TV NEWS STREAM

Mike Berkley  //  Product Strategy @ Comcast's Social Technology Group. Formerly CEO of SplashCast Media. This is my personal blog. My writing and opinions do not necessarily reflect those of Comcast.

Filed under

Yahoo

See all posts on posterous with this tag ยป
Jan 13 / 1:15pm

What if ABC had an app on your TV for watching all shows ON DEMAND?

First, a big announcement from the BBC: the iPlayer is coming directly to your TV.

The BBC's iPlayer allows fans to watch recent episodes online after they've aired on TV. It has become a very popular app (the 'Hulu of Europe', if you forgive me for saying it). The BBC is now bringing the iPlayer directly to the TV, on Samsung Connected TVs. They're doing this via the Yahoo platform, so it will likely be on more TVs as well.

Imagine, here in the States, if ABC decided to build a TV app that allowed you to watch previous episodes of 'Lost' on your TV, whenever you wanted. No more need to record the show via your DVR. And ABC could place a few unskippable ads within the stream (a la Hulu), thereby more effectively tracking and monetizing time-shifted views compared to DVR. Great win for consumers and maybe ABC.

Who loses in this scenario? TiVO, Netflix, and (most importantly) the MSOs. Basically, all the "middleware" between content and consumer lose, IF this catches on with the major content providers. That's a big IF.

There are political and economic forces that will likely prevent (or at least stall) this type of "disintermediation" from happening. Remember that the content providers (ABC) make about half their revenue from licensing their content to the MSOs (cable companies). The relationships between content providers and the MSOs are extremely tight, even while they are love-hate relationships. They have lived co-dependently for 3 decades. It's going to take some time and a lot of pain to unwind those relationships. ABC is going to hesitate jeopardizing those relationships for an experiment with a small population of Connected TV users.

Here's the BBC iPlayer story: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/6966236/BBC-iPlayer-to-be-built-in-to-Samsung-TVs.html#article


By the way, how could Apple allow the brand "iPlayer" to slip through their fingers?

 

Filed under  //  ABC   BBC   Connected TV   iPlayer   Yahoo  
Loading mentions Retweet

Comments (0)

Jan 12 / 9:15pm

So Many Software Platforms for Connected TVs and Set Top Boxes

Dan Rayburn at StreamingMedia.com has put together an impressive list of all the software platforms for TVs and Connected devices. Like with all new digital frontiers, there is a lot of fragmentation and noise right now. While it will only get worse in 2010, it will hopefully consolidate in 2011.

Here's Dan's list:
  • VUDU: While VUDU started off as a hardware device, the company has since changed to a platform licensing model for third party devices and now has deals with LG, Mitsubishi, Samsung, SANYO, Sharp, Toshiba and VIZIO.
  • Yahoo!: While Yahoo! originally started off with some widget functionality that didn't seem like a big deal, at CES, they announced a whole bunch of new partnerships with chip makes, TV manufactures and media player companies for their Connected TV effort. To date, they have deals with VIZIO, ViewSonic, Hisense International, Intel, Samsung, LG Electronics, Sony MIPS Technologies and Sigma Designs.
  • TiVo: While TiVo has always been a hardware and platform company, they have been working for years to try and diversify their revenue by licensing their platform to the MSOs. Recently, they have been very vocal that MSOs should use the TiVo platform as a gateway, or portal for OTT type content to enable MSOs to offer something similar to a VOD service. So far, they have signed up Virgin Media in the UK.
  • Netflix: While most think of Netflix as simply a content partner inside a platform like the Roku or Xbox 360, Netflix is also a stand alone platform for the numerous deals they have cut with device manufactures. Netflix said they expect to be on more than 100 broadband enabled devices by the end of this year which easily makes Netflix not only a content option, but also their own stand alone platform.
  • Best Buy: While we don't know exactly when or what devices the Best Buy platform is coming to, Best Buy plans to enter the market some time this year with a digital download offering that's powered by CinemaNow. Users will be able to download content via BestBuy.com and via select devices sold in Best Buy stores.
  • Blockbuster: While the company has been slow to get their platform, powered by CinemaNow, onto many hardware devices, expect to see a slew of consumer electronic deals announced this year. Blockbuster is available via TiVo's platform and to date has one direct manufacturer deal with Samsung.
  • PlayStation Network (PSN): While the PSN always went along with Sony's gaming devices, the company announced at CES that they would soon bring the PlayStation network to other Sony hardware products including TVs and Blu-ray players.
  • DivX: At CES, DivX announced the launch of of their embedded Internet TV platform called DivX TV along with a list of partners from integrated circuit manufacturers and consumer electronic companies including LG, ADB, Broadcom Corporation, Iomega and Viewsonic amongst others.
  • Rovi: While the company does not have any deals with hardware manufactures yet, it's only a matter of time before Rovi branches out to devices with their recently announced TotalGuide EPG platform. The company's goal is that their platform will become an interactive program guide integrated into TVs and set-top-boxes.
  • iTunes: While Apple's iTunes platform is not yet connected to any TV device other than Apple's own Apple TV, I would expect the company to start cutting licensing deals this year with major CE manufactures.
  • Boxee: For a company who's platform has gotten more press and hype before even having a product out on the market, Boxee announced last week that it would also be entering the hardware market later in the year. While still a platform company at heart who's main goal is to get integrated via set-top-boxes, Boxee now straddles both sides of the fence with a hardware and platform business.
  • CinemaNow: While the company has focused on white labeling their technology platform for Blockbuster and Best Buy, the company is planning to work directly with CE manufactures in the New Year.
via blog.streamingmedia.com

 

Filed under  //  Best Buy   Blockbuster   Boxee   iTunes   Netflix   TiVo   VUDU   Yahoo  
Loading mentions Retweet

Comments (0)