The Business of Video

Broadcasters vow to fight white spaces

2008-11-06T00:00:00.000-05:00

Google Praises White Space Vote - While NAB promises the fight has only just begun.... NAB yesterday quickly issued a press release proclaiming that the fight was only just beginning. NAB also argued, despite the fact that the use of this spectrum has been under consideration and open discussion for nearly six years, that the Commission "appears to have bypassed meaningful

FCC green lights new wireless broadband spectrum

2008-11-05T02:04:00.001-05:00

FCC Approves Rules Allowing White-space Devices The U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted Tuesday to approve rules that would allow new broadband devices to operate in unused television spectrum. The FCC voted on the rules governing the operation of new devices in the so-called spectrum white spaces over the objections of television broadcasters, wireless microphone makers, several sports

Tivo and Netflix offer Internet TV

2008-10-31T00:52:00.000-04:00

Is Tivo Poised To Take Control Of Home Movie Viewing over IP? Tivo has concluded their long sought deal with Netflix to stream over 12,000 movie titles to your home, this via standard Tivo DVR's. In addition to the Roku player and LG Blu-ray player, both currently available, Tivo plans to support Xbox 360 by late fall of this year. Also, according to Steve Swasey, Netflix's VP of Corporate

SightSpeed bought by Logitech

2008-10-30T00:29:00.000-04:00

Logitech Buys Online Video Provider SightSpeed For $30 Million In Cash Swiss computer peripherals manufacturer Logitech International is set to acquire SightSpeed, an online video tech and services provider for $30 million. The all cash deal—which adds both the video conferencing technology and the R&D team behind it to Logitech's roster—is slated to close in early November. Berkeley, Calif.-

Qik offers Live Video to Blackberry

2008-10-28T00:41:00.000-04:00

Qik Introduces Live Mobile Video Streaming on BlackBerry Shortly after announcing the release of a live mobile streaming application for the Apple iPhone, Qik on Monday introduced live streaming video support for Research In Motion's BlackBerry smartphones. Qik will initially support live video streaming on the BlackBerry Pearl and Bold models. ZeeVee Launches ZViewer, An Internet Video Browser

Dell enters the Video Game

2008-10-27T00:47:00.001-04:00

Dell enters movie download market No. 2 computer company Dell today launched an online movie download store with CinemaNow and said it plans to offer more digital films preloaded on its PCs, starting with Warner Bros.’ Matrix trilogy and Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man trilogy. The move follows Dell’s inclusion of a digital copy of Paramount Digital Entertainment’s Iron Man on select laptop and desktop

Playboy switches from DVD to Online

2008-10-22T01:42:00.000-04:00

Playboy stops DVD production www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6606449.html?rssid... Playboy Enterprises is shuttering its DVD production business as part of a larger restructuring to reduce costs. The company wants to shave expenses by $10 million in order to return to profitability in 2009, Playboy chair and CEO Christie Hefner said in an Oct. 15 note to staff. In addition to exiting the disc

Game Changer: FCC report endorses use of White Spaces

2008-10-16T22:42:00.001-04:00

FCC Report: Unlicensed Devices Meet "Proof of Concept" Threshold In the FCC's just-released report on its testing of unlicensed mobile devices, the commission concluded that they had met the "proof of concept" threshold it said was its benchmark for proceeding with authorizing the devices under certain technical constraints. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said Wednesday he was scheduling a vote Nov. 4

Brightcove Revamps

2008-10-15T11:21:00.000-04:00

Brightcove Overhauls Web-Video System Brightcove this week is launching a third major revision of its Internet video publishing platform, which the company said provides a range of enhanced features including faster video player loading and customizable templates. “We’ve reconstituted every component of the Brightcove platform over the last year,” CEO and founder Jeremy Allaire said. The

NBC turns Affiliates into local portals

2008-10-14T00:53:00.000-04:00

NBC Stations Launch 'Locals Only' Web Sites NBC Local Media will launch city-specific Web sites for some of its major markets, beginning today with a new “Locals Only” online destination for Chicago residents. The new sites will provide visitors with news, photos, videos and blogs from NBC local stations as well as aggregated sources in order to serve “local consumers who are looking to stay

You Tube grows up: partners with networks to offer advertising

2008-10-12T22:55:00.001-04:00

YouTube to Offer TV Shows With Ads Strewn Through After months of experimenting with long-form video, YouTube said on Friday it would start offering full-length episodes of some television shows on its sprawling Web site. The staggering growth of YouTube — five billion videos were viewed there in July — has come primarily from short videos that last only a few minutes. But Internet users are

VC's warn the good times are over

2008-10-10T00:33:00.000-04:00

Sequoia Rings the Alarm Bell: Silicon Valley Is in Trouble Sequoia Capital, arguably the smartest venture capital investor in business, is sounding the alarm and asking its portfolio companies to buckle down for what could be the worst economic downturn of their relatively short lives. The fund organized a meeting yesterday where it invited entreprenuers/CEOs from its portfolio companies. The

Netflix sells Blu-ray for an extra buck

2008-10-08T23:20:00.000-04:00

Netflix to raise rates for Blu-ray Netflix next month will raise subscriber rates for customers who want access to Blu-ray discs by $1 a month, the company said this week. Netflix, which began testing such pricing increases in August, also plans to make its video-streaming service available to owners of Apple's Macintosh personal computers by the end of the year. The largest U.S. movie-rental

You Tube plays with affiliate ads

2008-10-08T00:37:00.000-04:00

YouTube Tests "Click-to-Buy" Ads YouTube announced that it has begun testing new ads which direct users to purchase items featured within individual videos played on the popular video sharing site, such as songs and video games. Judge keeps RealDVD restraining order in place RealNetworks on Tuesday failed to convince a district judge to lift a restraining order and allow the company to start

Hollywood forces Real to suspend DVD ripping software

2008-10-07T00:14:00.000-04:00

RealDVD ripping software halted by judge Pending a court decision on Tuesday, RealNetworks has been ordered to stop distributing RealDVD, the DVD ripping software which has Hollywood foaming at the mouth.The Motion Picture Association of America is getting all dramatic and suing RealNetworks for purportedly violating its copyrights and breaching its trust. Awwww, sniff. This, even though RealDVD

Vudu turns on high-def movies

2008-10-03T00:38:00.000-04:00

Vudu Takes High-Def Movies Higher Startup Vudu this week will begin offering 65 feature movie titles in 1080p high-definition video format via its Internet-connected set-top, in a bid to peel home-theater aficionados from cable and satellite video-on-demand services. The movies, priced for a la carte rental, include Chronicles of Riddick, The Spiderwick Chronicles, In Bruges, Speed Racer and

Hollywood sues Real Networks to stop DVD copying

2008-10-02T01:51:00.001-04:00

Hollywood studios sue to stop distribution of DVD-copying softwareA legal fight erupted Tuesday over the ability of consumers to copy DVDs onto their computers, setting the stage for a new battle between Hollywood and a purveyor of technology that could alter how consumers watch movies at home.The six major Hollywood movie studios sued Seattle-based RealNetworks, asking a federal court in Los

YouTube upgrades file size

2008-10-01T00:56:00.001-04:00

Bigger, faster, stronger YouTube YouTube has responded to market pressure from smaller firms and made significant changes to its upload policy, including increasing the maximum file upload from 100MB to 1GB. Users will now be able to add metadata and title information while the video is being uploaded and upload up to 10 videos simultaneously.Users must opt-in to the service, which is available

Online video usage surges

2008-09-30T00:59:00.000-04:00

US Broadband Online Video Consumption Up 200% in One Year According to a new ABI Research survey of online households in the United States, the number of consumers watching video streamed through a browser has doubled over the past year, going from 32% a year ago to 63% today. ABI Research believes this is due to growth in the amount of rich content available in ad-supported format on portals and

100 gbps tested over 1000 kms

2008-09-26T01:59:00.001-04:00

Verizon, Siemens Test 100Gbps - Sets distance record for 100Gbps over 646 milesLast fall, Verizon said they'd completed the industry's first field test of 100 gigabits per second (Gbps) core optical transmission, running FiOSTV content on a 312-mile network route between Tampa, Florida and Miami. Verizon and Siemens today announced that they've nearly doubled that distance record, sending a 100

Roku opens to everyone

2008-09-25T00:35:00.004-04:00

Roku to Open Its Box to Anyone The Roku set-top box is closely associated with Netflix, but during a speech at Streaming Media West this morning, company CEO Anthony Wood said that it will open up the little box to any content provider over the next few months. Wired reports: “We’re opening up the platform to anyone who wants to put their video service on this box,” says Wood. “We’re going to

GE to to merge tv and internet

2008-09-23T23:34:00.002-04:00

GE To Merge TV/Internet In One Unit GE announced today (Tuesday) that it plans to produce (with Taiwan's Tatung) and market a new type of high-definition television set that will allow users to access the Internet over a broadband connection without a computer. In addition it said that it plans to develop content with NBC Universal that will allow "Internet engagement" that will appeal to viewers

Cable plays with network DVR's

2008-09-23T00:15:00.000-04:00

Cable TV looks into new video recording method If the nation's largest cable TV operators have their way, the home digital video recorder could soon become a relic. Leading the way is Cablevision Systems Corp., which plans to roll out a system in early 2009 that will let viewers record any show without a DVR, only a digital set-top box. Shows will be stored on Cablevision's servers instead of a

Amazon offers new CDN service

2008-09-19T01:00:00.000-04:00

Amazon Launches CDN As It Enters A Highly Competitive FieldThis was to be expected after Amazon's S3 storage service and EC2 on-demand computing service already leading the way in cloud computing. Now it is launching a content delivery network later this year, that will take on the likes of big incumbents like Akamai and Limelight and also the slew of starts that have gotten funding over the last

Advertisers scared of user content

2008-09-18T01:14:00.000-04:00

EMarketer: Web Video Conundrum This year, brands will spend just $505 million on online video advertising, and it will take until 2010 until ad spending surpasses the $1 billion mark, eMarketer said. Reasons for the relatively low spend boil down to one central fact: Advertisers are nervous about placing their brand messages near sophomoric or even vulgar video content, and such user-generated