Blogs

A New Digital Season Dawns for Broadcasters

October 02, 2009

Perhaps you’ve seen the commercials; it’s a new TV season, full of hope, cops, doctors, so-called reality and dumb husbands. OK, maybe it’s not so new. This marks the first television season where everyone is digital and that, more than almost anything in television history, levels the playing field and presents a tremendous opportunity for the broadcaster who steps off that field. The first big step in the right direction will happen when a broadcaster...

RCDb and Videon Central Partner to Transform the Blu-ray Disc Player into a Multi-purpose HD Network Set-top Box

September 23, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO , CA – September 23rd, 2009. RCDb and Videon Central announced today a partnership to accelerate the development and deployment of networked applications on Internet connected Blu-ray Disc (BD) players. The two companies have pre-integrated their software solutions to offer a complete reference design to BD player manufacturers. The offering enables a BD player to dynamically load and unload applications and connect with a flexible, updateable set of third party services and content...

"Pleyo Challenges Yahoo in Widgets" - Pleyo in the news in The Online Reporter!

September 23, 2009

During the IBC show in Amsterdam, Pleyo, a French software developer, showed its new HbbTV-compatible Origyn browser for TV sets. It has a widgets engine and extensions for interactive TV that’s based on the HbbTV standard. Full story here : http://www.onlinereporter.com/article.php?article_id=16696

FCC Fires Up Net Neutrality Rules

September 21, 2009

“The FCC must be a smart cop on the beat preserving a free and open Internet.” FCC Chariman, Julius GenachowskiSeptember 21, 2009 “Preserving a Free and Open Internet” Just the title of the speech today at the Brookings Institutes, by FCC Chairman, Julius Genachowski, puts an end to any speculation about where he stands on Net Neutrality. Stating that “Congress and the President have charged the FCC with developing a National Broadband Plan to ensure...

Hologram TV at Cadbury World in the UK

September 21, 2009

Went to Cadbury World in Bourneville, England last week. Had a lot of fun. Ate too much chocolate because they give you all sorts of things for free and then there's the nice shop at the end and the tasting of molten chocolate. This place is the inspiration for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory . They have a full tour with a charming fun ride that will thrill your children (and yourself), if you're...

ZillionTV = ZERO $$$ Launch of "richest creamiest" video delayed.

September 18, 2009

Launch Delayed : The long awaited launch of ZillionTV has hit a snag. The latest “hope” is to get something launched “in the second half of next year” according to this weeks press quotes attributed to their CEO, Mitch Burman. Unfortunately in the ever crowded space of IPTV VOD services, hope is not a very useful business strategy. Tier 1 Telcos Have Existing VOD Plans in Place: Convincing a major Telco (Verizon or AT&T) to...

Report offers some food for thought

September 15, 2009

While it’s not necessarily must-see TV—although in some instances it might actually be better, considering some of the stuff that was considered must-see—and it will never compare with Oprah’s book club suggestions, occasionally I feel I should offer up my own must-read opinion. So here you have it, Edgar’s Report-of-the-Month Club suggestion, for want of a better name. It’s my way of highlighting what I’ve found that reinforces my opinions, of course, and validates the...

3D TV is NOT a Set Top Box Running a 3D Graphics UI

September 13, 2009

What BSkyB Started : It seems all of Europe is buzzing with the hopes of seeing actual 3D content on their telly next year based on the BSkyB announcement in July that it will launch Europe’s first 3D TV channel programming in 2010. The frenzy was further stoked by the Guardian Newspaper’s “Question of the Week” asking readers “Will 3D TV be a Hit?” So the new buzz word in the television industry must be...

Official: Britain Approves TV Product Placement

September 12, 2009

Green light folks, product placement is to be allowed on British TV shows, in a move expected to be announced next week. Independent broadcasters will be allowed to take payments for displaying commercial products in-program. Please see my policy advisory on iTVT and Digital Ministry London last week. The change is intended to bring in extra funds for commercial broadcasters. I believe it could raise up to £100m a year. More is the significance of...

PLEYO unveils its new Web browser and widgets engine for TV sets

September 11, 2009

During IBC show in Amsterdam, PLEYO presents the new version of its web browser for TV sets, equipped with its widgets engine and also with extensions for interactive TV based on the HbbTV standard. Origyn Web Browser is the browser provided by PLEYO . OWB is based on Webkit(Apple) and is more particularly designed for TV sets, TV decoders and other consumer electronic devices. The latest browser’s evolution is compatible with HbbTV , the new...