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Why Google Won't Conquer TV Anytime Soon

Todd Spangler
Posted by Todd Spangler on March 18, 2010

If ever. Just look at TiVo: The company has had 10 years to build on DVR, hands-down most awesome interactive TV application of all time, and spent millions of R&D dollars over much of that time researching exactly what people want to do with their TVs. TiVo has crammed a bunch of Internet content, advertising, advanced search features and widgets into its boxes. And it’s teamed up wi ...... Read More

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DirecTV Strikes Back Against Dish

Todd Spangler
Posted by Todd Spangler on March 17, 2010

Turnabout is fair play. DirecTV last month filed a false-advertising suit against Dish Network over a comparative ad (and was denied its request for an emergency injunction to block the ad — see Dish Can Keep Tweaking DirecTV). Now the No. 1 satellite guy is running a TV ad implying that the rival DBS operator is, well, not telling the whole truth. In the spot, Jeopardy’s Alex Trebek ...... Read More

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Industries: Satellite TV

Comcast Expands Usage-Meter Rollout

Todd Spangler
Posted by Todd Spangler on March 17, 2010

Comcast continues to widen the availability of its Web-based bandwidth-usage monitoring tool for customers, making it available today in parts of Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., Delaware and Maryland. It’s now available in more than 20 states, after the MSO first launched the metering feature last December in Portland, Ore. (see Comcast Tests Data-Usage Meter ...... Read More

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FCC Wants Its 'Stupid' Gateway Everywhere Starting in 2013

Todd Spangler
Posted by Todd Spangler on March 16, 2010

UPDATED: The FCC’s dumb-TV-gateway plan is perhaps even dumber than I thought (see The FCC’s Dumb-Box Idea: Who Wants Interactive TV, Anyway?). The agency is proposing that all pay-TV distributors be required to install such a device for all new subscribers — as well as those who need a new set-top — within three years. “The FCC should initiate a proceeding to e ...... Read More

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The FCC's Dumb-Box Idea: Who Wants Interactive TV, Anyway?

Todd Spangler
Posted by Todd Spangler on March 15, 2010

After considering evidence that CableCards don’t work, and the fact that the vast majority of consumer prefer to lease their set-tops from their TV provider, the FCC apparently is proposing to require the cable industry provide severely dumbed-down “gateways” to customers who don’t want a cable box (see FCC Wants Cable To Adopt Open-Standard ‘Gateway’ Devi ...... Read More

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Rabbit Ears on a Set-Top? Probably Not

Todd Spangler
Posted by Todd Spangler on March 12, 2010

Cable operators and broadcasters are at each others throats over the issue of retransmission fees. In the most recent dust-up, Cablevision subscribers this past Sunday lost WABC for the better part of the day, with the parties coming to terms just as the Academy Awards telecast started (see WABC-TV Returns To Cablevision). The FCC is now looking into whether the retransmission-consent system needs ...... Read More

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Cable Ops Didn't Fund Research Into BitTorrent Tracker

Todd Spangler
Posted by Todd Spangler on March 11, 2010

Here’s a conspiracy theory for you: Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications secretly funded a university research project to be able to better identify BitTorrent users who are swapping copyrighted files. Trouble is, it’s not true. According to a post by an anonymous user on tech site Slashdot, PolyCipher — a joint venture of those three MSOs — partly funded a ...... Read More

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Set-Top Data Under Lock And Key

Todd Spangler
Posted by Todd Spangler on March 10, 2010

Here’s the biggest barrier to set-top box data becoming widely used as a measure of TV advertising: Right now, cable, satellite and telco TV operators — by and large — simply aren’t willing to share that data. Or even talk about it publicly. The Council for Research Excellence, a group funded by Nielsen, set out in late 2008 to analyze the state of set-top data and its ...... Read More

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Scuttlebutt From That ZillionTV Lawsuit

Todd Spangler
Posted by Todd Spangler on February 27, 2010

Besides Qwest’s $10 million investment in ZillionTV, there are a few other interesting tidbits from the lawsuit filed against the IPTV startup by a former contractor (see Qwest Plows Millions Into ZillionTV). ZillionTV has declined to comment on the lawsuit, so we can’t get the company’s side of the story on the allegations. And bear in mind that the ex-contractor who’s ...... Read More

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The 100-Tuner DVR That Lets You Search TV Content

Todd Spangler
Posted by Todd Spangler on February 25, 2010

It’ll cost you around $300,000 for a digital video recorder setup from Houston’s SnapStream Media that can record 100 channels at once and can run full-text searches across the recordings. This mega-DVR would be able to hold some 300,000 hours of TV programming. Who would need such a crazy contraption? No, it ain’t aimed at the consumer market. SnapStream’s DVR applianc ...... Read More

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Addressable Ads: Big Opportunities, Big Hurdles

Todd Spangler
Posted by Todd Spangler on February 24, 2010

Every advertiser wants addressable ads — but it’s going to be 5 years before there’s significant scale from Canoe Ventures to interest major marketers in the technology, predicted GroupM director of emerging media Michael Bologna at our advanced-advertising event Monday. No doubt, addressable ads work: Comcast’s Baltimore trial with SMG reinforced that, finding that vie ...... Read More

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Tipping Point for Advanced TV Ads

Todd Spangler
Posted by Todd Spangler on February 21, 2010

When are we going to see a clickable Super Bowl ad? I wonder how much extra, say, Dockers would have paid for the pantsless-men spot to be able to capture the names and e-mail addresses of prospective buyers out of Super Bowl XLIV’s 106 million+ audience. Sure, the ad’s call-to-action directed viewers to its Web site to enter the free-pants sweepstakes. But it surely would have done ...... Read More

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