BIT RATE
Covering cable TV, broadband and Internet video technologies
Advertisers: TV Ads Ain't What They Used to Be
UPDATE: The Multichannel News/B&C event scheduled for Wednesday morning in New York, Advanced Advertising: The Future is Now, has been rescheduled for Monday, Feb. 22, from 3-6 p.m. because of the impending winter storm. The venue is still the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan. ————————— The lament is familiar: 62% of major advertisers ...... Read More
Comments (0)Cord Cutter Caves, Comes Back to Cable
What happens when you find out Hulu doesn’t satiate your TV diet? You go back to paying for the programming you can’t get for free. There’s been a popular story line kicking around in the mainstream press and among techno-bloggers: that a rising number of “cord cutters” will cancel their pay-TV service because they’re able to find so much video for free on ...... Read More
Comments (2)Comcastic? No, It's All Gonna Be 'Xfinity'
If you hated the Xfinity name that Comcast picked for its TV Everywhere service, get ready to cringe even more (see Comcast Counts To ‘Xfinity’). Comcast is rebranding all of its cable services as Xfinity, executives said on today’s Q4 2009 earnings call (see Comcast To Launch Xfinity Rebranding Campaign). The journey to Xfinity will begin next week in 11 markets – ...... Read More
Comments (11)ManuteTube
Before YouTube became a worldwide smash hit — not to mention a money-hemorrhaging beast — Ian Blaine had an idea: Project Manute. Blaine is co-founder and CEO of thePlatform, now a Comcast subsidiary that provides Internet video-publishing tools to MSOs and content providers. He recalls that around 2003 he was kicking around the notion of a site that would let anyone self-publish vid ...... Read More
Comments (0)The Week in Numbers
Some key stats and figures from the past week: * 105,000: Number of basic video customers Time Warner Cable lost in Q4 (see Time Warner: Subs Down, Dividend Up In Q4). * 153,000: Net adds for FiOS TV in the fourth quarter — but that’s well off Verizon’s pace in the first half of 2009 — bringing the telco to 2.9 million total video subs (see FiOS Hits Brakes At End Of 20 ...... Read More
Comments (0)The Latest iMagic Act
I lack the gene that makes people delirious with wonder about What Apple Will Do Next. On Wednesday, the latest offering from the Cupertino magic factory was revealed: the iPad, which is either an overgrown iPod touch or a dumbed-down notebook. The Apple marketing geniuses are calling it, no joke, a “Magical & Revolutionary Device at an Unbelievable Price.” Starts at $500, and ru ...... Read More
Comments (3)Updated: FLO TV Is Running Super Bowl Ads, But Can't Carry the Game
Qualcomm will run three ads for its FLO TV mobile television service on CBS before and during the Super Bowl on Feb. 7. Ironically, however, FLO TV customers will not be able to view the Big Game on the CBS Mobile channel, as the service doesn’t have mobile rights from the NFL. (The game won’t be available through any wireless carrier, not even Sprint, the official wireless services ...... Read More
Comments (0)Adjø, Tandberg Television!
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye: As of next Monday, Jan. 25, Tandberg Television will officially be made history by its parent, Ericsson (see Ericsson To Phase Out Tandberg Television Name). Henceforth, Ericsson’s TV solutions and products will be found at www.ericsson.com/television and there will be a redirect from the existing Tandberg Television site (tanbergtv.com), accordi ...... Read More
Comments (5)Discovery's 3D Network to Be Called... 3DNET?
Drum roll, please: The name for the 3D network being put together by Discovery Communications, Sony and IMAX is possibly “3DNET,” according to trademark filings spotted by B&C’s Alex Weprin (see Discovery Weighs Name for New 3D Network). The partners expect to launch the network in 2011, and other 3D programming is on tap from ESPN and DirecTV. At CES, 3DTV dominated the b ...... Read More
Comments (1)Is Verizon Cutting Off P2P Pirates? No, Says the Telco
Content thieves, rest easy! Verizon says it has not terminated any customers’ service based on allegations that they accessed copyrighted material illegally over peer-to-peer networks, contrary to a CNET News report yesterday. Verizon media relations director Bobbi Henson says the telco’s copyright-violation notification program, instituted in April 2009, simply alerts customers that ...... Read More
Comments (0)Cablevision's Latest Anti-FiOS Offer: Free iPod
The Battle for the NY Burbs rages on. Verizon is teeing up new bundles and 12-month intro pricing deals offering a FiOS triple-play for as little as $85/month to New York-area consumers who order online (see Verizon Sets New FiOS Bundles, Hikes Early Termination Fee). Cablevision has parried by offering a free 8GB iPod Touch to new double- or triple-play customers, a promo it’s running unti ...... Read More
Comments (2)Next in Netflix's Device Queue: iPhones
Earlier this week, Netflix announced it was bringing its Internet-streaming service to the Nintendo Wii (see It’s Official: Netflix To Stream To Nintendo’s Wii), something I had learned last July. The industry source who had tipped me off about the Wii had also said Netflix will be delivering an app to let iPhone and iPod touch users watch TV shows and movies from their “watch ...... Read More
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