TV Broadband Package

Price of Sky TV to rise by 'up to' 10%

2014-07-21T06:34:00.000-07:00

Sky has announced it will be increasing Sky TV prices on 1st September 2014.

Customers about to sign up with Sky TV, and those who will not have had their subscription for 12 months before 1st September will find their bills up to 10% more expensive from September 1st.

"In accordance with our standard terms," reads the small announcement at the bottom of Sky TV's subscription page, "your Sky TV package may rise by up to 10% in a minimum contract term." The minimum contract term is 12 months.

In a one line statement at the bottom of its website, Sky has announced that its TV customers will see a price rise of up to 10% from September.

This isn't the first time that Sky has quietly posted this message on its site. Sky says that all customers will receive full correspondence - and confirmation of exactly how much their bills will increase - in due course.

Bear in mind that while the rise will be up to 10%, as per Sky's Ts & Cs, it seems fairly unlikely that it would drop such a large bombshell on its customers. While the same wording was used in the 'alert'
last year, the actual rise was more in the region of 2.5%.

Compare TV deals in your area with broadbandchoices.co.uk

What does Sky TV have on offer?

Sky now offers three core bundles: Original (£21.50/month), Variety (£27/month) and Family (£32/month).

Optional extras are also available: Sky Movies at £16/month and Sky Sports at £22/month.

Sky's statement regarding the price rise doesn't make it clear if these extras (or which packages) will be affected by the rise, but a Sky spokesperson stated: "We work hard to keep any rises to a minimum, ensuring we continue to offer our customers great value. We will be writing to customers in July outlining any changes."

The changes won't affect the price of Sky's broadband or phone services.

Pay-TV Booms as Cash-Strapped Greeks Shun Depressing News Shows

2014-07-13T22:16:00.002-07:00

Panagiota Fotou is so fed up with bad news on Greek free television that she’s willing to pay for programs that help her forget about her country’s economic woes.

The 29-year-old full-time homemaker spends about 70 euros ($95.35) a month, the equivalent of 12 percent of the minimum monthly wage in Greece, for pay TV, telephone and Internet services at a moment in which the economic crisis has left one in three people without a job and consumer spending stagnating. Fotou prefers watching movies, crime shows and situation comedies on Forthnet SA (FORTH)’s Nova TV, which is part of the bundle.

“People are tired of crisis-related bulletins,” says Fotou, flicking through channels at her Athens apartment. “Pay-TV may be an extra expense, but the deals are tempting.”

Greeks like Fotou are contributing to what the country’s two biggest telecom service providers Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA (HTO) and Forthnet say is a doubling of subscribers to combined TV and online packages in the past two years. The increase comes even as unemployment climbed to 27 percent and retail sales plunged for a fourth consecutive year.

Earlier this month, Hellenic Telecom, also known as OTE, offered as much as 300 million euros for the Nova pay-TV unit of Forthnet, its main competitor in Greece. Forthnet’s board is weighing the offer, the company said on July 1. Hellenic Telecom, 40 percent owned by Germany’s Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE), said its offer is on a debt-free, cash-free basis and Greek regulators would have to approve any deal.

OTE had 280,000 subscribers during the first quarter of 2014, according to OTE and Forthnet estimates. A takeover of Nova would make OTE the top player, overtaking Forthnet.

Monopoly Watch

With a deal, OTE “would become the sole pay-TV operator in the Greek market,” IBG Research analyst Dimitris Birbos wrote in a note on July 2. “The telecom watchdog could possibly block a deal that will create a monopolistic status.”

The number of Greek pay-TV subscribers stands at 760,000, up from about 300,000 at the end of 2012, according to estimates by Hellenic Telecom and Forthnet. This gives a market penetration of 19.5 percent, after it had been stuck at between 11 percent to 13 percent for nearly 10 years.

The bundled-services trend confirms “an international trend for saturation in the traditional telecommunications service,” Forthnet Chief Executive Officer Panos Papadopoulos told Bloomberg in an e-mailed response to questions on July 3.

Vodafone Option

Nova’s subscriber base rose 6.7 percent in the first quarter, reaching 482,433, compared with 452,340 subscribers at the end of 2013, the company’s figures show.

Emirates International Telecommunications LLC has a 44 percent stake in Forthnet, which has a market value of 175 million euros, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

In addition to the bid from OTE, the company has also drawn interest from Vodafone Group Plc (VOD), which holds 6.5 percent and on June 4 agreed a deal with Wind Hellas Telecommunications SA, owner of 13 percent in Forthnet, on an option to raise its stake to nearly 20 percent. The option is exercisable one year after the date of the agreement, Forthnet said on June 10.

The moves around Nova reflect global industry trends, with telecommunications companies broadening offerings to clients by moving into television. Vodafone teamed up with Netflix Inc. (NFLX) in May to offer subscriptions to streamed movies and TV shows. AT&T Inc. (T), operator of TV and broadband business U-verse, on May 18 announced a $48.5 billion purchase of DirecTV.

Cheap Quality

Meanwhile viewers such as Panagiota Fotou are looking for television that is both cheap and good quality.

“I can’t stand the traditional Greek TV shows,” says Fotou, holding her two-year-old son in her arms. “They are full of ridiculous people, half-naked women and can’t even make you laugh. Pay-TV gives you the option to choose what you’re going to see and where you’re going to see it. On your TV, laptop, tablet or mobile.”

The Greek crisis has boosted demand for more specialized, on demand TV products, George Pleios, a communications professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, said in a telephone interview on July 11.

The economic crisis, which has cost Greece a quarter of its gross domestic product, “has greatly reduced the consumption potential of Greeks, including outdoor cultural products, visits to theaters, cinemas, even travel,” he said. At the same time, “reduced quality of the program of TV stations and the shutdown of the state broadcaster led to a general depreciation of the TV field.”

Saving Money

While the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund forecast the Greek economy will return to growth this year, the high level of unemployment still leaves a lot of Greeks looking for ways to enjoy themselves at home to save money, even if that means paying for TV.

“Instead of going out to watch a soccer game at a cafe, we gather at home, cook and bring our own beer,” said Tasos Prigkouris, a 39 year-old self-employed subscriber of both Forthnet and Hellenic Telecom pay-TV services. “It’s a lot cheaper than going out and the deals that providers offer these days make it a lot easier.”

TalkTalk offers half-price fibre broadband with £50 Love2shop vouchers

2014-07-13T22:15:00.001-07:00

TalkTalk is giving consumers the chance to make savings when signing up for super-fast broadband.

New customers can take advantage of six months' half-price fibre broadband if they sign up by Thursday July 10th.

The firm's Superpowered Fibre boosts are available with TalkTalk's three broadband packages - SimplyBroadband, Essentials TV and Plus TV.

It costs just £5 per month for six months to add fibre to an existing ADSL package, rising to £10 per month thereafter.

Consumers signing up for SimplyBroadband with fibre can pay an initial £6.75 per month plus line rental, rising to £13.50 per month plus line rental.

The price for Essentials TV with Superpowered Fibre is £9.25 per month plus line rental for the first six months, rising to £18.50 per month.

And Plus TV costs £14.25 per month plus line rental during the introductory offer period, and £28.50 per month plus line rental thereafter.

In addition to the six months half-price offer, TalkTalk is giving away a free £50 gift certificate to new fibre broadband customers.

The Love2shop voucher can be spent at over 20,000 high street stores in the UK, including Argos, Boots, Debenhams, Toys 'R' Us, House of Fraser, River Island, New Look and Waterstones.

It is also valid at a host of restaurants, bars, attractions and more.

The voucher offer is exclusive to new TalkTalk customers who purchase a broadband deal online and do not require a new telephone line or number.

TalkTalk is also running a broadband deal for consumers signing up for its range of ADSL broadband packages without a Superpowered Fibre boost.

New customers signing up for SimplyBroadband, Essentials TV or Plus TV online receive a 50 per cent discount for six months and a £75 Love2shop voucher.

BT told to not show advert again that it has already stopped running

2014-07-13T22:14:00.001-07:00

BT has been told it is a very naughty company for suggesting that Sky might switch off old O2 customers broadband by April 2014. The ASA has responded to a complaint by Sky about a direct mailing BT sent out that had on the outside of the envelope 'SKY TO SWITCH OFF O2 BROADBAND BY APRIL 2014'.

We know lots of people were confused during the year when Sky was going through the motions of moving O2 and Be customers onto their own network after buying the fixed line business. It seems the BT mailing was designed to prey on this confusion when the reality was that if an O2/Be customer did nothing they would be switched to Sky in April 2014, of course many received enticing offers prior to this date to switch at an earlier date and Sky made use of the opportunity to upsell TV packages etc.

The O2/Be move to Sky in the end while problematic and confusing for some has largely gone well, the main issues being differences in how the Sky hardware behaves with some individual lines (i.e. not tweaked for total speed like Be used to be) and confusing invoices for some. We know some will disagree on the smoothness but given the mess that has arisen when much smaller numbers have been switched with other providers before the volume of moans was pretty small.

TiVo Crafting TV Everywhere Portal for Atlantic Broadband

2013-11-06T06:23:00.000-08:00

Supplying whole-home DVRs with fancy user interfaces and access to a menu of over-the-top content represents just a portion of TiVo’s relationship with Atlantic Broadband.

Atlantic Broadband, a subsidiary of Canadian cable operator Cogeco Cable, is also working with TiVo on the development on a TV Everywhere portal that is targeted for launch before the end of 2013, David Isenberg, Atlantic Broadband’s chief marketing and strategy officer, said.

He said the operator’s initial slate of TV Everywhere fare will feature authenticated content from more than 30 networks, including premiums HBO, Cinemax, Starz, Encore, and Movieplex, as well as access to shows from several popular national cable channels from the A&E, Turner and NBCUniversal, and Fox properties.

The coming portal will highlight the Atlantic Broadband brand and look a lot like TiVo interface that’s powering the MSO-supplied boxes. “We think what’s unique is we’re offering a consistent look and feel across all screens with TiVo,” Isenberg said, noting that the MSO’s legacy platform uses boxes from Cisco/Scientific Atlanta and Arris/Motorola.

Atlantic Broadband is the first cable operator to announce the deployment of TiVo’s T6 platform, which is the operator version of the hardware for TiVo’s retail-focused Roamio Plus DVR. Among the cable-tweaks in the T6: Atlantic Broadband’s version will use Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) technology to distribute live TV and recorded content to TiVo Mini client boxes over the home network, and it has been integrated with the MSO’s own video-on-demand service, which relies on Arris video pumps and video backoffice.

The box will also support many of the retail-facing aspects of the Roamio, including recommendations and a quick view of what’s popular on live TV.

At this juncture, Atlantic Broadband will not offer out-of-home streaming, a feature that TiVo just added to the Roamio. “In the near term, our primary focus for out-of-home consumption is the TV Everywerhe home page,” Isenberg said. “Out-of-home streaming capability is still something brand new and something we’re evaluating carefully.”

Atlantic Broadband will also offer a mix of over-the-top content on the TiVo platform, including YouTube, AOL On and a TiVo Hotlist with curated Web videos.

Netflix support? Not yet. “Clearly with 30 million subscribers there are lots of folks who have Netflix and enjoy Netflix…and most of that consumption is on people’s TVs,” Isenberg said. “As an industry, when we have found ways to deliver what customers want and add value to their TV experience, it’s been a win for us and a win for customers. Finding a way for us to bring some of these other services to our customers in an integrated fashion would fit that assessment, if we’re able to do so.”

Atlantic Broadband launched its TiVo offering on Tuesday in Cumberland, Md., offering it with six different produce bundles, including three double-play packages (TV plus broadband) and three triple-play packages.

The MSO expects to debut TiVo in Miami, Fla., and Aiken, S.C., later this year, and follow with additional market launches in early 2014. Atlantic Broadband, which serves more than 230,000 customers, also operates systems in western Pennsylvania and parts of Maryland and Delaware.

Comcast launches 'Internet Plus' HBO bundle for broadband customers

2013-11-06T06:21:00.002-08:00

Just last month Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said he was open to the possibility of bundling HBO Go with broadband subscriptions, and it looks like that vision is now being executed — in a way. As spotted by DSL Reports and GigaOM, Comcast is now offering a package called Internet Plus. It puts together a 25 Mbps internet connection, a basic TV lineup of 45 channels, Comcast's own streaming video service Streampix, and most importantly, a subscription to HBO and HBO Go. According to DSL Reports it's priced between $40 and $50 and is only available in certain markets. We were able to confirm that it's available in sections of Northern California for $39.99 a month.

The package is essentially what many cord cutters, and Game of Thrones fans, have been asking for: a way to legally watch their favorite shows online over a speedy internet connection, without paying for expensive, full-scale TV packages that they never watch. To get a sense of how little the basic TV service adds to the cost of Internet Plus, one needs only to look at Comcast's other $39.99 package. That deal is made up of the same 25 Mbps internet connection paired with telephone service — with no television or streaming video options at all.

Comcast_internet_plus1_560

It's important to note that this may just be a trial balloon; the offer is available only to new customers, and you'll have to sign up by January 31st in order to take advantage. After the first year of service the cost will also jump up to $69.95. But given the popularity of streaming video services, there's undeniable pressure for service providers to address consumer demand for a la carte programming without upsetting their basic business models. These kind of small steps are welcome — and certainly, the possibility exists that some customers could find themselves so enraptured by the programming on television that they upgrade to more elaborate packages. For those that aren't interested in hundreds of channels at their fingertips, however, it's a sign that companies may finally be open to addressing their wants and needs as well.

TalkTalk launches £7.50 TV, broadband and phone deal

2013-11-06T06:20:00.001-08:00

TalkTalk has launched a new package deal that includes TV, broadband and calls for £7.50 per month plus line rental.

The Essentials TV bundle comes with a YouView TV box worth worth £149 and unlimited internet, as well as evening and weekend calls.

Catch up TV now accounts for a fifth of British TV viewing

TalkTalk claims that the package is the UK's lowest price for TV, internet and calls, allegedly representing savings of up to £190 in comparison to BT's equivalent deal over 18 months.

Tristia Harrison of TalkTalk said: "This is TalkTalk doing what it does best: giving families access to exciting new products at unbeatable prices.

"Each week thousands more homes are signing up to YouView from TalkTalk because of our great value offering.

"Watching catch-up on your TV and having access to additional channels is now a pre-requisite for many. EssentialsTV offers both the functionality and content that modern households demand, together with the market's best value price point.

"It supports our goal to help make Britain better off."

TalkTalk delivers line rental at £15.40 per month, and also offers a Value option for an upfront payment of £126, representing a saving of £58.80.

Read more: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tech/news/a528851/talktalk-launches-gbp750-tv-broadband-and-phone-deal.html#ixzz2jsKHZxS4
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Sky profits drop, but Sky Go and Broadband packages boost figures

2013-10-20T01:00:00.003-07:00

Sky has announced an 8 per cent drop in year-on-year profits, despite its continued push on Sky Go and broadband helping to boost figures.

Making the announcement during its annual profits call, broadcast and internet giant Sky has revealed that despite an 8 per cent annual decline in profits, more than 36 per cent of Sky customers now choose to take TV, telephone and broadband from the company.

Subscribers to the company's flagship TV service have remained stagnant for the second year running (from 10.2 million in 11/12 to 10.4 million now), but there's been a rapid growth in connected TV services and broadband packages.

The firm has reported 3.4 million customers now have Sky HD boxes, with numbers of internet connected box users growing by 50,000 a week. In addition, On Demand usage has quadrupled and movie rentals have also doubled.

Another flourishing section of the company is its mobile TV service Sky Go. More than 40 per cent of Sky Sports viewers watched via the network this year and there have been 219,000 net additions to Sky Go Extra, the company's video download to device service.

It's also been a successful year for Sky Broadband, which now has more than 5 million customers, with a quarterly subscriber increase of 9 per cent.

“We are making excellent progress against the plan we set out in July to accelerate growth and returns from new services," said chief executive Jeremy Darroch.

"We have made a very good start to the year. Strong growth across the board drove a 7 per cent increase in revenues and we added 50 per cent more new subscription products than last year as customers continued to respond to the quality and value we offer," he stated.

"While the consumer environment remains challenging, we are well placed as we execute a strong set of plans for the rest of the year."

TalkTalk Plus TV broadband deal now offers £30 Love2shop voucher

2013-10-20T00:56:00.000-07:00

For a limited period only, new customers signing up for the TV, home phone and broadband bundle online can get their hands on a Love2shop voucher.

This can be used to make savings in more than 20,000 UK high street stores - including Argos, Debenhams, River Island and Waterstones - plus bars, restaurants and various other attractions.

Consumers have until October 24th to take advantage of the broadband deal, which runs in addition to the existing price offer on TalkTalk Plus TV.

For the first six months of their broadband deal, subscribers can pay just £10 per month for TV, broadband and calls - down from the normal £15.50 per month.

This allows customers to save £33 during the introductory period of their 18-month contract.

A line rental fee of £15.40 per month applies from the first month.

The broadband package offers download speeds of up to 16Mb with an unlimited monthly usage allowance.

Subscribers can also take advantage of unlimited anytime calls to UK landlines.

The TV portion of the deal includes a free YouView set-top box - which ordinarily retails at £299 - a host of channels, including 69 not available on BT TV, and seven-day catch-up services.

With a YouView box, viewers are able to pause, rewind and record live television.

Plus TV subscribers can also access TalkTalk's on-demand catalogue, which includes more than 4,000 TV shows and films.

Subscribers have the option of upgrading their deal to include premium TV content such as Sky Sports and Sky Movies.

UPC launches new TV and broadband package to rival eircom

2013-10-20T00:49:00.002-07:00

UPC announced today it will be launching a new budget range of digital TV, broadband and phone services in Ireland.

On the same day as eircom announced its entry into the television market, UPC launched its new triple and dual play 'Basics Collection'.

UPC’s Basics 3-Play Pack has over 50 digital TV channels, including the BBC and ITV channels, Sky One, Sky News and Channel 4, with unlimited 50Mb broadband and home phone for just €60 per month.

Dual play customers also have new products with a 50Mb broadband and phone with unlimited downloads being introduced for €30 per month, and the introduction of a new TV and phone service for €36.

Mark Coan, sales & marketing vice-president of UPC Ireland said: "UPC is the market leader, we’re constantly setting new standards and today is no exception.

"The launch of our Basics Collection maintains our position as the value leader in the Irish marketplace and extends our product range to consumers we didn’t reach before."

Sony Preparing Broadband Multichannel TV Service

2013-01-09T22:39:00.001-08:00

Sony is set to unveil its own multichannel TV service at next week's Consumer Electronics Show, in a bid to compete with Microsoft and Samsung in the streaming video business.

According to a report on Variety, the 'conglom' will aim to offer a service similar to that of US cable operators, with a package deal consisting of a number of live TV channels served directly to networked devices using a broadband connection. Sony declined to comment on the story.

Sony is in "active negotiations with at least two major content companies" to license their channels for the service, with plans to rollout a package for consumers in the US later this year. Of course, Sony itself has its own temple of content riches, with the conglomerate owning movie studios and various other video streaming services such as Crackle.

The networked, broadband-only approach allows Sony to access a broader number of potential subscribers, and also means that content can be beamed to devices such as the PlayStation 3 and Xperia smartphones via the PlayStation Network.

Recently, Sony reached a deal with Epix for PSN which allows for a large library of relatively new movies (such as The Avengers, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and The Hunger Games) to be played on PlayStation 3. Ensuring such content can be accessed on this new service would benefit Sony greatly.

Microsoft has already made a move into the TV market via its Xbox 360 console, with Xbox Live offering a number of streaming apps from a variety of different content providers.

Google Fiber, Fast Broadband/TV Service, Starts in Kansas City

2012-07-28T07:08:00.002-07:00

It almost sounds like a new cereal, but Google's Fiber is the search giant's fast new Internet and TV service. The company has been working on it for the last year and a half. The service was detailed today by Google, and residents of Kansas City can now pre-register to get it. "Google Fiber starts at a speed 100 times faster than most Americans have today," Milo Medin, vice president of access services at Google, said at the Fiber event today in Kansas City. According to Google, the connection will run at 1,000Mb per second -- much faster than Verizon's 300Mb-per-second FIOS service, which is also fiber based. Fiber-optic connections provide much faster speeds than DSL and cable. The faster Internet connection will enable faster web surfing, video streaming, and uploading; downloading a movie will take just a few minutes. Google's Network Box, a box it will provide to customers, will serve as a hub for the service in houses, but it will also require special installation to get the hook-up. The box is also a Wi-Fi router and has four Ethernet ports. Google's also providing the TV offering to compete against other cable and Internet providers. The company will provide the full TV channel lineup and an HD TV box that is capable of recording up to eight shows at the same time. The box has built-in Netflix and YouTube streaming capabilities. Google's latest Nexus 7 tablet will also be included in some packages and will work as a remote. The pricing structure is also unique. For $120 a month Kansas City residents can get the Internet connection and TV; there's no construction or installation fee. For $70 a month, they can just sign up to get Internet connectivity. On top of that Google is offering Internet with no monthly fee. However, to get it you need to pay a $300 construction or installation fee. There is no data cap on any of the plans, meaning customers will get unlimited Internet access every month. The free option is guaranteed for at least seven years and includes the network box. While it all sounds better than the competing services out there, availability is very limited for now. Google is planning to accommodate everyone in Kansas City, Mo. and Kansas City, Kans., but it is requiring people there to pay $10 to pre-register now with their neighbors. The areas that have the most registrants will be the first to get the service in their neighborhoods -- or what Google is cleverly calling "Fiberhoods." "We believe Google Fiber is best when you have a critical mass of users," Medin said at the event. Technology analysts point out that this is just a project. "It's all part of a larger experiment which is typical Google. Put something out there as a stake in the ground. Learn from the effort and iterate quickly," Michael Gartenberg, Gartner Research Director, told ABC News. "It certainly looks to be a compelling deal at face value, but when it comes to this level of effort, it's all about the details, levels of service and overall experience that matter." Google has not discussed plans to expand its Fiber offering beyond Kansas City. If you live in Kansas City, you can pre-register here.

Melton commits £360k to super-fast broadband rollout

2012-07-11T19:14:00.001-07:00

The first Leicestershire council has made a commitment to supporting the rollout of faster broadband. Melton has become the first borough in Leicestershire to make a financial commitment toward the rollout of super-fast broadband. The local council has agreed to invest £360,000 of its capital receipts in a multimillion-pound scheme that aims to deliver broadband connectivity to rural communities, along with next-generation speeds for towns and cities. Byron Rhodes, leader of Melton Borough Council, told the Melton Times that all the money needed to take the project forward is now in place. Councillors are now awaiting approval from government agency Broadband Delivery UK to select a contractor, with BT and Fujitsu both in the running. Once a preferred provider is in place, progress on the deployment could begin as early as this autumn, Mr Rhodes explained. "Melton is the first district council in Leicestershire to approve its contribution, so we should be first in the queue and that is what we are saying to the county council," he added. Under its super-fast broadband plan, the county council is aiming to deliver the technology to the 'final third' of local properties set to miss out on commercial rollouts. In Leicestershire, up to 190,000 people could be left without next-generation connectivity unless the local authority intervenes.

Pay TV revs to grow 13.5% by 2017

2012-07-11T19:13:00.001-07:00

Global pay TV revenues will grow by only 13.5% between 2011 and 2017, according to a new report. But while revenues are expected to fall in the U.S. due to competition and more homes taking pay TV, broadband and telephony in one package, Latin America will jump 57.7%, followed by Eastern Europe at 48.5% and Asia Pacific at 40.1% in the next six years. This is according to Digital TV World Revenue Forecasts, published by U.K.-based Digital TV Research, which surveyed 80 countries. The U.S. will remain the world's largest pay TV revenue earner by some distance at $81.04 billion in 2017, down $1.2 billion on the 2011 take as more homes convert to bundles and prices dip due to competition. However, it easily outstrips the two next biggest markets, Japan and Brazil, predicted to be worth $10.6 billion and $10.1 billion respectively, with Brazil's revenues doubling over the period. These countries are followed by China ($9.71 billion), the U.K. ($8.4 billion) and Canada ($7.2 billion). Report author Simon Murray said, "Brazil in particular is going gangbusters due to government liberalization encouraging overseas investment. "In North America and most parts of Western Europe pay TV is a mature market. "Latin America and Asia-Pacific, especially India, are the growth pay TV markets."

Sky Broadband Customers Offered GBP100 Voucher

2012-07-11T19:12:00.001-07:00

Sky is giving potential new customers a larger incentive to join up to its refreshed broadband packages . The internet provider is offering a free £100 voucher for use at Marks and Spencer to consumers who subscribe to a selection of its broadband, calls and TV bundles . This includes the Sky TV, Broadband &Talk package priced at £21.50 per month; Sky TV Extra, Broadband Unlimited &Talk (£34 per month); Sky TV, Sky Movies, Broadband &Talk (£37.50 per month); and the Sky TV, Sky Sports, Broadband &Talk bundle (£42.50 per month). Sky's entry-level package (Sky TV, Broadband &Talk) comes with Sky Broadband Everyday Lite, which offers households a 2GB monthly usage allowance, up to 14Mb download speeds and a free Sky wireless 'N' router . The deal also includes free evening and weekend calls to UK landlines, although a monthly line rental fee of £12.25 applies, 39 entertainment channels, a free Sky+ box and free standard set-up. The free M&S voucher is also available with a number of Sky HD TV packages, which also come with a six-month 50 per cent discount on high definition services. For example, subscribers to the Sky HD TV, Broadband and Talk bundle pay £26.62 a month for the first six months of their deal instead of the standard monthly price of £31.75, saving them over £30. Sky began offering M&S vouchers back in February as part of a special promotion for its Sky+ service, which allows users to record two shows at once, even while watching another that they've already recorded.

Verizon Adds More Spanish-Language Channels to FiOS TV Packages for Hispanic Households

2011-05-24T22:41:00.000-07:00

To meet the growing demand for international and foreign-language programming, Verizon has added five more Spanish-language channels to its FiOS TV lineup. The new channels -- CentroAmerica TV, Latele Novela Network, Pasiones, Teleamazones Internacional and Vme Kids -- expand FiOS TV's extensive Spanish-language offerings, which now include 39 of the most popular channels available.

"We've been watching the tremendous growth in our Spanish-language subscriber base and have further broadened our offerings to that diverse market with these new channels," said Terry Denson, vice president of content strategy and acquisition for Verizon. "Our multicultural native-language TV channel lineup is meeting the needs of our customers in households across the country."

The five channels were launched Monday (May 23) in FiOS TV's markets in Florida, California and Texas and will be in all FiOS TV markets by the middle of next month. Highlights of the new channels are:

The five new channels join Television Dominicana, Supercanal and VeneMovies, which were added to FiOS TV's Spanish-language and La Conexion packages earlier this year. The Spanish-language package offers some of the most popular Spanish-language channels available - including Galavision, ESPN Deportes and CNN en Espanol - for $11.99 per month. Verizon's La Conexion package offers the best in Spanish- and English-language programming, with more than 125 channels, including all Spanish-language channels, up to 14 HD channels and more than 54 of the most popular channels in English. La Conexion is available separately for $54.99 per month, or in a bundled package with FiOS Internet and voice service.

FiOS TV offers a broad collection of programming, featuring more than 520 all-digital channels including up to 140 HD channels and 18,000 monthly video-on-demand titles. FiOS also provides next-generation interactive services including an advanced interactive media guide; social networking, news and entertainment widgets; remote DVR management via broadband or cell phone; and more.

For the latest news, updates and information about FiOS TV, visit www.verizon.com/newscenter and http://www.verizon.com/athomeblog.

Verizon Communications Inc. , headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, with more than 104 million total connections nationwide. Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers seamless business solutions to customers around the world. A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 196,000 and last year generated consolidated revenues of $106.6 billion. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

InfoCom says Tablet PCs are changing the mobile TV experience.

2011-05-24T22:40:00.001-07:00

The first Tablet TV services are appearing in several markets round the world, offered either free of charge or as paid add-ons by different kind of players: content providers (content producers and Pay TV operators), mobile operators and TV access providers (CaTV, IPTV and satellite operators). The Tablet TV app requires a broadband subscription and either a TV access or a mobile data package and enables wireless streaming of live and VoD contents for tablet PCs. Tablet users download the TV app from iTunes or the Android market, free of charge, while the access to the service is linked to the user’s TV subscription: the users activates the service through log in details provided by the TV provider.

Currently, the service is offered to existing and premium subscribers of broadband, mobile data and TV access. The service appeal is the “entertainment anywhere” promise, enabling users of tablet PC to enrich their mobile experience with TV entertainment. Compared to smartphones, tablet PCs improve the user’s viewing-experience as, with the Tablet TV app, premium exclusive content can be enjoyed with the larger screen.

Until now, Tablet TV applications primarily featured remote control functions. However, most recent upgrades enable wireless streaming of live TV and VoD. Currently, TV access providers primarily provide Tablet TV services via WiFi connection and restricted only to the user’s home, that is, the service is paired with the user’s set-top box. Future developments relate to expand the service accessibility, upgrading current apps to enable the “real” mobile experience via 3G. Some content producers, such as BBC, are developing a Tablet TV app to access tablet TV services also abroad.

The new Tablet TV apps can reveal as an effective tool to mitigate customer’s churn and increase value of RGUs. Cable TV operators have been experiencing severe cord-cutting in the past few years due to viewers’ shift to other TV platforms together with the increasing popularity of OTT players, such as Hulu and Netflix. Therefore, TV access providers offer Tablet TV as an add-on service in order to extend further their multi-screen delivery strategy and to strengthen their customers’ loyalty. Responding to the hype inflamed by the release of Apple’s iPad, also mobile operators have started offering dedicated data packages specifically for Tablet TV viewing. Most players are trying to bank of the popularity of tablet PCs in order to up sell their premium packages, either premium Internet packages and mobile data plans or premium TV packages, which several pay TV operators and content producers impose as a pre-requisite to activate their Tablet TV service.

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Wananchi raises Sh14bn for expansion

2011-05-24T22:39:00.001-07:00

Internet service provider Wananchi Group has raised about Sh14 billion, part of it through private equity, to expand and improve its services and business in East Africa.

Group chief executive Richard Bell said part of the investment is to initiate the Triple Play.

“The product offers high quality pay TV, super fast broadband internet and voice in one package,” he said.

Part of the money will support the direct-to-home satellite Pay TV in 10 countries where penetration is less than one per cent.

Huge range of variety

The 10 are Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Southern Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea Ethiopia, Burundi and Rwanda.

“We are bringing to East Africa a world class Pay TV channel to offer a variety in movies, sports, documentaries, family and local programmes,” he said in Nairobi Tuesday.

Mr Bell said local artistes and entrepreneurs will get a chance to develop content for local consumers at a subscription fee of Sh1,000 a month.

The CEO said that building infrastructure is still going on in Nairobi and Uganda with Tanzania the next target.

They aim to finish in 18 months.

Through the developed cable, homes will access television channels.

“We have signed up with companies with the latest technologies to assist us to be at the cutting edge of technology,” he said.

Regulate the industry

Mr Bell urged the government to regulate the industry the same way it has done the mobile sector.

“We hope to see that sports rights are available to all the players and not managed under a monopolistic manner,” he said.

Wananchi presently serves the retail and corporate markets in East Africa through its consumer and corporate divisions with the former operating under the Zuku brand.

AT&T Lets Multiroom DVR Users Pause Live TV On Any Set-Top

2011-05-21T00:46:00.001-07:00

AT&T has begun rolling out a feature of its Total Home DVR that lets U-verse TV customers pause and rewind live TV on any U-verse receiver in the home -- a capability not available through other DVRs.

The new feature is currently available in Mobile, Ala., and Grand Rapids, Mich. AT&T plans to roll it out on a market-by-market basis to all U-verse TV customers over the next few months. AT&T uses Microsoft's Mediaroom IPTV platform as the foundation for U-verse TV.

AT&T launched the ability to watch recorded shows from a single DVR on any connected TV in the home in 2008.

The U-verse Total Home DVR lets subscribers record up to four standard-definition and up to two HD shows at once on a single DVR, as well as record, manage and play back shows from any room in the home.

The Total Home DVR is available for up to eight TVs with a receiver for each additional TV costing $7 per month apiece.

AT&T is considering offering whole-home DVR and live TV over Wi-Fi. In March, the Federal Communications Commission approved an IPTV set-top designed by Cisco Systems for U-verse TV that receives video over a home wireless Wi-Fi connection.

Fans Prepare for NBA Finals Along With Digital Landing

2011-05-21T00:45:00.001-07:00

Fans of the Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder are gearing up for the possibility that their team will move on from the conference championships to play in the NBA Finals. DigitalLanding.com works as a portal to all of the best digital services fans might need to fully enjoy their NBA Playoffs experience.
The website finds discounts and deals on digital services in every area. Fans will find quality high speed Internet, cable and satellite TV and home phone services at low prices in their area by going through the site's innovative comparison shopping platform.
Fans of the Chicago Bulls can watch their team's march toward a possible seventh NBA title on TV by using XFINITYAuthorizedOffers.com. By submitting their address, the 2,695,000 residents of the third-most populated U.S. city will be able to see which offers are available in their location. By signing up for the Triple Play, getting Internet, home phone and cable service, customers will pay just $99 per month, for the first 12 months. As a bonus, customers will also receive a $100 Amazon.com gift card! They can use their gift card to buy Derrick Rose or Michael Jordan jerseys.
While there are less than one-fifth of the people in Miami compared to Chicago, the South Florida media market happens to rank among the top 15 in the country. And all of those Heat fans will want to watch their team in the best high-definition cable possible. By submitting their address, people will find that they can get Xfinitydigital cable service starting at just $29.99 per month for the first six months, while also having access to over 10,000 choices On Demand.
The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex ranks among the top five media markets in the country. Fans of the Mavericks hope to not only make it to the NBA Finals, as they did in 2006-07 against the Heat, but win it this time. Over six million residents in the area can use AT&T U-verse to check scores and team news online. Entering their address at ATTUVersePromos.com will bring back an offer for U-verse Internet Pro for just $19.95 per month for 12 months. They can also pair that with home phone services for just $39.95 per month, and as a bonus, they'll get a $200 Amazon gift card.
The Thunder came to Oklahoma City back in 2008, but the nearly 600,000 people that live there have grown to love Kevin Durant's club. Once they enter their address at CoxAuthorizedOffers.com, they'll find that they can sign up for the Cox Advanced TV and Internet Preferred package for just $79.99 per month for the first three months. Or they can go through ATTUversePromos.com and choose to receive a $200 Amazon gift card by going with the AT&T U-verse U-family TV+InternetPro+Voice 250 plan for $114.00 per month.

PayTV: Kenya’s next success story?

2011-05-21T00:40:00.000-07:00

Over the past decade mobile phones have helped to transform African countries like Kenya, giving the financially excluded a cheap way to access credit through mobile banking. It has also been Africa’s most successful growth story: the mobile payment market is forecast to be worth $60bn by 2015. Today, information and communication technology (ICT) companies are building the infrastructure for what investors believe will be Africa’s next big growth story – PayTV.

On Monday Wananchi Group, a Kenyan media operator, announced that it raised $57.5m of growth capital to continue building fibre infrastructure for its triple-play service in Kenya.

Through its Zuku brand Wananchi plans to introduce the first triple-play package [which which offers broadband internet, calls and TV services in one bundle] to the Kenyan market in two weeks at a price of approximately $15 per month. This will also be a first on the African continent.

Investors included Liberty Global, one of the world’s largest cable companies, and Oppenheimer Funds, Sarona Asset Management, East Africa Capital Partners and Emerging Capital Partners.

“Pay TV to the African market will be what mobile phone was over the last ten years”, Richard Bell, Wananchi’s chief executive told beyondbrics.

Early movers in Kenya’s ICT market are doing incredibly well, one investor in the latest round of fundraising told beyondbrics , and the next thing to watch out for is PayTV, at a price that Kenyans can afford.

“We see a lot of the same similarities in PayTV and internet markets [to those in mobile phone market a decade ago] – low penetration but significant demand,” said Bryce Fort, managing director at Emerging Capital Partners. ECP, which invested $10m in this latest round of fundraising, was an early investor in Africa’s mobile phone sector, making four and half times its investment in Celtel, a pan-African mobile phone operator and Orascom (OTLD:LSE).

“The combination of TV and internet together over same pipe is a very compelling value proposition” he said.

For private equities, many African countries present the perfect opportunity to provide capital in countries where access to capital is limited. As Roelef Horne, a portfolio manager for Investec Asset Management recently explained, “the advantage to doing business [in Africa] is that competition is very low.”

Whether PayTV takes off in the same way that mobile phones did is not clear – especially since such a large percentage of African countries have very low GDP per capita. The prospects are tempting – mobile phone subscriptions in Africa have rocketed from 1 per cent of the continent’s population in 1998 to 32 per cent in 2008, and some of the first telecommunications companies that went into the market are now the biggest. The greater east Africa region has 14m TV households and Kenya alone has 3m, according to Fort. Only 100,000 households are currently subscribed to PayTV. A large barrier has been high subscription costs.

But mobile phone uptake was so rapid because not as much infrastructure is required to build mobile phone networks. By contrast, broadband internet and TV requires more significant infrastructure development, a major reason why PayTV has been so expensive. Proper connection to electricity in the long run is another concern.

Yet, as the number of households with discretionary income across the continent continues to grow – it is projected to jump by 50 per cent over the next decade to reach $128m, the next success story is likely to be related to retail. If those early investors who believe that next demand from the African consumer will be television and broadband internet turn out to be right then they may be looking at a tidy profit.

Digital Video In India: 14 Points To Ponder

2011-05-21T00:39:00.001-07:00

On my way to a seminar called Online Video Revolution, organized by Juniper and Exicon, where I was on a panel, I noted down (rather, tweeted) a few points that I think the ecosystem should be concerned about or aware of; wasn’t able to make all the points, so here they are, along-with a few more; feedback, corrections, additions and counter arguments are welcome.

1. Internet connection speeds: I don’t know who watches online streams from home, certainly not without significant buffering – most Internet connections are 256 Kbps, and that is much too slow. The minimum speed for “broadband” needs to increase (ED: The Department of Telecom never followed through on Dayanidhi Maran’s promise of making minimum broadband speed 2mbps). Prime time for online video in india is office hours. Yes, we will watch video online, but it’s like being back in the dialup days when you visited websites, but had to keep waiting for pages to load. Increase speeds, and watch consumption explode.

2. Completed Streams: Enough is said about number of videos uploaded, traffic to video sites etc, but you need to ask – how many streams get completed? As long as speeds are low, consumers will tire quickly, and only the best content, compelling content will survive. Unlike TV, consumers have multiple options. Online is asynchronous, and consumers of content get irritated quickly.

3. Destinations Need To Be Social: If you’re streaming content, then you can’t do online video without Twitter or Facebook integration, or some means of allowing conversation between viewers. Those like me can’t even watch TV these days without Twitter up on a laptop or mobile. This is going to increase, wait and watch.

4. Preferential Bandwidth and Content Bias: I’m concerned about net neutrality and the fair usage policy in India. The latter will limit the amount of content you can watch, while the former will differentiate between content providers. Airtel has already done it, with Airtel Broadband TV, and before that, higher speeds for YouTube streaming of the Indian Premier League. Net neutrality is going to hit the Online Video business the most in India. If you’re an online content company, you might have to become a white labeled “Value Added Service” to get preferential bandwidth from an ISP. Eventually, all content owners that want to deliver quality content will have to get into bed with the ISP. For a consumer, you won’t get equitable speeds/quality for your content because your ISP is controlling your access speeds and limits, based on the business deals he gets from content owners.

5. 3G vs Wireline: Don’t get your hopes up about 3G. Connectivity is erratic, and inconsistent, even though increase in usage might be reported, and more and more consumers will get pulled online. The networks will not be able to handle too many simultaneous streams, and there isn’t enough spectrum per operator in any case. Wireline is still very important when it comes to consumption of content. The government has made its money from 3G auctions. Now there’s a need to push for unbundling of wireline.

6. IPTV in India is dead on arrival. See MTNL Delhi’s numbers. It’s not something Airtel publicly shares numbers for, and Reliance still hasn’t launched it. There just isn’t enough money behind IPTV in India, and most telecom operators have chosen DTH. So it has to be video over IP instead of a dedicated channel on IPTV. IPTV content is still regulated.

7. Advertising: Video preroll ads should not be more than 5 seconds. If the content is not compelling, with Indian speeds, people switch off. Skins are better – online video ads are irritating.

8. Discovery: is social. Just because you have a TV channel doesn’t mean that someone will watch it streaming online regularly. People have global content to choose from, so you need to show content that is worth talking about. And people will share it if it is good enough

9. Channels vs Shows: Online, it’s not about albums, it’s about singles; it’s not about channels, it’s about shows. I won’t watch the live stream of your channel, waiting for a particular show. When I’m online, I surf, and watch what I want to, on demand.

10. Content curation and discovery: What’s that number again – 36 hours of video content uploaded on YouTube every minute? There’s just too much video content, and not enough discovery. More importantly, there just isn’t enough content curation going on – targeting a particular user base, with specific content. So far, it’s more about repurposing all your content and putting it in a YouTube channel, hoping someone will find it and view it. If you want to create a destination, curate content for a niche audience. Maybe create several destinations.

11. Made For Digital Content: There’s just not enough made for digital content – maybe the business environment means that it isn’t sustainable, but I firmly believe that the content has to be created in order to attract an audience, and the advertising, and not just repurposed TV. Why hasn’t anyone done something like Comedy Central online in India? (or for that matter, on TV)

12. Advertising Rates: You can kill the online video market with low rates. The ad networks came in just too early, because there was no one willing to put together a sales team for online video. So ad networks aggregated sales, and brought down rates. Publishers need to take back their inventory and sell ads, and not accept low rates. Ad Networks are best for remnant inventory, not premium.

13. Mobile: is a video content creation tool. The DPS MMS case made mobile video famous. It made people realize that mobile video exists. Many clips that make it to TV are being created with mobile phones – the Varun Gandhi incident during the last elections is one of the many cases in point. There’s need for news media companies to encourage submission of mobile clips.

14. News Reporting: I think there’s an opportunity in reporting events as they happen – streaming them via the mobile Internet then on to TV. With (reliable) 3G connections, online streaming is possible through sites like (Skype owned) Qik. in live streaming key events from mobile, as it happens. Media companies can replace OB vans with mobiles and services like Qik, that they can stream to TV.

That’s about it. If you have insights to share, please do so. Will add to this post. Or if you have your own longlist, we can consider a Guest Post.

Virgin Media TiVo 1TB review

2011-05-21T00:38:00.001-07:00

Not everyone can get Virgin Media's cable services, but they are more widespread than you may think with around half the homes in the country covered by the service. Of those there's almost five million homes using its TV and broadband services, and around one million using one of Virgin Media's V+ PVR boxes.

Virgin Media started rolling out its next-generation TiVo-powered PVRs at the very end of last year, but only in limited numbers and only to subscribers of it top-end TV package. Last week, they were finally made available to all Virgin TV subscribers and new customers can get one from July.

You may have heard of the TiVo brand before, though it has been far more successful overseas than in our own Sky-dominated land. TiVo boxes did go on sale in the UK back in 2000, the first hard-disk based recorders to do so, but they were ahead of their time, didn't sell very well, and the Sky+ box finished them off. Now the company has entered a deal to provide the interface for Virgin Media's new TiVo box, and the results are good - with a few caveats.

BLACK BOX

The box itself is pretty tasteful, all black with a bunch of not too bright LED indicators along the front. There's a collection of useful buttons too, just in case you can’t find the remote. As usual, we wish that such boxes were as wide as standard Hi-Fi components and had flat tops, but it seems we’re on a losing battle with that one.

The TiVo box's all-black finish is quiet and understated

On the rear of the box are all the ports you should need. The HDMI output is the only way to get HD video out of the box, as with previous V+ HD boxes there’s no component option, not that many people will be bothered by that these days. The SCART output is likely to be ignored by most too, as it doesn’t support HD signals. For those with an AV receiver that doesn’t support HDMI inputs, there’s an optical S/PDIF to hook it up.

An Ethernet port looks likely to go unused, as the TiVo does all its communicating via its cable connection. There are also two USB ports, but again these currently can't be used for anything. Finally there’s the all-important smartcard slot, without which you won’t get very far - there's no Freesat equivalent for cable TV services.

Interactive Video and TV Everywhere Highlight CableNET® 2011 Exhibit at Upcoming Cable Show

2011-05-21T00:37:00.001-07:00

The CableNET® 2011 exhibit will include a large number of interactive technologies enabled by EBIF™ and tru2way® technologies among its array of more than 50 displays of the latest broadband applications and emerging services.

CableNET also will contain a dedicated area for technologies that enable the managed delivery of cable digital video services to a growing variety of consumer electronics devices within the cable subscriber’s home, including PCs, tablets, and connected televisions.

The technology showcase will be part of The Cable Show 2011, the 60th Annual Convention and International Exposition of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), June 14-16 at McCormick Place in Chicago.

“CableNET 2011 continues the trend of hosting services and applications being developed today to enrich the consumer experience,” said Dr. Paul Liao, President and CEO of CableLabs. “The CableNET exhibit features a wide array of exciting, next generation broadband technologies that will provide convention attendees with a hands-on view of how the cable industry is innovating and leading America into a new Information Age,” said Michael Powell, former FCC Chairman and new President & CEO of NCTA.

The CableNET industry exhibit is co-sponsored by CableLabs® and NCTA, and offers a hands-on experience with many of the most innovative content, services, and applications. Tru2way and EBIF are CableLabs specifications applicable to digital video and interactive services, defined for the cable industry on behalf of cable operators who are members of CableLabs.

Over its 18 years as an industry technology exhibit, the CableNET show has provided attendees a first glimpse of many emerging, leading-edge technologies and applications. Those included early views of the cable industry's Data over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS®) platform; high-definition television; enhanced and interactive video services and PacketCable™-based digital voice technologies.

Participating companies include:

Affinegy will unveil a new version of its Home Portal software that provides subscribers with anytime, anywhere access to home, device and cloud-based content on a large variety of connected devices. The Home Portal is part of Affinegy’s suite of software applications that are used in the service provider’s customer care center, their business office and by their subscribers to enable and manage their connected lives.
Aurora Networks Aurora Networks will show the key components of a Fiber Deep network while showcasing the next-generation access tools that will enable cable operators to drive more from their installed plant. Aurora Networks will showcase for the first time, a new technology platform, which will enable increasing the upstream bandwidth in a simple manner, smoothly and efficiently. It also will demonstrate the key Aurora Networks’ RFoG components with its unique Node PONTM module to show the simplicity and seamless transition from an RFoG to a GEPON deployment for commercial subscribers, detailing how this can be evolved to a 10G-EPON system.
CableLabs will show an ETV Twitter application demonstrating how ETV can be used in conjunction with standard web servers in order to accomplish complex tasks. EBIF can be used as a front-end to display web-based content, with the complex logic being performed in the network. This enables a rich user experience, linking content typically accessible to web applications with television programming. CableLabs also will demonstrate a synchronized advertising demo showing how ETV can be used to tie the television video content with second screen ads. This could be used to reduce visual clutter on the television while targeting advertisements to individual household members. CableLabs also will display an exhibit of Carrier-Grade NAT, a transition technology that helps operators maintain Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) service while migrating to IPv6.
Cisco will demonstrate innovative networking communication and collaboration technologies for health care professionals and small businesses, including Cisco TelePresence, which delivers an intimate, person-to-person communication experience unbounded by distance or physical location.
Civolution will demonstrate its video watermarking technology called NexGuard. The demo consists of showing a camcord of a high quality (HD) contend playing on a TV set or an iPad and retrieving the watermark information, identifying the details of the set-top box from which the content was played. Even a copy stored on a social video website can still be identified.
ClearAccess will demonstrate how cable operators may leverage their deployments of integrated DOCSIS® modem/routers, by remotely troubleshooting home network problems and adding revenue generating applications through its ClearVision management system.
Dolby Laboratories will show a broadcasting solution for full-resolution 3D to the home. The solution is focused around needs of cable operators to offer the highest quality 3D content for linear broadcast and VoD, and includes the demonstration of a real-time encoder proof-of-concept as well as the transmission over QAM for distribution to the home.
Elemental Technologies will demonstrate Elemental Live, an all-in-one live encoding solution for traditional television broadcast as well as adaptive online streaming. The system will output simultaneous broadcast and adaptive streams in real time to multiple devices such as set-top boxes, TVs, laptops, tablets and smartphones.
enableTV will show its DV-TIDE PC-based platform that simulates a cable headend. DV-TIDE can deliver MPEG-2 transport streams, interactive applications, and service information (SI) to cable devices via RF. It also supports the real-time injection of carousels for ETV bound applications. DV-TIDE also has the ability to signal an ETV User Agent to a cable device to aid in the testing of ETV applications.
Flashlight Engineering will show a series of applications, running on tru2way set tops and iPad mobile devices, which demonstrate the possibilities of advanced cable services using common and unified Cable Application Frameworks and Web Services. In addition, it demonstrates the Flashlight Application Developer Toolkit for tru2way application developers.
FourthWall Media will demonstrate a range of EBIF products including the broadly deployed FourthWall EBIF Platform running on Motorola and Cisco systems including user agents for both set-top box types and a common EBIF Platform Server providing critical application support services. Also on display: Ad Widgets® interactive advertising system, Addressable Versioning, AdAim® audience measurement suite & AirCommand™ allowing any external mobile device to communicate with any EBIF set-top box.
Harris will exhibit its web-based system that enables the management and real-time execution of addressable advertising delivery across linear and non-linear opportunities. The targeted advertising system is an SCTE 130-compliant advertising campaign management system that allows advertising offers to be directed and executed in real time to an advertiser’s unique customer demographic profile.
Incognito Software will feature its Auto-Configuration Server support for the Broadband Forum CPE WAN Management Protocol thus enabling provisioning and management of advanced IP services on DOCSIS TR-069 gateways and devices such as VoIP phones and IPTV set-top boxes. Incognito will demonstrate how its fully integrated solution manages the service activation and simultaneously provisions DOCSIS and TR-069 converged devices.
IPgallery’s social communications platform is an innovative cloud-based, web-activated converged voice, video, and data communications suite of applications, combining social networking for an enhanced “Click to Anything” social community experience for talking, chatting, watching, sharing and transferring multi-media content. Leveraging both cloud computing and the MSO’s digital network, and core assets for delivering, voice, messaging and content, IPgallery will show how cable operators may create a personalized social communications environment, across any device and over any network (legacy, next generation, or IMS).
Irdeto Solutions will exhibit how cable operators can dynamically protect their premium digital assets with Irdeto ActiveCloak™ for media, distribute them to subscribers via Irdeto Broadband and leverage early release theater content with the only interoperable, backward-compatible watermarking solution available in the U.S. market. Irdeto’s solutions allow operators to implement their TV Everywhere strategies and meet subscriber demand for content anytime, anywhere and on any device.
Ligos Corporation will be demoing its newly released ETV Suite software solution for EBIF. ETV Suite is a set of tools that integrates application authoring, HD video stream input/output, external data and playout. The Suite reduces the complexity of ETV development by providing a visual design environment to create enhanced channel layouts and highly optimized applications compatible with the leading user agents and STBs.
Maxxian will demonstrate its CounterStryx suite of products which collects and analyzes data from billing, security, network and VOD components to identify network problems, service call issues and unauthorized usage in set-tops and cable modems. A common interface is provided for different conditional access systems, with enterprise-level access to multiple systems from different vendors.
Nagra-Kudelski / OpenTV will showcase multiscreen advertising opportunities through Next Generation VOD and linear interfaces within the SCTE-130 standard. The company will show its Participate product integrated with This Technology’s SpotBuilder Placement Opportunity Information Service (POIS). The demonstration will show how a non-linear video stream containing one 30-second spot can provide a synchronized advertising experience on a secondary device (tablet) if the inventory permits.
NDS will demonstrate the next iteration of its advanced Snowflake user interface (UI), specifically designed to provide today’s current generation of cable set-top boxes (STBs) with a rich, uniquely branded look and feel with enhanced functionality. The UI is based on the award-winning Snowflake framework that accommodates all the features, functions, content and services already available, but refreshed with greater graphical capability and with significant feature and functional enhancements.
Neustar will show its Text Everywhere SMS solution that allows cable operators to participate in the explosive SMS revenue growth by enabling a subscriber’s phone number to send texts to and from TV’s, iPads, cell phones, emails, Facebook, and more. The Text Everywhere service provides a new revenue stream by adding a competitive position for operators to take a significant share of the SMS opportunity.
PacketVideo will exhibit Twonky, its line of standards-based software and mobile applications for discovering, accessing, streaming and viewing protected digital media across PCs, TVs, tablets, mobile phones and other devices connected to a subscriber’s home network.
Related Content Database, Inc. (RCDb) will demonstrate an application that uses EBIF to synch programming on the set-top box with a companion tablet. The use of EBIF for synchronization of the companion TV experience keeps the MSO in direct engagement with the consumer, as opposed to other companion TV technologies that operate independent of the MSO.
S3 Group will demonstrate how its StormTest automated STB test platform can be used to automate the testing of STBs, and other receiver devices, software and applications. Through tight integration with the signaling systems used to announce the availability of interactive content, S3 also will show how this automated testing can run 24x7 with appropriate tests being executed at scheduled times to ensure that the right content is being delivered at the right time and presented on the subscriber’s screen in the expected way.
S&T will show its TSProcessor which provides real-time management and monitoring of incoming ETV content as it passes through the headend. TSMonitor provides a streamlined view of ETV services, verifying the appearance and operation of applications and their communications with application servers. TSBroadcaster is an advanced delivery system for interactive applications, providing continuous control of application insertion and play-out, data updates and stream event generation.
Samsung will demonstrate a set-top box that blends the best of TV and the best the web. While watching TV users can browse the web and search via a “qwerty” keyboard, voice and motion detection.
Sandvine will demonstrate its Network Analytics dashboards, which enable cable operators to make informed decisions to optimize network utilization and enhance the subscriber Internet experience. With Network Analytics, operators may better serve their customers by proactively examining peak resource usage and monitoring the effectiveness of fair share policies while deferring CapEx. Operators also may investigate how subscribers’ usage aligns with service plans, and decide on optimal future strategies for cost-effective network management.
Sony Electronics will feature live and on-demand content from Time Warner Cable delivered over Internet Protocol using a custom electronic program guide jointly developed by Sony and Time Warner Cable.
Support.com will demonstrate its EasySupport client that allows one-click access to premium support via chat or phone. EasySupport is a fully brandable desktop client that underscores commitment to customer service/customer satisfaction and adds value to their subscription, while differentiating and building-out partner brand awareness.
Synacor will demonstrate its “next” generation of TV Everywhere products/services, including showcasing the expansion of its fully functional PC-based TV Everywhere products to other devices such as mobile devices and tablets.
Tektronix will highlight Sentry and its recently released capabilities of measuring and detecting video artifacts. This helps service providers tackle content errors where the QoE score is good but the program suffers artifacts due to over-compression, which is common in motion intensive programs like sports.
thePlatform will demonstrate a modular and open network solution to carrier-class IPTV for service providers and programmers, leveraging a centrally managed video publishing system to support a multi-vendor architecture for delivery across IP-connected devices and set-top boxes.
ThinkAnalytics will exhibit its comprehensive Content Recommendations and Search platform providing true personalization through predictive intelligence and integrated business rules. The platform broadens subscribers’ tastes with a personalized experience on any device (STB, web, mobile/tablet, etc.) across VOD, electronic program guide, and other media types.
TradeHarbor will feature its Voice Signature ServiceSM (VSS) which enables trusted interactions over the telephone, the Web and on mobile devices. The VSS is a highly-scalable web service (SaaS) providing biometric voice authentication as a real-time decision support tool.
Trident Microsystems Inc. will demonstrate two types of SoC reference designs for STB devices: 1) A complete hardware and software system implementation of a very low cost, low power, small form factor HD-DTA device running an EBIF user agent and guide application 2) A low cost IPTB adapter device based on the Android OS for streaming of on-line video services.
UniSoft will show a variety of EBIF-centric demonstrations including:
EBIF edge insertion using S&T's TSProcessor.
S&T's TSMonitor, an EBIF virtual set-top-box environment.
XAV, EBIF application validator.
S&T's TSBroadcaster, EBIF carousel with automation interface allowing synchronisation of EBIF applications with primary video events.
enableTV's DV-TIDE
Verimatrix will demonstrate watermarking technology that is required to mark content that is compressed and potentially encrypted and to do so with a performance that is scalable when executed on the server while delivering hundreds of simultaneous video streams.
Visible World will showcase its household addressability solution, Connect, which enables marketers to segment their television audiences and target relevant ads to specific households. It also will demonstrate Conductor, a web-based campaign management tool for zone-based targeting.
ZiXi™ is a leading enabler of broadcast-quality HDTV globally over the cloud. Broadcasters, enterprises and video-on-demand services use ZiXi to enrich user experience, create new services and significantly reduce costs by enabling the delivery of live and on-demand HD video content over the Internet in real-time, with unprecedented quality.
Zodiac Interactive will showcase the latest developments in its PowerUp AMS technology server platform, which features two-way communication for both legacy and tru2way set tops. Also on also display will be Zodiac’s unique HTML5 and social media applications, products and solutions.
Cable Television Laboratories was founded in 1988 by members of the cable television industry. The Emmy Award winning laboratory is a non-profit research and development consortium that is dedicated to pursuing new cable telecommunications technologies and to helping its cable operator members integrate those advancements into their business objectives. Cable operators from around the world are members. CableLabs maintains additional web sites at www.cablenet.org, www.ebif.tv and www.tru2way.com.

Advanced Digital Cable™, CableCARD™, CableHome®, CableLabs®, CableNET®, CablePC™, DCAS™, DOCSIS®, DPoE™, EBIF™, Go2BroadbandSM, M-Card™, OpenCable™, PacketCable™, and tru2way® are marks of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

CenturyLink dials up competition in Tallahassee with IPTV launch

2011-05-21T00:36:00.002-07:00

CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) has rolled out an IPTV service for northern Florida residents in the Tallahassee region, CenturyLink Prism TV, offering more than 240 local, premium and high-definition channels.
The company plans an entry-level offering featuring 120 channels for $35.99 and is offering a triple-play package that includes Prism, high-speed Internet and voice services for under $90 per month.
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CenturyLink said that, in additional to the standard IPTV offerings, it also soon would offer subscribers mosaic screens and a "media room" that allows them to access and manage online applications including Facebook, YouTube, Picasa Photo Sharing, fantasy sports and more.
CenturyLink is using the DVR Motorola VIP 1232 set-top box in the rollout.
CenturyLink, including its acquisition of Qwest, is the third largest telecommunications company in the United States. The company provides broadband, voice and wireless services to consumers and businesses across the country. Although it recently completed its acquisition of Qwest, it hasn't announced plans for any IPTV rollouts in those new markets, instead saying that it would focus on reducing churn among former Qwest subscribers first.