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The state of the second screen: Will TV companion apps proliferate or dwindle?
If you let the rows of 3D and 4K displays lining the halls of CES paint a picture of the future of television, you'd be missing a vital component. Tucked away inside a pair of ballrooms on Sin City's famous Strip, representatives from television networks, software companies, cable providers and advertising firms held a powwow dubbed the Second Screen Summit to talk shop and discuss the fate of such experiences after a very busy 2012. Over the past year, companies ranging from AT&T to Nintendo created a wave of experiences to complement TV content. Even the 2012 Summer Olympics received the second screen treatment with its very own Android and iOS apps, which let users catch live streams of events, access stats and more from the comfort of their couches. With so many solutions on the market, it's not entirely clear who will come out on top, or if there's room on the second screen for these myriad apps to coexist.
Microsoft and NBC reportedly calling it splitsville on the web, MSNBC.com to get friend-zoned
Microsoft and NBC have had what you might call a complicated relationship. They've been separated in the TV space ever since MSNBC became a solely NBC-owned entity in 2005, but the online fling has carried on to this day. If Daily Beast's tipsters are right, however, NBC may get a little less ambiguous with its relationship status and kick Microsoft to the curb. The now Comcast-owned NBCUniversal is supposedly irked at having to share equal control over the MSNBC website and wants to send Microsoft packing, buying out Redmond's 50 percent stake. While the existing management would stay, MSNBC's online staff would quit Microsoft's campus and hop over to an NBCNews.com domain to reflect their newfound independence. An NBC representative wouldn't confirm that an agreement had been signed, but did say talks had taken place -- certainly much more of a response than most rumors get. With a signed deal rumored in a matter of "days," there won't be long to wait before we learn whether or not Microsoft gets dumped once and for all.
Networks hoping video on demand will save them from DVR woes
We've all gloated in delight from mashing the fast forward button through ExtenZe ads on DVRed shows, but according to CBS's chief research officer David Poltrack in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, networks and advertisers hope VOD will soon put the brakes on our hell-raising remotes. Sure, the actual impact of DVRs on advertising may still be unclear -- remember Oliver Wyman found 85 percent of DVR owners skip 3/4 of commercials in recorded shows, while Duke researchers found 95 percent of TV is watched live -- making the devices a non-issue. The way Poltrack sees it though, more prevalent VOD will "give the consumer the ability to watch shows any way they want to, and to do so in a way that is much more advertiser-friendly." He also mentions the potential cost-saving benefits for consumers, who may not need to cough up monthly DVR fees in the future just to view The Jersey Shore whenevs. As support, he cites convenient CBS research showing that 90 percent of consumers would be willing to deal with commercials in exchange for $10 in cable bill savings. But what do you say Engadget research subjects? Would you sacrifice the joy of the commercial skip if VOD had everything you could possibly want to watch? Let us know in comments below.
WSJ: CBS bringing free HTML5-encoded TV shows to the iPad, ABC plans detailed
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that ABC and CBS are hard at work adapting episodes of their TV shows for the iPad, with both set to offer streamable programming to new slate owners immediately upon launch. Their delivery strategies diverge slightly -- ABC will use the app that was unearthed (and confirmed by us) this morning whereas CBS will stream through the browser (hello, HTML5!) -- but the eventual user experience will be a commercial-supported affair that should be familiar to those who've used their respective online streaming services already. All that remains now is for NBC and Hulu to fall in line, as expected, and your portable media consumption menu will be complete. It'll also be interesting to see what happens to iTunes Store pricing for episodic TV programming, which will soon be up against free (or in Hulu's case, potentially subscription-based) alternatives. Update: And here comes the official presser for ABC's plans, alongside ESPN SportsCenter XL and a handful of Disney apps.
Surprise! TV networks sue Cablevision for Network DVR
We sure didn't see this coming at all. Seems the TV networks Fox, Universal, Paramount, Disney, CBS, ABC and NBC aren't really so pleased about the "Network DVR" offering from Cablevision, and have taken the issue up in a lawsuit. Cablevision's plan to have remote storage DVR does blur the line a bit between personal recording use and straight up license-free on demand service, but they think they're in the right with Network DVR, and that the lawsuit is "without merit." As for the networks' thoughts, we haven't seen the exact accusations yet, but we can take a wild guess. Cablevision is banking on a bit of TiVo legitimacy, and we have a small fear that a decision on this issue could spill over and affect the use of traditional DVRs. But if they do manage to pull this one off, it looks like other cable providers are lining up to follow suit.
