Todd Spangler's blog

That Creepy Verizon Set-Top Patent Application? It Was Rejected

By: Todd Spangler Dec 21 2012 - 2:31pm

In the Much-Ado-About-Nothing Dept.: Verizon Communications last year filed a patent application, first reported by FierceCable, for a system that would let set-tops with cameras and microphones detect which viewers were i

Broadband Usage Pricing: Let It Flourish

By: Todd Spangler Dec 20 2012 - 5:03pm

Are Internet data-usage limits and overage fees a way for service providers to extract more dollars from their heaviest-consuming users -- or are they tools that will increase consumer choice and competition in the market?

The reality is, they’re both. And ultimately, usage-based pricing models will result in healthier competition among ISPs.

Two different policy papers, released within days of each other, reach diametrically opposite conclusions on this issue.

Paper No. 1: Usage-Based Pricing Is Pro-Consumer

Get Me Rewrite! FiOS TV App Reboots on Xbox

By: Todd Spangler Dec 18 2012 - 6:10pm

Almost four weeks after Verizon Communications launched an iPad app that provides up to 75 live channels over home Wi-Fi, Microsoft on Tuesday released an upgraded version of the FiOS app for the Xbox 360 that levels up the game console to the same lineup.

Danger: Falling Televisions

By: Todd Spangler Dec 15 2012 - 8:18am

Any child’s death is a heart-wrenching tragedy.

Apple HDTV: Much Ado About Possibly Nothing

By: Todd Spangler Dec 12 2012 - 11:19am

Amid the years-long fascination about whether Apple will introduce an integrated HD television, there’s one critical question that gets short shrift: How much will it matter?

TiVo Searches for an Internet Video Play

By: Todd Spangler Dec 11 2012 - 11:23am

TiVo has acquired video search engine Zinc.tv, which claims to have an index spanning more than 1.1 million “TV-quality videos” -- including 179,430 TV series episodes and local news videos -- from across the Web. TiVo confirmed the acquisition, first reported by Light Reading Cable.

Hastings: SEC Seeks Civil Action for My Facebook Post

By: Todd Spangler Dec 7 2012 - 12:52am

The SEC thinks Netflix CEO Reed Hastings may have violated its fair-disclosure rules by bragging on Facebook -- but he disagrees.

Netflix Price Hikes Ahead After Disney Deal?

By: Todd Spangler Dec 5 2012 - 11:05am

"There's no one piece of content that is essential for us," Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said two years ago, discussing his attempts to negotiate a renewal with Starz.

FarmVille Everywhere?

By: Todd Spangler Dec 4 2012 - 11:23am

Those annoyingly addictive games from Zynga may soon be coming to pay TV subscribers, with operators being offered the chance to funnel users extra “in-game currency” as a bonus, under a pact between the social games developer and Synacor.

Is This the Craziest-Looking TV Guide in the World?

By: Todd Spangler Nov 28 2012 - 12:31pm

In an era of thousands of content choices, the traditional TV grid guide (with up-down-left-right input) has been disparaged as a ridiculously insufficient tool -- and rightly so. 

TV and set-top makers as well as pay TV operators are looking to new technologies like voice recognition, motion detection and second-screen apps for next-generation navigation.

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