Time Warner Cable to add Internet video to TV service

Time Warner Cable revealed Friday it plans to offer a wireless cable modem to subscribers that will allow them to network all of their household electronic devices and bring Internet content directly to their TVs.

The report suggests users will be able to call up Internet TV via their home theater set-ups, with image quality that is optimized for HDTVs.

[via ars elecronista]

Online Television Draws Large Audiences In Europe

When it comes to online television, American companies and programs are what we tend to discuss. Research shows that online television is extremely popular in Europe, however, and so Europeans could drive the next wave of advertising trends. WebPro News reports.

European broadcasters and advertisers are sure to be doing their best to make money from the large audiences. With so many companies and countries involved, it seems quite possible that they'll hit upon an approach to advertising that will become the online television standard.

Mad Men premiere date

What's Allen Watching blog has posted some good news about (favorite and smoke filled ) TV series Mad Men.

AMC announced the following:

-- "Mad Men" season two will debut on Sunday, July 27th, at 10 p.m., the show's new timeslot.

-- "Mad Men" season one will come out on DVD on July 1.

-- "Mad Men" season one, for those of you who don't buy DVDs but do have On Demand, will be available On Demand in both standard and high-def versions starting June 30.

-- "Mad Men" season one, for those of you who don't buy DVDs and don't have On Demand, will be rerun in an all-day marathon starting at noon Eastern on July 20.

YouTube makes more money than you think

The old wisdom is YouTube dominates Web video but can't make any money from it. But according to Forbes' wisdom: YouTube still doesn't make much money, but a bit more than people think.

"The mag says YouTube will make $200 million in revenue in 2008 and $350 million in 2009. These are unsourced numbers, but also not denied by YouTube head of content partnerships Jordan Hoffner, who participated in the story."

If true, that about doubles everyone else's revenue estimates for YouTube".

[via Silicon Alley Insider]

Apple to make major studios’ films available for download

According to the Times Online, "Apple is poised to announce it will start selling films from four major Hollywood studios for download in the UK as part of its iTunes internet service at prices on a par with DVDs. The company intends to unveil agreements with Disney and Paramount."

[via Techmeme]

Bezos: video on demand soon

Amazon.com will be adding a new video on demand and streaming business in the next few weeks said Jeff Bezos. Streams will start instantly and will be sold on an a la carte basis.

[via USA Today]

TiVo Offering Critic's Picks and VOD from Walt Disney

TiVo is partnering with the Chicago Tribune to deliver TV critic Maureen Ryan’s daily viewing recommendations to subscribers, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

"Under the new initiative, TiVo users can choose to subscribe to Ryan’s picks, with TiVo automatically downloading her suggestions as highlighted in that day’s Tribune television grid, as well as brief video commentaries from Ryan herself."

In a separate annoucement, according to electronista, TiVo will offer videos on demand from the Walt Disney Studios library, with some of the content made available in high-definition.

Hot gossip: The fall of the web's most glamorous blogger

A much talked about story on the Web today, the fall of one of the web's most glamorous bloggers.

As editor of New York's bitchiest, most successful gossip website, Gawker, Emily Gould poked the finger of derision at America's showbiz elite. But then she became the story – and her world fell apart.

Her interview, posted on YouTube, as a guest on an episode of Larry King Live, with Jimmy Kimmel as the host, became a scandal that would not go away.

Read Emily Gould's full account in The Independent.

Blu-ray DVD recorder sales rising fast in Japan

According to Reuters, sales of high definition Blu-ray DVD recorders are zooming up in Japan as consumers take to the new generation of home movie entertainment after the end of a bitter format war.

"Last month the more expensive Blu-ray recorders topped the old generation recorders in the value of sales for the first time."

Sony, Cable Firms Plan TVs Minus Set-Top Boxes

Sony Corp. and six of the biggest U.S. cable operators announced an agreement to create digital televisions capable of receiving cable service without a set-top box. The Wall Street Journal reports.

"Sony signed a pact with Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc., Cox Communications, Charter Communications Inc., Cablevision Systems Corp. and Bright House Networks to develop technology that will allow consumers to eliminate set-top boxes, yet still receive basic as well as advanced cable services, such as pay-per-view movies.

The technological standard should enable a new generation of TV sets to include video-on-demand, digital video recording, interactive programming guides and other services."

Taliban’s latest battleground may soon be YouTube

In its latest bid to go info-tech-savvy, the Taliban are learnt to be preparing for a media war to counter the Pakistan Army’s ‘offensives’ aimed at them, by putting videos on live websites such as YouTube. Topnews.in reports.

"The Taliban wants greater outreach by arming some of its members with requisite skills to upload videos on websites such as YouTube, said an unidentified member of the Taliban’s media cell.

“The Taliban have not been very advanced as far as the media war is concerned. But we are making efforts to catch up with the latest methods, and we will soon be available on YouTube,” the Daily Times quoted the non-Pashtun Taliban, with his face covered, as saying."

CW Attempts to Get Fans 'Cwinging' Between TV and Web

As part of its upfront negotiations, the CW is offering advertisers a chance to attach commercials to a series of up to two-minute-long video clips that will tell a story around one of its teen stars. The catch: To see the entire tale, viewers must watch the first clip on TV, the next one online and then tune back in to TV to see the end. AdAge reports.

"The CW, which in its short life has shown an eager willingness to reinvent TV ads, has dubbed this latest ploy "cwingers."

... Cwingers will appear during the network's "Gossip Girl" program as well as its soon-to-launch "90210," an update of the old Fox "Beverly Hills, 90210" program.

Notably, this innovation comes as the fledgling network has run into ratings trouble and its core audience is increasingly watching video."

YouTube suit called threat to online communication

A $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit challenging YouTube's ability to keep copyrighted material off its popular video-sharing site threatens how hundreds of millions of people exchange all kinds of information on the Internet, YouTube owner Google Inc. said.

... In a rewritten lawsuit filed last month, Viacom said YouTube consistently allows unauthorized copies of popular television programming and movies to be posted on its website and viewed tens of thousands of times.

Viacom said it had identified more than 150,000 unauthorised clips of copyrighted programming - including "SpongeBob SquarePants", "South Park" and "MTV Unplugged" episodes and the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" - that had been viewed "an astounding 1.5 billion times."

[via the Asssociated Press]

Death knell for television as we know it

Japanese television technology that will give viewers access to high-speed broadcasts over the internet could render conventional television obsolete and transform the media landscape within years, analysts have predicted, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.

"The country's electronics and telecommunications industries are developing a technological standard for a new "internet television" set, which will let users browse websites and watch streaming programs at the touch of a remote control.

Japanese media reports say the new television, which is likely to run on the open source Linux operating system rather than Microsoft Windows to save boot-up time, could be on sale locally by next March.

... Although Japanese consumers already have access to broadband television services, they are presently required to buy television sets and receivers compatible with their internet service providers. This inconvenience will be removed by the new technology, which will enable broadband-equipped televisions to display internet content without a separate set-top box or computer."

Linking to movies leads to $4 million in fines

Two more sites have been fined some $4 million for enabling copyright infringement by linking to illegal movies and TV shows. ars technica reports.

"The MPAA hails the judgments as a victory, even if the sites weren't hosting the copyrighted material themselves.

"Even though ShowStash and Cinematube didn't host any of these files, both were found guilty of contributory copyright infringement, according to the judges' opinions, because they searched for, identified, collected, and indexed links to illegal copies of movies and TV shows.

Aside from monetary damages, both sites are now prohibited from engaging in further activity that would infringe upon the studios' work. "

Cable Networks Put More Content Online

As advertisers continue to demand the greater accountability and demographic targeting that the Internet offers, cable networks have adapted differing strategies in dispatching content online—posting “extras” or full-length episodes from their old and current TV series, creating new shows or launching entirely new Websites.

[via Broadcating & Cable]

Live Online TV streams from around the world

Watch Online TV claims to be the largest resource available on the Web for viewing free Internet television.

Live streaming TV, recorded news, broadband internet TV stations, and video from all over the world. About 2,890 Online TV Channels from 60+ countries in Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, The Caribbean, Latin America, Middle East all in one website.

Streams are sorted by category and country.

I gave it a try (CNN and a couple of Swiss channels), but it doesn't work for me, though I have one of the required players. There was no streaming, just a blank screen.

[via TechCrunch]

Why we posted epilepsy film to YouTube

Epilepsy charities condemned Russell Barth and Christine Lowe's YouTube seizure video as a "freak show". Not so, say the couple: the movie has saved lives. The Guardian reports.

"... The footage that has "had over 250,000 views" is titled "Graphic Epileptic Seizure Footage". It belongs to my wife and I, and it can be found on YoutTube.

This footage is, by all accounts, the most compelling piece of epileptic seizure footage available online. Possibly anywhere.

That piece of footage was shot with the assistance of our friend David, in January 2003, at the repeated insistence of my wife Christine. She wanted to know what happened to her body while she was seizing, and we were under standing orders to catch any footage possible."

Weak Economy Boosts Sales of Picture-Tube TVs

The slowing American economy has had an unexpected effect on the television business: a resurgence in the popularity of the standard picture-tube TV.

According to new sales figures from the DisplaySearch research firm, tube TVs edged out plasma models to become the second-most-popular technology during the first quarter of this year.

[via Bits Blog]

Remote Control Pillows

Spotted on TrendHunter, remote control pillows.

Home theater system with golf ball sized speakers

Sony Japan's new HT-IS100 a 5.1 channel home theater system comes with four satellite speakers that are no bigger than a golf ball.

[via New Launches]

Sony to Distribute 'Live' Shows to Theaters

In the latest effort to pump new kinds of content into movie theaters, Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures Entertainment plans to distribute "live" performances, such as concerts, Broadway shows and sporting events, in cinemas equipped with digital projection technology.

[via The Wall Street Journal]

To Thwart TiVo, a Nod to Television’s Golden Age

As marketers strive to counter the growing ability of viewers to skip or avoid advertisement spots, they are bringing back the live commercial. [via The New York Times]

"When TV began as a national medium, many spots were delivered live because many programs — dramas, soap operas, talk shows — were live. Some products, among them Timex watches and Polaroid instant cameras, made their reputations through spots that offered audiences live demonstrations.

The shift to recorded series relegated live commercials to “remember when?” reels. Now, as marketers strive to counter the growing ability of viewers to skip or avoid spots, live sales pitches are being reconsidered for their potential stopping and staying power."

'Dumbest criminal' records crimes

A Leeds man has been dubbed the city's "dumbest criminal" by a councillor for posting more than 80 videos videos of himself committing various misdemeanours on YouTube under the username “mrchimp2007".

[via the BBC, the AFP and the Times Online]

Shared Solitary Serial Experiences

Two Tokyoites - on the right of the photo engaged in the same task watching the same television program on their mobile phone each using their own device, with comments passed back and forth. Shared experiences, yet personal device ownership gently separating the experience compared to current norms.

A fabulous picture from everyone's favourite Jan Chipchase.

The Ultimate Remote

Spotted on CrunchGear, a soon to be released Ultimate Remote branded ESPN, enablling sports' fans to access ESPN.com, getting real time stats and scores for favorite players and teams.

Party's Over, Bloggers: CBS, NBC, Fox Threaten Free Clip Service Redlasso

Redlasso a TV clip service favored by bloggers everywhere, is being threatened with legal action by three of the major media conglomerates: Fox (NWS), CBS (CBS) and NBC (GE), reports Silicon Alley Insider.

"The three companies have sent the Web firm a cease-and-desist letter for recording television and distributing it without their permission, and are giving them until May 29 to stop or get hauled into court.

What's Redlasso ? It's hard to imagine media and political blogs like Huffington Post, Perez Hilton or Hot Air without it. The company records live TV and allows users to search for clips, grab them and embed them on their own sites."

[via Techmeme]

Fake TV Fools Burglars into thinking you're home

Collest Gadgets has picked up on a Fake TV that tricks burglars into thinking you're home.

"The FakeTV uses a variety of colored, flashing LEDs to create the stroboscopic lighting effect which your television gives off while in use. When the burglar struts past your home, they’ll see the FakeTV projecting the flicking light of a typical 27″ television, and they’ll assume that someone is home and move on to the next house.

... When it’s running the FakeTV uses no more power than your average night light."

Online TV Ads No Longer Afterthought

Conscious that millions of people are now watching TV shows online, marketers are likely for the first time this year to make digital-ad buys a key part of their "upfront" ad-purchase negotiations with TV networks, media buyers say.

"The digital ads aren't a throw-in after the main conversation is over. It's now part of the main conversation," says Alan Schanzer, managing partner at MEC Interaction North America, part of WPP Group's media-buying and planning unit Mediaedge:cia.

[The Wall STreet Journal]

Will HDTV Decide the Presidential Election?

A legend of American politics is that TV defeated Nixon and delivered victory to Kennedy—in their televised Great Debates Nixon looked old and haggard, Kennedy, young and tanned. TV viewers said Kennedy won the debate; radio listeners said Nixon did. It was all about looks.

Now, consider HDTV. Every little flaw shows in glorious details. And now consider that John McCain is older than your grandpa, ravaged by a rough campaign and melanoma surgery. One can only wonder. Will HDTV kill McCain?

[via Gizmodo]

Related: - All the Presidential Candidates Look Bad On HDTV (Switched)