Tag: Television

The Future of Internet Video

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We like Hulu. We think it is a great service, and like any services that offer good content at the wonderfully low-low price of free. However, Hulu is considering adding a premium product…where they could offer things they don’t offer now at a premium.

Some people, despite its free nature, don’t like Hulu. And it hasn’t exactly made a great deal of profit. Mark Cuban wrote today on the subject of Internet Video vs the Cable Company DVR. As the owner of HDNet, a television channel offered on cable, he may be biased though. But the fact that content providers, cable companies, and the other organizations involved just don’t get the possibilities is not one we can argue with.

Cuban makes the case for better cable hardware with better improved features and remote access so you can enjoy your programs on the go. Beyond that, there is also the network DVR, where the videos are stored on a cable company server, instead of in the house. The library of On-Demand programming offered by all carriers continues to increase.

Cuban makes the point that with the current limitations of Internet based video, cable may be the more popular option for the foreseeable future. At least, in that regard, we agree.  If you are paying for something, you should receive good quality service at a good price.

Roundup: Acceptable Use

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ABC News Special Report ident, circa 2006
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The MPAA, well known for its lack of insight on the subject of fair use…namely what we are allowed to do with content we’ve purchased,  maintained during a recent hearing at the Copyright Office at the Library of Congress that videorecording a TV set playing back a DVD is an acceptable analog alternative to breaking copy protection on a DVD(Video available here).  These meetings take place every few years. In 2006, professors were granted an exemption in order to break copy protection on DVDs so that they could utilize high quality video clips in classroom teaching.

Elsewhere, research indicates more than 40% of U.S. Households under 35 watch Internet Video on their TVs(note the emphasis) at least once a month. The idea that consumers can get good content to watch from free or cheap online sources and watch it on their TV sets using a variety of methods is not one that is good for cable companies. These companies can either improve their on-demand services and ensure that everything that is free online can be accessed on-demand for free, or pressure their content providers to keep as much content off the internet as possible. Even if they do, there is plenty of web-exclusive content to enjoy.

For those of us trying to enjoy our fair use rights and thinking about downsizing your cable bill, here are some stories we’ve been monitoring:

  • XBMC, the popular multi-platform media center software, has released version 9.04, code-named Babylon. The release incorporates many improvements over previous versions. Check it out.
  • A hack has been released that will allow any computer to emulate the OCUR compliant BIOS, permitting any Windows computer to support digital cable with a Cablecard. The hack can be easily modified, should countermeasures be enacted.  We never understood why the cable companies should care. You are still paying for cable, after all.
  • TV Squad reports that ABC News is increasing its Youtube presence. The site will feature news from several ABC programs, like Good Morning America, 20/20, Nightline, ABC World News, and This Week with George Stephanopoulos.  Another reason to dump the TV.
  • TV Squad also taught us the Food Network offers a website, Food2.com, where they offer video recipes and web only shows for your enjoyment.
  • Boxee, continuing to gather support, has launched a contest for developers to encourage new plugin applications. Recent new plugins for Boxee include the highdefnow HD feed, who has given Boxee users direct access to their files which means you’ll get the smoothest playback from Boxee, without the same stuttering that a flash player might produce. This is a perfect example of content providers working with Boxee to promote their content.
  • Jumping on the Twitter Bandwagon, ABC’s Nightline news anchors are going to host a weekly online news program that uses Twitter for debate and questions. The show, called NightTline will air its first episode Wednesday at 12:30PM EST. It will air not only on the Nightline website, but on ABC News Now, offered as a subchannel on many ABC stations and cable systems.
  • With the signing of Disney to the Hulu family, it leaves CBS as the only major network not offering such content on Hulu, preferring its own media player. Meanwhile, CBS does offer content on Youtube.
  • Speaking of Youtube content for CBS, MGM, Lionsgate and Starz, who made content available last month, most users complain that the content is lacking and limited. But we hardly expected them to put their A-game on Youtube.
  • Time Warner Cable, defeated in its attempts to start metered bandwidth, another method for the cable companies to slow-down the growth of internet-based video, declared that it is not giving up on its hopes to implement the feature, but merely withdrew due to negative public opinion.
  • Netflix, not only a respected DVD-by-mail company, but slowly being known for its on-demand streaming, reported it isn’t particularly concerned about iTunes or Hulu as competition, but the DVD Kiosk, such as Redbox. Cheap $1 rentals are one of the reasons that people leave their Netflix subscriptions. With the gradual closing of video stores, the kiosk is becoming more ubiqitous. The company is concerned that if the kiosk companies get their costs down even further, they could very well be in more stores and locations…practically on every street corner. However, what these machines lack is the extensive library that Netflix offers. Unless you can order any DVD online, and have it delivered into the kiosk to be picked up, in addition to its standard stock of DVDs, then Netflix will always have a place.
  • Netflix also reports more streaming deals will be coming. The company had a “tremendous amount” of consumer electronics deals on the way, We’ll just wait for Linux. If not, the Roku Box still looks good to us, if they can get media streaming from the home computer added to it.
  • PBS Launched an Online Portal for full-length versions of some of its programs. Previously, while PBS had content online, it was not always easy to find. It can be found at pbs.org/video.

There is more to come. We monitor hundreds of stories, but there are only so many hours in the day, and we do have a day job. Coming soon, we will be taking our Streaming Video Guide from a different post, cleaning it up, and updating it into a permanent and regularly updated page on our site.

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Cable and DVD Revenue Drops

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We keep trying to keep on top of the changing video watching market. Another of those wonderful articles from the New York Times came onto our desktop on Sunday, about how cable is being cut. It is no wonder the people at Hulu are getting pressure.

“So many of my friends treated cable as a utility, that it wasn’t a home until it was set up,” said Nick Jackson, 24, who lives on the Lower East Side and works in publishing. “I basically chose Internet over the cable.”

They are right, cable isn’t a utility. Internet, unless you use it for business, as we are doing(if you call blogging business), isn’t a utility. But, if you have to choose, internet clearly can bring you much video-watching pleasure. One percent of adults view televisions shows online daily, and eight percent watch shows at least once a week, up from six percent last year. This number can only grow, and the eight percent of adults who watch video online “strongly agree that they now watch TV less often.”

The cable companies are receiving more calls from people who are evaluating their bills and looking to save.

In the DVD market, rentals are doing better than sales. The emerging consumer tendency to rent rather than buy their movies is not good news for studios, because they keep a relatively small share of each rental dollar. Fox is even trying to convince people to buy instead of rent by selling stripped down versions to rental outlets and keeping the premium extras for buyers. One of the first discs with this treatment will be Slumdog Millionaire, where extras like deleted scenes and commentaries go retail only on the DVD. So far the Blu-Ray versions aren’t affected, but that may be coming,

Not everyone is with us, but we like extras. But we can see why a rental copy may make sense. Most people want to see the movie, and don’t bother with deleted scenes or director’s commentary. We think it is value-added though, and there is certainly a place for it in the market.

Disney is trying to get in on rentals, by launching a subscription-based online movie and TV rental service from the company’s huge video library.

And the cable and satellite companies continue to be interested in preventing their customers from dumping service by starting their own online on-demand services. As DirecTV sees it… “in the past, when a company tries to stop or block something from happening, it’s usually failed.” It might even get us the ala carte level of programming, if they offer pick-and-choose options that the standard cable service never would offer.

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Streaming News

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Diagram of Unicast Streaming
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A few choice tidbits for those of you following our continual coverage of streaming video.

  • Netflix will offer Streaming-Only Plans. The company still remains focused on providing a bundled offering, but expects that some viewers will find a stand-alone streaming service to be compelling, particularly as more compatible devices become prevalent. Netflix streaming is already a feature of the Roku Netflix player, the Xbox, and some LG Electronics products. No word as of now on price.
  • Cable provider Comcast is in talks with its content providers and with other cable and satellite companies to discuss putting their programming online. The service would allow subscribers to watch shows online for free as soon as possibly this summer. It is seen as a preemptive strike against the possible loss of customers who opt to watch content online. One major issue in agreeing to an online service is the low level of revenues generated by Internet advertising compared to TV revenue. Comcast’s goal is to authenticate subscribers who go to certain sites, creating a “wall” behind which content providers may feel more comfortable releasing their materials.
  • On a related post, a commenter pointed out that with internet metering and bandwidth caps coming into fashion, these companies might induce usage of their services over others by not counting streaming from them against the meter.

Either way, interesting developments seem to be on the way. Keep posted…

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Some TV Stations Going All Digital Today

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DTV Countdown Clock
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As Crunchgear reminded us, today is the day of the original DTV transition date, and many stations are dropping their analog broadcasts today. These stations would have to pay money to keep these broadcasts on the air, including rental fees, and delays to contracts to dismantle equipment.

They also mention the usefulness of Antennaweb in setting up your broadcast antenna. We’ve tried it, and used one of their maps to try and aim a in-house antenna. There is an antique antenna on the roof of the building, which gets decent reception. But we have yet to get all of the channels an antenna our size is supposed to get.

Ultimately, in June, all analog will go away. Hopefully there will be no more delays.

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Digital Television Delayed…Really This Time

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HAYWARD, CA - JANUARY 28: An old analog telev...
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After initially being defeated, the bill to defer the Digital TV transition till June 12th was passed last week. However, some stations had already indicated they are sticking with the Feb. 17 date. The FCC said it had heard from 276 stations to that effect, in addition to 143 stations that had already pulled the plug, and another 60 who said they planned to do so before Feb. 17. The FCC had pointed out that some of those 276 may change their minds once the date changes. The FCC has been working on regulations that might cover the above circumstances.

But, there might be a bigger problem. Many manufacturers stopped making the boxes, expecting the demand to peak around February 17th. The trade association estimates there are approximately 3 to 6 million boxes available, and there are at least 3.7 million rebate coupons requests on the federal waiting list. Not to mention the confusion the switchover is producing on the older generation.

The NYTimes reports help is coming from an unlikely source. In Houston, which is the 10th largest TV market in the country, the local Meals on Wheels has been delivering and installing converter boxes for its clients.

For those of us who feel comfortable with such things, digital over-the-air broadcasts is an excellent way to get HD programming from local affiliates at no cost. Unlike your local cable concern, this feed is not compressed to the same degree, giving it a better quality to enjoy. We have one hooked up in addition to our cable, for this very reason.

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TV Alternatives – Roku Player

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WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 18: Actor Morgan Fr...
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This topic continues to weigh on our minds. We’re convinced that as cable/satellite prices continue to rise, and as these companies insist on shutting down analog, it will be impossible for us to continue as we have, which is why we continue to prepare for an eventual paradigm shift.

Where we live, our cable provider, who has a monopoly in our neighborhood, has shut off analog service, encrypted most things we could get with a digital tuner, and been generally uncooperative. As of now, with some threats and cajoles, it is still cost effective to have cable.

Meanwhile, we have relatives whom we visit for holidays and weekends. The cable company there has not yet dropped analog cable there, and offers the standard cable package unencrypted. One TV has a digital box, and the rest use built in tuners. We’re certain that they will eventually drop analog, and for a house that swells during a holiday/weekend from only needing a bedroom and living room television to a house with all bedrooms filled with people with different television watching habits, it isn’t cost effective to rent one $10(which is what they charge), per TV.

Worse, unlike our urban residence, this more rural setting gets no broadcast transmissions, making cable or satellite the only television option. Fortunately though, it makes for the perfect testbed for our exploration. It is winter here, and our visits become less frequent, but we intend to be prepared for spring.

We’re very interested in the Roku Netflix Player, which late last month introduced a firmware update to allow it to stream Netflix‘s HD content. Since this device is portable, it could be brought into any room and movies streamed directly to it. When the item came out, the New York Times blogged about its thoughts on the future. We have our thoughts with theirs, below:

  • The price point of this device is $99. Keeping the price point this low allows for widespread adoption
  • It doesn’t require an always-on server at the owner’s house to work…although we wouldn’t complain if it doubled as a uPnP/DLNA server so it could stream from a local system if we wanted it to.
  • The device is capable, through firmware updates, of adding new content from other sources than Netflix, and Roku has promised such change in the new year, which may make this device sell out, as we’re not going to buy one until we know what other content is coming. The device supports flash and other formats, so the frontrunner may be Hulu, which would be a gem if offered directly to one’s television.
  • Rather than requiring you to sort through the 10,000+ offerings, you can narrow it down on your computer, and select from a reduced subset.
  • Third-party plugins – Roku is offering a free software development kit to any online video content provider who wishes to add a channel of content alongside the Netflix content. Aside from the channels Roku has been promising, this would allow a third party to take control of their plugin to ensure it met their standards. On the open source side of things, we’re hoping that the developers of several open source media projects find a way to stream to the device. After all, while it is designed to be independent of a computer, that doesn’t mean it could not optionally offer content that is dependent as well. Of course, this goes back at its simplest to the uPnP support idea.

If this device was extended to uPnP, we’d set up an old computer to serve media files and buy a box for several televisions. A $99 flat rate is better than a $10 a month rental rate.

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Streaming Video for Cable Users

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We’ve made no secret that we’ve been on a streaming video kick of late. For our latest work, we’ve decided to check out the streaming offerings available on cable. It has been made harder for us with a serious lack of Linux-based support. We invite comments with additional links to video streaming content. Not everything on TV is available online, and vice-versa, but certainly enough to keep you busy…at least as busy as TV.

This list only covers direct services by the content providers…ie the websites of the various channels we’ve profiled. Future posts will discuss third-party sites and paid services.

  • Broadcast
    • CBS
      • CBS Video – Offers Primetime, Daytime, Late Night, Classic, and Special programming Not all shows are available as full episodes.
    • NBC
    • FOX
    • ABC
      • ABC Video – Clips Full Episodes of many ABC shows. (Windows/Mac only. It is said they are trying to get linux support.)
      • Full Episode Player – Direct link to the full episode player
    • CW
      • CW-TV Video – Full Episodes of shows (Windows/Mac only. But it told us to check back for future OS support)
    • PBS
  • Cable Entertainment
    • TBS
    • Nickelodeon
      • Nick Jr. Video – Didn’t see any full-length episodes.
      • Turbo Nick – This interactive site appears to have some full-length episodes of Spongebob and other Nick shows.
    • Lifetime
    • USA Network
      • Full Episodes – Full episodes of several popular shows. Also, on show specific pages, they offer enhanced content and interviews.
    • Sci-Fi Channel
    • Bravo
      • Videos – This doesn’t seem to get us the full list. You need to navigate around the Bravo website to find clips and episodic content
    • Cartoon Network
    • E!
      • Video – Various Entertainment Clips
    • Spike TV – Spike offers some Full Episode content on its site
    • FX
      • FX Full Episodes – Episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 30 Days, Sons of Anarchy, Testees, etc.
    • ABC Family
      • ABC Family: Videos – Even though we can’t watch ABC, you can catch some full episodes and clips at ABC Family.
    • BET
    • Comedy Central
    • Disney Channel
    • AMC
      • AMC Videos – Lots of extras, but no full-length episodes
    • WE – Video Section – Nothing full-length
    • Oxygen – Video Section – Nothing full-length, webisodes, interviews, etc.
    • Turner Classic Movies
      • Media Room – Offers movie clips, trailers, and some full-length classics.
    • TV Land/Nick at Nite
      • TVLand Website – Full episodes are added every day of a rotating selection of shows. We saw full episodes of 3rd Rock from the Sun, the Andy Griffith Show, Beverly Hillbillies, Family Foreman, Gunsmoke, High School Reunion, Hogan’s Heroes, and She’s Got the Look.
      • Video – A direct link to their video section with not just full episodes, but interviews, classic TV moments, musical interludes, etc.
    • TV One
      • Video – Mostly clips.
    • BBC America
      • Video – More clips. Shame. The BBC itself has episodes online, but they aren’t accessible from the US without making it think your computer is there. To quote them…

        Rights agreements mean that BBC iPlayer television programmes are only available to users to download or stream (Click to Play) in the UK. However, BBC Worldwide is working on an international version, which we will make available as soon as possible. Most radio programmes are available outside the UK in addition to podcasts, although sporting and other programmes may be subject to rights agreements. In addition, many BBC News programmes are available for viewers outside the UK, as are BBC Sport highlights

        .

      • Here’s the link for the BBC’s Iplayer.
    • G4
      • Video Podcasts – A collection of programming you can download to your mobile player or watch on your computer
    • Fuse – Fuse has a variety of music video content
    • The N
      • The Click – The N’s broadband video player that include extra and full episodes
    • Music Choice – Currently available not only on some cable providers, but through cbale providers over broadband. For more information, click here.
  • Cable Documentary and Learning
  • Cable News
  • Cable Music Channels
  • Movie Channels
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Are DVDs obsolete?

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The New York Times in a recent article commented on the future of media.

MATTHEW BOWERS has been paying to have HBO piped into his home every month for nearly two decades. He tunes in for the occasional episode of “Entourage” and every couple of months orders a movie on demand. Recently, the whole family watched “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”

But when his company laid him off in September, he started to think about the value he was getting out of the premium cable channel. “It’s ridiculous to pay for this service I rarely use when I can get the same stuff online and save a lot of money,” he said. The result? HBO is losing a customer.

DVD Sales are dropping, and crucial car advertising on TV is drying up. And most importantly, TV watchers now have cheaper ways of watching programming, including Netflix, Hulu, and others we’ve mentioned.

Warner Brothers Television, which supplies “The Mentalist” and “Eleventh Hour” to CBS, recently asked the network to pull full-length episodes from its Web site, along with the comedy “Big Bang Theory.” The thinking is that they were potentially too hurtful to old-fashioned syndication sales to television stations down the road.

MGM signed a deal recently with YouTube to provide content, but it doesn’t include any of its most valuable content. They have chosen less popular movies such as Bulletproof Monk and reruns of the original American Gladiators series.

There is certainly potential profit in digital streaming, as seen, but it hardly compares to the profit studios make in television and DVD syndication. None of these sites, however popular, offer a full catalog of options, thus buying or renting physical media is still viable option. You never know when something might be pulled from Hulu or Youtube, thus making it unavailable for impulse viewing.

So, while DVDs might be replaced by Blu-Ray, or other media…while more and more people may choose to stream their videos directly to their televisions, or take advantage of new download and burn yourself services, there will always be a market for owning a copy of a video free and clear, and without entanglements.

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