Multi-screen

S3 Group appoints O’Carroll to board

March 19, 2013 11:54 am | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

S3 Group announced that it has appointed former Rogers Communications executive Dermot O’Carroll to its board of directors. O’Carroll spent 17 years at Rogers Communications before retiring last year as senior vice president of network engineering and operations.

Disney, News Corp. finalizing plans for Hulu

March 18, 2013 2:14 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

At issue is whether Hulu should completely dedicate itself to the free streaming of TV shows with ads, or whether its value lies in paid subscriptions for viewers. Disney is said to prefer the ad-supported model, while News Corp. prefers a paid service. The two might put the operation back up for sale.

Virgin Media’s TV Anywhere gets a boost from Concurrent

March 18, 2013 12:48 pm | by Mike Robuck | Products | Comments

Virgin Media has picked Concurrent to help it send more video to IP-connected devices through its Virgin TV Anywhere service. Virgin Media is using Concurrent’s MediaHawk content delivery network (CDN) platform to support its TV Everywhere service on computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones.

Few breakout tech hits at SXSW

March 15, 2013 2:40 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

The event, which helped launch Twitter and FourSquare, was quieter on the technology front this year. There weren't any hot apps that everybody immediately downloaded, but Google showed its Google glasses (it didn’t let anyone actually use them), and Foursquare displayed a number of data-tracking bracelets.

Zenverge to bring MoCA on board

March 13, 2013 1:18 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

The transcoding specialist, fresh off getting its chip adopted by Arris for a new gateway based on the Comcast RDK, is in the process of integrating Entropic’s MoCA circuitry into its products. Entropic is one of Zenverge's investors, along with Motorola and Verizon, among others.

Elemental, deltatre enter marketing deal

March 11, 2013 2:16 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

The combined solution features Elemental video processing systems paired with the deltatre Diva video player, which that company has developed specifically for sporting events, and has designed to be customizable for each individual sport.

QuickPlay joining white-label multiscreen market

March 8, 2013 1:37 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

QuickPlay Media is the latest company planning to offer multiscreen delivery as a cloud-based service. The company’s name for its cloud-based managed service solutions for the distribution of media to IP-connected devices is TVX. The service includes ingest, content management, play-out, and reporting.

Comcast subscribers tap into 80 million hours of TV VOD a month

March 8, 2013 12:41 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

TV shows rule the roost when it comes to the most-watched content on Comcast’s VOD platform. In a blog post, Comcast’s Matt Strauss, senior vice president of digital and emerging platforms, wrote that the company’s subscribers watched more than 80 million hours of TV on VOD per month.

Bang the DRM slowly

March 7, 2013 6:10 pm | by Brian Santo | Articles | Comments

There isn’t a single legal concept that has inspired more heartburn in more facets of content distribution than digital rights management (DRM). Consumers have a pretty good idea what DRM is, and plenty vociferously despise it with the same loathing they have for banks, airlines and their communications service providers.

Open Mic: Navigating television’s perfect storm

March 7, 2013 5:37 pm | by Jim Tanner, Chief architect at Clearleap | Articles | Comments

For today’s well-equipped TV watcher, pausing a program on the living room TV set and resuming it on the portable tablet is merely a matter of pressing buttons or swiping screens. A click here, a tap there, and in seconds the program hops from one screen to the next, uninterrupted and ready to resume. Or so it appears.

Cache as cache can: cable cozies up to nDVR

March 7, 2013 2:46 pm | by Mike Robuck | Articles | Comments

Network-based DVR services have been waiting in the wings for years now, but their big debut seems to be only a matter of time now that content rights issues are thawing out and the network architectures are taking shape. nDVR will be, when paired with a content delivery network or cloud, one of the legs that TV Everywhere services stand on once it’s enabled.

ActiveVideo hires Nemani away from Cisco

March 7, 2013 1:17 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

ActiveVideo Networks has hired Murali Nemani as senior vice president and chief marketing officer. He joins ActiveVideo after five years with Cisco, where he directed the launch of the company’s Videoscape solutions for service providers, as well as the expansion of the company’s mobility portfolio for wireless and wireline operators.

New Products: Pasternack, Multicom, Fujitsu

March 6, 2013 6:21 pm | by CED staff | Articles | Comments

Pasternack Enterprises has a new line of 50-watt medium- power attenuators; Multicom has introduced a clear QAM SD/HD video distribution solution that eliminates the need for a set-top box; Fujitsu has announced the a Packet Optical Networking Platform (Packet ONP) for optical transport network (OTN) switching.

Ad platform startup gains $11M in vencap

March 6, 2013 3:08 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Innovid, a startup that specializes in equipment used to create and distribute interactive advertising, has just nailed down another $11 million in venture funding. The company develops tools to create, deliver and measure video campaigns, in any format, on any screen, publisher or ad network. The suite of products includes the Innovid's own Ad Server.

In the Media: Verizon hiking DSL fees

March 6, 2013 3:01 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Verizon will be upping the price of its basic tier of DSL service by $5 a month. The price hikes are not universal. The price has not changed in some cities where they company has franchise obligations to not increase its rates. The company says the new rate will remain in effect for one year.