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Verizon thinks that the prepaid phone market is dead, and that's okay
If your response to the question "How much money did Verizon make in the last quarter" was "$3.79 billion in net profit," then congratulations. Big Red can afford to feel quite smug about its performance in the last three months, finding 1.53 million new wireless customers, of which 1.52 million took up monthly contracts. The tiny sliver of prepaid users has led the company to believe that the pay-as-you-go market is beginning to shrink as people move to monthly deals. Verizon is also happy to announce that it flogged 1.1 million LTE-equipped tablets this quarter, only a slight dip on the 1.15 million sold last time 'round. It's something that the company is happy to encourage, since people are likely to keep hold of their tablets for longer and are much cheaper to subsidize than comparable smartphones.
AT&T will send LTE media broadcasts to your phone in 2015
Verizon may be the first out of the gate with LTE-based media broadcasting in the US, but it won't be the only game in town. AT&T's John Stankey has revealed that his carrier will have its own Multicast service (you're looking at Verizon's technology here) sometime in 2015. It'll first launch in areas where AT&T can start immediately, but it should expand as the provider gets comfortable with both the technology and content partners.
Verizon's latest LTE test streams Indy 500 in-car video to phones in pit lane
As the Indy 500's title sponsor this year, Verizon is bringing more than its name to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway -- it's augmenting the venue with LTE Multicast service. The new tech allows many viewers to stream the same video at once, something that usually chokes networks but with multicast it's more like watching a regular TV broadcast -- the stream only has to be sent once for everyone to tune in. Teams using a special app on enhanced Galaxy Note 3 smartphones or other properly equipped tablets will be able to view live in-car cameras and other angles from cameras placed around the track. Unlike Verizon's Super Bowl test, this is running on the company's commercial network and it won't be a one-time deal, either: LTE Multicast will be used at multiple IndyCar events and venues throughout the year. Here's hoping fans can get in on the action (the official IndyCar 14 app lets Verizon customers watch video over regular internet streams wherever they are) soon. [Image credit: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy]
Verizon demonstrating LTE Multicast during Super Bowl XLVIII (hands-on video)
As part of its massive Super Bowl sponsorship, Verizon has taken over a good chunk of Manhattan's Bryant Park. We're at the Verizon Power House this morning, a heated oasis in the otherwise frigid city center, where reps are detailing the carrier's LTE Multicast service, which enables transmitting live content directly to a variety of VZ devices using the existing network infrastructure. Unlike basic LTE streaming, however, Multicast allows for an uninterrupted video feed regardless of the number of devices currently using the service in any particular area. We first heard about Verizon's implementation at CES 2013, and it looks like Big Red's planning to flip the switch during the first half of this year, though a pricing model, precise availability and device compatibility haven't been detailed. If you're in NYC this week, however, you'll be able to snag a sneak peek of Multicast running on a Sequans-powered tablet and a Galaxy Note 3. The service is currently live at a demo room in Verizon's Bryant Park booth.
Apple proposing new Bonjour sharing standard
In order to remedy the woes many universities are experiencing using Apple's Bonjour zero-configuration Multicast DNS technology on large scale networks, NetworkWorld reports that the company is proposing a new standard that can be built to support huge numbers of users at once. "We targeted Bonjour at home networks, but over the last 10 years Multicast DNS -- what Apple calls Bonjour -- has become very popular," explains Apple engineer Stuart Cheshire, speaking at an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) meeting this week. "Every network printer uses Bonjour. TiVo, home video recorders and cameras use it. iPads and iPhones use it, and we are starting to get a lot of demand from customers that they won't be able to print from iPads to a printer in the next building." Universities have been quite outspoken about their desire to have Apple step in and offer new solutions, and the wishlist of new functionality is long. Things like smooth communication between separate IP subnets and added security and encryption features are at the top of the list. But Apple won't be doing it alone, and the IETF will play a big role in building the new standard. The task force will be meeting again in March 2013, and by that point it is expected that work on the project will be well underway.
Concurrent updates Start Over timeshifting service
By now, if its available in your area you're probably familiar with Start Over, basically a network DVR letting people see the beginning of a TV show they might have missed. Of course, all of that's only useful if it actually works and captures everything, so Concurrent has announced its latest advance for the backend is the Real Time Pitcher 2000, using reliable multicast to ensure no loss of video capture due to network or component failures and give it the big five nines of reliability. We certainly wouldn't want anything less tha a 99.999% chance of catching the first five minutes of The Closer, would you?
Phoenix's KPHO multicasting NCAA Men's Tournament over-the-air
Granted, many CBS affiliates -- Raleigh's WRAL and Indianapolis' WISH, just to name a couple -- have been multicasting the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament OTA for years now, but after seeing a breakdown of the schedule over at KPHO, we felt it prudent to remind sports fanatics that busting out the antenna may not be such a bad idea tomorrow. Phoenix -- which just had seven HD channels flipped on by Cox -- is one area in which the local CBS affiliate is multicasting every remaining March Madness game on its array of digital OTA channels, and five other carriers in the heart of Arizona are also providing ways to see every matchup. Granted, we doubt each of these will be seen everywhere in high-def, but feel free to check with your local CBS affiliate to see if you'll be left out of any of the Madness.[Thanks, Steven]
Recent survey shows broadcasters are into multicasting
Multicasting is a bad word around here, and even if you don't know what it means, we'd bet that you've seen it before. You know, your kicking back watching your favorite team and just when the action really gets goin', your beautiful HD picture turns into big ugly blocks as all the players move towards the ball. At that point all the expensive equipment at the stadium and your entire investment in your HDTV is all for naught, as your local affiliate decided it'd rather provide a useless 24 hour weather channel than deliver you the big game, sans blocks. We've all seen it happen and the beauty of the situation is usually the cable co' or satellite provider gets the blame instead of good 'ol News Channel 8. If you're one of the lucky few who doesn't know what this is like, according to a survey of broadcasters there's a good chance that you will, as 55 percent of those broadcasters surveyed said it had plans to multicast. The same survey indicated that only 66 percent planned to upgrade its facility so it could actually generate some HD content -- rather than just pass on the network feed. Unfortunately no one surveys us because no one cares, and the only thing we can do in protest is to not watch the useless channel -- like we need another 24 hour weather channel.
BMW offers up HD Radio in its entire fleet of 2007 vehicles
Yeah, we're still anxious to find out what this bizarre looking thing is too, but BMW is making waves again, and this time it's crowning itself as the first automaker to offer HD Radio receivers as a factory-installed option on its entire fleet of vehicles. Yep, this spring you'll be able to get HD Radio loud and clear without yanking the factory head unit on the 2007 BMW 3-, 5-, 6-, or 7-Series model, as well as the firm's X3, X5, and Z4. The company also noted that its receivers would support HD Radio multicasting, and stated that the option would cost folks a cool $500 if they deem it worthy.
Sprint's mobile TV service to be called VUE?
Last time we checked in on Sprint's SPH-M250 DMB phone from Samsung, we met the swiveling clamshell head-on with a fair dose of skepticism that it'd ever see the light of day in these parts. Our bad; rumor has it that a handful of Sprint customers are now receiving invitations to participate in a market trial for the service, which is now apparently named "VUE." As a refresher, the M250 holds its own as a decent flip phone, packing a microSD slot, Bluetooth, voice recognition, and of course, that rare-in-the-States swiveling display. We're still not sure we entirely understand which multicast tech is being used on the M250 -- DMB, TDtv, or some proprietary concoction -- but if this invite is legit, we don't really care what tech they're using, as long as we can get our mobile TV on post haste.[Via SprintUsers, thanks Jaime]
Verizon FiOS strikes multicasting deal with PBS
While the government still ponders the must-carry multicasting situation, Verizon FiOS appeared to thumb it's nose at the cable companies today by announcing a deal with PBS and the Association of Public Television Stations to carry the programming of as many as three stations in one market, and additional stations as long as they are not duplicating programming from the other three.The cable industry struck a similar deal last year, where there is no limit on the number of stations carried, but the maximum number of multicast streams is 4. The Verizon deal has no limitation on the number of multicast streams carried, and includes PBS' high definition programming.Read - Verizon strikes deal to carry public stationsRead - Verizon, Noncoms unveil carriage deal
