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UK video streaming subscribers topple pay-TV for the first time
Popular online streaming services like Amazon Prime and Netflix are for the first time outshining traditional pay-TV in Britain.
CBS, Showtime and The CW are coming to DirecTV Now
This is a little convoluted, so bear with us: CBS will soon be available on DirecTV Now, the pay-TV provider's streaming service. CBS offers its own streaming service, CBS All Access, the exclusive home for Star Trek: Discovery. If you subscribe to DirecTV Now, you won't be able to watch that unless you pony up $6 a month for a subscription on top of what you're paying for DirecTV Now. You will, however, be able to watch NCIS (above) and its various spin-offs.
You won't need cable to watch the Premier League next season
Good news for football fans in the US who love the English Premier League: NBC Sports has announced a standalone streaming package that will include 130 games, both live and on-demand, from the upcoming 2017-2018 campaign. The Premier League Pass, which is set to cost $50 per season starting in August, is definitely going to appeal to cord-cutters all over the country -- especially since they'll be able to watch on their desktop, smartphone, tablet and TV with a compatible set-top box. Bye bye, illegal streams.
Vodafone's failed TV ambitions are costing it dearly
Vodafone once had aspirations to become the next quad-play provider, able to offer its customers more than just a mobile phone contract. For nearly two years, the company was preparing to enter the pay-TV market, and in the interim it rejoined the broadband arena with its Connect service. With growth in this competitive space sluggish, however, it decided to abandon its pay-TV plans. But the problem with shutting down a project that could've launched "within weeks," according to CEO Vittorio Colao, is that it's still burning a hole in Vodafone's bank account.
Vodafone abandons its pay-TV plans
In a fairly predictable move, Vodafone has said it's all but deserted plans to launch a pay-TV service in the UK. The company has barely touched on its televisual ambitions since announcing in spring 2015 that it expected to have something ready before the end of that year. As The Telegraph reports, the project was beset by development delays and difficulty hashing out a deal to carry BT's sports channels. Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao said that although the pay-TV service was now at a stage where it could be launched "within weeks," the company has decided to put its plans on indefinite hiatus.
FCC boss shares a fresh compromise on set-top box rules
The FCC and cable companies have been butting heads for nearly a year over how to regulate set-top boxes, and today FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler outlined his latest plan in an LA Times op-ed. The new plan to "Unlock the Box" is a compromise that embraces some earlier suggestions from the cable industry. Notably, Wheeler's proposal calls for pay-TV providers to create free apps that consumers can download on the device of their choice, such as Roku, Apple TV, Xbox One, PS4, smart TVs, or Windows, iOS and Android devices. Or, consumers can keep their set-top boxes.
UK police bust 'significant' pirate pay-TV streaming ring
The City of London Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) is claiming another small victory in the never-ending and probably unwinnable war against piracy. Following a series of dawn raids at several business and residential addresses in Lancashire, the fuzz has reportedly brought down a large-scale illegal TV streaming operation. While it's not unusual to hear about the seizure of modified set-top boxes that tap into pirate pay-TV streams, officers have landed themselves a much bigger fish this time around, also discovering 15 satellites and recovering over 30 servers.
Google buys a backbone for pay TV services
Google is snapping up Anvato, a company with tech that's designed to make it easy for broadcasters to put live video online. The system is currently used by plenty of brand-name firms to pump out online video, edit clips in the cloud and handle pay-per-view transactions. Anvato counts companies like NBC and Fox Sports as customers, the former uses it as the backbone for NBC.com, while the latter used it to stream the Super Bowl. Anvato's software and employees will now join Google's cloud platform team, enabling other firms to benefit from what's being called "scalable media processing and workflows in the cloud."
BT goes on the offensive against Sky's pay-TV dominance
UK telecoms regulator Ofcom is currently taking a long, hard look at BT and its subsidiary Openreach, which is responsible for managing the company's broadband infrastructure. Ofcom's deciding whether it's in everyone's best interests to split the two completely, a move championed by several of BT's broadband competitors, Sky in particular. Recently, Sky published a report to further this agenda, using various stats to support its claim that Openreach provides an inadequate service that reflects badly on the companies using its network for their broadband products. It appears that BT has grown tired of being permanently on the defensive, and has today called for Ofcom to investigate Sky's dominant position in the pay TV market, which BT claims is lumbering Brits with unfairly high prices.
DirecTV's app is ready to stream 90 channels anywhere you go
We haven't seen many updates for DirecTV's streaming services in a while, but this week it added a slew of new channels for customers to watch live even when they're away from home. The 22 additions include MTV, TNT, Nickelodeon, BET, Cartoon Network and more ready for viewing on computers, tablets or phones. DirecTV also has the Genie DVRs that can shift recordings to your mobile device, but as the competition with internet TV services heats up the satellite company is finally ready to push a few more updates. All of those features work through the DirecTV apps, but it's worth noting that recently DirecTV has cut deals so its subscribers can use their logins to stream channels (on their own apps) that its app doesn't support yet, like Disney and ABC.
HBO's standalone streaming service will arrive in 2015
If you've been pining for HBO without having to splurge for a cable subscription, you may soon be in luck. At a Time Warner investor meeting today, HBO chairman and CEO Richard Plepler announced that the company would flip the switch on a web-based streaming service next year. The over-the-top option will leverage HBO's current partners and offer access to its content without the need for a full cable package. During his remarks, Plepler mentioned that there are 10 million homes that only pay for internet rather than a bundle, and the figure is only expected to grow. Of course, there's no word on pricing or any of the finer details right now, but we expect to hear much more in the months to come. If you'll recall, reports indicate that ESPN is also working on an NBA streaming option, serving up a slate of live regular-season games to folks who don't pay for cable service. [Photo credit: AP Photo/HBO, Michele K. Short]
Dish will soon let you pay your bill with bitcoins
While some companies are steering clear of Bitcoin, others, like Dish, are now getting ready to welcome the digital currency into the fold. Today, the satellite provider revealed that it plans to start accepting Bitcoin later this year, allowing customers to easily pay their bill online using virtual money. Dish is teaming up with Coinbase to handle the processing of these payments, which are expected to begin taking place during the third quarter of 2014. "We always want to deliver choice and convenience for our customers and that includes the method they use to pay their bills," Bernie Han, Dish executive VP and COO, stated in a company release. "Bitcoin is becoming a preferred way for some people to transact and we want to accommodate those individuals."
Amazon reportedly considering live TV channels for new pay-TV service (updated: Amazon denies report)
If the rumors surrounding Amazon's forthcoming set-top box are any indication, the company's betting big on online video delivery. It's a move Amazon may even be hinting at with its latest recruitment event in Boston. But as the Wall Street Journal reports, access to third-party streaming apps via a set-top box and original programming aren't the only parts of Amazon's online video strategy -- it reportedly wants to get into live TV streaming, as well. The company has allegedly met with major content providers in the hopes of inking licensing agreements for this new cable-like service, though current talks are said to be preliminary. It's not clear if this new pay-TV initiative would be bundled into Amazon's Prime Instant Video service or offered as a standalone package. What's certain is that Amazon would need to price the service competitively so as to stand out amongst its competition -- a somewhat daunting task considering existing carriage agreements. Content providers currently rely on lucrative licensing agreements with cable operators and, typically, balk when those terms aren't favorable (exhibit A: CBS' recent dispute with Time Warner Cable). It remains to be seen if Amazon would be able to lock down agreeable terms for live TV channels and how that would impact subscription packages. Like most of Amazon's rumored projects, however, this could end up being just another exploratory project that may not see the light of day. Regardless, we've reached out to Amazon for comment and will update when we hear back. Updated: Amazon has since responded to our request for comment, saying that the Wall Street Journal report is untrue and that the company has no plans to license TV channels or build out a new pay-TV service. You can read Amazon's official statement below. We continue to build selection for Prime Instant Video and create original shows at Amazon Studios, but we are not planning to license television channels or offer a pay-TV service.
Cable, IPTV providers reportedly testing cloud-based HD gaming for launch next year
The next generation of consoles from Sony and Microsoft haven't even been announced yet but their best competition may be from your cable TV / internet provider, according to a report from Bloomberg. The only-too-eager-to-talk people familiar with the matter named AT&T U-Verse, Verizon FiOS and Time Warner Cable as services preparing tests before the end of the year with general availability planned for 2013. Comcast and Cox were also name dropped as potential candidates to bring console-quality HD games directly to customers, based on tech from startups like Playcast, CiiNOW and Agawi. Of course, while we've seen this sort of setup before (as seen above, check out an awesomely 90s Sega Channel ad after the break) and recently from OnLive and Gaikai, cloud gaming has yet to catch on in a major way. Whether this potential approach is all smoke or will actually turn into reality has yet to be seen, but after TV Everywhere we wouldn't be surprised to see providers toss in gaming as another incentive for subscribers not to cut the cord. [Image credit: Sega Retro]
DirecTV HR34 DVR 'Genie' recommendations and autorecording get previewed ahead of fall launch
DirecTV paired its HD interface with the five tuner, RVU ready HR34 Home Media Center DVR back in March, so what will it do next to take advantage of the multiroom boxes with five tuners and massive hard drives? The answer is Genie, a new feature / rebranding that should be very familiar to TiVo users, since its aim is to find other shows you might be interested in and store them on the DVR without being prompted. The folks at Solid Signal and DBSTalk have had an early preview of the fall software update that will enable it, and have both posted hands-on impressions. Once the user enables the feature, after a few hours it begins episodes of shows similar to the ones they already watch and recording them automatically. The feature uses hard drive space that's already reserved for DirecTV's video on-demand (so user accessible recording space is not impacted) and works in selections available from VOD. Watching a program at your leisure VOD-style, setting up a series recording for a new favorite or blasting it from your drive is just a click of the remote away on the DVR or one of its multiroom extenders. Helping viewers discover new content is a field suddenly filled with competition, from the social networking based to Dish Network's Hopper that records everything on primetime network TV and even filters out commercials. That Genie can let you watch already recorded episodes right away and pull from any broadcasts its finds may give it a leg up, but so far we haven't seen recommendation systems good enough to promote switching from one service to another. Hit the source links for more details on how it all works, along with a video preview, also embedded after the break.
WSJ: Apple's TV focus changes to putting cable TV in its set-top box
Just in case you thought the often discussed / as yet unseen Apple HDTV rumor mill was dead, you were wrong. The Wall Street Journal is reigniting things this evening, with sources claiming that instead of competing with cable providers by starting up its own IPTV offering, Apple has switched to sweet talking pay-TV providers into offering their content through its box. If you're still looking for a Cupertino-embued display you may be in luck, since the anonymous parties also indicate the set-top box tech it's working on could be integrated with HDTVs. That is still an less than certain path at the moment however, given pay-TV operators current preference to control every element of the experience and relationship with consumers, as well as the split of profits. According to the Journal report, Steve Jobs was "dismissive" of attempts to build a cable box since cable operators each only have limited regional exposure and don't own the content they license from studios. Since then however we have seen a few offerings of cable and satellite TV beyond the box as Microsoft offers Verizon and Comcast apps on its Xbox 360, Samsung has brought providers directly to its smart HDTVs and many providers offer streaming access via iPad or other mobile devices. Still, since the rumor doesn't indicate a deal is inked or even on the way, we wouldn't hold our breath for any or all of the listed possibilities to come true any time soon.
Cablevision Optimum apps for iPad, iPhone upgraded with new UI, ratings and discovery features
Cablevision unveiled its Optimum for iPad app with live TV streaming in the spring of 2011, then upgraded it to 2.0 with remote control and DVR scheduling plus an iPhone-compatible edition last fall, and now 3.0 has arrived on iOS with a whole new UI. The updated look makes the app more consistent with the web-based Optimum experience for PCs that launched in April, making it easier to find shows and view the guide well into the future as well as up to two hours into the past. Key to the upgraded discovery experience is the ability to rate TV shows which it uses to make recommendations on other content. The DVR section has even been revamped,making it easier to see what's been recorded and programs that are scheduled, as well as remaining storage space. The full changelog is available on iTunes, subscribers can grab the free apps for their respective devices at the links below.
DirecTV vs. Viacom squabble could see MTV, Comedy Central and 16 others go dark at midnight
The latest participants in the carriage dispute dance are DirecTV and Viacom, with the two companies attempting to reach a new agreement before their existing one expires tonight. If they don't, the network's 26 channels (MTV, BET, VH1, Spike TV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon etc.) could be cut off at midnight. As usual, each has its own side of the argument with Viacom claiming DirecTV has been underpaying for years, while DirecTV accuses Viacom of seeking an increase that will add up to a billion dollars in a year and is responsible for pulling the channels while negotiations continue. We're not particularly sympathetic to the plight of either corporate behemoth (or optimistic that any savings will ever reach customer's pockets) but if you must support one over the other then there's plenty of propaganda to be found at the links below. This may not be as crucial as Dish Network's (potentially) Breaking Bad-interrupting tiff with AMC, but if we have to miss an episode of Workaholics or Awkward it's going to be bad for everyone. Update: We've revised the total channel count from 26 as Viacom stated to 18 -- as much as we like HD feeds, we don't usually count them twice. [Thanks, AJ]
TiVo and PayPal let you buy stuff using your remote, hopes you swing past the shopping channel
Those late-night adverts for a steam-powered ab-crunching bagel toaster (just $400, plus $99 postage and packing!) will soon be much harder to resist, thanks to TiVo. The DVR maker has teamed up with PayPal to enable you to purchase goods with your remote control during the commercial. A global financial meltdown will probably ensue just as soon as the company can get compatible adverts developed, which is currently slated to begin airing during this year's fall TV season. Update: According to PayPal, it's also "exploring" opportunities with Comcast, although discussions are still in early stages.
Cox TV Connect live TV streaming app for iPad updated with new grid guide UI
Cabler Cox Communications joined in on the live TV streaming to iPad craze by releasing its own Cox TV Connect app late last year, and recently updated it to version 1.1.0. With the upgrade comes the new look shown above, so while it originally featured a more... unique look for TV listings (as seen after the break) this version has programming sorted in the traditional grid-style guide shown above. Also mentioned is the ability for users to view and sort TV listings for all channels, although they'll still need the separate Cox Mobile Connect apps for things like DVR scheduling. Grab the new version at the iTunes link below, assuming you get your TV and internet service at the right place.
