TOP STORY
- Holiday HDTV Shipments Could Fall
A slumping economy and woes in several large retailers could produce the first ever drop in sales of high-definition TV sets during the fourth quarter, according to Paul Gagnon, director of North America TV market research at DisplaySearch, which tracks shipments to retailers. more » » »
NEWS
- Buckeye Preps for More HD VOD
As part of a plan to dramatically expand its HD video-on-demand content and to eventually launch a Start Over type service, Buckeye Cablevision has upgraded its SeaChange VOD infrastructure with new SeaChange software and flash memory servers. more » » »
- Telcos Eye HD Local Ad Solutions
Telcos are increasingly interested in developing local advertising platforms that can insert local ads into MPEG-4 AVC high-definition programming and in setting up ad-insertion systems that will ultimately allow them to deploy advanced advertising platforms, according to Ramin Farassat, vice president of product marketing at RGB Networks, which provides ad insertion technology to both cable operators and telcos. more » » »
Q&A
 ION Media’s Dave Glenn
Ion Media president of technical operations Dave Glenn talked to HD Update about Ion’s HD upgrade and the company’s decision to handle the upgrade in-house. more » » »
BRIEFING ROOM
- MLB Network Signs Carriage Deal With FIOS
MLB Network has signed a carriage deal with Verizon's FIOS television service. As a result of the agreement, Verizon customers who subscribe to the "essentials" and "Extreme HD" packages will receive MLB Network on channel 86 when it premieres January 1, and in high-definition on channel 586. The deal now gives MLB Network carriage deals with 43 operators, reaching approximately 50 million homes on digital basic or equivalent tiers. more » » »
- Vudu Cracks 1,000 HD Titles
Online movie service Vudu says it is now offering over 1,100 HD titles for instant, on-demand viewing, which it says represents the largest library of HD content available on-demand today. In September, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Vudu, which uses a proprietary Internet-connected set-top box to facilitate on-demand viewing of 10,000 movies and TV shows, introduced a new 1080-line progressive format called HDX and has been adding some 150 new HD titles a week. more » » »
- Dish Debuts First Digital-to-Analog Converter With DVR
Dish Network’s DTVPal DVR, a digital-to-analog converter box that offers digital-video recording functionality, will be available for preorder nationwide starting Nov. 19, with sales projected to begin in mid-December. The DVR allows consumers to record up to 150 hours of standard definition and 30 hours of high definition content. In a second announcement, Dish revealed that it was offering a feature that will permit customers to convert their original HD receiver to DVRs with an external hard drive. more » » »
- MGM HD Adds U-Verse Deal
MGM HD is marking its first anniversary by landing a carriage deal with AT&T's U-verse service, and by picking up distribution on cable systems that have been carrying Mojo HD, a channel that will go dark next month. With its new AT&T pact, MGM HD now has affiliation deals with all the major distributors — DirecTV, Dish Network, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verizon and Bright House Networks. more » » »
- Insight Bolsters HD With 'Digital 4.0'
By the end of this year, Insight Communications systems will introduce "Digital 4.0," described as the company's most significant video product upgrade in years. The biggest focus of the upgrade — from the current "Digital 3.2" — will be the addition of high-definition channels, although the rollout will also include new standard-definition selections. Insight also plans to expand VOD selections to 6,000 programs, with most of the new content available in HD. more » » »
AROUND THE WEB
- Studios, CES Firms To Promote Blu-ray Discs
The L.A. Times reports that several major studios and consumer electronics companies are bankrolling a $25-million marketing campaign this holiday season to promote Blu-ray movie discs. The launch of the "Tru Blu" promotional campaign underscores the enormity of the stakes for the studios and hardware manufacturers. The initial format war over which technology would replace the DVD, Sony's Blu-ray or Toshiba's rival HD DVD, confused consumers and kept them from making the high-def leap. Meanwhile, DVD sales, long Hollywood's most dependable cash cow, are down 9% this year, according to Nielsen VideoScan. Studios are looking to promote Blu-ray to pick up the revenue slack. more » » »
- Can Blu-ray Save Christmas For Hollywood?
The Associated Press reports that The Digital Entertainment Group, a consortium of movie studios and electronics manufacturers, forecast that 10.5 million households will be able to play Blu-ray videos by the end of the year — with about 2.5 million standalone players and 8 million PlayStation 3 game consoles. But if it is to come true, about 1 million more standalone players and 2.3 million more PS3s must be sold through the holidays. more » » »
- HDTV Sales Slow
ZDNet reports that the crummy economy is finally starting to erode sales growth for HDTVs. Research firm DisplaySearch’s third-quarter report on the state of the TV market shows that manufacturers shipped 6 percent more sets to retailers than in the second quarter, while year-to-year growth is 12 percent. Considering that declines are popping up everywhere on the retail front, that’s not a bad showing, but sales growth could grind to a halt in the fourth quarter. Another indicator of consumer belt tightening is that sales growth in LCDs with screen sizes less than 40 inches was 7 percent over last quarter, but bigger, pricier LCD sets gained only 3 percentage points. more » » »
- 1000 HDTVs for New Yankee Stadium
This post by Journal News sports writer Peter Abraham notes that the Yankees are working with Cisco to make the new Yankee stadium a high-tech temple and are planning to spend $17 million on technology by the time it is finished. It will be outfitted with 1,100 flat screen, HD monitor around the Stadium that can be individually programmed with real-time stats, traffic information, weather, etc. The entire Stadium will have high-speed wireless. The long-range plan is that once consumers move to smart phones, they can use them to access concessions stands, merchandise, get highlights, stats, chat, etc. Cisco engineers argue that no stadium in North America will be more advanced in terms of delivering video to fans. more » » »
- HDMI backers ready for 3DTV role
EETimes reports that High Definition Multimedia Interface proponents believe the industry will be able to deliver stereoscopic 3-D televisions—eventually—and that the HDMI interface is ready to go for first-generation 3DTVs. The Consumer Electronics Association will update a key spec at the heart of HDMI to make it ready for stereo 3-D, one of several steps the CEA is now working on to pave the road for 3DTV. Long term, though, HDMI may need to boost its bandwidth to make room for a capability to deliver full high-definition views of stereo 3-D video. more » » »
|
|
Forward to a Friend
