A Little Bit of the Old UltraViolet

You would think Darwin’s process of natural selection would apply to digital rights management (DRM) schemes. With AACS, Adept, FairPlay, Marlin, WMA and others, you would think that content creators would want fewer DRM schemes, so that their content would be more consumer friendly and result in higher sales. But those (republican?) concepts of free enterprise and innovation decree that the market needs one more DRM scheme to rule them all – DECE’s UltraViolet.

In the April/May issue of Streaming Media Magazine, Tim Siglin asks if DECE finally gets DRM right, as well as who has signed-on and who has not.

[Photo of UltraViolet by David Shankbone]

AT&T Unveils Usage-Based Pricing

As Todd Spangler wrote in Multichannel News [subscription required], “It might be the beginning of the end for the all-you-can-eat broadband buffet”, as AT&T announced usage-based pricing last week for its DSL and U-verse customers. According to Multichannel [this link free], Sanford Bernstein senior analyst Craig Moffett says that this move may provide “air cover” for large U.S. cable operators to do the same. As more users are watching “over-the-top” video services instead of just web-surfing on their broadband connections, cable systems financial models are eing stressed.

Comcast, Cox and Charter cable systems already have usage caps on their broadband services and Canada’s Rogers moved to consumption-based broadband pricing several years ago. Time Warner, however met with customer resistance when it experimented in 2009 with usage-based pricing on some of its systems.

So what does this all mean for the average couch potato? Well if you were expecting to cut your cable service from the SuperOptimal Platimum Tier to Basic Cable and watch all your shows on Hulu Plus, your broadband provider just might have something else in mind.

UPDATE: Netflix Cuts Data Use on Canada Streaming Service [and the techie details from BGR.]

Cisco’s Plans for World Domination

While Moammar Gadhafi‘s plans for world domination appear to be dashed, Cisco’s plans to rule “Over-the-Top” media distribution technology are underway with their “Videoscape TV Platform“. At CES, Cisco CEO John Chambers presented their five-pronged “grand plan” for Videoscape, which Chambers called “The Future of TV”.

Robin Berger’s post in TVTechnology  describes Cisco’s plan for “The Future of TV”.

Sony Googles TVs

Sony has announced four new TVs plus a Blu-ray player with built-in Google TV. The models will come with built-in Wi-Fi and a RF QWERTY keypad remote.

The models will be able to download content from the Android Market early in 2011. Sony also says that the Intel® Atom® powered models will “also feature Dual View, allowing users to watch television while tweeting about what they’re watching, checking their fantasy football scores, or finding related content on the web.”

(Engadget has a hands-on review.)

The Sony models join the previously announced Logitech “Revue” Google TV box.

Smaller Cable Nets Squeezed Out?

An interesting post from NewTeeVee on how smaller cable networks may be forced off systems as they devote more money and bandwidth to the bigfoot “must carry” networks such as those from Disney, NBCU, TimeWarner and Discovery. The post discusses how AT&T U-verse let its contract with Crown Media to lapse on September 1st.

Disney and NBCU are a double threat as they also own over-the-air stations that are must-carry as per FCC regulations.

IFA: 3D Adds Depth to TV Landscape

Chris Nuttall of the Financial Times filed this report from the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin. Nuttall said that the rumored Toshiba eyeglass-less 3D TV was not demoed. The report also had a list of what Nuttall considered to be the “best gadgets” at the show, including Apple’s “Apple TV”.

Graeme Wearden of The Guardian also highlighted Panasonic and Sony’s 3D announcements including a 3D projector by Sony. Panasonic announced a 3D IPTV service that would allow stereo movies to be downloaded to it’s TVs and Blu-ray players.

And for a more pessimistic view, see Harry McCracken’s blog post.

Samsung’s “Free The TV Challenge”

In addition to throwing some ad dollars at their “Free The TV Challenge“, Samsung has also been generating some media buzz. This past weekend I heard mention of the contest on one of WCBS-AM’s business reports.

For those of you who have not heard, Samsung is running a contest for developers to write applications for Samsung’s line of HDTVs and Blu-ray players that share common programming interfaces for third-party video, gaming and internet-based apps.

You can read the original press release here, and the one about the August 31st “Developer Day” here.

Roku Channel Store; Myka; WD TV Live HD

The race to see who can get the most programming on their internet box
is on. Roku opened it’s “Channel Store” today with ten free channels, including Blip.tv, FrameChannel, Motionbox and Pandora. At the begining of the month Myka announced it’s HD box with Boxee and Hulu. (Thanks to David Tanklefsky of Broadcasting & Cable for the Roko part of the story.)

And last week Verizon Communications CEO Ivan Seidenberg said that Hulu
“is in for the next eight to twelve months and in two years it won’t matter because the world will have moved on.” (Thanks again to B&C.)

UPDATE: (12-05-09) A firmware update has made paperweights out of
Western Digital TV Live HD media boxes that owners chose to
upgrade. (Via engadget.)

IPTV Ideas for Life

Panasonic announced
on Monday (1/7/08) that it will work with Google to develop TVs that
will allow users to watch Internet content such as photos and videos.
(Think YouTube and Picasa…)

(From Reuters)

And from Search Engine Journal – more details.

Here Come the CES Announcements !

Sharp and Samsung do deals
for limited internet content on their TVs.

Streambox will introduce
a software-based product for mobile use and as well as other products.

(Thanks to Lost
Remote and NewTeeVee.)

What’s Next for IPTV?

I was driving my son back to his apartment last night and we got into a
discussion about how disappointing the sales of Apple TV boxes has been.
Frank Capria sums up the situation here.
(You also may want to take a look at the BusinessWeek article "I
Want My iTV".)

Looking forward to MacWorld, my son and I are betting that a revised
Apple TV box will sport some flavor of High Def DVD player. Can’t wait
to see if we’re right…

And Business Week reports there is increased buzz
that Apple and the big studios are close to agreement on downloadable
movie rentals.

Web-to-TV Update

The Wall Street Journal does
a nice update of my blog entry "What’s
All This About Ippy TV?"

What’s All This About Ippy TV?

There’s been so much news on the IPTV front recently that even Roseanne Roseannadanna would have heard about IPTV by now.

First was the announcement by a consortium of Japanese TV manufacturers announcing their push for an IPTV standard. Then there was Apple’s peek at their iTV product.

And lots of little things as well…
MatrixStream began shipping their 1080p capable IP set top box in June. NeuLion has their own box and content management platform – just add your own channels.

All this hardware… If the boys from Japan can get some momentum going
on a box standard, this IPTV thing might just take off.

Makes you want to start your own channel. How about the Emergency
Responders Channel? Reruns of Adam 12, Rescue Me and Justice Files 24/7 ! (And how about a comedy block with Car 54 Where Are You?)

And if you don’t think that I Pee TV isn’t going to be big, just check
out the article in the New York Times Circuits section on 9/27/06 !