rooms, and gives guests the option of
free and premium programming from around the
world, games, and TV access to property amenities,
goods, and services; and, all in the language of their
choice.
The hotel investigated multiple in-room HD
entertainment options while searching to replace its
existing legacy entertainment system, said Anthony
Spears, GM of the hotel said. "We were excited to
discover a robust new solution provider right in our
own backyard."
Spears said the hotel was attracted to the
Tivus solution by, among other features, its "novel,
personalized, and user-friendly features." Tivus also
provides the Doubletree with a revenue stream
through its unique-to-the-industry ad-revenue sharing
feature.
Tivus uses onsite hardware and software,
including flat-screen televisions, to give customers a
turnkey guest entertainment solution. Tivus' IPTV
hotel entertainment system is a complete, multifaceted
entertainment platform that, for the first time in the
industry, generates previously untapped revenues to
the hotel through commercial spots, advertisements of
local tourist services, and hotel promotions, etc.
Mayo Clinic launches
global social media
initiative
Mayo Clinic said Tuesday that it‘s taking its
social media push overseas.
The non-profit research and hospital group,
based in Rochester, Minnesota, launched the Social
Media Health Network, an international group that
promotes the use of social media tools like Facebook,
YouTube, and Twitter to promote health, fight disease,
and improve healthcare around the world.
―We believe the Social Media Health Network
will be a significant force for learning how to apply
social media tools effectively in the health context,‖
Dr. Victor Montori , medical director for Mayo Clinic
Center for Social Media, said in a statement.
―It will be a vehicle for us to share what we‘ve
learned about social media, including our training
resources, and for others to join us in learning together
and developing best practices,‖ Dr. Montori said.
―Ultimately, we want to help health-related
organizations of all sizes and types to harness these
powerful communication tools to help patients and
improve human health globally.‖
In July, Mayo created a social media center
designed to train other hospitals in the use of social
media tools. The new center will provide training,
workshops, consulting services and hold conferences
on how hospitals can better employ social media to
achieve business goals, connect with patients and
spread their message.
Mayo said Tuesday that the first members of
its new network include Bon Secours Health System
in Marriottsville, Maryland, Inova Health System in
Falls Church, Virginia, Mission Health System in
Asheville, North Carolina, and Swedish Health
Services in Seattle.
In addition, Mayo recruited Radboud
University Nijmegen Medical Centre (UMCN) in the
Netherlands as its first network partner and
community leader in Europe.
Mayo says it looking for partners in Africa,
Asia, Australia, and South America.
―Identifying strong organizations like UMCN that are
experienced in using social media and committed to
collaborating on health-related applications will be
crucial to extending the network,‖ Lee Aase, director
of Mayo‘s social media center, said in a statement.
Forrester: Social
Media Content
Creators Down in U.S.
This year, a smaller percentage of U.S.
Internet users are contributing to social media sites -uploading videos, writing blog entries, posting
comments to news articles and writing online product
reviews -- than in 2009, according to Forrester
Research.
This means that companies need to find ways
to re-engage those U.S. Internet users who have
stopped participating on their social media sites.
"The initial wave of consumers using social
technologies in the U.S. has halted. Companies will
now need to devise strategies to extend social
applications past the early adopters. This means that
you need to understand how your consumers use
social media," Forrester analyst Jackie RousseauAnderson wrote in a blog post on Tuesday about a
report she co-authored with Josh Bernoff, titled "A
Global Update of Social Technographics."
Social media "creators," which Forrester
defines as users who have a blog, upload videos and
music and write articles, shrunk from 24 percent of the
U.S. online population in 2009 to 23 percent in the
second quarter of this year, according to data from the
report.
"Critics," those who rate and review products,
post comments on others' blogs, participate in
48
discussion forums and collaborate on wikis, dropped
from 37 percent to 33 percent.
Likewise, "collectors," Internet users who
subscribe to syndicated feeds, tag Web pages and
photos and in general organize content for the benefit
of other users, fell from 21 percent to 19 percent,
Forrester said.
Even "spectators," the folks who read, watch
and listen to what the "creators," "critics" and
"collectors" post online, dropped from 73 percent to
68 percent, according to Forrester.
To boost social media participation on their
sites, companies should revise the online tools they
offer for people to post comments, reviews, ratings
and the like to make sure they are intuitive and easy to
use, as well as offer participants rewards.
The good news is that social-networking sites
continue to attract new people to social media,
according to the report, for which almost 27,000 U.S.
Internet users between the ages of 18 and 88 were
polled online.
These social media rookies drove up the ranks
of "joiners," who have social-networking profiles and
visit social-networking sites, from 51 percent to 59
percent, according to Forrester.
A new category this year is
"conversationalists," whom Forrester describes as
people who post status updates on social-networking
sites and microblogging services such as Twitter.
Thirty-one percent of U.S. Internet users fall into this
group.
Russia's VimpelCom
signs VOD deal with
Warner Brothers
Russian telco VimpelCom has signed a longterm agreement with Warner Brothers Digital
Distribution under which the latter's content will be
added to the VOD library of the telco's IPTV service
'Beeline TV'.
Content covered by the accord includes new
movies such as Clash of the Titans and Valentine's
Day, with rental costing RUB 75 (US$ 2.45), and
older films such as The Matrix, Lord of the Rings,
Harry Potter and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,
with rental costing RUB 50.
In an interview with IPTV News earlier this
year, Anatoliy Smorgonsky, Head of TV at
VimpelCom, stated that the telco had passed 60,000
active users of the service, despite offering it in just
two Russian cities, albeit major ones - Moscow
(including its areas) and Saint Petersbur.
FCC director joins
West Wireless Health
Institute
Dr. Mohit Kaushal, director of Connected
Health at the Federal Communications Commission,
has joined the West Wireless Health Institute as its
new Executive Vice President of Business
Development and Chief Strategy Officer. Kaushal is
tasked with identifying and pursuing opportunities that
help the WWHI fulfill its mission to bring down
healthcare costs. Kaushal‘s role also includes making
wireless health service more broadly available to end
users.
Kaushal is widely known for co-authoring the
FCC‘s National Broadband Plan‘s health chapter,
which focused heavily on mobile health.
In February, Kaushal presented at a mobile
health event in Washington DC where he made clear
his belief that mobile will have ―a huge role in
transforming healthcare.‖ Kaushal pointed to the
growing industry as a potential source of economic
growth and job creation. At the time, Kaushal pointed
to a number of key barriers for mobile health:
Infrastructure, wireless spectrum, regulation concerns,
reimbursement and payment reform are all key issues
that the FCC believes are important to the growth of
mHealth.
The FCC‘s National Broadband Plan laid out
various strategies for the FDA to better regulate
mHealth, ideas for the Centers for Medicaid &
Medicare to better reimburse for mHealth and much,
much more. Read more about the healthcare chapter of
the NBP here.
In May at the Wireless Life Sciences Alliance
event in La Jolla, Kaushal said that the federal
government is going to focus on cost cutting, and it
had allocated $10 billion through 2019 for the creation
of a CMS Innovation Center. While CMS has
conducted pilots in the past, Kaushal said it is difficult
for pilots to get implemented at the ―macro level.‖ The
CMS Innovation Center will conduct pilots that
reward value instead of volume, he said at the time.
Kaushal‘s focus on lowering healthcare costs
by leveraging mobile technology helps explain his
move to West Wireless Health Institute, which has
made it its mission to do just that. More on Kaushal
here. (PDF)
A few days ago, WWHI announced another
new executive: Eric Collins joined as as senior vice
president of commercial engineering and member of
the Institute‘s management committee. Collins is
responsible for moving wireless health concepts and
prototypes into the commercial development phase.
As the market continues to balloon, all three
companies are struggling to get a handle on it. IDC
projects that Microsoft's share of mobile ads will drop
to 7 percent from 10, and Google's from 27 percent to
21, putting it even with Apple. They'll be facing stiff
competition not only from each other, but from some
scrappier startups like Jumptap, which holds 13
percent, and Millenial Media with 11 percent.
On Phones Social is
the Killer App & it
Will Cost You
Apple's iAd hot on
Google's heels in
mobile ad sales
Apple is likely to end the year in a dead heat
with Google for mobile ad sales, according to an
estimate by research firm IDC. Each company is
predicted to have a 21 percent share of the market—a
far cry from Steve Jobs' assertion that Apple would
control 50 percent by the end of the year, but enough
to influence a drop in both Microsoft and Google's
shares.
IDC predicts that the total mobile ad market
will more than double in size by the end of 2010 to
$500 million per year. According to Bloomberg
BusinessWeek, Apple's introduction of iAd has
spurred a rush into the mobile ad market with Google,
Microsoft, and Apple buying companies and
upgrading their systems to adapt.
49
Social networking has become the killer
application for mobile broadband and possibly the
adoption of smart phones. A survey out today from
Allot Communications, which tracks the types of
traffic sent via mobile broadband networks, has
measured a 310 percent increase in Twitter traffic in
the first half of 2010 compared to the second half of
2009, and a 200 percent increase in Facebook traffic
during the same time frame. Carriers and handset
makers should not ignore these numbers, as social
networking has the potential to compel average users
to shell out for a more expensive phone that delivers a
better social networking experience, as well as spring
for a pricey mobile broadband plan. From the report:
One of the most striking results to emerge
from this MobileTrends report is the natural synergy
that exists between social media and mobile
broadband. This is clearly illustrated by the rise in
Twitter and Facebook. This synergy continues to
strengthen as social networking becomes a ‗must-have‘
part of our lifestyles and changes the way we conduct
both our personal and business lives.
For those who think Facebook shouldn‘t do a
phone, I have to disagree, especially after seeing these
results. The previous Allot survey, which measured
traffic during the second half of 2009, showcased the
rocket-like growth of YouTube and HTTP streaming
via mobile devices, prompting me to write that
YouTube will kill fat rate broadband pricing. Well,
that‘s happening, as AT&T has already rolled out
tiered pricing (with lower tiers!) and Verizon
contemplates its moves. However, Verizon‘s
consideration of a different plan from AT&T, (its
CEO Ivan Seidenberg had said he didn‘t agree with
how AT&T ―valued the data‖) has me wondering if
Big Red might come out with something truly
innovative, splitting out different types of traffic for
different speeds or quality of service guarantees. Net
Neutrality advocates would throw a fit, but just last
week, my colleague Ryan Lawler reported that
YouTube is building a specialized mobile site and
looking for carrier partners to create plans over which
such traffic could be delivered.
If the carriers want to take a look at
segmenting their plans via the type of traffic delivered,
Allot would love to help them, as that‘s what the
company‘s software does, but the idea of such
segmented pricing also offers carriers a way out of
declining average revenue per user for voice, and the
inability to recoup that decline with mobile broadband
price hikes. As for voice ARPU, the Allot data
indicates it‘s likely to continue declining, not only as
networks go all-IP and voice becomes just another bit
in the stream thanks to VoIP, but also because more
and more conversations are taking place via Skype and
on other mobile IM apps. Skype takes the lion‘s share
of these IM and VoIP traffic streams, but all in all, the
voice via IP and IM has risen 84 percent, during the
first half of the year compared to the same time frame
last year (it is still less than 5 percent of overall traffic
though).
Using the Allot data, I can envision folks
electing different mobile broadband packages based
on their desire to consume video, update their
Facebook pages and send photos, as well as use
productivity and collaboration applications like IM or
voice. It‘s not just a potential opportunity to boost
margins and eliminate the heavy loads on the network,
but it‘s also a chance for handset makers to
differentiate their devices, either with unique built-in
user interfaces or different hardware. Not that the doeverything-pretty-well type of smartphones would go
by the wayside, but it‘s possible that on the lower-end,
such application-specific phones and plans would not
only gain users, but also dominate the market. You
50
can see this trend coming with specialty style handsets
like the existing Skype or Twitter phones and the
upcoming Facebook phone.
There‘s also the tacit admission from
MetroPCS last week, when it launched the nation‘s
first LTE network with a non-smartphone, that the
draw for many consumers isn‘t a computer, but rather
a phone that can access video and social networking
sites. So consumers will get the data they want, but
maybe not at the flat rate prices they‘re used to, while
carriers can get the margins they want while also
protecting their networks from traffic overloads. The
big web players can rest assured that with good
execution and perhaps a carrier partnership, they can
offer an extension of their web brand to the
fragmented and expensive mobile web that I think
we‘re going to have to deal with for years to come.
Microsoft's Cyber
Security Ebook And
Google TV
In an effort to keep up with the ongoing need
for safety and security on the Web, especially for teens,
Microsoft has developed and released a free Ebook
that imparts and defines an incredible amount of
diverse security topics.
Even though Microsoft created this
specifically for teenagers, it became clear that the
book's contents does offer such an indepth view into
using the Internet safely that it can be used by anyone
looking to gain advise and insight on Internet security.
One of Microsoft's main concerns in
developing the Ebook was to not insult teens by
appearing to be trying too hard to look cool. In
checking out the Ebook, I must say that Microsoft did
a fantastic job at, as the teen set says, "keeping it real."
Microsoft should be given high praise in that
they really did create a comprehensive guide for teens
as well as new computer users, which does cover
everything relative to cyber security.
Some of the topics include catching phishing
tactics, how to set up your browser so that you're
protected against browser-based intrusions and crimes,
how to handle cyber-stalking and bullying. The Ebook
also offers up an interesting history and real world
examples of the danger and harm that can and has
come from cyber security vulnerabilities.
The great part is that you and your teenager
can download the 253-page book for free. Microsoft
has added an aspect of convenience in that you have
the option to either download the entire book or you
can download only those chapters that you feel are
relevant to the specific concerns that you and your
teenager may have.
In reviewing the Ebook, it was also obvious to
me that it would be a great teaching tool for students
and organizations.
I urge every parent, teacher, caregiver and
youth organization to get a copy of this Ebook and to
use it to help "tweens," teens and everyone find ways
to be safe on the Web. If you would like to download
the Ebook, all you need to do is visit "Own Your
Space: Keep Yourself and Your Stuff Safe Online."
So, what's hot at Google? Well, Google has
made a strong move into the Internet TV arena and is
calling its new venture, appropriately so, Google TV.
This new technology is planned to hit the scene within
the next few months in the U.S. and will create a
seamless connection between your TV and the Web.
Google TV will also connect to the Android
app store as well as the Android-powered smartphones
and the iPhone, with both having the capability to be
used as remote controls for Google TV.
There will be three specific devices that will
have the ability to initiate the Google TV platform and
they will be Sony HDTV, Blu-ray players and a
Logitech set-top box, both of which should connect to
your TV, provided that your TV is in the recent highdefinition realm.
This new endeavor is incredible as it will
completely change the way we use and view our TVs
and our computers, in that it will, in effect, merge the
two. You will be able to get the Web at the push of a
button and channeled TV with a smooth cross
platform search tool ability and your TV will become
an enormous digital photo frame with a slideshow
mode that will allow you to have all your photos
uploaded to sites like Flickr or Facebook.
Make sure you say thank you to the required
Google TV hardware specs like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi,
as they will give you the ability to load a Web page on
your Android phone and beam it to your Google TV.
Also, in case you forgot, remember that whole
Android and smartphone voice recognition thing I told
you about in the first part of this series? Well, you can
also use your Android phone's voice recognition,
making it possible to change channels or search for
shows just by talking into the phone and this
application will become available for other
smartphones in time.
As you can see, Microsoft and Google are
charting a course, in their respective arenas, that is
both exciting and definitely expanding our capabilities
in the vast, open space we call the information
highway.
So make sure you're on that fast-moving ride
and strap in tight, because it's going to be a wild, fastpaced and exciting ride. I hope we can all keep up!
Andino Ward is vice president of marketing
and operations of Bardissi Enterprises in Hatfield.
Bardissi Enterprises welcomes your questions or
comments. Questions you would like answered or
topics you would like discussed should be sent to
Andino R.
Like Bethenny
Frankel's Closet? Just
Scan Your TV Screen
with Your Smart
Phone: TV Ads Are
Jumping into BarCode Advertising
Bar codes have been appearing in magazines
and in other print media advertisements for a while,
51
allowing smartphone users to click a photo of the
black-and-white boxes to be redirected to retailers'
sites, but now the technology is making its way to
television commercials,reports the New York Times.
Fashion retailer Bluefly is airing bits of
"Closet Confessions" interviews with celebrities such
as Bethenny Frankel, who had starred in "The Real
Housewives of New York City," in advertisements
that include bar codes that link viewers to a complete
episode and discounts at its site, the story says. "This
is new for us, but we expect our page views to
double," says Bluefly's chief marketing officer
Bradford Matson.
While the technology is widely used in Asia
and Europe, it's a relatively small market because
there's no standard code and the number of
smartphone users with the right software is a relatively
small pool, the story says. Bluefly says the campaign
has boosted sales from "Closet Confessions" fans,
with their average shopping orders jumping to $450
from $300, the article adds.
Business owners love
social media
OTTAWA Canadian businesses are turning to
social media and they want to be more than just
―friends.‖
A new report by Bank of Montreal based on a
survey of 427 firms indicates one in three of them are
using the relatively new technology to help their
businesses.
Three-quarters of those companies using
social media said making connections in the virtual
world was very helpful in the real world, as well.
―When it comes to sharing ideas, promoting
company brand as well as products, social media has
proven to be a method of choice for Canadian business
owners,‖ said Cathy Pin, BMO‘s vice-president of
commercial banking.
One of the advantages of social media, is that
it allows for relatively easy and quick two-way
electronic communications involving large numbers of
people.
Facebook and Twitter are among the bestknown examples of social media sites, but there are
many other sites and various forms, including
podcasting, video sharing and social bookmarking.
The report states that about 30 per cent of
firms on social media use it to gather ideas and
suggestions from other people, 30 per cent to promote
brand recognition and to buff up the firm‘s reputation
and 20 per cent to sell products.
Businesses have also been known to use social
media for background checks on prospective
employees.
BMO economist Douglas Porter said it‘s not
unusual for businesses to jump on the bandwagon of a
new technology and put it to use.
Canadians ordered $15b in goods and services
online last year: StatsCan
OTTAWA Canadians ordered $15.1-billion
worth of goods and services on the Internet last year,
up from $12.8 billion in 2007. Statistics Canada
attributes the increase to a rise in the number of online
shoppers and a higher volume of orders. The agency
says about 39 per cent of Canadians aged 16 and older
used the Internet to place more than 95 million orders
in 2009 — up from 32 per cent and the 70 million
orders in 2007, when the survey was last conducted.
Social Media's
Southeast Asia
Growing Faster Than
U.S.
In days of yore when it was believed the Earth
was the center of the Universe, it was a harsh reality
when we learned we were only one of many planets
that circled the sun. Today, the same could be said for
the U.S. and Americans' belief that we generate more
interaction on social media channels than the rest of
the world.
Fact is, while the U.S. is one of the world's top
Twitter nations garnering 25 percent of the world's
tweets, it falls significantly below Asia as a region.
According to a recent Semiocast study, users in Asia,
mainly located in Japan, Indonesia and South Korea
account for 37 percent of all tweets out of 2.9 million
messages tracked. And while Asia is showing growth
from March to June in 2010, North America as an
aggregate is declining.
The figures broken down by regions are: Asia
37% up from 31.5% three months ago, North America
31% down from 36%, South America stable at 15%,
Europe 14% down from 15%, Africa 1.5% up from
1%, Oceania stable at 1.5%. This study follows the
United Nations statistic division‘s classification, and
therefore Indonesia is counted in Asia.
Channelnewsasia.com supported these stats by
reporting that "Asians are muscling their way into
traditionally Western-dominated social media
networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Internet blogs,
prompting major players to sit up and take notice."
Not one to not take advantage of a burgeoning
market, Mark Zuckerberg has launched a Facebook
Blake ChandleeAsian sales office in Singapore this
month in order to capitalize on selling ads to
companies in the region. "The Asian market's a very,
very big market for us," said Blake Chandlee,
Facebook's commercial director for regions outside
North America and western Europe. "It's an enormous
opportunity for us."
52
With China's censorship restrictions of
Facebook and Twitter it seems odd that Asia would be
the fastest-growing region among the network's
geographical demographics. Yet a report in July from
the Nielsen research firm noted that "while the U.S.
pioneered much of the early Web 2.0 and social media
innovation, Asia is playing no small role in shaping and in some cases - leading - the new social media
landscape."
However, the increase in usage by Asian
netizens is due in large part to the populations of these
countries. China alone at 1.35 billion people has
produced 221 million bloggers or more than twice the
number in the United States.
Thomas CramptonThomas Crampton, AsiaPacific director of Ogilvy Public Relations' global
social media team points to another factor as to the
exponential social medi growth in Southeast Asia. He
feels that while Facebook and Twitter are popular in
these countries, there are several domestic clones of
the Western networks that have grown up in countries
like China. Weibo, for instance is China's version of
Twitter, while YouKu and Qzone are replicas of
YouTube and Facebook.
And Web 2.0 is only the beginning for
Southeast Asia. According to a number of tech reports,
it appears that China will be the leader in Semantic
Technology as we enter the new Web 3.0 era. In my
recent post, "China's 'Internet Of Things' To Become
Semantic Web Superpower?" China has made the
"Internet of Things" and sensor technology a priority
and will be investing billions to become the global
leader.
While we slowly fall behind Southeast Asia in
technology that was originated in this country, it might
be time for Americans to raise the red flag (no pun
intended) and re-engage - less we head down the
dismal path outlined in Martin Jacques' book, "When
China Rules The World." Food for thought!
Sony adds iPlayer to
Bravia TVs
Sony's Bravia range of TV's will now offer
access to BBC iPlayer via the Bravia Internet Video
service.
The service will give users the option to watch
television programmes from the last seven days.
Christian Brown, Senior Category Marketing
Manager, Sony, said: "We are delighted to be able to
offer BRAVIA customers this added entertainment
functionality giving users the ability to watch and
manage their favourite programmes at the click of a
button. We are really excited to be partnering with the
BBC to bring its fantastic service to the 2010
BRAVIA television range".
U R here! Ad apps will
be, too
Twin Cities companies gear up for the next
wave in advertising: sending them to your smart phone
based on your exact location.
Anyone who's used the Minneapolis skyways
knows how it feels to be a lab rat caught in a maze.
But, for 3,500 users of a free iPhone app, no
longer. The Minneapolis Skyway app uses the
iPhone's "geolocation" feature, in which a
combination of GPS chips and cell phone towers
pinpoints the phone's location on a skyway map that
includes individual buildings, to show you where you
are.
What will they think of next? How to send
your smart phone advertising, based on your location
in the skyway, said Casey Holley, co-founder of
Frypan Digital, the Marine on St. Croix creator of the
skyway app.
"If a store near you is highlighted on the
skyway map, you'll be able to click to find out what
their special deal or sale is for that day," Holley said.
While there aren't many such ads yet,
geolocation advertising is gaining ground as marketers
look for more efficient ways to reach customers.
Newspaper advertising has slumped, and many
magazines have folded during the recession. Online
advertising is growing, but it can't be aimed at people
based on their exact location.
The interest in geolocation ads is being driven
partly by the growing use of smart phones. Global
shipments of smart phones are expected to increase 35
percent this year, to 247 million, according to
California-based research firm iSuppli.
Another driving factor is the growing
popularity of social networking services such as
Facebook Places and Foursquare that offer geolocation
services to help you find your friends when you're out
and about. Both of the social networking services
allow you to "check-in" at places such as restaurants,
then broadcast that location so online friends can meet
you there.
So far, only a few percent of smart phone
owners are using geolocation apps, Forrester Research
recently reported. But Darrin Clement, CEO of
Vermont-based Maponics, a provider of maps to
Google and Twitter, says geolocation apps can be a
big business, even if no more than 10 to 20 percent of
smart phone users eventually use them.
Who will advertise through geolocation ads?
Everybody who used the yellow pages directories, said
Jason Gould, senior vice president and general
manager for 30-employee app creator Inergize Digital
of Bloomington. Smart phone apps offer advertisers a
way to show consumers ads for businesses within only
a 5-mile radius of their location, a capability called
"geo-targeting," he said.
Inergize Digital provides a free iPhone
directory and advertising app called "Seek it Local."
The directory lists 217,000 businesses in Minnesota,
and search results are prioritized by a consumer's
location and whether a nearby business paid for a
higher-ranked listing.
But the app's real goal is to send your phone
banner ads from nearby businesses. So, for example, a
user could request to see a list of only nearby
restaurants, and might receive banner ads from some
of them as well. About 500 people have downloaded
the "Seek it Local" iPhone app since August, Gould
said.
"It's not huge number yet," Gould said. "But
those 500 people have used the app more than 10,000
times."
Others are also just out of the starting gate.
53
"Right now, geolocation is hugely important
for free news, weather and traffic apps," said Wade
Beavers, CEO of DoApp Inc., an 11-employee
Minneapolis firm that writes free smart phone apps for
broadcasters such as WCCO. TV stations are desirable
partners because they provide up-to-the-minute news,
weather and traffic that is popular with consumers, he
said. Location-based advertising can be delivered by
the same app.
Beavers declined to say how many times the
WCCO app has been downloaded, but said that for all
of the firm's 190 clients, including many TV stations,
apps have been downloaded more than 3 million times.
But so far, the iPhone geolocation apps from
Inergize and DoApp seem to draw mostly national
advertising that isn't dependent on a consumer's
location in the Twin Cities. The Inergize app carries
ads for Overstock.com and the Ford Motor Co.
DoApp's WCCO app has one ad for Explore
Minnesota, and others for McDonald's, Rockport
Shoes, Duracell batteries and YellowPages.com.
Despite the slow start for geo-targeted
advertising, Facebook is optimistic.
"Going forward, we expect a lot of advertising
use of Facebook Places," said Facebook spokeswoman
Meredith Chin at the company's Palo Alto, Calif.,
headquarters. "People will check in to a place to get a
coupon."
Apple, Google and Microsoft also are poised
to capitalize on geolocation advertising when it takes
off. Apple has introduced iAds, advertisements that
will appear within the apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch
and iPad -- although initially they won't use
geolocation. Google offers search ads for cell phone
Internet browsers that rely on the phone's location.
Microsoft plans to sell advertising through its new
Windows Phone 7 cell phone operating system, but
hasn't released details.
But even some with a financial stake in the
success of geolocation advertising wonder how many
people will use it.
"I'm not sure how many users will feel that's a
little too much like Big Brother watching you," says
Holley.
Facebook Places already has suffered a spate
of Big Brother accusations over its geolocation service,
because for the first time it enables a friend to check
you in at a location without your permission, raising
fears of stalking. Chin said that feature of Places can
be turned off.
But local software companies say geolocation
apps don't threaten personal privacy.
"We don't collect any information about
people, and we're not watching a person move from
point A to point B," Beavers said. "All we know is that
the smart phone user was at that place at that
moment."
Still, Clement of Maponics predicts that
public privacy concerns probably will force a change
in the rules of geolocation advertising. Instead of
pinpointing a smart phone user's specific location,
geolocation may be limited to identifying only the
neighborhood where the person is. Such limits could
actually help advertisers by encouraging consumers to
use location-based ads when they're looking for
something specific.
"When they're in Chinatown, they may want
to enable ads for restaurants," he said. "And when
they're in a shopping area they may want to enable ads
for clothes."
show and watch their rental anytime over the next 30
days. Once they start watching, though, there's a 48
hour time-out phase that begins. After 48 hours, Apple
TV eliminates the show from your library. Netflix lets
you watch content under an unlimited subscription,
without expiration or time-outs. You can also check
out media from YouTube, MobileMe, and Flickr.
In other news, there's rumors a delay for the
new second generation Apple TV for people that
ordered "upgraded shipping." Apple had to send out an
email to customers saying that the product delivery
could be delayed until mid-October, saying:
―Our records indicate that when you placed
your order you paid for upgraded shipping. Due to a
delay, we may have not been able to meet our delivery
commitment.‖
Apple TV is scheduled to be shipped
sometime in September.
The network TV industry is taking lessons
from the music industry by not offering their content
to Apple TV, as the past week's events show. Apple
came to own the online music game so much that it
could pretty much demand what it wanted from the
music labels and they had no chance but to go along
with the general plan. TV says not this time.
"The 99¢ rental is not a good price point. It
doesn't work for us," said Viacom CEO Philippe
Dauman. "We value our content a lot. We don't think
Apple has it quite right yet."
The collective dis that's going on around the
TV industry towards Apple TV is actually a pretty
smart strategy. Netflix is already available on Apple
TV, which means that TV networks can offer their
shows through Netflix, which they get paid more for,
and they'll all still be available to Apple TV users.
The new Apple TV allows users to "rent" TV
shows for only 99¢, which means they can buy by the
NE — (MARKET WIRE) – 09/23/10 — Tivus,
Inc. (PINKSHEETS: TIVU), a provider of turnkey
media entertainment technology to the hotel and
hospitality industry, today announced it has been
awarded its first in-room high-definition internet
protocol television (HD IPTV) contract from the
Doubletree® Hotel & Executive Meeting Center
Downtown in Omaha, Nebraska . ―Marking a
significant milestone in the company‘s business plan, I
believe this contract with the Omaha Doubletree
confirms the hotel industry‘s support of Tivus‘ netpositive-revenue-to-the-hotel business model,‖
commented Shiva Prakash, Tivus‘ president and
chief executive officer. The 60-month contract, valued
at more than $1.2 million , provides the Omaha
Doubletree with Tivus‘ unique in-room HD IPTV
entertainment solution for up to 450 rooms. Anthony
Spears , General Manager of the Omaha Doubletree
commented, ―Currently, our guests increasingly
Tivus Awarded
Doubletree Hotels(R)
Apple TV Update:
IPTV Contract
Dissed by Network TV HDMarketwire
‖Press Releases ‖ OMAHA,
54
demand and appreciate high-definition televisions,
wide varieties of free and premium programming from
around the world, games, and TV access to property
amenities, goods, and services; and, all in the language
of their choice. The Omaha Doubletree
Hotel investigated multiple in-room HD
entertainment options while searching to replace our
existing legacy entertainment system. After evaluating
multiple vendors, we were excited to discover a robust
new solution provider right in our own ‗backyard‘ –
Tivus, Inc. , of Omaha, Nebraska . ―Omaha
Doubletree management is excited to have
selected Tivus‘ HD IPTV as our in-room
entertainment solution provider. We were amazed at
the novel, personalized, and user-friendly
features Tivus has designed into its solution.
Furthermore, for the first time in the
industry, Tivus provides the Omaha Doubletree with
a new revenue stream through its unique-to-theindustry ad-revenue sharing feature. In addition, with
the benefits of revenue sharing, scalability, and ease of
customization, Tivus‘ IPTV solution gives us an
entertainment platform that will enhance our guests‘
hotel experience, and our bottom-line, for many years
to come,‖ Spears concluded. ―It is important to
recognize, in this new revenue generating paradigm
for the hotel and hospitality industry, the amount of
the contract is only a part of the total revenue expected
to be generated. Advertising revenues will generate a
second revenue stream that is expected to currently
yield additional revenues of two to three times that of
the price of the contract. ―Moreover, upon completion
of Tivus‘ network operations center, this second
revenue stream is conservatively expected to yield
revenues of more than five to six times that of the
original contract price. Specific revenue sharing
numbers are proprietary, and have been withheld for
competitive reasons. ―As the hotel industry begins to
adopt Tivus‘ IPTV solution, I look forward to
announcing additional projects in the near future,‖
Prakash concluded.
Disney Introduces
Social Media Site
Let The Memories Begin offers guests a site to
share photo, video or text memories and allows
Disney to use the content in advertising and
marketing.
Extending its use of social media beyond its
acquisition of Playdom and its relationship with
Twitter, Disney on Thursday kicked-off an ad
campaign that uses Facebook, YouTube and MySpace
to capture and share visitors' home movies and
photographs at Disney Parks Let The Memories Begin,
an online destination where consumers can upload
their Disney vacation photos and videos.
Guests can share their photography, video or
text memories at DisneyParks.com/Memories;
Facebook.com/WaltDisneyWorld;
Facebook.com/Disneyland;
Youtube.com/DisneyMemories or
Myspace.com/DisneyParks. After hitting submit,
Disney will review the content, and then store and
share it.
According to the site terms of use, those
submitting content grant Disney "a perpetual, nonexclusive, irrevocable, fully-paid, royalty-free, sublicensable and transferable (in whole or part)
worldwide license" to the content "for any and all
purposes including entertainment, news, advertising,
promotional, marketing, publicity, trade or
commercial purposes."
"So, what should you submit? Your favorite
memories -- whether it was a first meeting with a
Disney princess, a laugh-filled Splash Mountain ride
or a magical moment around a holiday fireplace when
mom and dad surprised everyone with a "We're Going
to Disney!" announcement -- We're looking for videos
and photos that capture your never-to-be-forgotten
experiences," said Thomas Smith, social media
director at Disney Parks, in a company blog.
In January 2011, Disney will expand its use of
visitors' pictures when it projects guests' selected
photographs onto Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney
World and "It's a Small World" at Disneyland Resort,
he said.
"In both locations, Disney PhotoPass
photographers will provide images of guests shot
during the day to be shared on the icons. While we're
still working on the show details, producers estimate
as many as 500 photos will be shown in each location
every day," said Smith.
Other changes may be afoot: Today, Steve
Wadsworth, who became president of Disney's
internet group in 1999, announced his resignation.
Despite an overhaul in 2007, the division -- which
oversees Club Penguin, a social media site for children
-- has struggled to become profitable, according to
reports
In July, Disney disclosed its plan to acquire
Playdom, maker of online games such as Mobsters,
Social City and Market Street, and iPhone game
developer Tapulous. Disney expects Playdom's
expertise in social gaming software tools, business
intelligence and rapid innovation to benefit Disney
Interactive Media Group, which already has a
substantial global presence in online, console and
mobile gaming, DIMG said in a July statement.
"This acquisition furthers our strategy of
allocating capital to high-growth businesses that can
benefit from our many characters, stories and brands,
delivering them in a creatively compelling way to a
new generation of fans on the platforms they prefer,"
said Robert Iger, president and CEO, in a release.
Also in July, Disney became Twitter's first
earlybird exclusive, when it offered @earlybird and
@DisneyPictures' followers a 2-for-1 deal on tickets to
The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Earlier in the year, the
company hosted the sold-out Disney Social Media
Moms Conference.
A month earlier, Disney created an application
that allowed people to purchase tickets to Toy Story 3
from Facebook, without leaving the site. When people
bought a ticket using Disney Tickets Together, the app
alerted friends.
IMDb Movies & TV
My most common problem with apps based
on Websites is that they're not much of an
improvement over viewing the site in your mobile
Web browser--and in certain cases, they're actually
55
worse. Luckily, IMDb (Internet Movie Database)
avoids those pitfalls and stands out as an exemplary
model for what this type of app should look like.
The IMDb app is divided into Movies,
Television, and People sections. The top portion of the
screen fills with images of the most-viewed IMDb
content, which you can browse through by scrolling
horizontally. Below that, the material available varies
from category to category. In the Movies section, it
includes links to showtimes in the United States, boxoffice results, the top 250 movies, the bottom 100
films, popular movies by genre, and other topics. The
Television section lists recaps, as well as what
programming is on tonight. In the People section you
can see a list of Hollywood stars that have a birthday
today.
Clicking on a movie or TV show brings up the
same sort of information you expect to see on IMDb,
such as trailers, ratings, the release date, a plot
summary, the cast, and other details like trivia and
quotes. Clicking on a person's profile produces a bio
and filmography for the individual.
The formatting of IMDb is attractive, and it is
easy to browse and read. Browsing is fast and
responsive. The IMDb app also has links to the host
Website, as well as to Amazon for DVD or Blu-ray
purchases. If you're a non-U.S. user, you can readjust
the Website URLs in the settings so that it takes you to
the mirror site for your country. My only wish for
IMDb is to have the ability to access a search bar at
the top or bottom of the screen, instead of being forced
to go to the menu to run a search.
Why Netflix Has
Already Won the
Digital TV/Video War
How the Mail DVD Service Stole the Market From
Cable and the Studios -- and Hulu, Apple, Google,
Amazon
Now that premium entertainment is becoming
easy to stream from web to TV, the race to monetize
growing consumer demand is becoming fierce. The
stakeholders include nearly the entire internet -Google, Apple, Amazon, Hulu -- and nearly the entire
entertainment industry -- NBC Universal, News Corp.,
Disney and, soon, Sony, Viacom and Time Warner.
Unfortunately for them there's already a clear
winner. Netflix. Here's why:
- The company built its business on DVD
rentals by mail but realized early on it needed
to diversify to accommodate shifting
consumer behavior -- which it successfully
achieved with its streaming offering, Watch
Instantly.
- Over the past two years, Netflix has grown its
subscriber base by 78% and its revenue by
54%, according to its recent earnings reports.
These gains have come organically from
steady quarter-to-quarter increments. The
percentage of Netflix subsribers who stream
video is growing even more dramatically. In
Q2 2010, some 61% of subscribers used
Watch Instantly for at least 15 minutes,
compared with 55% in Q1 2010 and 37% in
Q2 2009.
- Netflix understands that it needs to invest
heavily in content acquisition to beef up its
library of streaming titles. The company just
cut a film licensing deal with Paramount,
MGM and Lionsgate worth an estimated $200
million a year for five years. That sounds like
a lot of money until you realize that Netflix
spends about $600 million a year on postage.
If it can shave off those costs by converting
more of its customers to digital, it will
increase its licensing war chest.
- Netflix has also been smart about partnering
with makers of TVs, set-top boxes, video
game consoles, Blu-ray players, tablets and
smartphones -- not to mention Apple TV,
which is essentially a competitor. The Netflix
logo is ubiquitous on most of the major
viewing platforms.
- Netflix is perceived as more of a movie brand
than a TV brand, but this is starting to change
thanks to CEO Reed Hastings' aggressive
pursuit of licensing deals for back seasons of
popular TV shows. Netflix is determined to
pull the rug out from under Hulu in the TV
space -- at least when it comes to back catalog
-- and seems to have the right strategy to do
so.
Compare this to how other companies are
approaching the digital onrush.
Hulu. Hulu earns more revenue from online video
advertising than any other site on the internet,
according to eMarketer estimates. But its ad revenue
still consistently falls short of analyst projections and
the expectations of its owners. Its next move: Create
Hulu Plus, a Netflix-like subscription service for TV
shows, with less total content and similar price point.
Hulu has, however, floated the idea of an initial public
offering, which presumably would raise capital to
finance content acquisition.
Apple. Lowering the price of its Apple TV player
to $99 and transitioning iTunes TV shows and movies
from a download model to a rental/streaming model
are good ideas. But it's hard to imagine massive
numbers of people spending $99 on a separate gadget
when they already own -- or plan to buy -- devices that
enable them to watch online video (in other words,
Netflix) on their flatscreens for no additional cost,
including game consoles, Blu-ray players and internetconnected TVs. By the same token, many people
would rather take advantage of Netflix's bundled
offering, or free TV shows on Hulu, than pay $5 for a
movie or $1 for a TV episode on Apple TV.
Google. The search giant has virtually owned
user-generated video since 2006, when it purchased
YouTube. The problem is user-generated video has
proven very difficult to monetize. Will Google TV or
a rumored YouTube premium HD subscription service
help? It's too early to say how well Google will be
able to integrate these products into technologies like
internet-connected TVs, game consoles and set-top
boxes, but if Google can afford to undercut Apple and
other set-top box makers, it could gain a competitive
edge. That, however, is a big "if."
Amazon. Amazon is reportedly considering
adding a TV and movie subscription service along the
lines of Netflix's Watch Instantly. Without knowing
more about its offering, it's tough to say how Amazon
stacks up against the others, but it's clear that Amazon
is late to the party. Neflix, Hulu, Apple and Google
have far more equity in the TV and movie industries,
and it's hard to imagine that Amazon would radically
change the dynamics of the market.
56
The Bottom Line. It will be years before TV and
home movie viewing shift en masse from cable and
broadcast to purely internet-based offerings. Until TV
networks and movie studios start seeing dollar signs,
they're not likely to make a critical mass of content
available to digital video providers.
But with the advantage of having built and
strengthened its user base for TV and web platforms
during the past few years, Netflix has placed
newcomers at a critical disadvantage: The potential
users of Hulu, Google/YouTube, Apple, and Amazon
TV offering are -- for the most part -- already loyal
Netflix users. And as long as Netflix continues to get
the content licenses it needs to keep its users happy,
their attention -- and dollars -- will will continue to go
to Netflix.
iBAHN partners with
JW Marriott Cairo to
provide IPTV and
secure high-speed
internet services
iBAHN, the worldwide leader in digital
entertainment and internet solutions for the hospitality
and meeting industries, today announces that it is to
complete an IPTV and High Speed Internet Access
(HSIA) installation at the JW Marriott Cairo in Egypt.
The hotel will be equipped with iBAHN's
state-of-the-art IPTV solution and HSIA over fibreoptic networks allowing guests in the 436 rooms &
suites and public areas to access the internet securely,
with a high quality of service and technical support in
local languages. iBAHN's ETVi delivers digital
services that combine "home-from-home" digital TV
entertainment with superb HD picture quality vastly
superior to analogue systems, and secure high-speed
internet services.
Using ETVi, the JW Marriott Hotel Cairo will
now fully integrate guest services with entertainment
packages, offering multiple revenue streams along
with guest satisfaction through the system's ease of use
combined with greater choice of high-quality
entertainment.
Furthermore, iBAHN has also installed Self
Service Conference Solution Services that cater for the
hotel's events and hospitality requirements, Business
Center and Lobby PC Services, Laptop Connect
Service to meet the internet demands of every guest.
JW Marriott Cairo is an award-winning
property nestled in the tranquil district of Heliopolis,
just seven minutes away from Cairo's International
Airport and close to key attractions. It is Cairo's only
corporate resort offering an exclusive blend of luxury
relaxation and personalised service. JW Marriott
offers stress-free business events and a wide range of
leisure activities, including 12 restaurants, bars and
lounges, A 27-hole championship golf course, themed
water park, and state-of-the-art health centre and spa.
Mr Magdy Naguib, General Manager, JW
Marriott Cairo, comments, "Our guests expect to
receive the finest services from the JW Marriott brand
and we need to make sure we meet their expectations
throughout their stay. iBAHN has a long history of
working in partnership with Marriott and not only
provides the high-quality product and delivery that our
guests expect, it also offers a dependable support
network and regional expertise that we trust."
Graeme Powell, Managing Director EMEA,
iBAHN, comments, "Egypt and North Africa is a fast
growing area for iBAHN. We have a fully integrated
company office on the ground in Egypt meaning we
can provide local support, whilst still being in line
with iBAHN's established practises. We've also
worked hard to establish a personal presence in the
region by working closely with our hotel partners to
understand their needs at a regional level."
Smart Home | Eragy
Launches Smart
Home Energy
Monitoring Apps
Eragy, Inc., a provider of smart home software
applications and services that include home energy
monitoring, intelligent home energy management and
smart home system monitoring, has announced to
introduce its first suite of applications for Control4
dealers and homeowners.
Having realized a growing need for new smart
home services that would allow custom electronics
integrators to take advantage of their installed base of
smart home customers and generate new sources of
revenue, the Eragy team has launched the new
solutions to enable the integrators in offering a new
suite of software applications.
In the words of Eric Smith, Chief Evangelist
at Control4, the Eragy Energy 4Store Application and
the Eragy Energy driver allow homeowners to monitor
and manage their home‘s energy consumption right
from their TV. Smith continued that innovative apps
like these truly enhance the usability and functionality
of a Control4 system and provide dealers with
valuable solutions for their customers.
According to Craig Heim, general manager at
simpleHome, a CEPro 100 custom electronics
integration firm and Control4 dealer, recurring service
revenue has become a very important component of
company‘s business model. Heim noted that
simpleHome is very excited to offer Eragy‘s home
energy management and monitoring applications as
they provide the company with very compelling
service offerings for both new customers and its
existing Control4 clients.
A cloud-based Applications Services
Architecture powers the applications and services
offered by Eragy, which help the company in
continuously adding and enhancing the applications,
and also enable the dealers to provide new services to
their customers on a consistent basis. Additionally, the
dealers can also leverage the platform to easily install
new services for their clients so that they can
themselves configure and manage their Eragy clients
via a web-based account manager.
With the help of these software applications
launched by Eragy, homeowners will be able to
57
monitor their energy consumption and better
understand how they can reduce their energy bills. The
solutions are compatible with various 3rd party energy
monitors as well, which will provide the homeowners
with a number of options for whole house and
individual circuit monitoring. Using these options, the
homeowners can easily access Eragy‘s energy services
through various mediums, such as the TV screen, iPad,
touch screen, smart phone or a web browser. Apart
from it, the intelligent home energy management
application offered by the company supports ‗time of
use‘ and ‗demand‘ based electricity pricing so that the
homeowners can access these rate options, which can
help them save up to 30 percent on their monthly
electric bills.
In July 2010, Control4, a provider of IP-based
home control systems announced to introduce the
Control4 4Store Developers Program. The 4Store
application marketplace is a new Flash-based platform
to deliver applications to Control4 customers and the
first application marketplace to extend beyond mobile
devices and into the digital home.
NEC Installs
Complete IP Based
Telephone and IPTV
System Solutions for
Mandarin Oriental,
Macau
NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701)
announced today the installation of NEC's IP
telephony and Deuoromedia's IPTV system(1) for one
of Macau's most exclusive hotels, Mandarin Oriental,
Macau, which opened on June 30. The hotel's new
system includes 213 units of the UNIVERGE IP
Phone DT750, an enhanced hospitality IP based multi-
function phone for guestrooms, and over 230 units of
the DT750 and DT730 IP phones for administration
purposes. Additionally, the IPTV system is installed
throughout all 213 guestrooms.
As a market leader in the hospitality industry,
NEC understands the need for luxury hotels to provide
customers with world-class services that surpass the
competition. NEC's system caters to the specialized
needs of hotels, and assists them in building a platform
that generates revenue. NEC aims to provide reliable
and sophisticated systems that are easy to manage and
maintain; while at the same time, enabling stable and
secure information sharing and distribution.
This IP telephony system is based on NEC's
UNIVERGE SV8500 communication server, which
supports voice, unified communications and mobility
solutions, as well as XML applications on the IP
phone in languages that include Chinese, Portuguese,
English and Japanese.
The IPTV system for Mandarin Oriental,
Macau, features a wide variety of language options for
guests from all over the world, who may use the
hotel's multi-language entertainment system menu in
order to select from a broad range of media content. A
service portal that delivers important hotel information
and services may also be accessed using the remote
control, in addition to flexible menus that may be
customized with the latest hotel information. The
Internet may also be conveniently accessed through
this innovative system that enables guests to
comfortably enjoy information and entertainment in a
rich selection of languages.
Guestroom IP Phone keypads are specially
designed with simple touch screen menus that feature
time zone, weather, flight and business information, as
well as information on restaurant, spa and other guest
services. To better service guests, hotel staffs are using
Wi-Fi phones with a rapid response system.
"NEC's unique total solutions, IP based
telephony systems and Deuromedia's IPTV system,
provide the latest technology to meet our guests'
needs," said Martin Schnider, General Manager,
Mandarin Oriental, Macau.
"NEC has a great deal of experience in global
hospitality markets and will continue to utilize the
latest technology to meet the requirements of
Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and their guests'
needs," said Taichiro Hashizawa, Vice President and
Senior General Manager, NEC Corporation.
NEC has closely worked with Mandarin
Oriental Hotel Group and other partners for the
deployment of this system. NEC has jointly developed
XML applications, i-Service, for DT750 terminals
with FCS Computer Systems(2), integration with
Deuromedia for IPTV systems and MTech(3) for the
rapid response system, HotSOS.
This is NEC's first installation of fully
integrated IP telephony systems and IP based TV
systems in China and the tenth installation in a
Mandarin Oriental Hotel property worldwide.
NEC will continue to focus on hospitality as a market
leader that provides IP based unified communications
solutions, and integration with data and video
applications.
more confident cell phone users and BlackBerry
owners might agree with the motto slow and steady
wins the race," Eisner wrote in a blog post.
Some highlights:
- 31 percent of Android owners don't have
land lines at home, compared to 23 percent of iPhone
and BlackBerry owners.
- 23 percent of iPhone owners are more likely
than Android owners to rent movies at Blockbuster,
while 22 percent are more likely to not know what
type of TV they have.
- BlackBerry owners were 21 percent more
likely than Android owners to still have an old tube
TV as their main TV and get their music from the
radio. But BlackBerry owners are 15 percent more
likely to recycle gadgets and 26 percent "more likely
than iPhone owners to live in areas where e-waste
recycling isn't available," Eisner said.
The online study was conducted from March
through July with more than 7,500 responses from
Retrevo users, with an error rate of plus or minus 4
percent.
Android owners dump
land lines, iPhone
owners still go to
Evidence that Social
Blockbuster
Media Really Does
Android owners tend to be more technically
minded and more likely to cut the cord to their home
phones, but don't care as much about recycling
Drive Sales
gadgets and tend not to read books.
Owners of iPhones, meanwhile, tend to be
younger than other smart phone owners and are early
adopters about activities like making online purchases
and watching TV online, but they're more likely to still
rent movies from Blockbuster and probably don't
know what kind of TV they own.
Maybe it's not a smart phone version of the
book "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From
Venus." But a study released Wednesday by
Retrevo.com, a Sunnyvale a consumer electronics
website, shows "the gadgets you use say something
about you," said Andrew Eisner, the site's director of
community and content.
"Apple is not just a company, but a way of life
and a commitment to a line of electronics, Android
owners with their choice of carriers could make them
58
The question of whether or not social media
can result in sales is pretty much as old as social
media itself. What we‘re seeing recently is an increase
in social commerce – where both aspects are able to
live happily next to each other and companies can
track ROI for time and money invested in social media.
For a number of reasons people now seem to
be more comfortable with their social and purchasing
behaviour moving closer together, as social
technologies work their way into different platforms
instead of just living in social networks themselves.
This isn‘t necessarily commerce as we know it though.
The potential for social commerce to transform the
way we purchase our products and services is huge.
Just as consumers are now social, the products they
buy and the companies they interact with have to be as
well. It‘s not just about having a presence on Twitter
or Facebook, but using this to change the traditional
purchasing process.
Sony increase sales through Twitter
Sony have proved the power of Twitter with a
fairly covert social media campaign that incentivised
people to purchase their products. They offered over
1,500 Twitter users the chance to build a customised
Sony Vaio laptop, as well as offering them a 10%
discount. And it worked, as they reported an increase
in Sony Vaio sales from Twitter in that period of $1.5
million. This is a pretty impressive figure and also
puts into action this new way of buying – social
commerce. Sony offered their consumers a more
personliased shopping experience, where they had a
real influence on the end product. What I like about
this campaign is its simplicity, and the clear focus on
sales. While many social media efforts focus on
giveaways and competitions, this had a clear sales
target at the core that offered something a little bit
extra to users – in the customisation of the laptop. The
users on Twitter feel privileged because they‘re
getting something no-one else can, with an added
incentive of the discount to complete the purchase.
IBM – sales in B2B
Social media in the business to business sector
is rarely written about, and even less so with any
evidence of ROI. This is likely due to the higher value
of a sale in the b2b sector. One sale could justify
hundreds of hours spent on social networks and might
not prove a very interesting headline. But IBM have
claimed the business case for social media. In an
interview, the senior marketing manager at IBM – Ed
Linde II claims that they‘ve raised millions of dollars
through using social media. This is achieved, he
explains, by simply ‗listening for leads‘. This may
sound simple enough, but as the interview shows, it‘s
not as simple as you think. While many companies
now have a permanent social media presence, the
person in charge often sits in the marketing
department, or customer service team. As Ed explains,
IBM have a careful process of using the conversation
maker to identify the potential lead and manage the
social media part of the process, before the sales team
start to drive the conversion.
From what I can see, not many organisations
have such a clear strategy in moving a consumer from
conversation to transaction. While many are fantastic
at brand-building, the co-ordination of the sales team,
which is perhaps even more crucial in the b2b sector,
isn‘t so clear. This is the most fundamental aspect of
using social media to drive sales – putting the different
skills you have together, and making sure there is a
clear communication channel between the two. And
there is a very valid use case for social media channels
in the b2b sector. Sales Intelligence service Inside
View recently announced that their business customers
access the social intelligence tool more frequently than
email. This shows how sales teams are becoming
increasingly interested in social, which in itself is
indicative of the huge growth in this area recently.
Foursquare & McDonalds – don‟t believe the hype
As much as there are encouraging case studies
that prove the point of social media driving sales, we
still have a long way to go in determining the accuracy
of this. And this often comes down to simply
understanding social technologies. McDonalds
recently made a claim that a promotion they ran on
Foursqure in April had resulted in an increase of 33%
in foot traffic to stores. As reported in Read Write
Web, this isn‘t actually the case. Rick Won, the head
of social media at MdDonalds has since clarified that
the increase was in fact Foursquare checkins and not
footfall. You need to make sure that you understand
the metrics you‘re reporting on – a 33% increase in
checkins is significantly different to a 33% increase in
overall footfall. There‘s a difference of millions of
customers between the two.
Intent to purchase through social media
Encouraging sales through social media is
nothing new. Dell‘s big announcement that they
tracked $3 million in sales through their Twitter
account came over a year ago in June 2009. What we
are seeing now though, is a shift in user behaviour that
shows we‘re now more likely to purchase through
social media. This is partly due to the fact that
companies are making it easier to purchase in social
networks- such as Delta Airlines introducing their
booking option through their Facebook page. What‘s
also at play however is users becoming more and more
used to social media, trusting it more, and responding
to ways it can enhance the purchasing process, such as
social shopping or group buying.
59
A recent study by Comscore found that not
only had online retail spending in Q1 2010 increased
by 10% from the previous year, but that social had a
big part to play in this. They found that users on
Facebook and Twitter spent more online, in monetary
terms, than average internet consumers. Heavy users
of Facebook spent an average of $67 online which
outperforms the average spent by an internet user
which stands at approximately $50. Now you might
argue that a heavy social network user is obviously
going to spend more online because of the amount of
time they spend on there and how comfortable they
will be with the internet in general. But this only
serves to prove the point of companies interacting in
this space. People on social networks clearly have an
intent to spend and the best thing you can do as a
company is to be in front of them, encouraging them
to purchase your product, albeit in the right way.
How do you do it?
Of course there‘s no magic formula to driving
sales through social media, it‘s a combination of
having a good product in the first place, using social
media effectively and being able to track and optimise
your click-through traffic. It also has to not be the first
thing you try and do when you use social media. The
trick is to make it easy for yourself. The Sony example
above shows that people will be receptive for sales if
there‘s a good enough offering there, and incentivising
your customers is one of the easiest things you can do.
If I announce on Twitter that I‘m thinking of buying a
DVD on Amazon and I get a tweet from them that
offers me a 10% discount or similar, the chances are
I‘ll take it. Of course as the business, you have to
think about the strategy behind this and who you want
to offer the discount to.
Embracing new social technologies is also key
to this. Gap proved the point of this recently when
they ran an offer with Groupon that offered users the
chance to purchase a $50 giftcard at $25. This earned
them $11 million in revenue and while you have to
balance this with the potential loss of giving away $25
per user, this has generated them valuable business
that might otherwise not have gone to the store, in a
low-cost marketing campaign. This proves the case of
making your business available through other social
channels, and not always forcing the sale through your
own real-estate (be it virtual or physical).
Having watched closely the trends in social
commerce recently, I really believe we‘re getting to a
point where this is reaching the mainstream. This isn‘t
commerce as we currently know it, but commerce.2
which involves the social technologies and capabilities
that people now come to expect from an online
experience. We‘re going to see plenty more case
studies coming through and it‘s encouraging for
companies that operate in this space, as well as the
individuals who are a part of the process.
Nielsen Testing a New
Web-Ad Metric
Nielsen Co. is working on a service that
would offer advertisers and Web publishers a new
stream of data to improve audience measurement for
online advertising, a move that may bring more ad
dollars to the sector.
As with TV ratings, the new service requires
the participation of media outlets, in this case Web
portals and other sites.
So far, the media-measurement firm has lined
up Facebook Inc. as a participant, according to people
familiar with the matter. Other websites are expected
to join as it moves out of the testing phase.
Nielsen is expected to unveil the new product
next week at Advertising Week, and will conduct a
test of the service shortly, according to people familiar
with the matter.
The new stream of data would be an "online
GRP," these people say. A GRP, which is short for
Gross Rating Points, is a formula that measures the
reach and frequency of an ad, a method that has been
used by the TV business for decades.
To get the new data, Nielsen will blend its
demographic panel data with information from
participating online companies about the people seeing
a particular online ad, according to people involved in
the research.
Information will vary from website to website,
but in general it might indicate the age group and sex
of a particular Web surfer and maybe even location,
according to a person familiar with the process.
Only anonymous data will be given to Nielsen for the
service, according to several people involved in the
process.
Nielsen competitor comScore Inc. has been
providing GRP data for online ads but advertisers say
there is need for more competition in the area as it will
drive improved measurement. ComScore tracks by age,
sex and household income, among other things.
Nielsen already has lured marketers such as Procter &
Gamble Co., the world's biggest advertiser, and
several big media-buying firms such as Publicis
Groupe S.A.'s Starcom MediaVest to test the new
research, say people familiar with the situation.
P&G declined to comment. Facebook and
Starcom MediaVest referred calls to Nielsen.
Media buyers—executives who decide where
and how marketers allocate their ad dollars—and
advertisers have long complained they need an online
measurement that is comparable to the way other
media are measured.
Marketers often use site traffic as a gauge
when they decide to buy Internet display ads—the ads
that include graphics and text and appear alongside the
border of the page. But traffic alone isn't a perfect
indicator of an ad's effectiveness.
60
When people click on the ads, their specific
actions can be tracked. But display ads are clicked on
just a fraction of the time. That leaves room for an
additional layer of measurement.
Media buyers say having an online GRP has
the potential to give marketers a way to do apple-toapple comparisons of media.
Having the information, they say, could lead
to advertisers shifting more of their ad budgets to the
Internet from other media like television.
The service will give advertisers "better
accountability from the publishers, right now we don't
know whether the right people saw the ads," according
to a person involved in the process.
Nielsen's latest push comes as it faces
increased pressure in the media research business. A
host of new players have begun offering measurement
services over the past few years.
Some of the country's biggest media
companies and advertisers have joined forces and
formed a coalition that is trying to come up with new
ways of measuring audiences.
Industry trade groups—including the
Interactive Advertising Bureau, the Association of
National Advertisers and the America Association of
Advertising Agencies—have been working to create a
governing body to help facilitate the online ad
measurement business.
The soft economy has added more urgency to
the call for better online measurement since marketers
are under increasing pressure to prove their ad dollars
are working.
Online advertising has enjoyed healthy growth
rates but the business still trails other media such as
television.
Last year, marketers spent $52.6 billion on TV
ads in the U.S. and $20.3 billion on Internet
advertising, according to ZenithOptimedia, a media
buying firm owned by Publicis Groupe.
The money in the online-ad business is "still a
drop in the bucket" compared with television, says
Keith Richman, chief executive of Break.com, an
online video site focused on the male market.
Break.com has itself been trying to figure out a way to
give its advertisers some type of GRP measurement
but says it believes a broader industry-wide movement
is needed.
Google's Social
Networking Weapons
Google has quietly been stocking up on tools it will
need to challenge Facebook in the social
networking game, and says it's on the verge of
launching a "social component" to a number of its
core products.
Google has quietly been stocking up on
tools it will need to challenge Facebook in the social
networking game, and says it's on the verge of
launching a "social component" to a number of its core
products.
Over the past month, Google (GOOG, Fortune
500) has made five acquisitions in the field:
SocialDeck, a mobile social gaming company;
Angstro, a social networking search application;
Like.com, a social fashion store; Jambool, a social
gaming virtual currency; and Slide, a social game
maker. It also has a large stake in gaming giant Zynga.
But before you start to arrange the puzzle
pieces, analysts say don't bother.
"Trying to predict how Google will put
everything together using acquisitions is a fool's
game," said Josh Bernoff, analyst at Forrester
Research. "It's highly unlikely that the pieces will
emerge into some form."
Google has a habit of making acquisitions to
buy up talent, not products. Bernoff believes many of
the recent deals were done to pick the brains of the
companies' engineers, who have experience with
social networks.
So what's all this for?
After months of secrecy, Google finally began
shedding light on its plans at last week's Zeitgeist
conference in Arizona. Schmidt told reporters that
Google would not be coming out with one new social
network product. Instead, it plans to will unveil social
networking tools that will be woven throughout its
existing products and Web applications.
It's the opposite of what Google has done -and failed at -- in the past. Big social products like
Orkut and Buzz have largely flopped, and Google's
collaborative tool Wave was recently canned. It was
the Microsoft approach: build big product after big
product and hope that one eventually sticks.
Google's new approach is more incremental -which plays to the company's strengths.
"Rather than bang its head against the wall
trying to create a competitor to Facebook, Google
appears to have come to the realization that all of its
applications and assets have social aspects that can be
extruded," said Al Hilwa, analyst for IDC. "It's more
of a mall than a department store approach."
It's a strategy that many companies -including Facebook -- are starting to employ. "Social"
on the Internet is not about a destination, but about the
ability to discover, share and discuss content on the
the Web with others.
Social features are popping up in all kinds of
applications, with Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) adding
"Ping" to iTunes and news publishers integrating
Facebook's "Like" button throughout their sites.
It's a crucial element that Google has been
largely missing out on. With 178 million visitors to its
sites in July, Google is the most-trafficked Web entity
in the world and has 33 million more visitors per
month than Facebook, according to comScore.
But Facebook has been outpacing Google in
referrals to portal sites (directing people to other
websites' home pages) since February, according to
Compete Inc. That's troubling for Google, since its
business model relies on selling ads that direct traffic.
Some Google products like Gmail and
YouTube already incorporate elements of a social
network, like status messages, instant messaging,
commenting and media sharing. However, the social
layer has eluded Google's largest product, search -even though Google's PageRank algorithm is at its
heart a social tool, factoring user behavior like linking
into its results.
Building richer social networking features into
its offers could help Google better analyze users'
preferences, and better target ads to them. But first, it
will need to wrap its head around the social mindset -something it's struggled with so far. Exhibit A: Buzz's
troubled rollout. Stocking up on social media upstarts
-- and the creators who built them -- could help
Google fine-tune its approach.
"If you imagine a very likely future when social is a
part of everything you do online, the end goal will not
be to create a single product or site to capture that,"
Bernoff said. "If Google can provide a social structure
61
around its products, it's much more likely to maintain
its relevance."
SMB‟s, Social Media
and Reality Often At
Odds
Being a slow news day (thus far at least), I
started to look around and a report from July of this
year from Network Solutions and some partners
caught my eye. It was used to make a point over at
Small Business Trends about SMB‘s (small and
medium business) and social media (a point which is
much different than the one here so go check it out).
When you take a little deeper dive into the findings it
looks like the SMB group as a whole is saying what it
says a lot when it comes to the latest and greatest
business practices: We aren‘t getting it like you think
we are.
This is not to say that SMB‘s are not using
social media. That‘s not the case at all. What appears
to be all over the map are expectations and what
happens when SMB‘s, social media and reality
intersect. Look at the chart below, which puts
marketing barely into the ―very important‖ category
AND tells us that it‘s not performing well.
That kind of response in a poor economy is
reasonable since businesses are hurting no matter what
is being tried to pick up the pace. What is interesting
though is that marketing is not the top of the food
chain for SMB‘s – getting money to PAY for
marketing is! It doesn‘t get any clearer moving
forward either.
What‘s baffling are the details about using
social media for this elusive group that makes up most
of the businesses in the US. They always want to play
but can‘t seem to get over the hump when it come to
Internet marketing as a whole.
For instance, if social media is the ―wave of
the future‖ why are the responses showing no growth
or even some reduction in social media offerings like
blogs?
But then in fine SMB tradition, they like to
talk a great game and their expectations of social
media ‗success‘ have increased! Incongruent for sure
but this is important to understand about the SMB.
They love to talk about stuff but when it gets to doing
it the walk rarely lives up to the talk. There is plenty
of optimism as always but optimism without action is
fantasy.
Here may be the real reason why SMB‘s seem
to have put the brakes on a bit with regard to social
media. It‘s not all unicorns and rainbows like the
industry likes to portray.
This is another part of reality that the SMB
hates to recognize. Oftentimes social media criticisms
are very personal because the SMB is a person or that
person is the face of the company. The ―everything is
roses‖ approach by social media consultants to this
group usually neglects the potential risks and
downsides. The cold hard facts are that social media
takes time and money despite the industry push to
present it as free and easy. Oh and it can sting a bit as
well if someone wants to take an online swipe at an
SMB.
62
So the world of SMB‘s, Internet marketing
and social media continues to be a puzzle wrapped in
an enigma. It‘s hard to pin down. Maybe it‘s just time
to stop trying to draw broad generalizations about a
group that is as diverse as any on the planet. Each
SMB has their own signature and fingerprint even
within the same vertical but we still try to tell them
―This will work because it‘s cool, it‘s current and
everyone is doing it successfully!‖ That‘s just not true.
The reality is that not all SMB‘s are suited for
the Internet in general and social media specifically.
Some are perfectly suited for it but they may not be
the majority of SMB‘s when it is all said and done.
So what is your take on the SMB and social media?
How do you see this huge market that proves to be so
elusive? What are the biggest opportunities and / or
barriers that exist for this group?
Fear of data loss,
social media security
risks rising
A new survey from California-based email
security firm Proofpoint finds more organizations are
dealing with data loss and security breaches due to
employee use of social media sites. Proofpoint polled
261 IT decision makers at organizations with more
than 1000 employees. Respondents were asked about
the frequency of data loss events in the past 12 months,
as well as their concerns, priorities and policies related
to email, the Web, social media and other sources of
data loss risk.
The survey found 20 percent of companies
polled had investigated the exposure of confidential,
sensitive or private information via a post to a social
networking site. In many instances, the events have
been severe enough to lead to job loss or disciplinary
action, with seven percent of companies reporting
termination of an employee for social networking
policy violations. Another 20 percent disciplined an
employee for not following social networking policy.
Does your organization have rules for social
media use? See 4 tips for writing a great social media
policy
Social networking sites such as Facebook and
LinkedIn were cited by 53 percent of respondents as a
high concern when it comes to the risk of information
leakage. However, not all companies are concerned
enough to make the sites off limits. Only 53 percent
explicitly prohibit the use of Facebook and 31 percent
explicitly prohibit use of LinkedIn (See also: Brand
protection: The expanding CSO portfolio and Brand
protection and abuse: Keeping your company image
safe on social media sites).
Microblogging service Twitter was mentioned
by 17 percent of companies as a source of
investigation due to the exposure of confidential,
sensitive or private information. Additionally, 51
percent said they are highly concerned about the risk
of information leakage on Twitter (See 5 Facebook,
Twitter scams to avoid and 5 more Facebook, Twitter
scams to avoid).
According to Craig Shumard, CSO with Cigna
Corp., the nation's fourth-largest health services
provider, social networks are viewed as both a
tremendous benefit to employees, as well as a security
concern. But the risks they pose are not really new.
"People have had the ability to go out and
express opinions on emails and blogs for some time.
We spend a lot of time around training and awareness
as far as ensuring people know what good behavior is
on these kinds of forums," said Shumard. "Folks know
they are not supposed to be speaking on behalf of
Cigna or Cigna Corporation."
Shumard said he is not aware of any
disciplinary action or termination that has resulted
within his organization that can be attributed to an
employee's use, or misuse, of social media. But Cigna,
which does allow employees to access social media
sites using company computers and has since 2009,
did a considerable amount of education and awareness
beforehand and has explained expectations clearly to
employees in its social media use policy.
"Employees are not supposed to be using
these tools and disclosing information that would not
be appropriate given the manner of what we do," he
said. "And that they are supposed to look at those
considerations on a personal basis, too. They are
supposed to make sure they dont make comments that
would be derogatory to Cigna or any of its customers
or employees. It really does boil down to basic
common sense to make people think and think again
about what they are putting in these social networking
sites."
Media sharing sites like YouTube, Vimeo also pose
risks, according to the survey, which found 18 percent
of companies investigated the exposure of sensitive
information on one of the sites. Employees were
terminated in 9 percent of the companies for media
sharing/posting policy violations and 21 percent had
disciplined an employee for such behavior.
Shaping Ads for WebConnected TV
Software Offers New Real Estate to Tout Products,
Ability to Target Messages
Technology companies racing to deliver video
to the living room over the Web are exploring the idea
of offering ads on their services, seeking to capture
some of the billions of ad dollars that flow to
television.
A few companies, including TiVo Inc. and
Microsoft Corp., have released ad products tied to
broadband-video services designed to be accessed on
television sets, not computers. They include ads that
can take a viewer to a movie trailer on YouTube when
the viewer pauses a TiVo-recorded TV program, as
well as ads that can be accessed by clicking a tile on
the navigation menu of Xbox Live, the online gaming
and video service for Microsoft's Xbox game console.
Other efforts are also afoot. Google Inc. has
been meeting with some of Madison Avenue's biggest
media-buying firms, exploring ways to sell ads
through its Google TV software due out this fall. Sony
Corp. and other hardware makers are launching TVs
and set-top boxes equipped with the software, which
allows users to search and watch Internet
programming.
The Internet giant has told ad executives that
it eventually plans to sell ads that appear in search
results when consumers search for what they want to
watch, some of those ad executives say. But those
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spots won't interrupt the ad stream that appears during
a program.
The company has told media-buying
executives that it doesn't plan to put ads on its service
for at least a year. A Google spokeswoman says the
company has been approached by advertisers about
Google TV, but it is "solely focused on launching a
quality experience for users, and does not have any
specific plans for advertising" at this time.
Sony, meanwhile, is considering selling video
ads that play before premium programming that
consumers can access through its Internet-connected
TVs, Blu-ray players and PlayStation 3 video consoles,
says one person familiar with the matter. The person
says these ads could be available in coming months.
Sony declined to comment.
At the same time, traditional online-ad
companies like Yahoo Inc. are adapting their Internetad technology to display ads that run alongside Web
video displayed on TV screens.
This isn't the first time that tech companies
have sought a foothold in the TV-ad market. In recent
years, Google and Microsoft launched television-ad
services seeking to sell commercials targeted to
specific kinds of consumers and measure those ads'
performance based on data from set-top boxes. But
analysts say those businesses have remained modest,
in terms of revenue, constrained by the type and
amount of inventory TV networks and satellite
companies have given them to sell.
A Google spokeswoman its TV-ad business
has grown "significantly."
This time around, tech companies are looking
for new ad possibilities created by delivering video
directly to TV sets over the Web. The software for
doing so offers them new screen real estate for
showing ads and the ability to target ads based on
what viewers watch and the Internet services they
access. Analysts say such ads could chip away at the
market for conventional commercials over time.
TV ads are a massive business. Last year, TV
accounted for nearly 36% of the $148.3 billion U.S.
advertising market, according to ZenithOptimedia, a
media-buying firm owned by Publicis Groupe. The
firm predicts the U.S. TV-ad market will grow 3.8% to
$55.8 billion in 2010.
Cable and satellite companies, too, have been
testing new technology to target ads more precisely,
along with new ad formats that let consumers respond
to an ad through their remotes.
TiVo Chief Executive Tom Rogers says that
since cable operators use differing set-top-box
technology, the cable industry doesn't have the ability
to sell targeted ads on a mass scale, leaving an
opening for tech companies. Cable and TV networks
haven't moved fast enough to promote new formats, he
says. "The old models, with the amount of commercial
avoidance, just aren't going to hold up."
This summer, PepsiCo's Mountain Dew brand
launched its first campaign with Xbox Live. Unlike
traditional TV commercials, the ads, which prompted
Xbox users to vote for a new flavor of the soft drink,
allowed users to engage with it when they were
interested, Brett O'Brien, director of marketing for
Mountain Dew.
But many advertisers remain skeptical. For
one thing, it isn't clear which ad formats will work
best on broadband-connected TVs, says Tracey
Scheppach, senior vice president and videoinnovations director at Publicis's Starcom MediaVest
Group.
Tech companies not only have to win over
advertisers, but also those who create video
programming. While a growing number of TV and
movie studios are offering content through new
Internet-video services designed to be accessed
directly from TVs, many are doing so on a paid basis.
That approach is less likely to upset partners like cable
operators who pay networks to carry their
programming.
"In order For there to be a viable alternative
model for distribution, a majority of media companies
are going to have to be in a place where they can
stomach the shift from subscription to advertising,"
says Scott Ferris, general manager of Microsoft's TV
media advertising business group. He says that in the
short term he thinks ads on broadband-video services
will be confined largely to inside software applications
on the services.
But, Mr. Ferris adds that, over time, a
broadband-based video services target at TVs will
gain national scale and "an advertising model will
creep in there."
Social Media Phones
It In With A Facebook
Mobile Device?
Giants of the Internet have gravitated to
mobile devices over the years as a conduit to sell apps
and advertising. Apple's iPhone and Google's Android
platforms have proved successful and compete
aggressively for marketshare. So it's somewhat
inevitable to believe that a social network with a builtin market of 500+ million users would consider
jumping into to the fray to slice off its own piece of
the action.
Michael ArringtonAccording to a TechCrunch
report, and rumors that Michael Arrington has picked
up on, Facebook is building software for its own
smartphone and working with a third party to actually
build the hardware - which is exactly what Apple and
Google have already done. "Specifically, Facebook
wants to integrate deeply into the contacts list and the
other core functions of the phone - it can only do that
if it controls the operating system," notes Arrington.
Arrington has been known to release
speculative reports like this in the past. Most recently
he noted that he was privy to inside information that
staff members at Facebook circuitously obtained
proprietary documents about Google's covert
development of yet another social network.
Joe Hewitt & Matthew PapakiposArrington
even goes as far as to "out" two Facebook employees
with "deep operating experience" that are assigned to
the project. Both Joe Hewitt and Matthew Papakipos
"are said to be secretly working on the development,
which is yet unknown even to most of the Facebook
staff.
The catalyst for Mark Zuckerberg to develop
his own phone aside from the fact this venture could
prove to be a 'cash cow' might have been the result of
Hewitt's 'not so warm and fuzzy' feelings about Apple.
As the man behind the immensely popular Facebook
application for iPhone, Hewitt quit the app project
based on what he described as Apple's "tyrannical"
App Store policies. In November of last year, he was
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quoted in another TechCrunch article noting his
displeasure with the company.
Arrington believes Papakipos is the likely
candidate to assist Hewitt in developing the mobile
phone operating system for Facebook because of his
background. He like, a number of Facebook's recent
hires came from Google and was responsible for some
of the work that went into its Chrome operating
system launch.
Arrington is not privy to any of the specs of
the alleged Facebook phone, but suspects it will come
in price-wise at the lower end ("I'd expect a model at a
less than $50 price.") and would be fully integrated
with one's Facebook account where phone numbers
would not be needed to reach someone's Facebook
contacts, and billing would be handled through
Facebook Credits, the network's new monetary system.
A Facebook user would be able to sync his
dedicated events calendar to the device in addition to
friend's birthdays. Social games could be integrated
into the operating system - allowing Facebook and
Zynga to expand their lucrative gaming reach - beyond
users' desktops.
So readers, do you think a Facebook
smartphone is in the cards? And if so, would have it
have enough appeal to break up the Apple/Google
juggernaut hold on the smartphone market? With 500+
potential buyers, it's got a fighting chance of phoning
it in? No?
Young users at risk of
'status jacking'
''Status jacking'' is the latest security issue to
affect social networking sites, with hackers stealing
log-in information to post fake and malicious
messages on users' pages.
Students aged between 18 and 25 are the most
at risk because they are the most active on social
networking sites and are the most likely to use shared
computers.
Online security company AVG analysed the
safety of 50 global social networks, finding almost
20,000 compromised web pages on the top 50 social
networks globally.
Facebook, the world's largest social
networking site, accounted for more than half of the
compromised sites found.
More than 7000 were on YouTube.
AVG Australia and New Zealand managing
director Peter Cameron says young people need to be
more aware of security issues on social networking
sites.
''The fact that AVG found almost 20,000
compromised web pages on the world's most popular
social networking sites should make social media
users sit up and take notice,'' he said.
But research also shows 18 to 25 year olds are
the least likely to take internet security concerns
seriously.
A recent study in Britain found only 15 per cent of 16
to 24 year olds care about internet security, compared
to 23 per cent of the general population.
Just 9 per cent cared about privacy.
ABC iPad App Syncs
With Your TV, Offers
Interactive 'My
Generation' Content
People no longer sit and passively watch TV;
they browse the Web, text message friends and play
smartphone games, all while watching the latest
episode of 'Mad Men.' Hoping to capitalize on that,
ABC has launched an interactive iPad app that's
compatible with 'My Generation,' a fake documentary
series premiering later this fall. The 'My Generation
Sync' app syncs with the action onscreen by listening
to the show (with the iPad's built-in mic), and provides
the viewer with social-networking features and
interactive content. For example, the app might ask the
viewer what he or she thought of a specific character's
decision, or offer behind-the-scenes content for certain
parts of the show. Viewers could also complain about
or praise an episode together, since the app works
whether you're watching 'My Generation' in real-time
or using a DVR.
While this is a novel approach to wedding social
media with television, the success of this app will
depend heavily on the popularity of an unproven TV
series. We'd love to see ABC try out this idea with
shows we actually enjoy -- like 'Modern Family' -- and
for other networks to give it a shot, too.
Oktoberfest in
Munich 2010 Goes
Social Media Friendly
This year's Oktoberfest in Munich is really
about the 21st century and its global and
environmental changes. The event is social media
friendly with an iPhone app and has live webcam
positioned in three places.
The government developed an iPhone app that
helps tourists navigate the area.
The Weisn app integrates with Twitter and
Facebook and locates beer tents, tells whether or not a
tent is closed, and how many visitors are expected on
a certain day. People can also use the app to check-in.
Munich's mayor, Christian Ude, tapped the first kegs
yesterday to begin the city's Oktoberfest celebrations
will which bring in at least 6,000 people a day until
the 4th of October.
Traveling To Munich - Germany's Greatest City
Munich's been celebrating Oktoberfest for 200
years now. The celebration commemorates the
wedding of Bavaria's Crown Prince Ludwig to
Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. 200 years
ago, Oktoberfest started off with horse derbies as the
center attraction, but beer increased in popularity in
the late 1880s and horse racing hasn't quite made a
comeback.
Oktoberfest tradition is marked by the the
archetypal big boned German barmaid with two thick
plaits of hair draped on each side of her head. Not to
mention the short cut and tight fitting bodice that keep
men at tables gulping beers liter after liter.
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Oktoberfest smokers can't light up underneath the
tents
Last year, Oktoberfest sold more than 6
million gallons of beer. This year, the price of beer is a
tad insulting at $11.25 a liter. Adding injury to the
insult, smokers can't light up underneath the tents
because Germany drafted strict anti-smoking
legislation this year.
A little more than 1.5 million visitors and
residents are expected to revel in Munich for the next
two weeks. Each beer tent is an environment suited for
a particular taste. Tents for those with more acquired
tastes, opera for example, will find better food
selections.
Most Oktoberfest revelers reserve seats in
tents months before the event kicks off. Around
730,000 seats, however, are left open and unreserved
for the full two weeks.
Oktoberfest hosts have live webcams set up
streaming the event. Kind of. The webcam broadcasts
pictures, not live moving images, but at least the pics
are clear and a good look reveals lots of barmaids, lots
of people , pretty good weather, and lots of tent
choices.
Although this is the 200th year of Oktoberfest,
it's only the 177th celebration as the government has
canceled the events more than twenty times in recent
years.
Warner Bros rejects
Apple TV deal
Warner Bros turned down Apple‘s invitation
to offer TV show rentals for 99 cents because it
believed such a low price would have an adverse
effect on sales of full seasons of leading shows.
Apple recently launched a $99 version of its
IPTV set-top box, along with 99-cent show rentals on
iTunes.
Speaking at the an investor conference hosted
by Merrill Lynch, Warner Bros chief, Barry Meyer,
said that the deal was not good value for the studio.
Apple did, however, manage to gather an impressive
line up, including News Corp.‘s Fox, The Walt Disney
Co.‘s ABC, ABC Family and Disney Channel, and
BBC America.
Apple is still trying to persuade CBS and NBC
to join up.
Social media helping
Gilbert officials
connect with residents
Gilbert officials are exploring the seeminglyinfinite realm of cyberspace in hopes of finding new
ways to connect with residents and provide publicservice announcements.
The town uses social media websites such as
Twitter, Nixle and YouTube to spread the word about
safety hazards, traffic delays, volunteer opportunities
and events.
Officials are redesigning the town website to
be more responsive to residents' interests and now
offer a weekly newsletter via e-mail rather than in
print.
The recent outreach efforts coincide with
National Preparedness Month, which the town is using
to draw attention to public safety and emergency
preparedness.
A community preparedness fair last Saturday,
on the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks, drew nearly 1,000 people who learned about
emergency food, water and medical supplies,
alternative food preparation and gardening techniques.
Public-safety officials are looking to boost
their community outreach through Nixle, an online
service that allows them to send text-message and email alerts to registered residents.
For example, the Police Department sent out
this alert on Aug. 31: "Multiple traffic collisions along
Riggs from Val Vista to 164th St. creating traffic
congestions and lane restrictions in the area."
Another alert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday warned,
"Fatal accident at Higley and Guadalupe. Traffic
closed 1 mile out in all directions until further notice.
Please use alternate route."
When Gilbert Planning Commission member
Brigette Peterson saw that message, she forwarded the
alert to her 178 Twitter followers, who could then
"retweet" the message to their own followers, giving it
an even wider reach. That sort of networking, among
people who often have never met personally, is made
possible by the growing popularity of social media.
Other safety alerts through Nixle have
included structure fires, drownings, a gas line break,
robberies and shootings.
Gilbert uses social media to make public-service
announcements via the following sites:
- Twitter - With nearly 700 "followers,"
officials use this popular site to share quick
information, web links and promote
government programming. The site is used to
help notify prospective volunteers when a
position opens on a town board or
commission.
- Official website - The pale brown motif of
Gilbert's old website is slowly giving way to a
more aesthetically-pleasing and intuitive
setup, officials say. The new home page is
organized by services rather than department
and includes a "most popular" section with
links to utility bills, budget reports and traffic
news.
- Online newsletter - As part of a cost-saving
maneuver during budget talks last spring, the
town discontinued its hard-copy newsletter,
Your Town, and now distributes it weekly via
e-mail. So far, about 6,000 people have
signed up for it, town spokeswoman Beth
Lucas said.
- YouTube - The town has six videos that
serve as public-service announcements for the
census, mass transit and "The Great
Adventures of Captain Doo," who urges
residents to pick up their pets' waste when
visiting a park. The videos have brought in
about 360 total views over the past year.
66
Mayo Clinic Center
for Health Care Social
Media disses
physicians
The Mayo Clinic has always been at the
forefront of the social media and health care
intersection, and is the first institution to have an
official Center for Social Media.
When they recently announced the invited
first 13 members of their Advisory Board for the
Mayo Clinic Center for Health Care Social Media, the
first thing I noticed that there were zero physicians,
and few with clinical experience.
What a slap in the face.
There‘s little question that the qualifications
of the selected members are beyond reproach, and all
are respected luminaries in the health care social
media field.
But this is the Mayo Clinic, one of the leading
health care institutions in the country, so it‘s odd that
clinician-bloggers were blatantly ignored.
Bryan Vartabedian ponders the exclusion of
physicians in a thoughtful post, writing,
physician involvement in all levels of social
media is scarce. The medical profession has been
dangerously slow to accept the ideals that the social
health community promotes. Maybe physicians
haven’t earned a seat at the table. Or better yet,
perhaps past performance suggests that we have
nothing constructive to add. Mayo’s exclusion of
physicians in their initial stab at an advisory panel
profoundly reflects the changing role of the traditional
provider in the new social order.
That‘s true. And yes, doctors can apply for
one of the additional 12 seats, selected via
crowdsourcing. But haven‘t we done enough to earn at
least one of the initial, invitation-only, seats?
Obviously not.
I said earlier in a video blog that the exclusion
was a ―disappointment.‖
But maybe it‘s the wake up call that
physicians need to get engaged in social media, or else
face exclusion in future social media leadership
positions.
Smart Search, Smart
Gadgets?
As Google starts to implement its far-reaching
vision of search that knows what you want even
before you start to type, gadgets may be following suit.
Justin Rattner, CTO of Intel described to attendees at
the company‘s developer conference a gadget that is
small, always on and equipped with low-power
sensors that render it "context-aware." (via
Reuters). "Future devices will learn about you, your
day, where you are and where you are going to know
what you want," he said. "They will know your likes
and dislikes."
A context-aware smartphone would know, for
instance, what restaurants you have eaten at and liked
in the past and make subsequent recommendations
based on that knowledge. Or a context-aware TV
remote would know who in the household is currently
watching TV and recommend shows based on her
preferences. The data-gathering by smartphones to
make this possible is already happening but on a very
basic level. As sensors become smarter, the final piece
will be in place, Rattner said.
The Search Model
Search - at least according to Google - appears
to be following a similar trajectory, with Google
Instant being just the first step. The day is coming
when Google will be performing search on your behalf
- without you having to type in the request, says CEO
Eric Schmidt. (via the Wall Street Journal). "I actually
think most people don't want Google to answer their
questions," he says. "They want Google to tell them
what they should be doing next." For instance,
someone walking down the street with their phone can
- thanks to the knowledge store Google has
accumulated about this person - be reminded he or she
needs milk and that there is a store nearby to pick it up.
Or that the museum ahead has a gift shop with prints
horse-racing posters, or that a historic event this
person is now reading about took place on the next
block.
Google also foresees a link between such
intuitive search capabilities with the social element,
according to Marissa Mayer, head of Google Search
(via Fortune magazine). Say a person is planning a
trip to Australia. A search pulls up hotel, tourist spots,
blog posts - and pose questions to a local friend about
where to go shopping or dining in Sydney, without
bothering the rest of your network. "Who you are,
your context, what you are doing, who your friends
are - if all of that comes in as the search input," she
says, "what is the right output?"
What Google‟s TV
White Space Hospital
Experiment Means for
the Smart Grid
Google‘s push to open up TV‘s white space
— those slivers of unused spectrum abandoned when
the country switched from analog to digital broadcasts
— has expanded to hospitals. Actually, one hospital in
Ohio. Believe it or not this little experiment creates an
opportunity for Google (GOOG) to push its free
home-energy management software PowerMeter, all
the while solving two problems: Bringing a smart grid
network and wireless Internet to homes and businesses
that otherwise wouldn‘t have access to either.
The small pilot program, announced a week
before the FCC votes on final technical rules
governing white spaces, will use the spectrum to
deploy a broadband network. The program is the first
of its kind for a hospital. First responder vehicles, the
hospital‘s ground and the health department will be
equipped with high-speed wireless Internet access
using the TV white space. According to a post on
Google‘s public policy blog, the search engine giant
and Spectrum Bridge — a company its already
partnered with in another white space-to-wireless
67
broadband program — will use this demonstration
project to show off the many uses for TV white space.
The smart grid connection. Companies
continue to argue about what network standards are
best to run smart grids. In short, as we upgrade our
power grid, what is the best standard to improve the
delivery of electricity using digital tech with a twoway communication system that will help costumers
reduce costs and save energy? In recent weeks,
especially considering Cisco‘s (CSCO) recent plans, it
appears that Internet Protocol (IP)-based smart grid
will eventually take over.
But let‘s say you live (or your hospital is) in a
remote part of the country, without reliable Internet
access. Google just so happens to be working with
Spectrum Bridge and the Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric
Cooperation and Telecommunication utility on
another TV white space experiment. Their project will
deliver the smart grid wireless over TV white space in
the remote Californian High Sierras.
The same goes for the Hocking Valley
Community Hospital located in Appalachian Ohio.
The purpose of the pilot program is to connect health
care facilities located in remote areas into the powerful
wireless network. But those same large facilities need
to be connected to the smart grid as well. That also
means, of course, that it can use PowerMeter or any of
the other real-time home energy management devices
and software out there to increase its energy efficiency
and lower its utility bills.
Foxtel Launch 24/7
3D TV Channel & 4
New HD Channels
Foxtel whose revenue streams are set to come
under pressure from the likes of Fetch TV, T Box
and a host of new IPTV services has announced
dedicated 3D TV Channel. They have also
announced four new HD channels and which will
go live on November 1, 2010.
The new channels include Speed(channel 505),
Speed HD (channel 206), MTV Hits (channel 808),
MTVN Live (channel 812), MTVN Live HD (channel
252), BBC Knowledge HD (channel 242), Nat Geo
Wild HD (channel 238) and FOXTEL 3D (channel
201).
Kim Williams, Chief Executive and Managing
Director of Foxtel L said: "With the five new HD
channels we add even greater depth to our HD
offering. Our customers are now able to choose from
20 HD channels including a 3D channel. Our new
dedicated 3D channel will allow customers to
experience movies, sports and documentaries in
stunningly clear and immersive 3D pictures.
Foxtel said that their new 3D channel will be a
single destination for 3D content which will be
expanded as new content becomes available. Content
will include local 3D sporting content however the
two NRL and AFL Grand Finals which are being shot
in 3D will not be available Live on Foxtel.
Also included in the new 3D channel, will be
content from the US Network ESPN including 3D
simulcast from ESPN HD channel which include NBA,
College Football and XGames.
Fox Sport will also broadcast Wimbledon
Tennis.
What Foxtel has not said is whether the 3D
channel will be included in the basic package or
whether a premium will be charged for access.
In coming weeks both Fetch TV and Telstra
via their T Box offering is tipped to launch dedicated
3D content channels.
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CONFERENCESCONFERENCES
CONFERENCES
No.
1
2
3
4
Conference
WTF Media Conference
Digital Artists Conference
Early-Bird Registration
Deadline Extended for Social
Media Integration Conference
Pre-Conference Seminar:
Digital Media Ecosystem
Essentials
Date/Time
Oct. 20th -22nd , 2010
Oct. 23rd-24th, 2010
Oct. 25th -28th, 2010
Oct. 25th, 2010
Place
Detail
CPUT,
Cape Town Campus
The WTF Media Conference will aim to explore
social media, mobile media and cloud computing – the three
big trends for 2010.
The speaker line up looks really awesome, speakers
like Justin Hartman, Andy Hadfield, Mathew Buckland, Justin
Spratt and tons more will be sharing their expertise on various
topics.
Tisch School of the Arts
The conference will bring together visual artists,
designers, musicians and app developers from around the
world to discuss art and music created on handheld
touchscreen devices (iPhones/iPads, etc) from a creative,
technical and historical perspective. The free event features
artist presentations, app demonstrations, and forums by app
developers.
Prestigious Center for ,
Sustainable Journalism,
Kennesaw State University,
Atlanta area
The challenges of integrating social media strategies
into interactive, public relations and marketing programs is one
of the top issues facing professionals and business owners
today.
With both beginner- and advanced-level bootcamps
and tutorials, the Social Media Integration Conference will
focus exclusively on how to effectively maximize efforts
across the organization, and features a roster of nationally
known speakers.
Grand Ballroom - Salon 1
This SMPTE Pre-Conference Seminar provides a
comprehensive overview of the evolving media digital
ecosystem, including an explanation of the latest tools and
techniques and discussions about how these technologies can
be leveraged to create highly efficient media workflows today,
while also building the framework for systems of the future.
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No.
Conference
5
The annual Society of Motion
Picture and Television
Engineers Technical
Conference and Expo
6
7
8
9
The 2010 Technical Conference
and Expo
SMPTE Fall Conference
A conference on 'management
of emergent digital ecosystems'
3D Media Conference
Date/Time
Place
Detail
Hollywood, Calif
―Bringing together science, technology, art, and
commerce is vital to ensuring the efficient monetization and
leveraging of resources in this digital media era--and the
hallmark of this conference.‖ said Barbara Lange, SMPTE‘s
executive director.
Oct. 25th -28th, 2010
Hollywood Renaissance
Hotel
It is designed to provide information on the latest
technologies and techniques in the field of cinema and
television. Agenda topics include 3D, wireless acquisition,
content production, digital rights management and IP-based
video distribution.
Oct. 26th-28th, 2010
Hollywood Renaissance
Hotel and adjacent Mann
Theatre in Hollywood,
California
The SMPTE 2010 Technical Conference and Expo and
a special-pre-conference seminar will provide an opportunity
to gain insights from industry leaders and experts about the
latest research affective the communications, media, and
entertainment industries – as well as technologies and tools for
monetizing new opportunities across the entire digital media
ecosystem.
Bangkok, Thailand
The rapid growth and exponential use of digital media
has led to the emergence of virtual environments. Called
'digital ecosystems', they are composed of multiple and
independent entities such as individuals, organisations,
services, software and applications sharing one or several
missions and focusing on the interactions and interrelationships among them.
New York
Media analyst Paul Kagan and Panasonic Corp. today
announced the presentation of 3D MEDIA MARKETS, a
conference on business prospects for the widening exhibition
of 3D content in theaters, on TV and videogames, in sports,
advertising and marketing. The conference will be held Wed.,
Oct. 27 in the iconic Empire Room of the Waldorf-Astoria
Hotel in New York City, where Kagan has conducted meetings
on earlier media newcomers, including cable TV, cellular
telephone and broadband communication.
Oct. 25th -28th, 2010
Oct. 26th-29th, 2010
Oct. 27th, 2010
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Conference
10
the 18th World Digital
Publishing Conference
Date/Time
th
th
Oct. 27 -28 , 2010
Place
Detail
Istanbul, Turkey
Beyond 2010 will take a close look at what is
happening in the digital media area. Once more, lecturers from
all over the world will meet an international audience to give
an update on the latest hot topics.
The Oprah Winfrey Network, Senior Vice President of
Digital Media at Sony Pictures Entertainment and Creative
Director at MTV, Tercek has created breakthrough
entertainment experiences for digital platforms across the
board, from cable and satellite television to games, interactive
television and wireless networks.
11
Robert Tercek To Deliver
Keynote At Merging Media
Conference
Oct. 28th -29th, 2010
Vancouver
12
Solutions Stars Video
Conference
Oct. 29th, 2010
(1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.)
13861 Sunrise Valley Dr
Herndon, Virginia 20171
Thе free video conference wіƖƖ provide insights аnԁ
online marketing tips tο small business owners аnԁ
entrepreneurs.
University of California at
Berkeley, Haas School of
Business
The conference will take a cutting-edge approach to its
subject, asking attendees to be dynamic participants with live
polling, Internet-enabled SMART boards, an idea room for
collaboration and reflection, and a master "mission control
board" displaying it all in real time.
New this year is a "rocket pitch" session, in which
startups and established players will have three minutes to
showcase their latest apps, games, social media innovations,
and hardware to the audience. The session will provide a
preview of the play expo.
LA
StreamingMedia.com, a leading producer of news,
information and events dedicated to the business, technology
and content of online video today announced that its annual
Streaming Media West Exhibition and Conference will be
held. Attended by more than 2,500 executives last year,
Streaming Media West targets media owners, broadcasters,
viral video creators, online marketers, enterprise corporations,
ad agencies, educators, and others for whom the latest online
video technologies are key to their business models.
13
14
Berkeley Digital Media
Conference
Over 100 Speakers To
Showcase The Latest Streaming
Media Business Models at
Streaming Media West in LA
Oct. 30th, 2010
Nov. 2nd – 3rd, 2010
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No.
15
16
17
18
19
Conference
BlueGlass FL Conference
Eclipse Summit Europe 2010
London Games Conference
Business Journal Seminar Social Media's Impact on IT &
Marketing
The International Digital Media
Arts Association Conference
2010
Date/Time
Place
Detail
Nov. 2nd – 3rd, 2010
BlueGlass FL 2010 features high profile leaders from
all
corners
of the online marketing spectrum divulging coveted
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel &
industry secrets and discussing groundbreaking ideas.
Casino in Hollywood,
The conference boasts a lineup of innovative
Florida
educational seminars addressing search marketing,
entrepreneurship and social media.
Nov. 2nd – 4th, 2010
Dr. Gunter Dück, IBM's Chief Technologist for
strategic direction and cultural change, will be the third
keynote speaker and will present "The Industrialisation of the
Services Sector", which will look at how IT professionals need
to change both their working and learning habits. Workshops
will include a section on creating a language for Android Apps
using Eclipse, the anatomy of an Eclipse 4 (e4) application and
mobile development.
th
Nov. 4 , 2010
Nov. 4th, 2010
Nov. 4th – 6th, 2010
Ludwigsburg, Germany
the British Academy of Film
and Television Arts
headquarters in Piccadilly,
London
The industry representatives will be on hand to
discuss their experiences and strategies in a games market
which is being reshaped by the advent of digital distribution
and social networks.
Hilton Minneapolis,
1001 Marquette Ave S,
Symphony III Ballroom
In just the last few years, social media activities have
increased significantly in the workplace. From Facebook and
Twitter to Linkedin, its presence is broad and pervasive.
Online social networks facilitate vast interactions and dialogue
among various audiences -- anywhere, anytime. As such, it‘s
no surprise that more companies are leveraging social media as
part of their marketing and relationship-building strategy.
Emily Carr University
1399 Johnston Street
Vancouver, BC
Leading academics, professionals and artists will
gather at Emily Carr University of Art and Design for the
International Digital Media and Arts Association‘s 8th annual
conference to explore the world of digital technologies with a
focus on the subject of The Digital Narrative. The conference
will include workshops, keynote speakers, ―extreme close-up‖
guest panels, paper presentations, networking, discussions, and
social events as well as opportunities to explore Emily Carr‘s
state of the art facilities.
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No.
20
21
22
23
Conference
Contech Conference
Future of Film Summit
min day Digital Summit November 9 in NYC. Early Bird
Rate Ends: October 1
Academic Network Conference
2010
Date/Time
Place
Detail
Israel
The media and technology executives will use the
three days of the conference to meet with Israeli companies to
evaluate collaboration and acquisition possibilities. Tens of
meetings have already been scheduled with content,
technology and new media companies in Israel.
London,
West Hollywood Hotel
The annual conference series, co-produced by Digital
Media Wire, is focused on forces that are changing the movie
business, with topics spanning development, financing,
production, distribution and promotion across platforms.
The program also will cover recurring issues such as
piracy, film finance and the creation of tentpole movies along
with emerging issues such as online and video-on-demand
distribution, mobile platforms, 3D and social media and viral
marketing.
Grand Hyatt,
New York City
The min day Digital Summit brings together digital
experts and media professionals who will share ideas, tactics
and lessons to help you find the sweet spot where digital
innovation intersects with unique, highly valued content.
Joanne Bradford, Chief Revenue Officer for Demand Media,
will deliver the keynote address during the Summit luncheon –
she will discuss new models for content monetization,
―discovery‖ and partnerships.
Graz
The EUROPRIX Academic Network Conference is a
multi-disciplinary European conference organized by the
European Academy of Digital Media (EADIM) and supported
by the International Centre for New Media (ICNM) and the
Austrian Ministry of Science and Research.
The objectives of the EUROPRIX Academic Network
Conference are to bridge the gap between research, practice,
and pedagogy in the fields of Multimedia and e-Content.
Nov. 8th-10th, 2010
Nov. 9th, 2010
Nov. 9th, 2010
Nov. 11th – 13th, 2010
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No.
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First-ever gigapixel conference
25
The 13th Annual Accessing
Higher Ground Conference
Date/Time
th
th
Nov. 11 - 13 , 2010
Nov. 15th – 19th, 2010
Place
Detail
University Center and the
Gates Hillman Complex
& Carnegie Museum of
Natural History
The conference will include daily events such as talks,
lectures, workshops, and panel discussions. Members of all
corners of the scientific community, from geologists and
primatologists, to paleontologists and ecologists, will share
information and knowledge about the emerging gigapixel field.
A keynote lecture will be given by Pete Worden, the director of
the NASA Ames Research Center, one of the country‘s leaders
on satellite missions and the overseer of an $800 million
budget in the NASA research department.
Westminster
Hosted by CU-Boulder, the conference focuses on the
benefits of web standards and universal design for digital
media long with strategies for making campus information
accessible for students with disability and effective for all
students.
-
26
TWTRCON SF 2010 | The
Business in Real Time
Conference
Nov. 18th, 2010
(8:00 am - 5:30 pm)
Hotel Nikko San Francisco
-
27
Media Festival 2010
th
th
Nov. 17 -19 , 2010
Palace Hotel, Manchester,
United Kingdom
74
Join us at TWTRCON SF 10 and:
Learn how to use Twitter and other real-time tools to
drive revenues, build your brand, and listen and
respond to customers and stakeholders
Discover how to find and engage influencers, measure
sentiment and take advantage of real-time market
opportunities
Get actionable advice and new insights with
workshops, deep-dive case studies and presentations
from the frontiers of real-time innovation
Network and share ideas with leading business,
marketing, media, PR and technology executives
It aims to debunk digital myths, demystify digital
business models and develop new ways of working, new
collaborations and new approaches to the business of content
creation and distribution.
No.
Conference
28
The second Digital Media Asia
summit
29
SAMT 2010 - CALL FOR
POSTERS & DEMOS 5th
International Conference on
Semantic and Digital Media
30
31
The IGNITION Conference
TV 3.0 Conference
Date/Time
Nov. 24th – 26th, 2010
Dec. 1st-3rd, 2010
Dec. 2nd – 3rd. 2010
Dec. 7th – 8th, 2010
Place
Detail
Toa Payoh News Centre
conference facility of
Singapore Press Holdings
(SPH)
The conference will examine how cutting edge
organisations are using the most advanced digital media
platforms for profitably multipurpose content from
newspapers, magazines, broadcasters or books. It will provide
insights into the best practices in the developing multimedia
world.
The release of Apple‘s iPad and other tablets and how
media companies are embracing these new devices, the
emergence of pay-walls around newspaper Websites in Asia
and around the World or the consolidation of social media as a
major trend affecting the news media business will be some of
the key trends discussed in Singapore this year.
Technologies Saarbruecken,
Germany
The SAMT conference series tackles these problems
by investigating the semantics and pragmatics of multimedia
generation, management, and user access. The conference
targets scientifically valuable research tackling the semantic
gap between the low-level signal data representation of
multimedia material and the high-level meaning that providers,
consumers, and prosumers associate with the content.
Time Warner Centure in
NYC
It will celebrate and explore the amazing new
companies and business models that are taking advantage of
this vast new digital opportunity. News, video, TV, books,
Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Google, Yahoo, iPads--we'll be
analyzing all of it. We already have a boatload of great
speakers committed, and we'll be adding many more over the
next two months.
Los Angeles, California
This year's event will focus on the latest innovations
in TV and content delivery and will feature over 40 expert
speakers from across the TV and content value chain.
The industry leading visionaries will address the
issues associated with 3D programming, multi-screen business
models and strategies for integrating online content into the
television experience. Click here to see the full agenda.
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No.
Conference
32
SM@RT 2010 – Social Media
Conference
33
Publication accepted at the 5th
International Conference on
Digital Media and Digital
Content Management
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35
36
The International
CES conference
Social Media the Internet and
Law Enforcement (SMILE)
Conference
Click Asia Summit 2011
Date/Time
th
th
Dec. 8 -10 , 2010
Dec. 20th, 2010
Jan. 6th-7th, 2011
Jan. 10th – 12th, 2011
Jan. 20th -22nd, 2011
Place
John Ascuaga‘s Nugget
Casino Resort
1100 Nugget Ave
Sparks, NV 89431 US
Detail
The SM@RT conference delivers one of the best
values of any similar conference anywhere bringing together
professionals from marketing, tourism, gaming, service
industries and nonprofits
Chongqing, China
The goal of the conference is to provide a forum for
researchers in digital media, digital content, museum and
multimedia community to describe recent advances, to
exchange up-to-date technical knowledge and experiences, and
to debate their views on future research and developments.
Keynote speeches will be delivered by world-renowned experts
in the field.
Las Vegas
The International CES conference has been a mainstay
in the industry, successfully hosting this electronics convention
year after year. Amidst an economic recession and higher
entrance fees, CES still came out ahead. And since it is always
held at the beginning of the year, attendees get first glance at
what is in the pipeline for the coming year. In 2010, enthusiasts
engaged in the exhibition of such technologies as wireless
broadcast DTV, wireless eReaders, Tablet or Slate computers,
and even 3D for television.
RAND Center in Santa
Monica, California
Building on the success of the first Social Media the
Internet and Law Enforcement conference (The SMILE
Conference?) LAwS Communications will be the event
producer. Law enforcement professionals will be equipped
with all the technical hands-on skills and the practical
knowledge to enter the social media world with confidence, or
to polish up their own techniques through peer and
interpersonal technology interaction.
Mumbai
It will be for the first time that India will have a large
format conference for Digital Media & Online Marketing.
Click Asia Summit or CAS is the largest CXO conference in
Asia for Digital and Mobile Marketing. Unlike one day
regional conferences, CAS is a 3-day conference format that
brings in industry experts and CEO‘s from around the world.
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No.
Conference
Date/Time
Place
37
FT Digital Media &
Broadcasting Conference 2011
Mar. 2 – 3 , 2011
Marriott Grosvenor Square,
London
38
Digital Media and Learning
Conference
nd
rd
Mar.3rd-5th, 2011
Detail
The conference will feature lively and informative
panel sessions and in-depth interviews with experts from the
worlds of music, broadcasting, advertising, publishing, social
media and gaming.
Long Beach, California
The Digital Media and Learning Conference is an
annual event supported by the MacArthur Foundation and
organized by the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub at
University of California, Irvine. The conference is meant to be
an inclusive, international and annual gathering of scholars and
practitioners in the field, focused on fostering interdisciplinary
and participatory dialog and linking theory, empirical study,
policy, and practice.
SXSW 2011: TV Turbulence
and Transformation
Mar. 11th-20th, 2011
Texas
As touched upon in a recent Platform post, in the
proposed panel topic we contributed for the upcoming South
by Southwest interactive conference (or SXSWi for those in
the know), we‘ve jointly posed several related questions about
the shifting dynamics within the traditional video
entertainment sector: How will newer over-the-top solutions
like Hulu and Netflix co-exist with other members of the
ecosystem? Will the fragmentation we‘re seeing unify?
40
SemTech Conference
June, 2011
San Francisco
WebMediaBrands (NASD: WEBM), the blog network
and trade show producer, announced on Monday that it has
acquired the assets of the Semantic Technology Conference
and SemanticUniverse.com blog from Wilshire Conferences.
41
Film and Media 2011: The First
Annual London Film and
Media Conference
July 12 – 14 , 2011
39
th
th
The Inaugural London Film and Media Conference
Institute of Education,
welcomes
proposals for papers and presentations on a wide
University of London, United range of topics
relating to the screen- based traditions of
Kingdom
cinema, TV, and digital media.
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