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YouTube rolls out mobile live streaming to its biggest creators
YouTube, despite its dominance in online video, has been slow to adopt mobile live streaming. While Twitter and Facebook have embraced the 'broadcast anywhere' mentality, Google has stuck mostly to Hangouts and other desktop-focused streaming setups. But that's all about to change. Following a small roll out last year, YouTube says it's ready to offer mobile live streaming to anyone with over 10,000 subscribers. While not everyone -- the team says "the rest of you will have it soon" -- the expansion should cover all of the big name YouTubers who have a large, ravenous audience.
NBC lays out 2012 London Olympics broadcast plan on TV, internet, apps and in 3D (video)
Love it or hate it, we're stuck with NBC as our Olympics broadcaster in the US, and the company recently laid out its full plans for the 2012 Olympics in London this summer. The good news first: NBCOlympics.com will live stream every single event (they'll even be on YouTube, and in the UK the BBC has its own plans) for the first time ever including streams of each of its channels, encompassing 3,500 total hours and the awarding of all 302 medals. The bad news is that if you're not a cable subscriber, many of those hours will not be available to you, and even if you are, you're looking at a (likely convoluted) authentication sign-in process. That's a little bit of pain, sure, but it should mean what we've been asking for -- the ability to watch all Olympics events as they happen, not tape delayed for prime time after viewing grainy bootleg streams over the internet. Also new for the internet are multiple streams for the same event, so for example, viewers can select a particular gymnastics apparatus or track and field event at will. On mobile devices, NBC also has plans for two different apps on phones and tablets, with one that brings live video streams and another with highlight clips. It didn't specify what platforms they would be available for, but we'd assume the usual suspects (iOS, Android) will be first up. On pay-TV cable, satellite and telco providers it's also providing dedicated channels for basketball and soccer, although it's up to your provider to pick them up. The same goes for the 242 planned hours of 3D coverage it's producing in partnership with Panasonic, which will unfortunately air on 24 hour tape delay, just like the HD broadcast was back in 2004 (we've got chips.... and salsa!). For the full breakdown of all 5,535 hours of coverage across NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo, Telemundo and everything else check out the press release after the break, plus an Olympics preview trailer. While there are some limits for cord cutters, sports fans with pay-TV should be ready to experience the best Olympics coverage ever with the ability to watch what we want, instead just what's on the TV schedule.
Broadcom befriends Sling and Myriad, outs new set-top and streaming chips
Busy days at Broadcom, which has already forgotten about its earlier 5G WiFi announcement and launched a barrage of new chips for set-top boxes and home networking. The line-up supports the latest MoCA 2.0 standard for greater network bandwidth over coax wiring, but even more interesting is what some of the SoCs can do for smart TV and streaming. The BCM7425 dual-tuner HD gateway SoC will support Sling Media's "place-shifting" platform, potentially making it easier for set-top manufacturers to enable TV streaming to mobile devices. A similar deal has been inked with Myriad over its clever Alien Vue software (shown above), allowing Broadcom-equipped boxes to run apps designed for Google TV and HTML 5 without the need for extra dedicated hardware. In short, if your service provider fails to make TV content smarter or easier to access in 2012, they won't be able to blame it on Broadcom. Further details in the PR combo after the break and at the source link.
Rdio gets rechristened 'Oi Rdio' while vacationing in Brazil, has plans to visit Germany and Australia
Are you a resident of Brazil and love streaming music? Have a seat, as Rdio's packed its bags and is headed for a little séjour on the South American continent. Launching later this week, the service will be functionally similar to its US and Canadian counterparts, except it'll lose gratis ad-free streaming and get a name change to "Oi Rdio." That joint word-mark is the result of a partnership with Brazil's largest telco, Oi, which should give the service headway with the former's 70+ million subscribers. But it's just an awareness ploy, as non-Oi subscribers can still partake in all the fun. Unlimited monthly access to the 12 million tunes on offer starts at R$8.99 (about $5) for web, or R$14.90 (about $8.50) for those seeking offline-capable admittance on their mobiles. It's all part of an international expansion, as the service plans to visit Australia and Germany in early 2012. Spotify's passport is plumper, but hey -- you gotta start somewhere.
