NEW YORK — Executives from News Corp. and CBS raised eyebrows when they threatened to turn their broadcast networks into cable channels if the NYC startup Aereo wasn’t shut down — but Aereo’s CEO isn’t sweating that outcome.

“They’re independent businesses, they can choose to do what they wish to,” said Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia (above) at the Ad Age Digital conference today.

He went on to point out that broadcast networks built their businesses on a “public right,” referring to broadcast spectrum that anyone in the U.S. can freely access. That broad exposure led broadcast networks to gain a significant amount of  mindshare among TV viewers, which inevitably brought on a wealth of ad revenue.

Ultimately, Kanojia doesn’t believe that broadcast networks will make the move to cable because he doesn’t think they’ll give up the reach they have right now, which includes 54 million people who access their networks over TV antennas. “It’s such a large audience, I don’t see how those customers aren’t going to get served,” he said.

“Can you disenfranchise over 54 million people over what they can rightfully do today?,” Kanojia asked. It’s a question that consumers and policy makers will have to consider if the broadcast network threats become more legitimate.

“There’s not a single cable channel that holds a candle [to broadcast networks],” he noted. Indeed, that’s something CBS and News Corp. executives are likely thinking about as they consider moving to paid models.

When I asked Kanojia about how exactly Aereo plans to scale, he pointed out that the company’s current tactic is actually pretty efficient. The company has to roll out small antenna farms in local markets to deliver its service to local customers, but he pointed out that a a standard server box could server around 10,000 users.

“The approach has been very much a cellular-like building — metro to metro,” he said. “The advantage we have is that this is a single cell site.”

Photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

Years ago you could just connect a coaxial cable to your television for access to a ton of cable channels. But that possibility was eventually disabled after cable providers decided to start encrypting the bulk of those channels.

As of today, cable TV provider Comcast has decided to encrypt all the channels – even those that are freely broadcast to locals via an HD antenna (ABC, NBC, CBS, CW, Fox, PBS, and a few others depending on the area). Previously, you didn’t need an adapter box to get basic cable channels as long as you paid Comcast every month, but that’s all changing.

Now, anyone who has a subscription will need a box from the cable provider. Comcast’s announcement indicates that it’ll rent out the adapter boxes to customers for free on up to three devices ($0.50 per device after that) for two years — meaning it isn’t a huge increase to monthly bills as long as you pick up the devices in the next four months. That’s somewhat of a pain that I can’t imagine the “limited-basic cable” crowd will enjoy. This could also mean all venues with basic cable will have to “upgrade,” which could lead to them yanking service entirely.

The perks of the change is that all customers will now have access to Comcast’s channel guide as well as a nominal amount of on-demand programming, which I’m guessing is mostly movie and TV rentals that get tacked onto your monthly bill.

Comcast was granted access to encrypt those basic channels last year after the company successfully convinced the FCC that it would cut down on theft of the service from people who weren’t actually paying anything. I can’t help but wonder if this is also in part due to the growing threat of Aereo, which threatens to replace the cable providers altogether for those who’ve already cut the cord in favor of Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming video services.

I can see how Comcast could easily entice limited-basic cable subscribers to stick with Comcast over Aereo by providing some of Aereo’s services, such as on-demand programming, DVR functionality, and the ability to watch broadcast content from anywhere via Internet-connected mobile devices.

Photo via cmorran123/Flickr

All week long, Comcast customers with an Xfinity TV account were granted access to full seasons of a slew of hit television shows — thus enabling viewers to embark on what’s known as binge watching (aka watching an entire season in a single sitting).

The promotion, called the Xfinity Watchathon Week, allows you to view these shows via cable boxes, mobile devices, or web browser, and includes shows such as Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey, Dexter, Girls, Spartacus, Mad Men, Revolution, The Walking Dead, Psych, and more. The move is significant because many of these shows are either about to end their current season or start a new season, and the alternatives to not catching up on these shows is either to miss them entirely or watch them illegally via torrents or unauthorized streaming video sites.

And while there’s still a couple days left before Watchathon ends, Comcast shared with VentureBeat some information on what’s getting binge-watched the most.

“We’re seeing double-digit percentage increases in views across platforms so far,” Comcast VP of video services Maggie Suniewick told VentureBeat. “Premiums [TV shows] are doing extremely well, and we expect that to continue as customers catch-up leading into the premiere of Game of Thrones on Sunday night.”

Everyone is most certainly frothing at the mouth waiting on Season 3 of Game of Thrones, but the most binged-watched show thus far is actually Showtime’s Shameless series, according to Comcast. I’ve never actually seen the show, which is about “an alcoholic man lives in a perpetual stupor while his six children with whom he lives cope as best they can” and stars William H. Macy. Yet, if I’d already seen every episode of Game of Thrones and Doctor Who three times over, I might decide to check it out while waiting for their respective premieres this weekend.

The data doesn’t include all viewing information from cable boxes, which is typically delayed by four days. (My guess is that this weekend will probably see lots of people using their cable boxes, too.) But regardless of what shows get watched the most, hopefully the data will send a clear message to big cable providers that people are more interested in binge-watching good shows than watching four different version of essentially the same cable channel.

Image via Comcast

Christopher Kaminski is the founder and CEO of Deluxis.

Cablevision is suing Viacom because Viacom is allegedly forcing Cablevision to buy channels it doesn’t want. But that doesn’t mean the company is working hard to lower your monthly bill, or even help lessen the number of unwanted channels you have access to.

In fact, Cablevision probably wants to continue forcing their customers to buy channels they don’t want. Allow me to explain why.

Here’s a little inside baseball on the television industry. Both cable companies and big media companies enjoy selling bundles because it provides a stable revenue stream. Content bundles can serve as a hedge against the dip in ratings of one channel, and help defray the risk of launching new channels. It’s the same basic theory that governs why investors have portfolios of investments, and why your mother told you not to put all your eggs in one basket.

If Cablevision were to prevail in this case, it is very likely that nothing positive would happen for the cable customer. Cablevision is not going to stop carrying Nickelodeon or MTV. They are only concerned about “niche” channels like Nicktoons and MTV Tr3s. A ruling in favor of Cablevision means people who actually watch these smaller channels would lose access to them, while the people who don’t tune in would probably not see a smaller monthly bill.

These smaller channels cost about $0.02 each per subscriber every month. Even a dozen of these little channels would add up to about one shiny quarter. That kind of savings would probably go unnoticed on a cable bill that now averages $86 per month. Of course that assumes that Cablevision would even pass the cost reduction to their customer. And any kind of cost reduction assumes that Viacom wouldn’t raise the price of Nickelodeon to offset the loss of Nicktoons.

Cablevision, like any cable or satellite company, is very unlikely to ever offer their customers the ability to pick and choose individual channels. Doing so would require millions of dollars in capital expenditure to upgrade the software on set-top boxes, re-engineering their billing system, and other associated infrastructure improvements.

And what would be their reward for all that hard work? Customers could pay them less money every month. A la carte could result in a lower and more unstable revenue stream for these companies. It seems extremely unlikely that anyone at Cablevision (who wants to keep their job) would champion such a cause.

Original TV image art via Shutterstock

Christopher is the co-founder and CEO of Deluxis, a new online television service featuring individual channel subscriptions. He is also a producer whose works include award-winning video games such as Valkyria Chronicles and MadWorld. He contributed to games published by Sega, Activision, Disney, Konami, and Turner/Cartoon Network. He is an active member of the Producers Guild of America, and held a board member position in the Northwest Chapter. Christopher previously maintained transcontinental fiber optic networks and gathered technology intelligence for the phone company.

Cable TV service provider Cablevision is sick and tired of having to carry tons of channels that its subscribers don’t want and, more importantly, don’t want to pay for.

So today, the telecommunications giant filed a lawsuit against cable network Viacom (PDF) for “illegally forcing Cablevision to carry and pay for 14 lesser-watched ancillary networks.”

Right now, if cable TV providers want to offer subscribers MTV, Comedy Central, and Spike, it must bill their customers for MTV 2, VH1 Classic, Nick Jr., and a slew of other, less appealing channels. This practice — called bundling — enables Viacom to demand more money from companies like Cablevision. This isn’t the first time TV providers have pushed back at Viacom, either, as it participated in a very public pissing match with satellite service DirecTV last year.

Should Cablevision win, it could drastically change the pricing model to an “à la carte” system and abolish the current practice of bundled packages of channels (from multiple cable networks) that many of us have no choice but subscribe to each month. For instance, if you only watch HBO, Comedy Central, Science Channel, Discovery, and the History channel, you’d pay a monthly fee for each of them.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that bundled channel pricing will go away entirely, but we’d certainly get smaller bundles. Customers may find that Viacom will charge more for each channel, which could make a Viacom-specific bundled channel package more attractive. But at least that would be more of a choice than what consumers are currently getting.

We’re reaching out to Viacom for a comment about the lawsuit and will update this post with any new information.

Via AllThingsD

This sponsored post is produced by StackSocial.

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Intel made a few big announcements at the Consumer Electronics show today concerning its ultrabook laptop and a new vision for cable.

Though people expected to hear about a new set-top box to revolutionize the way people purchase cable plans, Intel surprised people with a new partnership. And, as it has said for a year now, it is continually interested in putting Kinect-like gesture controls in all kinds of devices.

Ultrabooks at $599

Intel revealed today that its next line of ultrabooks will be released by the end of 2013. You’ll be able to pick one up for $599, and as The Next Web notes, Intel says the battery will last all day long. The ultrabooks at today’s press briefing had detachable keyboards and touchscreens, making them competitive in the tablet market despite being a PC. They also run the new Windows 8.

Comcast partnership

Intel also announced that it is partnering with cable-giant Comcast to bring all of its Xfinity channels to Intel-devices, as Forbes notes — without a set-top box. The channels would be processed and delivered inside the device, without needing an extra piece of machinery to serve the content.

This announcement was actually a bit of a bummer for Intel fans looking to see it do the opposite — release a set-top box. The box was rumored to change cable as we know it, with some saying it would enable people to purchase only the channels they wanted to watch. Instead, the partnership goes in the opposite direction.

Gesture controls

As VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi writes, Intel is digging in deeper with gesture controls. Vice president of the PC client group Kirk Skaugen explained that Intel believes gesture controls can do a lot for the gaming and security industries. On the gaming side, being able to control a game simply by waving your hands in front of the screen is, well, awesome.

As far as security goes, you could also use gesture controls to evolve passwords. Right now, passwords are very weak, and the technology behind iris scans and fingerprinting isn’t cheap or easily distributed. Gesture control could change that by tailoring a gesture, or pairing it with face recognition to give access to accounts and systems.

Intel image via huangjiahui/Flickr

IAC-backed television service Aereo recently announced that it’s reached a deal to bring the Bloomberg TV cable network to its lineup of available channels, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Aereo lets New York City residents watch free, locally broadcast HDTV channels (from local affiliate stations for ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CW, and others) on smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers. Aereo uses a tiny HD antenna the size of a dime to pick up the broadcast signal for each of its users, which makes it legal in the eyes of the law — much to the outrage of major entertainment companies. There’s also a DVR in the mix that lets users record up to 40 hours of content that can be streamed later.

Aereo’s deal with Bloomberg is significant because it’s the first cable channel to come to the service. Also, if more cable channels — such as those owned by Viacom like Comedy Central, MTV, and Spike –  sign deals to appear on Aereo, it could represent a new pay TV business model that costs consumers less money than cable and satellite TV while offering nearly all the same perks.

The average cable or satellite television subscriber pays over $100 per month, an amount that’s estimated to double by 2020. The bulk of those subscription fees are due to the forced inclusion of live sports programming that some people don’t even watch.

By contrast, Aereo has a flexible pricing structure that includes a $1 daily pass, $8 and $12 monthly passes, and an $80 annual plan. Those prices may rise as Aereo adds more cable channels to its lineup, but it’ll still be far less money than what most people are paying to their TV service provider right now. If Aereo did begin offering more live sports channels like the cable TV providers (something it hasn’t yet discussed), it could easily do so by offering a separate programming package for more money.

And although I doubt Aereo will ever offer channels in an à la carte pricing model (where you pick only the individual channels you want to pay for), the company does have plenty of potential to offer better programming packages than what’s offered by the likes of Comcast, DirecTV, Time Warner Cable, and AT&T Uverse.

Aereo’s Bloomberg TV deal may be a huge win for the service, but it still has some important legal hurdles to jump before it can truly become successful. Media company’s like News Corp./Fox, CBS, Walt Disney/ABC, and Comcast/NBCUniversal are currently suing Aereo, saying its use of  local HDTV broadcast signals (which provide free access to many TV channels if you have an HD antenna on your television set) is unfair and illegal. So far, both federal courts and groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation aren’t buying that argument, but a final ruling is expected in 2013.

Google is making some pretty big additions to its Google Fiber TV channel lineup, the company announced over the last week.

The fledgling cable TV service is getting most major channels from Time Warner’s Turner Broadcast company, including Boomerang, Cartoon Network (Adult Swim), CNN, CNN en Español, CNN International, HLN, hTV, infinito, TBS, TCM: Turner Classic Movies, TNT, and truTV.

Earlier in the week, the company announced that it had reached a deal with Disney’s television division to bring several more channels to the lineup. Those stations include ABC Family, ABC News Now, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, ESPN, ESPN Buzzer Beater, ESPN Classic, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Goal Line, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU, Longhorn Network, Ovation, SOAPnet, TBN, TBN Enlace, and Velocity.

This is a huge win for Fiber TV, a service that’s currently only available to residents of Kansas City bundled with a 1Gbps broadband Internet service. For $120 per month, Google Fiber customers get far more than what competitors are offering. And many of the complaints against the service (besides not being able to get it if you don’t live in KC) concerned its channel lineup. But now that it has both Adult Swim and ESPN sports channels, I’m guessing the geeky, tech savvy community will have more reason to want the service.

Of course, it still doesn’t have an HBO premium content package, but it’s also barely started its business. Earlier in the month, Google announced that it had reached over 50 percent of its goal for Fiberhood signups. (A fiberhood is a concentration of residents that all agree to use Google Fiber, thus making it lucrative enough for the company to build the broadband infrastructure of the service.)

And even though Google Fiber TV is relatively well received (at least is theory) by the public, big cable companies don’t seem to be showing much fear. Please note, that’s far different from actually being afraid.

For example, Time Warner Cable CFO Irene Esteves recently said that she can’t imagine Google Fiber expanding outside of Kansas, nor did she think that the business model would make sense — estimating that a nationwide broadband network build-out could cost upwards of $200 billion all said and done.

She goes on to cite that what TWC is losing in terms of market share to Google in the Kansas City area is a drop in the bucket as well as how Verizon spent $30 billion on its FiOS network to occupy just 15 percent of U.S. homes.

Esteves, TWC, and other cable providers frequently cite the big “numbers” game when talking about the threat of competition from Google. They likely do this because deep down they know Google didn’t base its decision to enter the cable market on the numbers. It entered because it saw an opportunity to do better.

But to directly address Esteves’ commentary, why does Google need a nationwide broadband network to be successful? Also, Verizon isn’t interested in growing its broadband business, meaning someone with deep pockets (like maybe, Google?) could eventually buy it in the future.

One thing is certain though: When the former cast of Star Trek The Next Generation has a public conversation about how absolutely aggravating it is to sign up for your cable service, it’s time to reassess how you’re doing things.

Apple’s TV ambitions may be going through some changes.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is trying to convince cable operators to pipe their content through an Apple-made set-top box.

If true, the report suggests that Apple is backing away from its rumored goal to license television content though its own Internet protocol television, which would put it in direct competition with cable operators. Companies like Samsung, TiVo, and Motorola already offer their own set-top boxes, so Apple would hardly be alone in the space.

But there’s one big problem: The cable operators don’t want Apple anywhere near them.

There are two main reasons for this: For one, Apple tends to dominate the industries it injects itself into, usually to the detriment of the industries themselves. And two —  the cable companies say Apple just wants too much money out of the deal.

But there are some benefits as well. Rather than buy cable boxes and lease them to consumers, by working with Apple, cable operators could just shrug the costs of the boxes onto consumers themselves.

In any case, Apple hasn’t reached a deal with anyone yet, so there’s no telling what its television offering will ultimately look like. But more and more it’s looking as if the cable industry is one area that Apple hasn’t found a way to crack.

Google is getting ready to sell off Motorola Mobility’s cable television assets later this year, according to a report by Light Reading Cable published today.

Google purchased Motorola for $12.5 billion nearly a year ago to obtain some intellectual property patents crucial to its business strategy for Android. However, Motorola’s patents accounted for just $5.5 billion of the total sale to Google — meaning it isn’t necessary for Google to hold on to all of Motorola’s other assets.

In an effort to recuperate some of the money from the Motorola sale, Google could sell off Motorola’s Home division, which includes cable modems, set tops, video processors, and some other related assets. Light Reading’s report indicates that Google has hired Barclays Capital to manage the sale, which could take place as early as November, with bidding beginning in October.

The real question about the sale is whether Google will chose to include some of the valuable IPs related to cable devices. Motorola hasn’t exactly let its cable division become stagnant in terms of innovation. The company debuted a new DreamGallery software to eliminate crappy TV user interfaces back in May. Still, the cable/home division’s IP could prove useful in the future for Google, which is growing its own smart TV platform, Google TV.

Light Reading’s report states that Google can expect to bring in about $2 billion from the sale of the home division, provided that some IP is included. Depending on the level of interest, the search giant could split up the sale of the home division into a few parts. Such a move could attract interest from Pace, Juniper Networks, and Ericsson AB, according to the report.

Motorola cable box photo via WingedMammal

Much like The Batman’s effect on Gotham City’s criminals, Google’s newly announced Fiber TV service will strike fear into the hearts of big cable company executives across the country.

Why? Because Fiber TV promises to fix everything that’s wrong with the current crop of cable TV services.

The Fiber TV service, which is paired alongside Google’s new ultra-fast broadband Internet service, means Google will now compete with the likes of Verizon FiOS, Comcast’s Xfinity TV, AT&T Uverse, Time Warner Cable, and others. And while Google’s service is only available in Kansas City for the time being, there are still plenty of reasons why the aforementioned cable providers should be scared. The biggest of those is that Fiber TV has the potential to show people what they’re missing.

Current cable TV providers have restrictive bundling, and you have to pay for every extra. Most offer hundreds of channels and a standard cable box (with remote). You might have access to a limited library of on-demand content, but that’s pretty much the extent of perks for a basic TV service. If you want the maximum number of channels (HBO, Showtime, etc.), you’ll have to pay more. If you want HD quality video, you’ll have to pay for an upgraded cable box. And depending on the extent of your TV show recording behavior, there’s also a higher monthly rental charge for a cable box with DVR functionality. Not only that, but you basically need to have an upgraded cable box to take advantage of any second-screen functionality on mobile devices (using your iPhone as a remote, scheduling your DVR to record shows, and more). All of this can cost upwards of $100 to $200 per month, which doesn’t include the cost of bundling a high-speed Internet service.

Likewise, Google Fiber TV has some similarities with the existing cable services. Customers can get access to 161 channels (fewer if you don’t want to pay extra for premium channels like HBO and Showtime). And like most other cable service, Fiber TV offers access to a library of on-demand content. But beyond the television programming, everything else on Fiber TV is better.

Fiber TV’s basic subscription package gives customers an HD TV receiver box, as well as a DVR box with 500 hours (2TB) of storage that can record up to eight channels at the same time. Instead of a crappy remote that embarrassingly looks like something you ripped off from a PlaySkool toy chest, Google Fiber TV gives you a $199 Nexus 7 Android tablet for free. (You can control the service using the dedicated Fiber app on the Nexus 7′s touch screen or use voice commands.)

All of this, including 1Gb Internet service and 1TB of Google Drive storage, costs Google Fiber customers $120 per month plus a one-time $300 construction fee. If you’re willing to sign a two-year contract, Google will waive the construction fee.

We don’t know if Google Fiber will be a tremendous success as a business. The service hasn’t launched, it will only be available in Kansas City to start, and it will take at least a year before the broadband infrastructure is built out enough to gauge its progress. Google also doesn’t have any experience running a broadband TV/Internet business.

Still, Google certainly has plenty of interest in the service. If it can manage to make fiber profitable, it may stand a chance at revolutionizing the cable industry.

Comcast is finally rolling its new X1 cable/DVR set-top box for the Boston, Mass. market, with a handful of other major markets following soon after, the company announced today.

We first heard about Comcast’s enhanced TV service nearly a year ago, with the cable giant touting a new line of cable boxes featuring a brand new channel guide user interface, integration with social services (Skype, Facebook, Pandora, etc.), and the ability to update software without returning to the physical service center. Well, the X1 is that cable box, which promises an eventual end to the crappy UI and Playskool toy-like remote that’s currently being used the majority of subscribers.

The X1′s UI is very similar to the look and feel of Comcast’s Xfinity TV web services, which is good because there was quite a huge gap in presentation quality.

The X1 box will also interact with mobile phone apps that act as remote controls, which is similar to what Roku, Apple TV, and Boxee already offer to their customers. It’s nice to see Comcast finally taking notice. You’ll also be able to navigate what’s on the screen using the app’s gesture controls. Right now Comcast is only making an iOS app available, but I’m sure Android and others will follow as the X1 launches in additional markets.

Check out a gallery of screenshots showing off the X1′s slick new interface, as well as the new iOS remote control app.

Via Engadget

It’s rarely a good thing when the country’s biggest cable providers partner up, but subscribers might be okay with today’s news.

Customers of Bright House, Cablevision, Comcast, Cox Communications, and Time Warner will soon be able to connect to each other’s Wi-Fi networks. The combined network, named “CableWifi” will vastly expand each company’s hotspot offerings under a larger, cross-compatible umbrella.

Connecting to CableWiFi will work via a single set of credentials that can be used across all of the partnership’s 50,000 hotspots in New York City, Los Angeles, Tampa, Orlando, and Philadelphia.

The offer, however, isn’t entirely new. Independently, cable companies have been offering similar deals for their customers for some time. And they’re not new to working together, either: The current partnership is an expansion of a previous one between Comcast, Cablevision, and Time Warner that appeared in 2010.

Instead, the news here is that the five companies, all of which have very significant user bases, are working to counter a greater threat: Wireless providers like Verizon and AT&T which threaten to steal away all of the cable companies’ customers’ mobile Internet time.

To counter that, companies like Time Warner have had to make their mobile Wi-Fi offerings more compelling — making their wireless networks as large as possible is one of the best ways to do that.

But the companies still have a while to go. While 50,000 hot spots is significant, the cable companies’ offerings pale in comparison to those of metro Wi-Fi providers like Boingo, which offers over 500,000 W-iFi hotspots.

Via CNet; Image via Shutterstock

Roku’s product chief, Tom Markworth, sat down with VentureBeat at South By Southwest to show off the company’s latest, as-yet-unreleased bit of hardware: the streaming stick.

These teeny, weeny gadgets will connect smart TVs to a plethora of over-the-top content, and they’ll do so with Roku’s trademark ease of use and affordability. Markworth also talks about the entertainment/technology relationship, especially with regard to Roku’s interesting and still developing relationships with cable companies and content creators.

We’ve still got more video interviews from SXSW, unbelievable though it may seem, so don’t touch that button.

It looks like Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings isn’t just thinking about the far-off future for a Netflix-cable partnership. He may already be in talks with cable company executives.

According to Reuters‘ sources, the video streaming company may already be working on cable partnerships, with one cable company reportedly geared up to do a Netflix test run with its subscribers by the end of the year. We recently reported that Hastings believes moving toward a deeper relationship with cable networks is “the natural direction for us in the long term.” It would position the company as a competitor to HBO, offering another on-demand solution for cable subscribers.

“Many [cable service providers] would like to have a competitor to HBO, and they would bid us off of HBO,” Hastings was reported as saying,

It will be a close competitor given the company’s recent forays into original content, such as its own series Lilyhammer and Orange is the New Black. It is also reviving Arrested Development, a cult classic prematurely canceled by Fox, slated for release in 2013. Cable providers afraid of cord-cutters will like the opportunity to take one of their own competitors off the market.

Netflix has had a rocky time trying to find its identity in the streaming video world. In October, it increased prices on its DVD subscription plan by 60 percent and split its physical DVD and streaming offerings into two different entities. The DVD arm, to be named Qwikster, was soon killed off after backlash from its community. The overall kerfuffle resulted in Netflix losing 800,000 subscribers in the third quarter of 2011.

Photo via Hacking Netflix/Flickr

The Hopper DVR will work across multiple rooms, allowing you to stop a show in one part of your house, and pick up where you left off in another. It will have three tuners: the 2 terabyte main unit acts as a server, and two extender units, called “Joeys,” stream recorded content to other sets in the home.

In addition to a revamped user interface, the Hopper will have a feature called PrimeTime Anywhere that can automatically record primetime programing on ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox.There’s a placeholder set up for the Hopper on Dish’s website, that touts a “Whole new animal in whole-home entertainment.”

Dish’s new broadband satellite service would serve 8 million customers, mostly in overlooked markets currently lacking broadband or fiber optic coverage.

The DVR rumors first surfaced when blogger Dave Zatz wrote about an article that appeared on TWICE early, before being removed. The broadband details were in an article in the January issue of Dealerscope magazine, which has also been yanked.

Zatz also says Dish will announce a rebranding effort at CES, dropping the “Network” from its name and getting a new logo.

Dish’s CES press conference is scheduled for Monday, Jan 9.

Via the Verge

Kangaroo thumbnail via Shutterstock

While Netflix can still get HBO DVDs and Bluray discs from other sources, it will no longer be able to get them directly from HBO at a discount.

HBO shows are not available on Netflix’s instant streaming service, either. In fact, while HBO subscribers can use mobile and over-the-top devices or web browsers to watch some HBO shows via the network’s HBO Go service, executives at the network have taken a strong position about streaming media and cable-cutting in general.

Back in November, HBO co-president Eric Kessler stated to industry leaders that HBO shows would not ever be available to non-HBO subscribers on digital platforms.

At that time, Kessler also said his company sees cable-cutting as no more than a temporary austerity measure that will cease as soon as the economy takes a turn for the better.

Kessler thinks HBO’s current model will succeed in the long run.

While there’s no question that HBO brings amazing content to the table, Kessler and the other HBO chiefs would do well to grant the digerati a bit more leeway. If they continue to make legally accessing streaming content difficult, users will continue to access it illegally.

While HBO’s cessation of its deal with Netflix is, as Cnet‘s Greg Sandoval points out, a largely symbolic one, the symbol is that of a stodgy, dictatorial approach to media and an unwillingness to compromise, innovate and adapt. HBO sees Netflix as a competitor, but Netflix’s edge lies not in where it gets its DVDs but how it allows consumers to access content.

In the past several years, HBO has taken individual torrenters to task for their illegal activities and has even released “poisoned” files for popular shows. But that hasn’t stopped HBO shows from being among the most widely torrented content on the web.

“It’s inevitable that HBO will transform into a streaming-only network,” VentureBeat’s Tom Cheredar predicted late last year.

“Right now, the company is getting a good stream of revenue through its partnerships with cable and satellite TV providers. But as costs rise and people cancel their service, HBO will have to revisit the cord-cutting business model.”

Waging war against Netflix might simply be prolonging the inevitable.

The search giant is apparently in talks with major companies, including Time Warner, Walt Disney, and Discovery, to distribute traditional TV channels on top of its budding fiber broadband network, the Wall Street Journal reports.

By doing so, Google would be taking aim directly at cable and satellite TV providers, and it would pose the biggest threat to companies like Cablevision that have a lock on combining broadband and TV service in many markets. The WSJ’s sources also say that Google is considering adding phone service on the fiber network as well, which would give it a “triple play” offering similar to many cable companies, which typically include TV, broadband, and phone service.

Google’s experimental gigabit fiber network – which offers speeds around 10 to 15 times as fast as typical cable broadband — has only launched in Kansas City, KS and Kansas City, MO so far. In October, the company said it plans to launch a fiber network to Europe next.

To become a full-fledged paid TV operator, Google will need more than a handful of partners on-board. Those negotiations may be difficult, since many content providers spurned Google last year by blocking access to Google TV on their websites.

According to the WSJ, Google execs have also tossed around the notion of offering full TV channels as a premium offering on YouTube — something that would fit in quite nicely with Google’s recent addition of 100 original YouTube channels and Google TV’s latest major update. But while that idea makes more sense for Google, it seems those discussions are far less advanced than Google’s plans to become a more traditional paid TV operator.

The cable company on Tuesday announced partnerships with Facebook, Intel and others to bring social media integration and application support to its content service, Xfinity TV.

“This new experience transforms the way consumers watch television with a new guide and user interface that makes the TV screen more interactive, personal and social,” Comcast stated in an official release.

Comcast’s current user interface is in dire need of an upgrade and pales in comparison to competitors, such as AT&T’s Uverse cable service.

Also in need of an update is the current crop of underpowered set-top boxes the company provides to its subscribers to access content, which are mostly manufactured by Motorola. Per the partnership announcement, Comcast will use an Intel-based set-top box, manufactured by Pace, to power both the new apps and the added integration with Facebook’s network.

The company did not mention anything about remote controls, which are known for having a plethora of useless and unnecessary buttons.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts will give a live demo of the new service at the cable industry trade event The Cable Show Thursday, which will be available via live stream at 10 a.m. EST (7 a.m. PST) on Comcast’s website.

It is unknown at this time if the new service, which is already being tested in Augusta, Georgia, will integrate with Comcast’s recently announced plans to add Skype integration to its HDTV service, which the company announced Monday.

As the New York Times points out, the deal marks the first time a cable company has had control over a major broadcast network. Not surprisingly, the deal has sparked concern since it was first announced in March 2009, as such a large media powerhouse could end up strong-arming its providers and partners. Comcast could, for example, give web speed preference to NBC shows or prevent other carriers from streaming NBC content altogether.

But just as we reported it would last month, the FCC has made sure to include conditions for Comcast-NBCU to follow. In a statement released today, the FCC writes: “Comcast-NBCU will be required to take affirmative steps to foster competition in the video marketplace. In addition, Comcast-NBCU will increase local news coverage to viewers; expand children’s programming; enhance the diversity of programming available to Spanish-speaking viewers; offer broadband services to low-income Americans at reduced monthly prices; and provide high-speed broadband to schools, libraries and under served communities, among other public benefits.”

The deal was approved by a 4 to 1 vote. Senior Democratic commissioner Michael J. Copps, who cast the dissenting vote, said in a statement that the deal “confers too much power in one company’s hands.” FCC chair Julius Genachowski responded with his own statement that reiterated why he believes the agency’s conditions on the deal will ultimately drive innovation in online video.

Indeed, Comcast will become an even bigger player in online video through the deal. Comcast will gain a minority stake in the popular video site Hulu, and it will also be able to control the availability of NBC content on Netflix’s streaming video library.

The service utilizes a next-generation set-top box that can deliver web video alongside traditional TV programming and digital video recorder (DVR) functionality, sources tell the Wall Street Journal. It’s currently in limited testing in Augusta, GA and is known to participants as “Spectrum” (internally, Comcast is calling it “Xcalibur”).

Whatever it ends up being called, the service is an attempt by Comcast to fight off other companies that pose a threat to its cable hegemony with products like Google TV, Roku’s set-top boxes and Apple TV. The service won’t allow Comcast customers to browse the web freely, and it’s still unclear what sort of web content they’ll have access to. Comcast still hasn’t decided if it will launch the service officially, or what sort of pricing model it would pursue.

Competitors like Direct TV, Verizon and AT&T already offer web-enabled boxes in multiple forms.

Over the past two quarters, cable subscriptions fell for the first time since the technology was introduced, falling by about 335,000 households from 100 million, the WSJ reports based on data from the research company SNL Kagan. Cable companies believe those users are mostly opting for free over-the-air programming instead of moving entirely to online video (I ended up doing the same thing when I dumped cable years ago).

Comcast, the largest paid TV provider in the US, lost around 275,000 subscribers (out of around 23 million) in the third quarter of this year. The new service has been in the works for over a year, the WSJ reports, and is being spearheaded by Sam Schwartz, a senior executive who previously ran the company’s investing arm, Comcast Interactive Capital.

With the service, we can also expect a more modern user interface from Comcast. The WSJ writes: “A menu displays a strip of images representing recently watched channels and programs, which expand when selected. A redesigned ‘guide’ displays a cleaner grid of programs by network and airtime so that it’s possible to watch TV on part of the screen while browsing.”

Comcast recently launched its Xfinity services to symbolize its move to an all digital network. With Xfinity, Comcast users can get access to cable TV content on their computers, and it will eventually make its way to the iPad and other tablets.

It sounds like Comcast specifically has Google TV in its sights, as it also offers similar integration between web and TV content. But given that Comcast’s business is entirely centered around making its users pay for TV content, whereas Google is less concerned about the survival of paid TV plans (it just wants a new platform for ads), it doesn’t seem like Comcast will ever wholeheartedly support web content.

Photo via Flickr

But does it live up to that potential yet? Not quite.

First, a primer: Google announced its intention to take on TV earlier this year — to mixed response. Google TV is an Android-based platform meant to bring together live TV with internet content — instead of just offering a way to watch internet video on your TV like the Apple TV or Roku Box. At the moment, Google TV is available on Sony Internet TVs and Blu-ray players, as well as Logitech’s Revue set-top box. All of the GTV devices come with remotes that feature a full keyboard and trackpad for navigation.

I’ve spent the past few weeks with the Revue and a temporary Dish Network installation, both provided by Logitech and Google (my typical over-the-air setup wasn’t enough for this review). I set out to test just how much of a game-changer Google TV is, and the results are … complicated.

The Good: It makes your TV watching smarter

Going into this review, I was definitely a believer in what Google was trying to accomplish with GTV — especially compared to a much more limited platform like Apple TV. For all of Google’s ambition, the platform isn’t quite as revolutionary as it could be — but there’s still a lot to like in this first iteration.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of Google TV at the moment is that it makes your overall TV viewing experience smarter. For example, it reduces the need to deal with ugly and inefficient TV channel guides. Cable and satellite providers have forced their customers to deal with the same interfaces for choosing channels for around a decade. Instead of a single screen laying out everything on air, Google TV lets you sort what’s showing by category, and you can also use its built-in search functionality to find specific showings and channels.

Not surprisingly, search is emphasized heavily in Google TV. Being able to search TV listings is already a major upgrade to the way we watch TV, but GTV also expands upon that by searching the web, and the contents of your DVR, all from the same convenient interface. To perform a search you simply need to hit the search button and start typing. Results show up almost instantaneously. But while GTV’s search functionality is innovative, there’s definitely room for improvement, as the results aren’t always accurate. It would also be nice if GTV could also search Netflix’s streaming library, as well as media that you connect via USB or a network share.

Google TV can also fully integrate with Dish Network’s DVR to let you record shows without jumping into the Dish programming guide. Unfortunately, support for other cable and satellite providers isn’t as seamless yet.

In terms of web video, Google TV is currently a mixed bag. It’s liberating to have access to content from sites like YouTube and Vimeo — which both have couch-friendly viewing interfaces with YouTube Leanback and Vimeo’s Couch Mode — on your TV at the touch of a button. You can visit any website with GTV’s Chrome web browser and play Flash or HTML5 encoded video. Unfortunately, many major content owners aren’t yet on board with Google’s vision. Hulu is currently blocking access to Google TV, as are major broadcast networks like Fox, NBC, CBS, and ABC. Just today, Viacom confirmed that it’s blocking GTV as well, including video from Comedy Central and Cartoon Network.

The outlook may look grim for Google TV’s content prospects, but there’s still plenty of web content to watch while the broadcast networks have their hissy fit. For example, you can subscribe to video podcasts from popular internet video destinations like Revision3 and TED.com. You can also view streaming content from Amazon’s video-on-demand store.

Having easy access to a web browser on your TV is also more useful than I originally anticipated. You’re not going to read any lengthy articles on the web with Google TV, but its web browser is useful for looking up information quickly, as well as for things that are simply fun, like browsing the latest LOLCats additions with friends. Browsing is snappy, and for the most part it’s almost like browsing on a dedicated computer. Unfortunately, sites that are heavily loaded with Flash content often bring the Logitech Revue box to a crawl (FunnyorDie.com is particularly brutal). Since all Google TV devices run on the same hardware at the moment — a 1.2 gigahertz Intel Atom CE4100 processor with around 1 gigabyte of RAM — I suspect that they will see the same sort of slowdown as well. I’m hoping that future software updates smooths out Flash performance.

Logitech also includes a media player app that can stream content from your PCs, or any Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) capable device. I was pleasantly surprised at how well Google TV and the Revue box managed esoteric video formats like Matroska (.MKV). I was able to quickly play back 1080p high-definition video with 5.1 surround sound — with none of the stuttering or delays usually associated with streaming HD video.

Google TV also makes living room video conferencing a reality. While Cisco is busy launching its $600 Umi living room webcam (with a $25 monthly service charge), Logitech Revue owners can pick up the company’s TV Cam for $150. The camera uses Logitech’s Vid HD network, and it lets you call other Logitech Revue owners, as well as Vid HD users on computers. In my testing, video quality looked sharp and streamed smoothly. Performing video chats in your living room does take some getting used to, but there are definitely instances where it’s better than using a computer — for example, if you want more than a handful of people on screen at one time. Logitech’s webcam will also get much more useful down the line once other services, like Skype, make their way to Google TV.

What’s most exciting about Google TV for me is the potential it has to get better. There are only a handful of apps at the moment, including Pandora and Netflix, but an app marketplace will arrive early next year. More content providers are beginning to optimize their websites for Google TV (and other HTML5-ready platforms like Boxee). Just yesterday the popular web video show network Revision 3 launched its GTV-friendly site. Integration between Android and Google TV will also improve, as will further integration with other mobile and desktop platforms.

Look at the vast improvement between Android when it was first released, and Android one year later with the release of the Motorola Droid, to get a sense of just how much things can improve. Compared to the initial Android software and devices, Google TV is far more successful initially. But of course, there’s room for improvement.

The Bad: Setup, value and growing pains

Given how much Google TV is trying to accomplish, it’s not all that surprising that the initial setup for Logitech’s Revue box is somewhat complex. Hooking up the cables on the rear of the box is simple enough, but there’s a multi-step on-screen setup process that general users may find intimidating. It involves plugging in your cable or satellite receiver information, as well as digging up your TV and audio receiver model numbers. There’s also an obnoxious process for adjusting Google TV’s interface to fit your TV screen. If you want full integration with a Dish Network DVR, there are even more cables to plug in, as well as extra setup steps (plus an extra $4 monthly charge by Dish).

Once you’re fully set up, you have to come to terms with using a keyboard in your living room. The Logitech Revue comes with a keyboard that’s slightly smaller than a full-sized desktop keyboard, which makes it both awkward to use on the couch, and tough to store afterwards. Logitech sells a more sensibly sized Mini Controller, but that’s an extra $130.

Logitech would have been better off just including the Mini Controller with the Revue — hopefully that will be a possibility by next year. Sony developed its own controller for its Google TV devices, and while it’s smaller than a full-sized keyboard, it still looks like a usability nightmare.

While Google TV manages to deliver some compelling features with this initial release, it still feels very much like a version 1.0 product. Navigating through menus, loading apps, and juggling a live TV feed with web content can be slow and problematic at times. I voice these complaints only to point out they exist, but I suspect much of the sluggishness and bugs will be worked out in future software releases. If the trajectory of Android is any indication, Google TV software may be unrecognizable by this time next year (then again Android needed much more improvement from its first version).

The apps built in to Google TV need some improvement as well. The Netflix app, in particular, seems generations behind other Netflix streaming interfaces available to consumers. You can only browse your Netflix queue on GTV — there’s no searching available, and you can’t add new titles to your queue from the interface. Both Google and Netflix say that the interface will be upgraded soon, but it’s still a total disappointment to see software that looks like it should be on the first-generation Roku box from 2008 so close to 2011.

The Netflix issue speaks to the bigger problem with Google TV: It isn’t a very good value at the moment, given that you can get (better) access to Netflix and other web video with cheaper options. To get access to GTV, you need to spend $300 on the Logitech Revue box, $400 for the Sony Google TV Blu-ray player, or buy a Sony Internet TV with GTV. Instead, you could just spend $60 on a Roku box, or purchase a video game console that has support for Netflix. For the average user, Roku offers a simpler interface and setup, plus it has access to loads of web content (it just recently added Hulu Plus support).

Google TV also doesn’t fully support many cable and satellite operators at the moment. Thus far, only Dish Network features deep Google TV integration with its DVRs. GTV is also a better deal for Dish subscribers — they can purchase the Revue for $179 after an instant discount.

The Verdict

If you don’t mind paying a premium for a platform that’s still dealing with growing pains, then give Google TV a shot — especially if you’re a Dish Network subscriber. For everyone else, cheaper options like Roku will suffice.

Having said that, I still believe Google TV will mature well over the next few years. Google will eventually figure out ways to appease the TV networks and get its software integrated onto more TVs. Eventually, Google TV could replace the aging software on cable and satellite boxes altogether.

Why am I holding out hope? I think it’s because I see the value in Google TV’s potential. Google is trying for something completely new and different. Whereas other contenders in the web video set-top box arena, like the recently launched Boxee Box, are finding themselves restricted by their secondary TV input status — that is, you have to navigate away from your live TV to enjoy them. As Google said when it first unveiled GTV, it’s aiming for your primary TV input. Eventually, GTV will be cheap and ubiquitous enough to finally live up to Google’s lofty ambition.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Cox Communications, the third-largest cable provider in the US, announced today that it’s launching a mobile phone service that it will bundle with its cable and internet service, Bloomberg reports.

The cellular service is launching today in Orange County, California; Omaha, Nebraska; and Hampton Roads, Virginia. The company is hoping to take on phone companies like AT&T and Verizon who have been steadily encroaching on Cox’s TV market share.

Cox says the service will be “unbelievably fair” to consumers by giving money back for unused minutes, and the company will also bundle free TV, Internet, or landline phone service. The company will offer alerts to consumers as they approach their monthly minute limit, and will give 5 cents back for every unused minute (up to $20 a month).

24 percent of its customers said they would switch to its mobile service in May, the company said.

Cox will use Sprint’s 3G network initially, but the company is also working on a network of its own, according to the company’s vice president of wireless, Stephen Bye. The company will offer wireless service only in areas where it operates — it has no plans to become a national carrier. Its monthly contracts will start at $39.99, and the company will offer free calling to other Cox cellphones and landlines.

Cox will offer an array of Android handsets initially, including the HTC Desire, Motorola Milestone and LG Axis. The company will expand its offering based on customer demand, according to Bye. The company will sell the phones at its Cox Solutions Stores.

The news makes Cox the first cable company to pursue a wireless service offering, as well as the first to offer a “quadruple play” of services (wireless, TV, internet, and landline phone). Cox and other cable companies have a long history of joint ventures to enter the wireless business — often with Sprint as their partner — but none seem to have taken off as planned.

I can certainly imagine Cox customers being tempted by wireless plans bundled with other Cox services. But building its own network seems foolish when the company can easily lease service from major carriers. The company may eventually save some money by building its own network, but there’s no guarantee it will be able to recoup its costs.

Photo via sfxeric

Cablevision subscribers who attempted to watch Fox video on Hulu — which is a joint venture between News Corp., NBC Universal, and Disney — on  Saturday received a notice that said the content was unavailable to them. News Corp. restored access to Hulu several hours after the block began — potentially because it realized that it was also blocking Cablevision customers who aren’t subscribed to the operator’s TV services, according to Paid Content.

At the heart of the dispute are the retransmission fees Cablevision is paying to News Corp. for its Fox channels — the cable operator is currently paying $70 million annually, but News Corp. wants that fee to be increased to $150 million. Because talks between the companies are still ongoing, Cablevision’s 3 million customers in New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia lost access to their Fox cable channels on midnight Friday night. The outage was particularly brutal for baseball fans who missed out on Fox’s Giants and Phillies game on Saturday night.

While this isn’t the first time that cable subscribers lost access to content over retransmission fees — Cablevision customers also missed out on the first part of the Academy Awards this year — it is the first time that fee disputes have affected online video. In addition to losing Hulu access, Cablevision customers also lost access to video on Fox.com on Saturday.

It’s clear that News Corp. moved forward with its web video block as a way to escalate its Cablevision talks, but I would wager that given how quickly the company had to restore access, it probably won’t attempt this sort of blockage again. Not only did it affect innocent users, but it could also alert federal agencies who may take issue with such heavy-handed control of web video on net neutrality grounds.

Dubbed the “IBM Cloud Service Provider Platform” (creative Big Blue is not), the new platform is “a comprehensive set of hardware, software, and services” that will let CSPs deliver new cloud-based services to their customers. It could potentially let providers launch new partner services in six weeks, instead of six months, and offer partner applications and services like “unified communications, collaboration, field force management and sales tracking and customer relationship management applications.”

Service providers will be able to provision tens of thousands of virtual machines every hour, as well as run and manage millions of virtual machines concurrently. They could create “hundreds or even thousands of new services” quickly and cost-effectively with the platform, the company says.

The cloud platform is built on IBM’s Service Delivery Manager technology. IBM is also working with nine startups — including Corent, deCarta, and Broadsoft — that will provide technology to fuel the services available to public and private clouds. DeCarta, for example, offers a technology crucial to location-based services — it provides “the core functionality for mapping, navigation and local search and connecting base map data and content to the applications, service provider and ultimately the end-user.” DeCarta’s technology could be useful to CSPs for applications like mobile advertising.

The new platform allows IBM to become even more entrenched in the burgeoning cloud computing business.

Photo via mendhak on Flickr

As reported by the Wall Street Journal (via Silicon Alley Insider), the service is driven by new set-top boxes that replace the standard Dish Network box. Intriguingly, the new boxes are running “elements” of Google’s Android mobile operating system — which hints at an even more interesting future for Android outside of mobile devices, netbooks, and tablets. The interfaces on cable and satellite set-top boxes haven’t evolved much over the past decade, and certainly haven’t made much progress on the search front. Google is taking advantage of their lack of innovation by bringing television search to modern times.

As is typical for Google, the company is also eying advertising integration into the television search service as well — which may also make it more tempting for cable and satellite providers to jump in bed with the search company.

Currently, the service is being tested by Google employees and their families.

Even if all of the cable and satellite providers decide to jump on Google’s TV search service, it will likely be some time before we see it in our living rooms. Rolling out the service would require replacing current set-top boxes, which is something that traditionally happens at a snail’s pace.