Todd Spangler

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Boxee: Who Needs Cable? Actually, We Do

Cut the cord! Save hundreds of dollars a year by not paying for cable TV! Only, you know, not exactly. Boxee, the Internet-video software startup, is engaging in some interesting rhetorical gymnastics. On the one hand, it’s trying to pitch Boxee Live TV , a $49 dongle for use with the $167.99 set-top made by D-Link, as a way to junk cable TV — just get your favorite... More

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Verizon's Internet-Streaming Service Could Include Live TV

Verizon isn’t ruling out adding live TV programming to its still-to-be-named Netflix challenger, which it’s developing with Coinstar’s Redbox — raising the specter of a “virtual MSO” that could challenge cable and satellite TV nationwide, not to mention AT&T U-verse (see Verizon, Coinstar Tag Team On Netflix Rival ). When I asked Eric Bruno,... More

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Rogers Pulls Plug on Internet Throttling

How do you fit eight lanes of traffic onto a four-lane highway without traffic jams? They’re about to find out in the Great White North. Rogers Communications, Canada’s biggest cable operator, on Friday told the country’s communications regulatory body, the CRTC, that it will start phasing out its bandwidth-management system starting next month, targeting a complete... More

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DirecTV Teases Addressable Ads

After months of delays, DirecTV appears to be imminently prepared to launch addressable ads — able to target spots geographically and based on household demographic info, such as income — if it hasn’t already. The satellite operator’s ad sales website, DirecTVAdSales.com , now features a prominent banner touting the feature, claiming that marketers can... More

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Can You Turn Pirates Into Purchasers?

You’re a manufacturer of high-end racing bicycles. You make your newest bike models available to specialty retailers several weeks ahead of wider distribution, since they’re your most valuable sales partners. But a crypto-anarchist cycling gang — with the nom de guerre Bikes Want to Be Free! — hates this policy because it inconveniences them. So, the day the... More