Multi-screen

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.

Harmonic sets up cloud transcoding service

March 5, 2013 2:02 pm | by Brian Santo | Products | Comments

Harmonic has launched a cloud-based transcoding service for professional applications. The service is available through the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace. Content creators, service providers, and media professionals can access the technology to convert broadcast-quality video content to virtually any standard media format.

The Weather Channel picks Elemental Technologies for TVE

March 5, 2013 12:10 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

The Weather Channel is powering its cross-platform video services with Elemental Technologies’ multi-screen platform. The Weather Channel is using Elemental video processing systems to support live programming and simulcasts to more than 100 million U.S. households and to stream live content to the company’s YouTube channel.

In the media: Comcast plans free VOD promo

March 4, 2013 1:55 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Comcast is looking to promote increased use of its VOD service later this month with a week’s worth of free VOD access. The MSO hopes to draw consumer attention to its broad VOD catalog late this month by offering shows from its broadcast, cable, and premium cable networks for free for a week.

Imagine doubles the density of ICE

March 4, 2013 1:48 pm | by Brian Santo | Products | Comments

Chief among the capabilities of the new version of the system – v4.3 – is a doubling of system density, which the company said leads to power savings per stream of up to 50 percent and significantly reduced total hardware costs. Other features include MPEG DASH streaming, enhanced usability, and remote diagnostic tools.

Videotron's streaming service challenged

March 1, 2013 1:50 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Canadian Broadcaster Astral Media is attempting to force Videotron to drop or severely modify a streaming video service the latter recently announced. Astral filed a complaint with Canadian regulatory agencies claiming Videotron’s new illico Club Unlimited service violates a number of statutes. Videotron considers the complaint to be without legal merit.

Smart watches gain interest and popularity

February 28, 2013 12:40 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

Miniaturized computers, worn on the wrist, link to the wearer’s iPhone or Android handset, and can display not only the time, but also e-mail messages. The Pebble smart watch is $150, and can also display texts, provide caller ID, and scan Twitter or Facebook feeds.

Verizon to test Ericsson’s TV over LTE

February 26, 2013 3:40 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

What Ericsson is calling an end-to-end LTE broadcast solution is based on the eMBMS standard covering broadcast video over LTE. It represents one of the first proposed uses of both HEVC and MPEG DASH. Telstra in Australia and Verizon Wireless will be among the first to trial the system.