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Interactive TV For Belguim: VRT and Belgacom's e-VRT new media division to begin two-year interactive television pilot test
in Antwerp with 100 households equipped with digital TV equipment providing access to electronic messaging, online games,
and home banking via TV (01MAY01) (Europemedia)
- TV-Channels-Via-Internet News: JumpTV begins "soft launch" of TV via internet service with a limited slate of TV broadcasters while waiting to go through proceedings with the Canadian Copyright Board regarding royalties to be paid for retransmitting other TV channels (01MAY01) (Newsbytes)
Newbytes reports, "Complying with the [Canadian] Copyright Act means paying royalties to the rights-holder collectives as prescribed by the Copyright Board. JumpTV says it wants to do that, but the current tariff schedules are based on the kinds of revenue models in place for traditional retransmitters - cable TV companies and direct-to-home satellite TV operators." Hence, you have JumpTV's current proceedings with the Canadian Copyright Board to determine how much should be paid. The National Association of Broadcasters from the US and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters want to intervene in the proceedings to shut down JumpTV. Since the proceedings may be lengthy, there may be no collection on the tariff for the year 2001 from JumpTV whenever JumpTV begins retransmitting more TV channels. You can click here to visit JumpTV and its current TV programming from NASA, Fashion Television, JAGfn, CNI Mexico, Telenorba, Thai TV Global Network, RTP, and others who have made agreements with JumpTV.- Crashing The TV-Channels-Via-Internet Party: JumpTV and Canadian Cable Television Association tell the Copyright Board of Canada that the National Association of Broadcasters and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters should not be allowed to intervene in JumpTV case (01MAY01) (FinancialPost)
- Lining Up Content For Online Video: Microsoft signs up new content providers for WindowsMedia.com including Universal Studios Home Video, Carsey-Werner eDistribution, Bloomberg News, CameraPlanet, Guinness World Records, iNEXTV, PamTV.com, The ComedyLab, VastVideo.com, and others (02MAY01) (Microsoft) (related.link)
- Set-Top PVR News: Motorola Broadband Communications Sector names ReplayTV as primary provider of personal digital video recorder software to be integrated into Motorola digital cable set-tops to be offered in Q4 Y2001 (01MAY01) (MOT) (alt.link) (alt.link) (related.link) (related.link) (related.link) (related.link) (related.link) (related.link) (related.link) (related.link)
In the second related link, the Industry Standard reports Motorola will integrate the ReplayTV technology into five million digital cable set-top boxes over the next five years with Motorola's DigiCable business to offer the new set-tops during the fourth quarter of this year.- Reaction For TiVo: TiVo shares drop after Motorola-ReplayTV deal (01MAY01) (Yahoo.Reuters)
- TV Via Fiber Optic Network: WINfirst selects Canal+ Technologies MediaHighway middleware and MediaGuard conditional access system for interactive TV in the US and plans to leverage Canal+ relationship with Vivendi Universal to provide interactive content and services for set-top boxes and home PCs while WINfirst builds or seeks to build high-speed fiber optic networks for residential neighborhoods in Sacramento, San Diego, Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, and San Francisco (01MAY01) (Canal+) (alt.link) (related.link) (related.link) (related.link)
In the first related link, Reuters quotes Canal+ U.S. Technologies CEO Jean-Marc Racine as stating, "We believe the 'iTV' battle is a global issue." Canal+ U.S. Technologies is the US division of Canal+ Technologies which is all part of Vivendi Universal.- Other Canal+ & Universal News: Canal+ US Technologies and Universal Music Group provide "The Viewing Lounge" interactive television application for playing music videos, viewing artist and CD info, interactive advertising, and tcommerce via a set-top box (23APR01) (Canal+)
- Broadband Video Future: Excite@Home's Mark O'Leary sees subscription video as well as TV-like advertising-supported video in the future of broadband, and also sees the set-top market exploding in 12 to 18 months (07MAY01) (Standard) (alt.link) (related.link)
On the second page of the news item, the Industry Standard quotes Excite@Home's broadband services executive vice president Mark O'Leary as stating if broadband takes off he sees "subscription video" as the future: "If I have a 6-year-old and an 8-year-old, I have a video subscription with Disney.... I also see more ad insertion. If I'm watching 20 minutes of highlights from NHL hockey on my PC, it's free - but every five minutes there's a 30-second ad insertion for Miller Lite beer." With regard to set-top boxes, O'Leary is also quoted as stating "the introduction of inexpensive, highly featured, IP-based set-top boxes ... will have a whole different functionality than TiVo or WebTV ... [which] do only about 5 percent of the functionality of IP set-tops. They will provide the flexibility for a family to set up its devices however it wants. This market is going to explode in the next 12 to 18 months."- Broadband For Australia Is Limited: eMarketer says Australia may be one of the most wired countries in the Asia Pacific region but there are less than 100,000 broadband subscribers in Australia (01MAY01) (eMarketer) (related.link)
eMarketer cites Paul Budde Communication as indicating the number of broadband users in Australia may double by the end of 2001. The related link is for a news announcement regarding a new Yankee Group report on broadband in Australia and New Zealand.- Broadband Rate Hikes For Cable Internet: AT&T Broadband is said to be planning to raise cable internet-access fees by $6 per month beginning June 1 (01MAY01) (CNET) (alt.link) (related.link) (related.link)
CNET reports, "The expected rate hikes could affect more than 1 million of the nearly 1.3 million consumers who subscribe to the company's AT&T@Home and Road Runner services in various cities."- Broadband Rate Hikes For DSL Internet: Verizon is also increasing monthly fees by $10 for high-speed DSL internet access for new subscribers, also BellSouth and Qwest are said to be planning similar DSL rate hikes (02MAY01) (NYTimes.AP) (alt.link) (related.link)
In a future world of interactive TV and video-on-demand, all of these high access costs are going to be combined with subscription costs for content where consumers could be spending $50 for access and $10-$30 for content including cable-like multichannel service plus another $10-$30 for some sort of on-demand premium service. So the total monthly cost could possibly be in the range of $100+ a month plus any hardware costs. That's a good chunk of money for TV. Costs for the consumer have to be brought down or else consumers may possibly settle for plain old basic cable TV or they may wait to see what free-to-air TV broadcasters may come up with for terrestrial digital TV using the DTV-equivalent of a rabbit-ears antenna. Or worse, they may demand that analog TV not be abolished. See the another side of the argument in the next news item from Jeff Kagan. Although Kagan thinks the price hikes may be good for the long term, the most likely outcome is that higher prices will be the norm for broadband access and that may not be good for getting the average consumer to migrate from dial-up access to broadband. -ruel- Kagan Says Price Hike May Be Good For The Long Term: Jeff Kagan says broadband price hikes cause short-term knee-jerk reaction by consumers but the pricing model for broadband isn't set in stone yet and won't be for years (03MAY01) (Newsbytes)
- Streaming Media Future: e-Cast 2001 organizers say adoption of broadband internet connections will drive adoption of streaming media by 75% of UK and European broadcasting and ecommerce firms by end of 2003 (01MAY01) (Newsbytes)
Newsbytes reports e-Cast 2001 organizers forecast "that 75 percent of UK and European broadcasting and e-commerce firms will use streaming media by the end of 2003" and "that the adoption of broadband Internet connections will also drive the adoption of streaming media by organizations."- Related On 3G Wireless Streaming Media Future: Datacomm Research's report "Wireless Streaming Media: Markets & Business Opportunities" says wireless operators must deliver a vast choice of streaming media at affordable prices or face the biggest financial disaster in history (01MAY01) (Datacomm)
To the gung ho mobile wireless folks out there: Accessing streaming media for wireless mobile devices should be "cheap" without extra per-minute charges or else no one will want it. Consumers could always simply just go home to watch their TV sets, or use a portable radio or walkman, or download video and MP3s with their PCs. From the point of view of a consumer, it makes more sense to simply put an AM-FM radio on a cell phone or PDA device for receiving FREE LOCAL radio broadcasts instead of putting in all of that fancy streaming media that you would have to pay subscription costs for. -ruel- Always-On Anywhere-Access May Be Too Much: David Halberstam asks if rapidly accelerating technology is eroding our sense of who we are? (01MAY01) (RedHerring)
- Building For Interactive TV: Kobalt Interactive announces appointment of Emmy award-winner Guy Pepper as CEO and 25-year television industry veteran George Krieger as president (01MAY01) (Kobalt) (alt.link)
Kobalt Interactive is "a provider of interactive television software, application tools and technology services to broadcast and cable networks, television stations, advertisers, cable and satellite operators." You can click here to check out Kobalt Interactive.- Access Anywhere Videogames: InfoSpace announces cross-device videogame platform for wireless, broadband, and narrowband networks (02MAY01) (InfoSpace) (alt.link) (alt.link) (related.link)
The news announcement quotes InfoSpace founder, chairman, and CEO Naveen Jain as stating, "The addition of games developed to operate across multiple devices is a powerful addition to InfoSpace, as we believe games drive usage and early adoption, especially on wireless and broadband devices."- Videogames As Economic Market Force: Interactive Digital Software Association's new study "Economic Impacts of the Demand for Computer and Video Games" says the videogame industry will be a major force in the US economy for many years to come (01MAY01) (IDSA) (related.link)
The news announcement quotes the Interactive Digital Software Association president Douglas Lowenstein as stating, "With the introduction of new advanced game machines, surging demand for video game software, and an expanding base of dedicated and casual game players, it’s clear that the industry will be a major force in the American economy for years to come."- Videogame Economic Impact Report: IDSA "Economic Impacts of the Demand for Computer and Video Games" (PDF) (01MAY01) (IDSA)
- More On IDSA Videogame Industry Report: Videogame consoles could become as common as VCRs in the living room (02MAY01) (CNET.Reuters) (alt.link) (alt.link)
Reuters reports, "The report, by the Interactive Digital Software Association, said that such widespread use of consoles would make game players almost as common in U.S. homes as the video cassette recorder (VCR). It predicted 70 percent of U.S. homes in 2005 would have a video game console."- Videogames Battle For The Living Room: Interactive Digital Software Association says videogaming is a $10.5 billion industry that eventually could rival the market for movies (01MAY01) (NYTimes.AP) (alt.link)
The Associated Press quotes Dataquest senior analyst P.J. McNealy as stating, "The gaming industry is going to control more of the living-room dollars. You start putting a box in front of a TV with a hard drive attached to it, and you can download movies, games, MP3s, anything. And you can watch DVDs. So (gaming and movies) are battling for entertainment dollars."- Videogame Industry Report: IDSA "State of the Industry Report 2000-2001" (PDF) (01MAY01) (IDSA)
- Videogame Power Play: Fierce rivalry looms among TV-linked videogame consoles of Sony Playstation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Microsoft XBOX (link.changes) (01MAY01) (UnionTrib.NYT)
The New York Times (NYT) quotes videogame player Rodney Smith as stating, "It comes down to one thing: You want to have the best machine that can play the best games." In comparison, the New York Times also cites Nintendo corporate affairs vice president Perrin Kaplan as indicating Nintendo may be successful with the GameCube because Nintendo "has made many of its most successful games itself." So, on the one hand, it's the hardware and on the other it's the content. Even if the hardware is technically the best, whichever videogame console has the best and most content may win the videogame war in the end. -ruel- Mobile Videogames: Strategy Analytics forecasts $5 billion wireless videogame market for mobile devices by 2006 (01MAY01) (StrategyAnalytics)
The news announcement states, "Wireless devices are not yet optimized for absorbing gaming experiences; and networks are slow and expensive to the end-user."- BBC's Beeb.com provides shopping guide for buying airline tickets and vacation packages on Telewest interactive TV platform (01MAY01) (Netimperative)
- Broadband TV: iMagicTV to demo broadband television solutions at now2001 including iMagicTV DTV Manager and pcVu (01MAY01) (iMagicTV)
- TV Video-On-Demand Via Phone Lines: Aliant and affiliate Prexar expected to intro broadband video-on-demand service for consumers in Maine and New Hampshire using technology from iMagicTV, InfoInteractive, and Kassena in the next several weeks (30APR01) (EMonline)
Electronic Media reports, "Canadian telecom giant Aliant, which is known as the broadband service provider of choice for Canada's oil and gas industries, is hoping to unveil within the next several weeks a PC-based broadband video-on-demand service for consumers in Maine and New Hampshire. Later this year, the telco will supplement that VOD offering with a live datacasting service that will stream regularly scheduled television programs onto customers' PCs." These folks are doing television via phone lines in Canada. They can do it for the US also. You can click here for previous news about NBTel and Aliant's big introduction of VibeVision in Canada in January 2000. Click here for a followup news item about VibeVision. For broadcasting TV to PCs, click here for a news item about iMagicTV's pcVu 2.0 which would not require a TV Tuner card (and click here and then scroll down for a spotlight on iMagicTV's Virtual VCR). In addition to broadcasting to PCs, they could possibly broadcast to DSL set-tops for the US service: click here and here for news about Aliant selecting Motorola Streamaster 5000 and Pace DSL4000 for the Canadian VibeVision service.- Amino Communications announces appointment of Grant Masom as chairman to lead company in markets for semiconductors, digital set-top boxes, gateways, and mobile internet terminals (01MAY01) (Amino) (related.link)
- Building For Digital Interactive TV: Chinook Communications Inc. appoints cable and networking industry veteran Margaret Cutler as vice president of human resources for recruiting personnel for assisting broadband operators with additional digital bandwidth to support transmission of advanced services, video-on-demand, high-speed data services, and interactive TV (01MAY01) (Chinook)
- Doubts On Digital Datacasting Auction Down Under: Australian Communications Minister Richard Alston may talk to the three remaining datacasting bidders about postponing or abandoning auction, or selling datacasting licences at set prices, or continue auction as planned (01MAY01) (TheAustralian)
The remaining bidders are the Australian Datacasting Corporation, Barwix, and NTL.
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- TV-Channels-Via-Internet News: JumpTV begins "soft launch" of TV via internet service with a limited slate of TV broadcasters while waiting to go through proceedings with the Canadian Copyright Board regarding royalties to be paid for retransmitting other TV channels (01MAY01) (Newsbytes)
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